I don't think I know about the Alligator Thing!
you specifically almost definitely know about The Alligator Thing. BUT:
when I was a kid we used to spend a week every summer at the Stephen C Foster park on the Okefenokee Swamp. We'd fish, walk the trails, etc. One time when I was like 10? 11? we were standing on the boat ramp to fish. Now all a boat ramp is is a concrete slope going into the water so if you have a boat on a trailer you can just back it into the water. So we're standing on the ramp when I caught a fish. just a little bream, maaaaybe the size of my hand. H O W E V E R that fish was apparently already spoken for, bc when I reeled it up onto the ramp, an alligator came right up out of the water after it.
my mom starts dragging me backwards up the ramp, my dad's yelling GIVE HIM THE DAMN FISH bc I have a death-grip on my fishing rod for no reason other than I have a Freeze fear reaction, and my brother, 7 or 8 at the time, is the only one who did what the park rangers had told us to do, which is get off the ground and stand stock-still. So it went right past him, standing on the tacklebox he'd been using as a seat, and after me/my fish.
eventually someone on a boat in the lagoon saw what was happening and started stomping the bottom of his boat to get the gator's attention, and by some miracle it worked, bc it turned around and went back in the water (going past my brother again).
our best guess is that people fishing off the pier/ramp had been feeding the gators their catches, and it either recognized the act of fishing or our bait tubs (the worms were sold in these light blue containers; I don't know how well alligators see color). so yeah! don't feed the wildlife, it gives them Ideas.
