It used to be the mark of a good Samaritan to pick up a stranger in need and give them a lift if you happened to be driving in the same direction. However, in recent years, the act of hitchhiking has dropped off somewhat in the US due to all the horror stories of murder and abduction.
It´s a shame, really, because for the most part, it was just a cheap and friendly way of car sharing and helping people move across the country. But a few bad eggs ruined it for everyone. One of those bad eggs made its way into a Wolfboro man’s can and almost caused a disaster.
Steve Smart was driving his car, minding his own business, when he looked over to his driver’s side window. To his horror, he saw a snake crawling out of his driver’s side window, making its way into the vehicle.
“I didn’t know what it was,” Smart told WMUR. “The snake hit me in the arm, and I went, ‘What’s that?’ And it came right up out of the door, and it surprised me. No doubt about that.”
Emergency Exit
Keeping control of the car, he had to make a split-second decision before the snake became stressed and lashed out. Without pulling over, Smart attempted to throw the snake from the car.
Looking back, he said, “It just came right up, and it came over here, and it looked at me.” It was no small snake either, measuring around 2.5 meters by his recollection. “And then it turned like it was going to jump out. No, it didn’t jump out. It turned around, it jumped in my seat, under my seat.”
Along for the Ride
Most people would have pulled over and hunted for the snake, refusing to continue until it had been found and expelled, but Smart is no ordinary man. He´s not afraid of snakes, he stated, and so he just chose to continue his journey and wait until he got home.
“I go, ‘Well, it’s under my seat. I hope it doesn’t come up and sit with me,” he said. And, luckily, it didn´t. When he got home, he found it had been chilling on the back seats, wrapped up with a rake.
He said that he wasn´t too worried about the slithery stowaway because he knew that Wolfeboro doesn´t have rattlesnakes. Either way, keeping calm with a large snake in the car is impressive.