Springfield's Cobra Terror

Urban exploration in Springfield, Missouri
User avatar
cobcob
Aequitas
Aequitas
Posts: 4687
Joined: Wed Jul 05, 2006 9:06 am
Location: Installing your mindcontrolanalprobe

Springfield's Cobra Terror

Post by cobcob »

http://www.kspr.com/news/local/35205849.html

August 1953 - 1421 St. Louis Street - A teenaged customer who was upset about a dead exotic fish that he bought at the Mowrer Animal Company pet store went to the back of the store and released a crate of black snakes, thinking they were harmless.

Cobra Encounter #1: August 15, 1953 - 1420 E. Olive Street - Roland Parrish was working in his yard when he spotted a snake in the grass. When Parrish approached the reptile, the snake stood its ground, raised its head, and spread a delicate hood about its head and lunged at Parrish. Parrish struck first and killed the snake with his garden hoe.

Cobra Encounter #2: One week later, Parrish's neighbor across the street, Wesley Rose, heard his bulldog barking. Rose looked outside and saw his dog wrestling with a snake in the shrubbery. Rose saw what kind of snake it was, pulled his dog off of the snake, and took a garden hoe to the back of the snake who had reared up, ready to fight. The snake was paralyzed, so Rose pulled it out and killed it. Rose called the police, who took the snake carcass to headquarters and analyzed it.
It was determined the snake was a Naja naja, an indian spectacled cobra that is native to southern Asia and is capable of carrying enough venom to kill an adult human.
People began to become suspicious of the Mowrer Animal Company, which was located about a block away from the Parrish and Rose homes. The proprietor, Reo Mowrer, admitted he kept cobras at the shop but denied that any had escaped.

Cobra Encounter #3: August 30, 1953 - 1410 E. Trafficway - Eight days later, Ralph Moore found a cobra in his yard (two blocks from the Mowrer Animal Company). Another hoe was used to kill the snake.

Cobra Encounter #4: The same night, Willis Murdaugh caught a glimpse of a snake as he drove through his neighborhood. He backed up his car to get a better look at the serpent and saw the snake rise up, open its hood and start swaying back and forth. Murdaugh struck the snake with a jack handle and ran over the snake several times with his car, killing it.

Cobra Encounter #5: Early September 1953 - 1420 E. Olive Street - Mrs. Howard McCoy was warned by her daughter that a snake had been seen gliding into their garage. Mrs. McCoy grabbed a hoe and entered the garage. The snake was coiled up in a corner, and Mrs. McCoy dispatched it with her hoe.

Cobra Encounter #6: September 9, 1953 - Another cobra was spotted by neighbors near Mowrer's shop, who caught the reptile before police arrived.

Cobra Encounter #7: Later that day, across the street from Mowrer's shop, L.H. Stockton saw a snake coming out of his garden. Stockton threw a rock at it but missed his target and he watched in horror as the 4-foot long snake crawled through an opening in the foundation of his house and disappeared. The police were called, and Chief Frank Pike tried to use a 10-foot pole with a rope noose underneath the house to snare the snake but failed. Stockton and his landlord gave the police permission to bombard the crawlspace with tear gas. A gas grenade was set off underneath the house and the cobra came out. Officer Jack Strope aimed a shotgun at the snake but the weapon jammed. Strope grabbed the pistol from his holster and shot the snake five times; however, the snake still managed to raise its hooded head. Chief Pike used his "snake catcher" pole to capture the snake with the rope, and the snake was killed with another hoe.
By now, the entire town of Springfield was in an uproar. The City Health Director Del Caywood ordered Mowrer to move his stock out of the city, but the scare wasn't over.

Cobra Encounter #8: September 16, 1953 - H.K. Patton saw a snake on Chestnut Street near National Avenue. Patton aimed his car at the snake and ran over it, backed up and tried it again. The snake rose up, spread its hood and tried to strike at Patton's car. Patrons from the nearby Twilight Inn helped to trap the serpent and police officers crushed its head with a large rock.

September 28, 1953 - Life magazine publishes a story about "The Big Ozark Cobra Hunt".
Near the end of September, the public outcry grew even larger and Caywood ordered anti-venom shipped in as a precaution against a bite.

Cobra Encounter #9: October 1, 1953 - 1221 St. Louis Street - Dan Funkhouser found a cobra outside his plumbing and heating firm. With the help of his employee, Hardy Teague, and a trusty hoe, the snake was killed.

October 5, 1953 - Caywood commandeered a truck equipped with a public address system and cruised the neighborhood while a record of "Indian snake-charming music" blared from the truck's roof-mounted loudspeakers.

Cobra Encounter #10: 600 N. Prospect Avenue: Even though this shouldn't have worked (cobras don't have ears), 45 minutes later another cobra was spotted and killed near the Reynolds Manufacturing Company.

Cobra Encounter #11: October 25, 1953 - 1400 Block of E. Olive Street - The 11th and final officially confirmed confrontation with a cobra ended with the snake being captured alive and put on display in a glass cage at Dickerson Park Zoo. The snake died two months later.
Mowrer denied that he had anything to do with the snakes being released and died in the 1970s before the story could be cleared up.

In 1988, the angry teenager (now a grown man) who released the snakes, came forward and admitted what he did.

There'as apparently a display up at Drury with one of the Cobras on show (dead I would assume)
GlassCurtain wrote:I like to masturbate during the sexual harassment films at work.
Pinkspider wrote:check here for geeky crotch eating goodness and crazy fake ass hair
Willard
Encyclopedia Willardica
Encyclopedia Willardica
Posts: 4913
Joined: Sat Nov 13, 2004 12:49 pm

RE: Springfield's Cobra Terror

Post by Willard »

Yeah, that was a big enough ordeal that Springfield added a cobra to the official city seal.

The one on display at Drury is in the science building at the corner of Drury Lane (Washington Ave.) and Chestnut Expy. I'm not 100% sure on this, but I believe that the cobra on display was the one that died at the zoo.
"Oh my God! Wal-mart's going to march on Poland!" ~ Lewis Black

"You're not the "rockstar of the forum." Paul is." ~ CrazyDrummerDude
User avatar
slow_walker
Shyest Street Sofa Champion Ever!
Shyest Street Sofa Champion Ever!
Posts: 4326
Joined: Wed Feb 01, 2006 1:17 am
Location: Seattle, Washington

Re: Springfield

Post by slow_walker »

I beat you! Lol, love ya Cobs

viewtopic.php?t=1829&highlight=cobra
User avatar
cobcob
Aequitas
Aequitas
Posts: 4687
Joined: Wed Jul 05, 2006 9:06 am
Location: Installing your mindcontrolanalprobe

Re: Springfield

Post by cobcob »

slow_walker wrote:I beat you! Lol, love ya Cobs

viewtopic.php?t=1829&highlight=cobra
You had a photo, I have a load of information... Hey WR, can you merge threads?? LOL
GlassCurtain wrote:I like to masturbate during the sexual harassment films at work.
Pinkspider wrote:check here for geeky crotch eating goodness and crazy fake ass hair
User avatar
slow_walker
Shyest Street Sofa Champion Ever!
Shyest Street Sofa Champion Ever!
Posts: 4326
Joined: Wed Feb 01, 2006 1:17 am
Location: Seattle, Washington

Re: Springfield

Post by slow_walker »

Yeah, you did post more info than I did. Lol. I read all that, but never posted it all. No need to merge threads necessarily, I just had to give you shit about it.
User avatar
cobcob
Aequitas
Aequitas
Posts: 4687
Joined: Wed Jul 05, 2006 9:06 am
Location: Installing your mindcontrolanalprobe

Re: Springfield

Post by cobcob »

I appreciate your shit giving. It makes me feel loved.
I would prefer an online shit giving to the weekly mailings you've been doing though. Those USPS flatrate boxes don't hold up too well in the mail when they're loaded with poop.
GlassCurtain wrote:I like to masturbate during the sexual harassment films at work.
Pinkspider wrote:check here for geeky crotch eating goodness and crazy fake ass hair
User avatar
slow_walker
Shyest Street Sofa Champion Ever!
Shyest Street Sofa Champion Ever!
Posts: 4326
Joined: Wed Feb 01, 2006 1:17 am
Location: Seattle, Washington

Re: Springfield

Post by slow_walker »

Yeah, but the price is cheaper so I can mail it more often. When it comes to shit, I prefer quantity over quality.
User avatar
cobcob
Aequitas
Aequitas
Posts: 4687
Joined: Wed Jul 05, 2006 9:06 am
Location: Installing your mindcontrolanalprobe

Re: Springfield

Post by cobcob »

Could you Ziploc bag it?? That'd stop it from destroying the box and it would make it easier to categorize and store
GlassCurtain wrote:I like to masturbate during the sexual harassment films at work.
Pinkspider wrote:check here for geeky crotch eating goodness and crazy fake ass hair
User avatar
Scout
300+ Poster
300+ Poster
Posts: 320
Joined: Fri Sep 07, 2007 6:46 pm
Location: The Four States

Re: Springfield

Post by Scout »

That shit was fascinating. I love the part where all these hillbillies are just calmly killing these fucking things with hoes but it takes the cops, teargas, a shotgun and five rounds from a pistol. lol The guy beating it with a tire iron and then running over it four or five times sounds like he must've been from around these parts. :D
"That old hag hates my ass."
User avatar
cobcob
Aequitas
Aequitas
Posts: 4687
Joined: Wed Jul 05, 2006 9:06 am
Location: Installing your mindcontrolanalprobe

Re: Springfield

Post by cobcob »

Scout wrote:The guy beating it with a tire iron and then running over it four or five times sounds like he must've been from around these parts. :D
That had me intrigued too... He musta had stones the size of basketballs to try swinging a tire iron at a fucking cobra!
GlassCurtain wrote:I like to masturbate during the sexual harassment films at work.
Pinkspider wrote:check here for geeky crotch eating goodness and crazy fake ass hair
User avatar
slow_walker
Shyest Street Sofa Champion Ever!
Shyest Street Sofa Champion Ever!
Posts: 4326
Joined: Wed Feb 01, 2006 1:17 am
Location: Seattle, Washington

Re: Springfield

Post by slow_walker »

I was shocked by the woman who went into her garage after one and killed it with a garden hoe. Women don't usually go after snakes.
User avatar
cobcob
Aequitas
Aequitas
Posts: 4687
Joined: Wed Jul 05, 2006 9:06 am
Location: Installing your mindcontrolanalprobe

Re: Springfield

Post by cobcob »

*insert trouser snake joke here*
GlassCurtain wrote:I like to masturbate during the sexual harassment films at work.
Pinkspider wrote:check here for geeky crotch eating goodness and crazy fake ass hair
User avatar
lolabelle
Cursed With Hotness
Cursed With Hotness
Posts: 1533
Joined: Wed Oct 10, 2007 2:01 pm
Location: SWMO

Re: Springfield

Post by lolabelle »

where's the obligatory THIS THREADS FULL A HOES!! joke?

but ya, that's always a good read...
User avatar
BROUSER
Chief Adviser
Chief Adviser
Posts: 6455
Joined: Fri Sep 02, 2005 3:23 pm

Re: Springfield

Post by BROUSER »

I've heard that in comparison to other striking snakes, cobras are quite slow. I've killed copperheads with a shovel or other handheld implement several times. While the consequences of failure might be greater, I would imagine the battle would be similar, if not easier. I probably would not kill one with a tire iron, however. That's too short a tool for the job.
“An all-out attack on evolutionist thinking is possibly the only real hope our nations have of rescuing themselves from an inevitable social and moral catastrophe.”
― Ken Ham
User avatar
MONKEYMANN
400+ Poster
400+ Poster
Posts: 479
Joined: Thu Nov 22, 2007 1:39 am
Location: Jopin, Mo

Re: Springfield

Post by MONKEYMANN »

lolabelle wrote:where's the obligatory THIS THREADS FULL A HOES!! joke?

but ya, that's always a good read...
I knew that the "Hoe" jokes weren't too far away!!! LOL
I DIDN'T SAY THAT YOU SAID THAT I SAID THAT......
Post Reply