LETTERS TO EDITOR: Grand Dogfish snake
Great 'Dogfish' snake
To the Editor:
Fall is a strange time to be thinking about snakes. Jim Hoy's column in the 10/16 edition of the Record concerning the "giant Luray snake" reminded me of some "snake hunts" along old Mud Creek back in the post '51 flood days of my growing up years. And, my encounter with my "great" Dogfish snake.
Our "hill gang" spent many of our summer hours along the creek banks in those days fishing, building forts, just being kids. After the flood in '51 the whole area around Dogfish Dam changed. Much of the bank on both sides of the river had caved away and had washed down stream by the force of the water. On the east bank just below the dam, an attempt was made to stop the erosion by dumping truck loads of large rock into the cavern created by the flood. Some of this rock was boulder size. All of it was wonderful habitat for snakes. Thus was born a new activity at Dogfish: snake hunts.
I have to confess, I have never been a great fan of our reptilian neighbors. Snakes scare the heck out of me. It has never been an obsessive fear, but right on the border thereof. When I was a kid, my snake fear was at its zenith of power over my life. So it was rather strange I would find myself, with my hill gang friends, down at the dam, climbing over the rock, hunting snakes. I have no idea what kind of snakes we were hunting there. Probably some kind of water snake. I don't think there were any poisonous varieties, but my thoughts were clear: all of them were most likely lethal. Some summers we did pretty well on these hunts. Occasionally, I remember, we would come upon a nest of vipers which would be summarily dispatched to snake heaven. Even a dead snake caused me some great distress, so most of the time, I kept my distance in those moments. I was more of a lookout, from afar, as my more brave friends would get down to moving rocks to get to the prize. And, in one of those lookout moments, I saw the snake of all snakes.
I don't remember if any of that day's snake hunt party other than myself saw this monster. I think someone did. As I stood on the bank, safely high above, looking down, I saw this massive snake, crawling between boulders. It seemed like the body of this great snake slid on for feet as it slowly slithered from one hole to another. My reaction was instantaneous: I screamed like a banshee. The guys who were doing the dirty work, raced over the rocks to the spot of my keen observation. I babbled about the immense size. Some of that got their attention, so they slowed their approach. By that time the beast had disappeared.
We never saw the great snake again. I have no idea if it was real, or just an apparition based on my fear of snakes. We all believed it was there, and continued to look for it each time we entered the dam area. For me, it caused me to find a new pathway down to the creek. I never went close to the place where I had witnessed the slithering vision of this great reptile. As I write this I can still see the great body sliding out of sight into the dark recesses of the rock there at Dogfish Dam. I have to confess, chills are running down my back even as I type! Thanks to Jim Hoy this all came back to my remembering. Thank goodness for Winter's approach. I don't have to face the possibility of a snake encounter for a few more months. Happy Halloween from Parsons, Kansas.
Jan Hayen
