Gibsonton

There are very few towns in the United States with zoning ordinances that allow for elephants to be kept in the front yard, but Gibsonton — just a few miles south of Tampa [1] on Highway 41 — is one of them.

In the heyday of traveling circuses, lots of carnival workers chose to winter in the town, and along with elephant trainers and trapeze artists were a number of “circus freaks.” From the 8.5-foot-tall man known as “The Giant” (who was the town’s police chief in the 1950s) and his 2-foot-tall wife, “The Half Girl,” to the infamous “Lobster Boy,” whose 1992 murder cast an unwelcome national spotlight on the town, Gibsonton was for years one of the oddest burgs in a state filled with oddities.

Today, few remnants of Gibsonton’s carnival history remain beyond the “dwarf counter” at the post office, a rusting circus trailer, and, yes, an elephant in someone’s front yard.