Murder, Mystery, & the Tarzan of the Loxahatchee: Jonathan Dickinson State Park

Before Tiger King turned exotic animal owners into binge-worthy television and made Joe Exotic one of the most loved and hated men in America, Florida had its own infamous animal handler: Trapper Nelson, the rugged swampman locals dubbed the “Tarzan of the Loxahatchee.” Hidden deep along the Loxahatchee River in the wilderness that would eventually become Jonathan Dickinson State Park, Trapper built a jungle compound filled with rattlesnakes, monkeys, alligators, and exotic animals, becoming famous for wrestling alligators barehanded and entertaining tourists, celebrities, and soldiers who traveled upriver to see him. But behind the fame was a story filled with murder, paranoia, buried treasure rumors, and a mysterious death that still fuels speculation more than fifty years later.