Posted on 06/07/2012 11:58:28 PM PDT by Theoria
It's the talk of at least one part of Columbia and it all started Tuesday with a phone call from a concerned neighbor.
Heathwood resident Andrew Philson got a call about a snake in his backyard and thought he'd be finding a small garter or black snake, but got the shock of his life when he saw the beast slithering up one of his trees.
That snake has slithered his way into the national spotlight. First, WIS, then CNN, Fox, even the Drudge Report. Why? Well, it's a big snake and who knows how long it had been sneaking -- or snaking -- around in Philson's backyard?
One thing Philson does know, the darn thing was huge. "I'm saying 15 to 20 feet long," he said.
Philson lost track of the snake shortly after taking the pictures, which have now shown up on TV monitors and web sites all over the world. They've also led to some criticism from people including South Carolina Department of Natural Resources snake expert Steve Bennett.
Bennett says it's a rat snake, plain and simple -- a common and useful creature and one that as far as anyone knows, never gets anywhere close to the size claimed by Philson.
"What happens is when people see these things, they are so shocked and probably scared, it changes their whole way of thinking," Bennett said.
Philson does not seem like someone prone to panic, even in the presence of an oversized reptile. A former state trooper, Philson recently served a tour of military duty in Afghanistan.
"I know that when I testified in court in my previous job, that accuracy counts," Philson said.
"People who are otherwise fairly honest and you know, straightforward people, will see something like that and just automatically overestimate and exaggerate the size of it," Bennett said. "It's just human nature.
A wildlife removal company is planning to conduct an all-out search for the snake on Thursday.
Oh, gosh...I’d *never* take any of my critters on the Harley.
I make the choice to ride and take the risk.
I won’t subject them to something in which they they don’t have a conscious choice.
It would be bad if I get hurt.
It would devastate me if they did.
[but that’s not to say he’ll never have a Harley collar...I’m waiting for him to get big enough to wear Odin’s first spiked HD puppy collar]
;D
Plus, I don’t think I’d care to have a terrified cat hanging off my face at 80mph.
LOL
Go metric and use centimeters versus inches. A 10’ snake, for example, is only 120 inches but 254 centimeters! It will, ahem, make all measurements seem much longer.
The gift that keeps giving.
Excellent point about the shed being a poor frame of reference. From the photos, it’s impossible to tell how far away the shed or garage is from the tree. The tree, however, is the same distance as the snake, but we don’t really know how large the tree is either.
Would you mind telling us where you are from and the reason that it is wonderful?
Why don’t we just go with millimeters?
/facepalm
;D
Are you serious?
Even better! That snake is getting larger by the minute!
In this video capture, he is standing right next to the tree and that little tree is no more than 3" wide.
Take that 3" [max] and compare the size of the snake to 3".
Easy.
[that is, unless he has tiny little hands...too]...;)
I’ve been to SC more times than I care to count and have always been treated as family.
Of course, a thick Appalachian accent probably helped a lot.
Wish I’d been treated half as well up north.
Can we return the gift for something useful?
Yeah, that’s how it always goes....but it’ll get much smaller all too soon.
>:-)
Don't kid yourself--he'll want to drive.
The snake hopped a bus north and they have it cornered in the Smithsonian!
*Whew!*
We can all rest easy, now.
Ain’t no way he can reach the shifter.
;^D
They also make excellent pets.
I heard a report on the radio news yesterday that 1500 people a day are moving to Texas. Wonder why that is, could it be because they can get a job here?
I love to tell this story about regional accents. When my brother and I were kids we were on a trip with our parents. We were at the Hoover Dam when we heard a woman say in a very loud voice “Paaak the caaaaa Geaaaaorg and we'll waaaaaak” . I can still crack him up with laughter when I say that!
Someone told me that was a Boston accent or as they say Baaaston! :D
-—Someone told me that was a Boston accent or as they say Baaaston! :D——
Yup. Pretty rare nowadays. Limited to a few sections of Boston.
“Tonic,” instead of soda or pop, is another dying Boston thing. I really miss that.
My wife used to call quarters, “kwutters,” at least until I started teasing her. It was a Connecticut thing. I miss it :-(
Can you spot it?
It's a Western Racer and only 4 ft or so long -
Taken about a week ago.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.