From Skilled Hands

The Peninsula Python Returns: A My Town Monday Post

By fromskilledhands ( June 28, 2009 at 4:23 am) · Filed under Giveaway, My Town Monday, Peninsula, Peninsula Python, Python Festival, Giveaway, My Town Monday, Peninsula, Peninsula Python

Ronda Russell, the proprietor of Peninsula’s Downtown Emporium, loves the Village of Peninsula and it’s history. She says, and rightly so, that Peninsula is full of stories. The story of the Peninsula Python is unique, one that was told all over the world in the summer of 1944. Over the next few weeks, I’ll be sharing some of Ronda’s stories about the Python and the festival she spearheaded in it’s honor. For more information about Python Day, slither on over here.

Last summer, I wrote about the story of the Peninsula Python:

So the story goes like this: back in the summer of 1944, a traveling circus came through Bath Township, which is a short distance from the Village of Peninsula. There was an accident in the local cemetery, and two large snakes escaped. One was found dead, and the other disappeared—for a short while.

Farmer Clarence Mitchell was tending his corn field. He reported that his dogs were mighty nervous for a couple of days; then they refused to go near his field. Mr. Mitchell looked up and said that he saw the biggest snake he had ever seen, sliding along the ground in plain site. Local historian Randy Bergdorf, of the Peninsula Library and Historical Society writes:

The first sighting of the python occurred on June 8, 1944, along Riverview Road in Northampton Township, about halfway between Ira and Everett. Local farmer, Clarence Mitchell, reported that he had seen a snake 15 to 18 feet long cross his fields and slide into the river. It was spotted later that day by Mike Bobacek on the other side of the river, near Szalay’s corn fields on Bolanz Road. Days later, paul and John Szalay saw mysterious tracks, “like from an auto tire,” weaving across their corn field on Akron-Peninsula Road, a few miles south of Peninsula. Those doubting the existence of the python decreased in numbers on June 23rd, when Mrs. Vaughan on Northampton Road saw the snake climb over the fence of her chicken yard with a noticeable lump in its middle.

Multiple sightings of the serpent were reported during that summer of 1944; the mayor organized the local Civil Defense organization into posses. Folks with loaded guns responded to reports of the wayward snake. The then director of the Cleveland Zoo, Fletcher Reynolds, pleaded for the life of the snake. He asked that anyone finding the reptile stay calm and phone him with the snake’s location, so he could come and take him alive. Locals came up with plans to capture the snake, from box traps, to clotheslines and sticks, to music.

By this time radio newscasters, and reporters from the United and Associated Presses were regularly reporting on the escapades of the snake that had become the Peninsula Python. The story was reported in the media that was sent to American troops abroad during WWII. Letters from soldiers came into the Village’s post office. Robert Bordner, a reporter from the old Cleveland Press was one of those who wrote about the snake; one of his stories was published in the Atlantic Monthly, in November, 1945.

Sightings of the reptile decreased; some folks wondered if the entire story was a hoax concocted by Bordner. Those who saw the snake stand by their stories.

What do you think?

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As always, Travis Erwin, an official PPP member, is the man at the helm of My Town Monday. Slither on over there and see what he has to say.

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9 comments »

Mary Ann said,

June 28, 2009 @ 8:06 pm

I think the python was real and that its ancestor will come slithering along any day now…
rudeek said,

June 28, 2009 @ 8:52 pm

How can I resist such a great offer? Count me in!
Barbara Martin said,

June 29, 2009 @ 12:05 am

The snake was real, of course; though to withstand a cold winter one never knows for sure if it was around the next summer. It’s a great story and one that should be handed down year after year.
Queenie said,

June 29, 2009 @ 2:37 am

Hi, thanks for visiting my blog via Pat, I’m just back from holiday, I had a great time. I don’t know about the snake, we don’t have many of them here in the UK. I’m not afraid of snakes like I am of some creepy-crawlies, and will happily handle one if I know it’s harmless, but I hope I never, ever meet a 15-18 foot python.
Patti Abbott said,

June 29, 2009 @ 7:38 am

There is usually a bit if not total truth in these legends.
Laura/centerdownhome said,

June 30, 2009 @ 7:08 am

The universe is made of stories, not atoms.
Muriel Rukeyser

I bet he’s still out there, eating the occassional chicken!
Barrie Summy said,

June 30, 2009 @ 6:10 pm

Of course, the snake was real. Of course! (I love seeing how I’m already a posse member!)
OldOldLady Of The Hills said,

July 2, 2009 @ 5:12 am

I like to think he was really there…! And if he wasn’t those that thought he was have enjoyed this whole thing a lot, PLUS now having this Legend about it all. He does sound very very scary though….lol!

These word verificatuion things are impossible to read…I’m now on my third try…Wish me luck!
#4!
Kiss said,

February 13, 2011 @ 9:37 pm

It’s all bullfeathers. Anyway, if someone killed and ate it, it probably tasted like chicken.