This is some Frontier Partisan action right here, boys! From BBC:
An Arizona man has survived two days trapped alone in a mineshaft with rattlesnakes.
He killed three of the snakes while waiting to be discovered, according to rescue crews.
John Waddell, 62, was lowering himself into a 100ft (30m) gold mine shaft, when his equipment broke, said a friend who found him.
Mr Waddell broke both his legs and survived for 48 hours with no food or water, officials say.
Emergency teams worked for over six hours to remove him from the abandoned mine and airlift him to hospital.
Terry Schrader, a friend of the victim, told local media that Mr Waddell had called him on Monday to tell him he was going into the mine to look for gold and precious metals, and asked that he check on him if he had not returned by Tuesday.
Waugh!
Ugly Hombre says
Shades of “True Grit”.
Yeesh…
JimC says
Right?
Black Tyrone says
One my favorites and anniversary edition in PB is now out with an interesting essay. Right up there with Edison’s The Missing. Both are good reading. Also Hudson Palisades within sight of NYC skyline is one of the last area strong holds of the Eastern Timber rattler.
felonious monk says
And also in breaking news: Glenn Innes, NSW, Australia hosts Outlander Festival
and girl in Sweden pulls a 1500 year old sword out of a lake.
JimC says
That girl’s name is Saga. Sometimes, the gods smile.
lane batot says
Tastes like chicken……
Black Tyrone says
Heck Lane, Everything tastes like chicken..Alligator and frog taste like chicken! Ha Ha.
Eccentric Cowboy says
Wow, now that is one devil of a survival story! Darned smart that he mentioned to a pal where to look for him and when. Probably saved his life more than anything else.
I wish him a speedy recovery. He certainly deserves it!
JimC says
Letting someone know where you’re heading to is pretty critical Survival 101.
Ugly Hombre says
https://www.outsideonline.com/2315436/surviving-rattlesnake-bite
Went to get a fang fixed and found this article in a magazine while waiting- first rate stuff.
Thought some might like to see it.
Bit by a snake is a pretty bad way to go, the gent who wrote the article damn near did not make it. Lots of good information in his story.
“I recall seeing a dust-red coil in new grass, but to me the snake was more of a sensation: a light tap just above the sock on my right ankle. Then I passed out.”
No bueno. Stay wide awake out there- watch where you put yer mitts and clodhoppers.
JimC says
I will never forget seeing a buddy’s girlfriend do the cartoon levitate-and-sprint-away-like-a-bullet when we came upon a HUGE diamondback on the trail near Wrightwood, California. Still the biggest snake I’ve ever seen up close and personal. I am right there with Indiana Jones when it comes to snakes.
Matthew says
My mother hates snakes to the point that things that are remotely similar can freak her out. Poorly drawn cartoons of snakes. Pieces of hoses.
Christopher Whitcomb in his book Cold Zero about his time in the FBI Hostage Rescue Team mentions one time training as a sniper with the marines seeing a man bitten by a snake. They were crawling though a grassy field when someone radio in that there was a snake. Whitcomb stayed still and it slithered past him. Next thing he knew one of the Marines screamed and jumped up. The snake had bitten him on the lip and was hanging there. They immediately got him to a medic.
Robert E. Howard was probably afraid of snakes. They show up a lot in his stories.
JimC says
Yes, I’m pretty sure REH had a snake thing.