The View From My Windshield: Swamp Monsters

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.

The Last Thing You'll Ever See: Alligator, Mississippi--You'll never guess how the town of Alligator got its name. No, seriously. Giant murals notwithstanding, the town's actually named for a nearby lake, which, in turn, is kind of shaped like an alligator. But that's not what's interesThe Last Thing You’ll Ever See: Alligator, Mississippi—The little Delta town of Alligator gets its name, as you might expect, from the monstrous 28-foot reptile seen above, which halved the village’s population over a terrifying one-week period in 1907. No, actually, it’s a bit less interesting than that. Giant mural notwithstanding, the town’s actually named for a nearby lake, which, in turn, is kind of shaped like an alligator. Voila. In 2008, Alligator elected its first-ever black mayor by 10 votes, 37–27, on a platform of change and a new swimming pool (alligators not included). The full story, via the Telegraph, is actually pretty fascinating.

Fact:

Mother Jones was founded as a nonprofit in 1976 because we knew corporations and billionaires wouldn't fund the type of hard-hitting journalism we set out to do.

Today, reader support makes up about two-thirds of our budget, allows us to dig deep on stories that matter, and lets us keep our reporting free for everyone. If you value what you get from Mother Jones, please join us with a tax-deductible donation today so we can keep on doing the type of journalism 2024 demands.

payment methods

Fact:

Today, reader support makes up about two-thirds of our budget, allows us to dig deep on stories that matter, and lets us keep our reporting free for everyone. If you value what you get from Mother Jones, please join us with a tax-deductible donation today so we can keep on doing the type of journalism 2024 demands.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate