It was huge, reptilian, a flesh-eating nightmare from hell! Its lair was by the murky waters of Chay-in-cuna - Lake of the Dead in the old Calusa tongue of the Indians who once inhabited these Florida Everglades.

Sometimes this mostrous survivor of the primitive past would emerge into the foul, fetid air of the swamps, and run amok among the impenetrable mangroves and giant waving sawgrass. It killed whatever crossed its path - hunters, tourists, swamp people.

And not even the worst hurricane to strike Florida in years could forestall its bloodthirsty rampage!