Cape Canaveral Snake

by Jerry Blackerby

Snakes, gators and other critters roamed the 15,000 acres of Cape Canaveral in 1964. The Cape area was sparsely populated with launch pads and widely separated buildings, which were filled with sophisticated tracking equipment. I wrote technical manuals for the radar equipment and needed to check a procedure to make sure it worked. I called a friend, John, at one of the tracking radar sites on the Cape to see if I could check the procedure at his site. He told me to come to the radar site that afternoon. As I walked from my car to the entrance door I passed a two-tiered rack of trashcans. I heard strange noises coming from a trashcan in the top tier that sounded like some critter trapped in the can. I pressed the buzzer to gain entrance to the building and John let me in. As we walked into the radar room, I asked John, "What is that strange noise coming from a trashcan outside?"

John matter-of-factly said, "A rattlesnake."

"What! What’s a rattlesnake doing in a trashcan?"

"Leon and Dan caught it using Jim’s snake noose. You remember how Jim always catches rattlesnakes anywhere near this building?"

"Yes, but I thought Jim was on vacation this week."

"He is. Leon was on the roof and saw a rattlesnake crawling behind the building. Leon and Dan grabbed Jim’s snake noose, ran outside, found the snake and caught it with the noose. Leon then put the snake in a trashcan and wise-cracked about how surprised the trash man will be when he opens the can."

"How big is that snake? It’s making a lot of noise in the trashcan."

"I didn’t see it, but Dan said it was huge, probably six feet long."

"Wow, anyone opening that trashcan will probably get bit in the face or upper body."

"Leon wasn’t thinking about someone getting bit when he put the snake in the trashcan. He was just joking around as he always does."

"Someone needs to do something about that trashcan and let the snake out before the trash truck gets here."

"I asked Leon to let the snake out, but he said he wasn’t crazy; he’s not touching that can. No one else wants to open the can and let that angry snake out, including me."

Leon walked up with a smirk on his face and said, "Jerry, you think you are so smart. You’re always bragging about being a Texan, just like Jim. Don’t all Texans catch snakes, eat rattlesnake meat and make belts from the snake skins. I proved that a guy from Chicago can catch a snake also. You’re the ‘smart’ technical writer always trying to tell us how to do our job. Why don’t you do something about the snake?"

"Leon, I do not catch snakes of any kind. I saw plenty of rattlesnakes back in Texas and have seen several here in Florida, but I give them a wide berth. That was a dumb thing to do, putting the snake in a trashcan. If that snake bites the trash man in the face, it can kill him. We need to do something to keep the trash man from getting bit."

I turned to John and said, "How about calling Pest Control like you did last week about that gator?" A week before, an alligator was resting next to my car when I was ready to leave and John called Pest Control to catch the gator.

John replied, "If I call Pest Control, they have to make out a report about the snake in a trashcan. I don’t want to get Leon and Dan in trouble so I guess we have to do something ourselves. Let’s go up on the roof to see if the trash truck is near."

Leon said, "I’ve got other things to do," and walked away.

John and I went out the door to the second floor landing. We saw the trashcan rack directly below us and heard the snake thrashing around in the can.

"Maybe we can tie a rope to the trashcan lid and lift it from up here. The snake can’t reach us up here," John said with a grin.

We went up the steps to the roof to see if the trash truck was anywhere in sight, but could not see it anywhere. As I looked around the roof I saw the ropes tying down the cover for the optical tracking telescope.

"John, look at those hooks on the optical tracker cover tie down ropes. Why can’t we tie a longer rope to one of the hooks and lift the lid from the landing? That way, we don’t have to get close to the snake. If we try to tie a rope to the trashcan lid, the lid might come off while we’re tying the rope. I don’t want to be close to that trashcan when the lid comes off."

John nodded and went to the optical tracker. He untied a short, tie down rope. We went back to the second floor landing and inside to find more rope. John tied the two ropes together and we went back out on the landing. The rest of the six-man radar crew followed us out on the landing.

John dropped the hook over the rail of the landing trying to hook the trashcan lid. The hook caught after a few tries and John pulled upward; the entire trashcan lifted. John lifted the can slowly until it cleared the rail of the trashcan rack. When the can was a foot or so above the rack, John let it drop; the trashcan bounced off the rail to the ground and the lid popped off. Everyone cheered.

The rattlesnake launched itself out of the trashcan, coiled immediately and began hissing and rattling. The snake looked huge; at least six feet long with a very thick body. The snake appeared to be looking directly toward all of us on the landing. I could feel the hair on my head standing straight up.

The snake looked like it wanted to bite someone. It became very quiet on the landing as everyone quit cheering and looked at the snake. I was glad we were on the second floor and not near the snake.

The snake finally uncoiled and slithered across the parking lot into the bushes. The thickness of its body seemed to shrink as it crawled away.

John looked up and said, "There’s the trash truck, just pulling in at the telemetry building. It should be here in a few minutes."

I said to John, "I have goose bumps all over and it feels like my hair is standing straight up. I am glad that’s over. Let’s get the new procedure checked so I can get out of here before dark. I do not want to meet that snake between the door and my car; especially in the dark."

John smiled and said, "Leon, you can help Jerry check out the new procedure. Now, let’s all get back to work."

Everyone, except Leon, laughed as we re-entered the radar room. A shiver of relief went through my body and I thought, "Well, I’ve run into gators and snakes out here. What’s next?"