Huge Snakes in Hanover Area
A while ago I wrote about how we like to impress others with what we have–the biggest and best.
Click here to read about giant pumpkins and corn.
The Hanover newspapers reported on the really big black snakes seen in that part of the county in May of 1878.
First, from the Hanover Citizen:
“BLACK SNAKE KILLED.–On Easter, a black snake, measuring between six and seven feet long, came to the premises of Mr. Ephraim Shue, in Manheim Township, and ran up a tree in the yard in front of Mr. Shue’s house. Mr. Shue procured his gun and shot the snake which proved to be in size as indicated.”
That was a good sized snake, longer than most men are tall. Of course the one that got away is usually bigger.
From the Hanover Spectator:
“A MONSTER SNAKE”–On Sunday afternoon last Messrs. Daniel Erisman and Winfield S. Flickinger, of our town, while passing through a field near Mumma’s Dam, within a short distance of the York road, encountered a monster black snake, which they describe as being from ten to twelve feet in length and of immense thickness. The snake, however, eluded their efforts to capture him by crawling in a hole. Persons residing in the vicinity assert that they have frequently seen this snake at various times within the past fifteen years, and that it is of monstrous size.”
According to the online encyclopedia at dictionary.com, black rat snakes–our common black snakes–can reach eight feet in length, so Mr. Shue’s visitor sound plausible.
As far as the one seen by Erisman and Flickinger: I’m guessing Mumma’s Dam was on Oil Creek in Penn Township, near where Mumma Ave. turns off of York Street to go to Baresville Elementary School. I would have liked to have seen that one. Well, maybe not.
