A few weeks ago, when I was refreshing my memory on why nobody goes to Tampa Bay Rays games, I noticed an odd neighborhood name on Google Maps:
This was, as it may be for some of you, a first for me. Never before had I seen a neighborhood explicitly named after a group of citizens, let alone a concerned one. I dug in.
What I found was not anything about a neighborhood. Instead, it was mostly a Facebook page. A Facebook page just kind of, well, doing community stuff? Cleaning up a cemetery. Engaging in some zoning process advocacy. Getting upset with the homeless and/or the postal service.
It doesn’t stop there, though.
I’d been texting a friend about the Rays, and while I dug into the Facebook page, he went to Wikipedia. It turns out Gibsonton “was famous as a sideshow wintering town, where various people in the carnival and circus businesses would spend the off season, placing it near the winter home for the Ringling Brothers Circus at Tampa, Sarasota and Venice in various times. It was home to Percilla the Monkey Girl, the Anatomical Wonder, and the Lobster Boy. Siamese twin sisters ran a fruit stand here. At one time, it was the only post office with a counter for dwarfs.”
The article’s got a lot of links, so it’s a big rabbit hole if you want to read about hitmen (click on “Lobster Boy”). Thought I’d share it with all of you.
Percilla the Monkey Girl.
Certified hottie.