Scary Stories Treasury

Read Time:7 Minute, 55 Second

Alligators – Kitty: ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ Winterjoy: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Alligators

A young woman in town married a man from another part of the country. He was a nice fellow, and they got along pretty well together. There was only one problem. Every night he’d go swimming in the river. Sometimes he would be gone all night long, and she would complain about how lonely she was.

This couple had two young sons. As soon as the boys could walk, their father began to teach them how to swim. And when they got to be old enough, he took them swimming in the river at night. Often they would stay there all night long, and the young woman would stay home all by herself.

After a while, she began to act in a strange way — at least, that is what the neighbors said. She told them that her husband was turning into an alligator, and that he was trying to turn the boys into alligators.

Everybody told her there was nothing wrong with a man taking his sons swimming. That was a natural thing to do. And when it came to alligators, there just weren’t any nearby. Everybody knew that.

Early one morning the young woman came running into town from the direction of the river. She was soaking wet. She said a big alligator and two little alligators had pulled her in and had tried to get her to eat a raw fish. They were her husband and her sons, she said, and they wanted her to live with them. But she had gotten away.

Her doctor decided she had lost her mind, and he had her put in the hospital for a while. After that nobody saw her husband and boys again. They just disappeared.

But now and then a fisherman would tell about seeing alligators in the river at night. Usually it was one big alligator and two small ones. But people said they were just making it up. Everybody knows there aren’t any alligators around here.

*****

Schwartz cites a book called Sticks in the Knapsack and Other Ozark Folk Tales (1958) by Vance Randolph as his source for this tale. It is on page 22-23 under the title The Alligator Story. It was told to Randolph by an elderly lady at Willow Springs, Missouri, August 1939. On page 141, it is stated that she says, “It was a tale that people scared their children with in the early days.” There are also other sources of variants of alligator tales on pages 141-142 that can be looked up and researched. The following is the story that the old lady told: Reminder – All quirks in the telling of the story are exactly as originally published.

The Alligator Story

One time a woman married a man from down South somewhere, that was always going out of a night. Sometimes he would be gone for hours, or maybe longer. He went swimming in the river, and the darker it is the better he liked it, because he could see at night just like a hoot-owl. Him and her got along fine, and they had too little boys. Soon as the boys was big enough to walk, he took them swimming with him. They would stay in the river pretty near all night, and the woman had to sleep at home by herself.

After while the woman got to acting kind of peculiar, and she told the neighbors that her man turned into an alligator. She didn’t care so much about that, but the little boys was growing up to be alligators, too, and something has got to be done about it. The folks figured the woman was losing her mind, and they told her to quit talking such foolishness. It is natural for boys to go swimming with their daddy, and everybody knows there ain’t no alligators in this part of the country.

Finally one Sunday morning the woman came a-running into town, and her clothes was all wet. She told the preacher that a big alligator and two little alligators has pulled her into the water. They was going to make her live in the river and eat fish raw. She knowed it was her man and the little boys that done it, and they was trying to turn her into an alligator too. “I just took on bite of that fish,” she says, “and then I called on the three highest names in the Bible.” So pretty soon she broke loose and crawled out on the bank, but her man and the two little boys was still in the river, because they are nothing but alligators from now on.

It all sounded so crazy that the folks put the woman in jail, for fear she might hurt herself some way. You could hear her hollering all over town, til Doc Ragsdale give her some sleeping medicine. So then the sheriff went out to the cabin by the river, but there wasn’t nobody there. About a week after that, Doc sent the woman to a big hospital for people that has lost their mind, and she never did come back no more.

Her man and the two little boys never showed up either, and nobody knows what become of ’em. But for years after that, the possum hunters kept talking about how they seen alligators in the river on moonlight nights. There was one big bull alligator, they always said, and two little ones. But everybody knows there ain’t no alligators in this part of the country. Most likely it was just a story that folks used to tell to keep their children away from the river at night.

Kitty

In what environment did you read the story? My comfy computer chair.
Do you remember having read this story as a kid? Yes!
Analyze the actions of the characters in the story. Did they make sense? Would you have done anything differently? First of all, if my husband wanted to go swimming in the river at night, I would probably go with him, even if I didn’t want to go in. I mean, why would I mope at home and be all lonely when I could accompany him? There’s nothing in either story about him saying she couldn’t go out with him. I don’t think it made sense to be scared of the alligators, especially since she knew it was her husband and kids. I definitely would not run into town like a raving lunatic screaming about how my family turned into alligators and want me to join them. Maybe I’d tell a trusted friend, though. Another thought: How did she know that her husband wasn’t already an alligator when she married him? Or maybe a curse was put on him that made him an alligator at night and the rule was that his kids would become alligators and then they’d permanently become alligators if the wife didn’t get on board with the situation.
Which was your favorite and least favorite characters and why? My favorite character is her husband and children, because they wanted her to come live with them. They didn’t want to leave her. My least favorite character was the doctor who locked someone up just because she was telling some fantastical story. But this definitely happened in the old days. It would make sense if she was suspected of murder, though, since the boys and husband were never seen again.
What did you think of the storytelling style? I loved the storytelling style of the source tale, and I thought the storytelling style of the first one was regular and normal.
Examine the art for the story. What are your thoughts on it? I love this one! It’s adorable! Look at that little foot, how can you not love it?
Your overall rating and why: ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ This is a solid human morphing into animal tale, and I love a good ‘stay away from the river at night’ story!

Winterjoy

In what environment did you read the story? In my room with my candle burning and cat sleeping.
Do you remember having read this story as a kid? Nope..not even a little!
Analyze the actions of the characters in the story. Did they make sense? Would you have done anything differently? I admire the woman for following her heart and marrying her husband though he was from somewhere else. But…maybe do a little more digging into his past? Ask him questions like how does he feel about cold water and scales?
Which was your favorite and least favorite character and why? My least favorite character was the husband for lying to his wife even though, I guess, he was trying to tell her the truth even though it was by an unconventional means. My favorite character was the doctor that hospitalized the woman. I’ve been saying forever that we really need to bring back the insane asylums.
What did you think of the storytelling style? It was a short little story that told a lot. I enjoyed it.
Examine the art for the story. What are your thoughts on it? It’s great as usual! I love the human-like hand with the shadow behind. The eye has a slight human element to it also.
Your overall rating and why: ⭐⭐⭐⭐. It was a super unusual story and fun. The ending was pretty simple though.