The entire time I was expecting some sort of epic rug pull at the end. Like it turned out the Leader & Press had made the story up entirely, or the original identifiers of the Cobras were overzealous and they weren't actually Cobras or something. That it turned out to be a genuine thing was, in it's own way, a greater subversion than the rug pull I anticipated.
Mowrer didn't know he was innocent of releasing the snakes, just that did infact originate from his business and that his handling and storage of all the animals was reckless and unseemly. still on his head
Rio: Commits animal abuse (dead penguin, rotting vegetables, fecal matter spilling out), "miss identifies" deadly cobra, tries to hid dead cobra, and straight up just steals evidence. Also Rio: What do you mean I'm your chief suspect?
@@crazy_wwww I see your comment and without ever playing the game, and only seeing a couple let's plays for reference, I can almost hear the opening sequence, the percussion rolling around in my head that starts each roumd of sleuthing. .
On one hand, the kid basically risked his town all because of a dead pet fish. On the other hand, that same kid’s actions lead to the reveal of Mouwer’s seedy behavior and callous disregard for animal welfare. (I mean, a dead penguin?!)
Im assuming the kid also didn't know the pet shop owner was running a shop in unsafe conditions so you gotta admire the level of pettiness it took for the kid to not only tip over a box of snakes but also keep quiet about it until adulthood all because of a dead fish. 😆
Imagine if the store owner had literally just said "Yeah, someone broke into my store and let loose a bunch of cobras". Could have avoided like 90% of the shit.
@@resmur8095 well he was pretty close to getting that for the cobras just by doing what he did- if he pretended it was a robbery or teen prank gone wrong, it’s harder to blame him alone. Especially if he moved the snakes after, like he was supposed to lol
@@resmur8095 what? He had a crate of cobras out back, and then he later found the crate but empty. He knew precisely what had happened and acted like a shady idiot.
"What is an armed snake dealer from Oklahoma doing in Springfield, Missouri at the height of a bizarre cobra outbreak?" is definitely one of my favorite out of context quotes & the tone of voice makes it 100 times better.
From the GI Joe wiki: “Unbeknownst to the world at large, Cobra already as established a foothold in the United States, specifically the seemingly inconspicuous town of Springfield. At first glance, it has all the appearances of nice little town with nice midwestern values. Stick around, though, and the people might just convince you to stay and believe... believe in the Cobra philosophy”
A local craft brewery in Springfield, Mo has a sour wheat ale called 'Cobra Scare'. I always thought it was an intriguing name for a beer but never knew there was an actual backstory!
@@deathjunior7755 As someone born and raised in Springfield Missouri have known this story for years and years and years. If someone ever makes a movie about this it needs to have Brad Pitt in it because he is a native Springfieldian.
@@JohnSmith-ox3gy Cobra is a snake, cobra is just what we commonly call elapid snakes, most of them belong to the genus Naja I don't even know why i'm saying that to you since you could just look that up yourself but fuc* it
snakes are scared of people and only bite to defend themselves, keep your distance and call a snake relocater if you see a cobra and you'll be fine. Most bites happen because people try to mess with the snakes. It's more dangerous to try to kill them then to leave them alone and most snakes are harmless to people and wonderful for the ecosystem
@@baguettewoman1413 though if you do see cobras in the us, well, other than coral snakes in the regions they are native, try to quickly find an expert to ID and contain. We have enough invasive reptiles in the country. Hawaii has it really bad.
I'm 44 years old and have lived in the Springfield Missouri area for most of my life. I have heard only a couple of times about this story, but never from anyone who was around when it happened. Both of my parents were born in 1955 and were new to the area when I was little. Only now did I finally know it was real lol. Good job!
What do you mean you didn’t know there’s literally a museum on the Square that has the newspaper clippings and articles all about it like right on the Square the north east corner across from the drivers license bureau the same side as the rickshaw inn
He probably hunted, or was in the war like people said. Target shooting has very little impact on making shots in the field and he landed an impressive amount of shots on a small moving target after unexpectedly having to drop a shotgun and ready his pistol.
When you got to the point of the story when they sent out the speaker truck playing the Indian snake-charming music, I broke down laughing for almost a minute.
I have worked at local exotic pet shop in my state. Yep, had a certain species of cobra... It's normal within the exotic community... You can still order skunks, capybaras, meerkats, several species of primate, venomous snakes, arachnids, and so on...
I love the color language on this video so damn much. Green is almost everywhere, so any bits of red, especially with Reo Mowrer, stand out incredibly. And City Manager Hansen being grey for total indifference was good too.
Wow this is like a quest from an rpg: “A messenger from the shire of Rattlingham has just come in today. The town is in a state of disaster; peasants dare not go into their fields or to their wells, for the town has become host to a plague of venomous snakes of monstrous proportions!”
Honestly, hearing about the state of his shop when investigated by police, i feel like she was pretty shady, and deserved every drop of hate from the public. He didn't have any regard for the animals, and a tragedy would happen sooner or later
100% agree that shop owner sounded like a piece of garbage of a human being left a poor penguin Dead with a bunch of regular penguins knew that some of his cobras were missing didn't tell anybody cuz he feared about his money 🤑 and than people that damn town I hope he's burning in hell
i personally disagree the conditions may have been poor, but for the time that was standard; still not why i disagree though its likely the penguin recently died due to the stress of the entire situation on Mowrer, i mean, if the entire town is yelling at you to get the fuck out, your constantly recieving death threats, your having to move your ENTIRE stock of probably atleast 50 animals offsite to a new location (AND THAT STILL ISNT GOOD ENOUGH) despite you not having done anything, that probably takes a toll enough to neglect feeding one of the many many animals he had on sight, its sad but its likely that this contributed significantly to the death of the penguin. And, side note, while the police investigated his store he was out of town at a carnival, so the penguin could have died during his visit away.
Here is the thing: as far as he was aware, for some unknown reason some of his boxes broke and the snakes escaped. So from his point of view, he was not innocent, and lied through his teeth to save his ass.
@@azzzertyy given that he runs a freaking pet store but no one has any sympathy towards him show how "well" he runs his business. I doubt the actual perpetrator was the only one who hated his attitude. There's a family owned pet store near where I live that has operated since my grandparents were kids (about 70 years ago) where to this day most local pets were bought there and the owners are well beloved now and even then (and has since also expanded into a vet). So, no. He is a terrible business owner/operator/manager in general and potentially endangered the town with lies and negligence. So what? He was away and hired NOBODY to look after the store? He was under investigation and he decides it was a good idea to go to a carnival and sell his wares? He has connections to bring in a freaking cobra into town but neglected to keep them secured?
The Simpsons did a lore episode based on this. The "snake whacking day" when the whole town of Springfield goes out with sticks to hunt snakes. Lisa tries to stop it.
@@lesleyderrick7449 if !YOU! Don’t give AF about grammar, tense, plural vs, singular, and completely worn words, and nonsense sentences; why do you think we would? Did you type this while driving ? Your auto-correct was not able to make coherent sentences out of your comment. Yet you dump it here in the web like a vase of de-fanged cobras. Imagine how much of the web is just clogged with nonsense comments that even the author never bothered to read. In the future: there will be moon-sized storage facilities of garbage dumped onto the web that the author did Not care enough to check before posting and no one else was able to decipher. Imagine how much taxes we pay the NSA to collect this garbledy-gook and analyze and store it, just in case it is some secret terrorist code or call to prayer. tl;dr if you turn your spellcheck and auto correct “off”, then your comments may actually make MORE sense. How many people does that apply to?
How’s it go… we’ll release snakes to kill the lizards and the Monkeys to kill the snakes? “But then won’t we be left with a bunch of monkeys?” “That’s the beauty of it when winter comes around the monkeys will die off…” different episode
I actually already knew that, snake charming is actually mostly the movement of the flute itself. So I was just sitting here like, "snakes don't have ears" and giggled like a maniac at the reveal
What a fiasco! Snake charming music! LOL! The good news is that no one was harmed but keeping cobras? I went to college in Springfield and never heard this story.
2:04 "...a deadly Indian Cobra, one thousand miles from its native habitat." Continental drift happened a lot more quickly and a lot later than I thought. I never would have guessed that as recently as 1953, Springfield, Missouri was only one thousand miles from South Asia.
I know right? I can't wrap my head around this? How does a guy in a small midwestern town make a living selling monkeys and penguins and shit? Where was he even finding penguins to begin with?
Wow, this live-action version of the Simpson’s “Whacking Day” episode is pretty crazy. It has snakes, a town named Springfield, and even a city-wide snake hunt.
The thing that surprised my the most about this video that indeed in this town the people did not run away from all those cobra's, but all just wondered "a cobra, now where did I put my whacking stick"
One of your best videos, Austin. It’s a fantastic story in itself but your way of articulating it and presenting it in a way that’s enjoyable and engaging for 30 minutes is really impressive!
Thanks, James! I appreciate you taking the time to watch. If you want to do me a solid and you've got some free time, share the video around with others. Hope you have a great weekend!
That's what I was thinking, especially if it was slithering. The fact that a cobra was even alive after 5 shots of presumably a .357 or .38 (given the time period) is also wild.
@zama422: That's not news to me -- I lost track of how many copperheads my mother killed with a garden hoe in or near our homes in Virginia. I killed one myself with a garden hoe in my father's basement office, not to mention he stomped a young one to death with his bedroom slippers on the stairs as he was heading to do some work in his basement printing shop. 🐍
@@carrott36 Nice try, but y'all Aussies have to deal with snakes that are a lot more dangerous than anything we Americans have to face, not to mention everything else trying to kill you on land and in the water. I think Australia is a nice place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there. Even going for a swim can get you killed if not eaten! I prefer dealing with the copperheads in Virginia -- at least I've never heard of a fatal copperhead bite. Eastern diamondback rattlesnakes are a lot more dangerous than copperheads, but much more rare, since I've never seen one outside a zoo. I've only seen a couple cottonmouths/water moccasins and always in water -- in the Potomac River near Washington, D.C. and in a swamp in a park near Alexandria. The venomous snakes in Virginia are a lot less dangerous than those in Australia. I don't live in the Florida Everglades, so I don't have to worry about alligators, crocodiles or more dangerous snakes. At least you Aussies don't have to deal with black mambas, since they're in Africa.
Would probably have to further dramatize. Maybe like 300 snakes, and maybe have a fight scene in a school where a band of misfit kids fights off the horde to save all the younger kids + add a fainted teacher for comedic effect. Also add a bad cop with a heart of gold who rushes in and makes a makeshift flamethrower to kill all the snakes as his act of redemption. Plus have him bite by one, but the female love interest who is also a doctor who doesn't play by men's rules rushes in with the antivenom to save him. Damn I'm good. This movie is gonna be great.
I think it would! The best way to do it essentially to make Jaws as if it would have been made by the Coen brothers instead. Not dramatize too much and just highlight the absurdity of it all. Make sure to have Charles be a side character throughout the film and then have the plot twist at the end would make it as dumb as the real life story.
The way you presented this story is absolutely hilarious! Thanks so much. I needed a good laugh. I'm glad the people of Springfield had their garden tools and knew how to use them. LOL
He may not have released the snakes but he should have KNOWN he was missing a dozen venemous reptiles. Also, he shouldn't have taken advantage of that 14 year old evil genius.
I feel like the tropical fish probably wasn’t kept in the conditions necessary for its survival by the 14yo it would have died with a week or two anyway
I was born in Springfield and have a lot of family in the area. This is the first time I've heard about this story. Mowrer may not have let the snakes out, but he was definitely culpable for not providing the Police information that he knew 12 venomous snakes had been released in the middle of the city. His shop should have been promptly shut down when they found the conditions it was in from their inspection.
I'm gonna be honest, this is one of the first times where I'm okay with someone getting falsely accused. This guy was clearly negligent and had a disregard for the animals he was caring for and obviously abused them, not to mention he did some of the suspicious things someone can possibly do. Yeah I'm fine with this guy getting run out of town.
I mean those WERE his snakes, and he did the shadiest shit to avoid blame, so "falsely accused" just isnt correct, he was involved and it was still his fault to some degree
I feel like the ending is supposed to make us feel sympathy for Mowrer, but I truly just do not lol. Not only did he have deplorable living conditions for exotic animals, and not only did he have these dangerous animals in the first place, but he continued to do the shadiest shit possible in response to these events. I feel no sympathy for that man even if it's not his fault the snakes got loose.
i feel like Mowrer was more of a sociopath than the kid. who tells a kid "well that's how business works LMAO just go eat it!" and expects them NOT to take revenge on you??
I’m not sure you are supposed to feel badly for him. He knew they were his snakes and lied about them being accounted for, all while mistreating his animals. The video acknowledges all of it. If anything I felt it was framed as poetic justice that he’s never “vindicated” during his life.
The part when they blasted snake charmer music around town was awesome. Kind of reminded me of when i was a teenager and the place where i worked had a problem with birds pooping on the picnic tables. they wanted a cheap way to get rid of the problem, so rather than put shade roofs over the tables they went with the suggestion of putting rubber snakes in the trees to scare the birds away. It was great when the next day after the snakes were put there, we had visitors from Japan. The look of amazement of the sheer stupidity of the whole thing was priceless. I was in tears explaining the reason for the snakes while they looked at me with disdain for treating my bosses so shamefully, yet they too couldn't hold back the smiles. People ask me why i would do such a thing and it's because i have a picture-perfect memory and have to put some good memories in my head to keep me going in this world. Still makes me smile 🤣🤣🤣
@@CinemaDemocratica You're giving way too much credit to a guy with a deab penguin, rotting food, suspicious and dangerous behavior preceding the cobra event. Super likely he overstocked his fish and the thing died just because of that, but selling exotic stock in the "typical plastic bag" is incomprehensible to me at its face. The guy was obviously inexperienced in way too many things, but the difficulty of keeping most fish labeled "exotic" especially in the 50s had to have been stupid hard and he would have known the fish to die when handing it over to the kid.
@@genericrandomness3455 She ran a brothel in Springfield in the early 1900's. She refused to be passive when the law came after her. Interesting woman.
I really love that Cobra's casual body language at 12:10 Like it's in the middle of venting what kind of rough day it's been having before the girl's dad gets it with the board
I've got family in Springfield MO that would have been there around that time. I'll have to see if Aunt Bonnie remembers any of this. Great story - thanks for sharing!!
I for one remember that very well. My daddy worked at the newspaper as a photographer. I am sure most of the photos were taken by him. I remember the boa because I saw it stretched out on the ground as he photographed it. But my strongest memory is of the monkey incident. My little sister and I were both with Daddy when he went to cover the capture. The monkey was in a garage up in the rafters and the men were having no luck getting their hands on it. So someone came up with the brilliant idea of sticking my sister up there so the monkey would come to her. I well remember the screaming fit she had over that idea. I sure laughed all during the video, well told, thanks.
MOO- Snuckle 1 second ago If youve ever seen a alligator snapping turtle capable of snapping your hand off at the wrist like we have here, its not as sad. Think less michaelangelo and more bowser. Dont feel bad for those assholes lol
I remember learning about this event in the early 90’s. I don’t know if Springfield still celebrates “Whacking Day”, but it did make for a funny episode.
Tʀᴀᴘᴘᴇᴅ ɪɴ ᴀ ʙᴏᴡʟɪɴɢ ᴀʟʟᴇʏ ᴅᴜʀɪɴɢ ᴀ ᴠɪᴄɪᴏᴜs sɴᴏᴡsᴛᴏʀᴍ, ғᴏᴜʀ ᴜɴʟɪᴋᴇʟʏ ʜᴇʀᴏᴇs sǫᴜᴀʀᴇ ᴏғғ ᴀɢᴀɪɴsᴛ ᴄᴏʙʀᴀs ɪɴ ᴛʜᴇ sᴍᴀsʜ ʜɪᴛ ᴏғ ᴡɪɴᴛᴇʀ 202x! (Cameo by Samuel L. Jackson, as the owner of the bowling alley.)
I gotta say, this whole town was super cavalier about just killing these six foot long, highly venomous snakes. If I saw a fucking cobra, I would scream.
People were far tougher back then. The men off to war during that era (WWI, WWII, and Korea) so the women and kids learned to deal for themselves. Nowadays, people would scream until they ruptured themselves and then sued the cops & EMS for it!
Even today, Springfield is a VERY small city in an extremely rural county. It's a part of the country that has a lot of venomous Coppermouth (Water Moccasion) and Rattlesnakes. I remember once being threatened by a Coppermouth crossing a river as we were canoeing past. It was all of about 5 seconds we were facing each other and I spent the whole time ready to swat the thing with my oar if it got adventurous. Most of my family from around those parts won't hesitate to kill snakes in their yard or run over them in the road.
This guy was still the villain. He lied repeatedly, stole evidence, and the dang snake WERE HIS! He may not have instigated the incident but he built the tender box. Just because he didn’t light the match does not alleviate his guilt.
Eh lying and destroying evidence isn’t as bad as letting over 10 deadly snakes loose, also one of the fastest venous snakes. Surprised no people were bitten given people actively hunting for them
And how many! Imagine if they had known from the start that they were looking for 12. They could have swept the area immediately around the shop and probably find the snakes much faster.
When they show the picture of the shop, it looks like a house we lived in when I was little. We lived in the 1400 block of Olive, but i'm old so I'm not exactly sure. A little bit of a rundown area when I was little.
I just realized, Rio would have known the whole time the cobras where lose, but he did not tell the police anything, all it would have taken was 3 people to get bit and there would be no more anti venom
The weirdest part about this is the town panicking though. Like "oh god, there may now be 12 cobras out there. What if they hide amongst the venomous copperheads and cottonmouth snakes already native to the area?"
Yah a Little bit, but they have anti venom not sure and if we have even any neurotoxin snakes in missouri only vipers I think not sure but that may affect treatment in atleast keeping someone stable. Personally I'd be most worried about their behavior: where will it hide? How aggressive?
@@swampdonkey1567 Even with the relative lethality considered it still seems strange to me. Its 12 snakes as far as these people knew, compared against all the natural and man made risks to life they faced daily. This seems a lot more like some weird kind of snake xenophobia and media panic than it does any kind of considered risk assessment.
Yo I grew up in KC been all over Missouri what about the rattlesnakes and water moccasins they ain't thug enuff? Them cottonmouths (water moccasin same snake idk) aggressive as hell come at you. You'll know real quick out fishing and one falls in the boat everybody getting wet.
At the Ozarks Empire Fair Police Koisk: there were pages from the newspaper all about the snake scare. When the story was presented in 1988; I was 24, and I knew the story it referred to. As no one died; all limitations statutes had expired. If anyone starts with stupid things they did when young; Barnett can always tell them to hold His beer and listen. He tormented himself for 35years over this. I respect Him for clearing it up. 👍
Imagine being the new city manager for a small city in Missouri, missing your first couple of days due to a painful UT issue, and just glad to be past that and finally getting started to work: "OK, what's our first order of business?" "The cobras." "Cobras? Is that the high school mascot or an acronym?" "No, actual cobras! Snakes. Several Indian cobras have been spotted and killed across town in the last couple of days." "What the ACTUAL FFF....?"
Absolutely fascinating. One thing I noticed though - snakes are basically never poisonous; the correct term is "venomous". There were also a couple of times where "viper" and other terms were used for cobras that aren't accurate, but the poison vs venom thing was the most obvious. You're doing an amazing job and it's not a huge deal - I just know you like to be correct in the way you talk about things so hope this helps!
@@PabloSanchez-qu6ib incredibly rare and only one has been actually found as I know it, and it is also venemous. Its poison also only comes from its diet.
I lost track of your channel years ago & was delighted to rediscover your content on Nebula. You’ve absolutely got to keep making really weird history. You’ve only got 5 of them. They are all fantastic - but more would be greatly appreciated. Thx
Actually, since king cobras are predators of other snakes, some civic minded Floridian should establish breeding colonies of them in the state, thereby enabling them to control the invasive python problem. No need to mention this to the government or scientists, after all, they never do anything useful.
I’m glad the views were there for this one. Loved this and the times beach video. Looking forward to any new video essays/mini documentaries you are planning. I’m sure you can get a good format going for this channel and make it really big again. On that note, you don’t really have a format. Sometimes you make movie reviews, sometimes you look into weird questions, sometimes you do challenges, and sometimes you make documentaries. A format might limit you creatively but it might be something to look into.
Its crazy how he was worried about his buisness and hired an atorney and was talking about his innocence yet didnt tell anyone as to why he was innocent. He mustve known about the missing snakes maybe not initially because of how negligent he was but atleast later. And because of that he felt like he never could tell anyone the truth or did not know wheter it was an accident.
Thanks! They’re my favorite kind of video to make. I’m hoping it picks up some traffic in the next day or two… right now it’s on pace to be one of my worst performing videos all year. 😣 Do me a favor and share it around, if you have some time. Hope you’re having a great week! Take care.
I've missed these type of videos, it's what got me into your channel in the first place and i applaud you for still managing to find the time to make them. It was a joy as always! Hope to see another one again... maybe even next year? :P
Your continued ability to tap into off-the-wall topics and STILL complete engage me proves once again why you are my favorite RUclipsr! Merry Christmas Austin!!
This story is absolutely hilarious, but honestly Austin, your quality on story telling has increased 10 fold, from the art style to the music and narration, this is incredible high quality, its been great seeing you develop with this and get so good at it. please keep doing videos like these
Cobras are awesome, especially Kings (not actually Cobras, I know) and this guy was a turd. The dead Penguin really sucked. I'm from Missouri, a Cobra-lover and never heard this. Great video.
Im a kansas city native who just started watching your videos. Id love more of these history videos! Doesnt even have to be about Missouri these are interesting!
At 20:03 min mark, the newspaper article refers to the 'Merlin' Perkins Zoo in Branson. MARLIN Perkins was the creator of the Branson Zoo to help promote the cave tour business in what is now part of Silver Dollar City amusement park. Marlin Perkins was also curator of the world famous St Louis Zoo and the TV program spokesman for 'Zoo Parade' in the 1950's then for 24 years 'Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom'.
This was a great documentary on something I'd never heard of, I can so easily see it being a movie that's part suspense part dry comedy. Could even have a catchy title insulting Mauer, like 13 Snakes or 12 Snakes and a Rat.
This is a great video. Very well produced. You guys did an excellent job. I had things to do but stuck out the whole video. How has this not been made into a movie by now? Christopher Walken could play Reo. Ahahahaha
So well done with attention grabbing and humorous visuals peppered with relevant news from the time, that praise must be given to you and StoryBlocks for a brilliant collaboration. Nice work.
That was a solid twist, and totally something to come out of Missouri. The most unbelievable part for me was the penguins, PENGUINS 😳 in a pet store, honestly I kinda wonder what else they had back then
Exotic animals even to this day is hardy any effort for those who know how and where to look i myself have found zebra's, african porcupines, venamous snakes of many species, exotic rodent species such as patagonian hares and capibaras, multiple crocodillian species, douzins of rare exotic bird species, moray eels and pirahnas and it just keeps going and thats just in europe and i know that in america you can get large cats and bears without to much effort aswell
I'm surprised Mower wasn't lynched, or at least tarred and feathered. The biggest shock is that after they found out he was storing the snakes so close by, they still left him to his own devices to move them again.
Weird thing, I remember hearing a story like this from a friend from Springfield that moved to KC, told me about how his dad saw one of the Snakes mentioned in this story, what a small world.
It’s honestly quite sad that these poor animals had to die for this. I understand that they are dangerous but being around the presence of people clearly stressed them out causing them to show signs of aggression like that. Instead of shooting the snakes the police could have easily relocated them. But I suppose it was earlier times then, animal safety wasn’t exactly cared for then. I mean hell, the dude was housing monkeys and penguins in awful environments, and those are warm blooded creatures, the poor reptiles and amphibians probably had terrible vitamin deficiencies. God it is just terrible to think about. With that aside; Austin, this was an extremely interesting video. Thank you for making such amazing videos that not only entertain but bring light to and educate about subjects and events that would have otherwise flown under all of our radars. And to whoever is reading this, I hope you have a nice day!
You did a great job putting this story together. I live just south of Springfield and one of our daughters lives there now. She hates snakes so I have to share this with her!
This is the coolest thing I have seen on RUclips this year... I know it's early in the year, but RUclips will really have to impress me in the remainder of the year to surpass the amount of awesome I just listened to
daily life in the ozarks to be honest. We somewhere near 100 different typea of snakes and every water snake here is venomous. With the difficulty to see a copperhead with their camo, anytime you walk 100 ft in any wilderness, theres a good chance you never saw the snake you never noticed.
Thanks for watching! I'd really appreciate you sharing the video around, if possible. These take a ton of work, and they don't usually perform as well as I'd like.
@@austinmcconnell barely sociable commented and as a sub of his I would def see the appeal if you reached out and asked him to share too. Every little helps and I hope your heart is still hearty enough :)
I didn't realize iguanas had ever been an item in US pet stores. But my dog is buried in a local cemetery that has a pet section, and I've seen a marker for "Charlie, my beloved iguana, miss you sweet baby." That lizard has been gone for fourteen years, and it's still getting flowers on its grave.
That was wildly entertaining. I love that you detailed the weapons of choice for each encounter and the cobra-safe homes hustle was hilariously American
My great grand father was a Judge in Greene County (Springfield). The old court house is right across the street from where this started. He saw one rise up with hood out. When he came home and told his family they thought he was suffering from dementia. I remember that story up till my mom died in 1991. When I first found THIS out about 6 years ago I couldn't believe it was real! Besides old Pappy NOT being crazy my other favorite part is that the snakes were mostly killed by hoes! 😂
Wow, this is just a few blocks from my grandparents old house in the 1100 block of E Walnut! I did not know this! Now I'll have to drive up to Springfield from Joplin to see where this happened. Thank you for the opportunity to learn something historically significant about my family history!
Hey does anybody remember that news story about The Deadly Hornets? And how we all thought that that was going to be one of the major things of 2020? How naive we were.
The first half feels like a real life mystery thriller and the second feels like a comedy
After 1 minutes I was thinking "Oh, haha, it was just a misunderstanding." Checks timestamp, 28 minutes remining. Hoo boy.
Legit a Coens movie in the making
The entire time I was expecting some sort of epic rug pull at the end. Like it turned out the Leader & Press had made the story up entirely, or the original identifiers of the Cobras were overzealous and they weren't actually Cobras or something.
That it turned out to be a genuine thing was, in it's own way, a greater subversion than the rug pull I anticipated.
I want a movie about this parodying Zodiac (2007) style
Wait how hard would it be to shot a cobra ,just curious ?
Mowrer: officers I'm innocent, why do you blame me
Also Mowrer: *does the most suspicious things that could connect him to the case*
Like running from cops even though you probably just have a taillight out or something.
Mowrer didn't know he was innocent of releasing the snakes, just that did infact originate from his business and that his handling and storage of all the animals was reckless and unseemly. still on his head
He knew his deadly snakes where missing though.
He's the IRL Jester, omg! XD
@@najrenchelf2751 why not IFL Jester?
I love the idea of the pet shop owner listening to a police scanner running to snake calls before the cops can.
Rio: Commits animal abuse (dead penguin, rotting vegetables, fecal matter spilling out), "miss identifies" deadly cobra, tries to hid dead cobra, and straight up just steals evidence. Also Rio: What do you mean I'm your chief suspect?
*s u s* p e c t AMOGUS
poor penguin
@@crazy_wwww I see your comment and without ever playing the game, and only seeing a couple let's plays for reference, I can almost hear the opening sequence, the percussion rolling around in my head that starts each roumd of sleuthing.
.
he didn't "mis-identify" it, he lied about it. he knew it was a dangerous species and told a bunch of lies he thought would be swallowed
@@rhueoflandorin yeah that's why op put misidentifying in quotes
On one hand, the kid basically risked his town all because of a dead pet fish. On the other hand, that same kid’s actions lead to the reveal of Mouwer’s seedy behavior and callous disregard for animal welfare. (I mean, a dead penguin?!)
I know right! Who keeps penguins in their backyard in the US?
@@hatty_hattington. that in the first place! Unless it was a ck,d place or a freezer
Im assuming the kid also didn't know the pet shop owner was running a shop in unsafe conditions so you gotta admire the level of pettiness it took for the kid to not only tip over a box of snakes but also keep quiet about it until adulthood all because of a dead fish. 😆
That sounds like straight up karma.
@@JoshMakesMovies1 😂😂
I love the mental image of mower just popping out from somewhere every time a snake is found to whisk it away in his sack
Imagine if the store owner had literally just said "Yeah, someone broke into my store and let loose a bunch of cobras". Could have avoided like 90% of the shit.
Don't want to be charged with negligence if someone got bit by the cobras
@@resmur8095 well he was pretty close to getting that for the cobras just by doing what he did- if he pretended it was a robbery or teen prank gone wrong, it’s harder to blame him alone. Especially if he moved the snakes after, like he was supposed to lol
@@averyeml he didn't know what happened to the cobras, from his perspective a shipment of cobras just gone missing
@@resmur8095 what? He had a crate of cobras out back, and then he later found the crate but empty. He knew precisely what had happened and acted like a shady idiot.
@@drakemarsaly6644 probably because he was a shady idiot
"What is an armed snake dealer from Oklahoma doing in Springfield, Missouri at the height of a bizarre cobra outbreak?" is definitely one of my favorite out of context quotes & the tone of voice makes it 100 times better.
I legit thought he was trying to eliminate the shop owner
From the GI Joe wiki:
“Unbeknownst to the world at large, Cobra already as established a foothold in the United States, specifically the seemingly inconspicuous town of Springfield. At first glance, it has all the appearances of nice little town with nice midwestern values. Stick around, though, and the people might just convince you to stay and believe... believe in the Cobra philosophy”
I burst out laughing at that part
He goes where he is needed.
That is the most Lemony Snicket thing I've ever heard 😂
A local craft brewery in Springfield, Mo has a sour wheat ale called 'Cobra Scare'. I always thought it was an intriguing name for a beer but never knew there was an actual backstory!
As a Springfield native, neither did I.
@@deathjunior7755 As someone born and raised in Springfield Missouri have known this story for years and years and years. If someone ever makes a movie about this it needs to have Brad Pitt in it because he is a native Springfieldian.
@@hartofnixie7060 as a Rolla native, I yell "truth!" To this.
I'm a Springfield native...
Springfield, il
@@hartofnixie7060 I grew up down the street from Brad Pitts parents while going to Kickapoo
Mowrer: "That's not a cobra."
Also Mowrer: "That cobra is definitely not mine."
I haven't even heard of any animal called Cobra. What even is a snake?
@@JohnSmith-ox3gy Say, fellas, while you're here, I'm running a sale on penguins. How about it?
@@JohnSmith-ox3gy Cobra is a snake, cobra is just what we commonly call elapid snakes, most of them belong to the genus Naja
I don't even know why i'm saying that to you since you could just look that up yourself but fuc* it
@@KaykyG018 whoosh
Some say that to this day if you throw a cobra at a child Mowrer will appear and shove it into a box.
This video worries me that I'm not at all prepared for a sudden cobra attack, as I do not own a garden hoe and therefore have no defensive measure
Apparently a car will suffice (although I really hate to see snakes dead on the road)
snakes are scared of people and only bite to defend themselves, keep your distance and call a snake relocater if you see a cobra and you'll be fine. Most bites happen because people try to mess with the snakes. It's more dangerous to try to kill them then to leave them alone and most snakes are harmless to people and wonderful for the ecosystem
@@baguettewoman1413 though if you do see cobras in the us, well, other than coral snakes in the regions they are native, try to quickly find an expert to ID and contain. We have enough invasive reptiles in the country. Hawaii has it really bad.
You need an amazing doggie like Sally too.
There is actually a cobra hoe and it would be useless killing a snake 🐍 either way your comment made me lol 😆 way harder than I was prepared for
I'm 44 years old and have lived in the Springfield Missouri area for most of my life. I have heard only a couple of times about this story, but never from anyone who was around when it happened. Both of my parents were born in 1955 and were new to the area when I was little. Only now did I finally know it was real lol. Good job!
What do you mean you didn’t know there’s literally a museum on the Square that has the newspaper clippings and articles all about it like right on the Square the north east corner across from the drivers license bureau the same side as the rickshaw inn
Oh boy here I go learning about interesting but fairly unknown historical events again
What is RUclips for?
Same here
now you have something to talk to your family about
Don't forget about useless.
The worst plague a snake one
15:02 he hit 5 out of 6 shots? That's really impressive considering the snake
Especially considering the one handed shooting used by police at the time.
Probably fought in the war. And ammo was cheap then - lotsa practice.
He probably hunted, or was in the war like people said.
Target shooting has very little impact on making shots in the field and he landed an impressive amount of shots on a small moving target after unexpectedly having to drop a shotgun and ready his pistol.
Yet didn't kill it. Should have went with the hoe first.
I’m fucked up that Cobras can take 5 revolver shots and then need a hoe to be killed
When you got to the point of the story when they sent out the speaker truck playing the Indian snake-charming music, I broke down laughing for almost a minute.
This man was able to keep monkeys, Penguins, and poisonous snakes in his local pet store? The 50s were something else
You could order animals through the Sears Catalog. My older Brothers had a Skunk that was de-scented.
@@r90fan1 : A pet skunk ordered through the Sears catalogue, what a country!
I have worked at local exotic pet shop in my state. Yep, had a certain species of cobra... It's normal within the exotic community... You can still order skunks, capybaras, meerkats, several species of primate, venomous snakes, arachnids, and so on...
@@muadhnate : That’s no way to talk about your younger sibling!
@@djquinn11 LMAO
I love the color language on this video so damn much. Green is almost everywhere, so any bits of red, especially with Reo Mowrer, stand out incredibly. And City Manager Hansen being grey for total indifference was good too.
Thanks, John! This took quite a bit of work to put together. Would you mind giving it a share?
@@austinmcconnell Sorry, I would if I had any social media to share it on, but I have been showing off your previous video to some people.
@@i8dacookies890 I'll give it a share for ya
@@austinmcconnell I think you should do an video on Pulk. Flight 612.
Wow this is like a quest from an rpg: “A messenger from the shire of Rattlingham has just come in today. The town is in a state of disaster; peasants dare not go into their fields or to their wells, for the town has become host to a plague of venomous snakes of monstrous proportions!”
Objective: kill 12 snakes
What I've learnt: Garden hoes are very effective vs cobras
What I've learnt: snakes are weak af.
My dad has killed several bad snakes with a garden hoe, snakes underestimate the power of the garden hoe
Yeah I've had many hoes charm my cobra, if you know what I mean
But you better not miss that first swing or you get fangs in your face.
I still wonder how the heck that guy caught one in a pickle jar, actual gigachad
Honestly, hearing about the state of his shop when investigated by police, i feel like she was pretty shady, and deserved every drop of hate from the public. He didn't have any regard for the animals, and a tragedy would happen sooner or later
100% agree that shop owner sounded like a piece of garbage of a human being left a poor penguin Dead with a bunch of regular penguins knew that some of his cobras were missing didn't tell anybody cuz he feared about his money 🤑 and than people that damn town
I hope he's burning in hell
i personally disagree
the conditions may have been poor, but for the time that was standard; still not why i disagree though
its likely the penguin recently died due to the stress of the entire situation on Mowrer, i mean, if the entire town is yelling at you to get the fuck out, your constantly recieving death threats, your having to move your ENTIRE stock of probably atleast 50 animals offsite to a new location (AND THAT STILL ISNT GOOD ENOUGH) despite you not having done anything, that probably takes a toll enough to neglect feeding one of the many many animals he had on sight, its sad but its likely that this contributed significantly to the death of the penguin. And, side note, while the police investigated his store he was out of town at a carnival, so the penguin could have died during his visit away.
Here is the thing: as far as he was aware, for some unknown reason some of his boxes broke and the snakes escaped.
So from his point of view, he was not innocent, and lied through his teeth to save his ass.
@@azzzertyy given that he runs a freaking pet store but no one has any sympathy towards him show how "well" he runs his business. I doubt the actual perpetrator was the only one who hated his attitude.
There's a family owned pet store near where I live that has operated since my grandparents were kids (about 70 years ago) where to this day most local pets were bought there and the owners are well beloved now and even then (and has since also expanded into a vet). So, no. He is a terrible business owner/operator/manager in general and potentially endangered the town with lies and negligence. So what? He was away and hired NOBODY to look after the store? He was under investigation and he decides it was a good idea to go to a carnival and sell his wares? He has connections to bring in a freaking cobra into town but neglected to keep them secured?
@@moscowvicent1995 you cant use an emoji and the 6 words later say “hope hes burning in hell”
The Simpsons did a lore episode based on this. The "snake whacking day" when the whole town of Springfield goes out with sticks to hunt snakes. Lisa tries to stop it.
With the help of our late and great friend Barry White
@@lesleyderrick7449 if !YOU! Don’t give AF about grammar, tense, plural vs, singular, and completely worn words, and nonsense sentences; why do you think we would? Did you type this while driving ? Your auto-correct was not able to make coherent sentences out of your comment. Yet you dump it here in the web like a vase of de-fanged cobras. Imagine how much of the web is just clogged with nonsense comments that even the author never bothered to read. In the future: there will be moon-sized storage facilities of garbage dumped onto the web that the author did Not care enough to check before posting and no one else was able to decipher. Imagine how much taxes we pay the NSA to collect this garbledy-gook and analyze and store it, just in case it is some secret terrorist code or call to prayer.
tl;dr if you turn your spellcheck and auto correct “off”, then your comments may actually make MORE sense. How many people does that apply to?
How’s it go… we’ll release snakes to kill the lizards and the Monkeys to kill the snakes? “But then won’t we be left with a bunch of monkeys?” “That’s the beauty of it when winter comes around the monkeys will die off…” different episode
I want to know what the comment this guy found looked like, lol.
"Did you bring the pre-whacked snakes?"
“Cobras can’t hear music”
I died at this reveal.
Ditto lol 😂
It worked tho didn't it??
I actually already knew that, snake charming is actually mostly the movement of the flute itself. So I was just sitting here like, "snakes don't have ears" and giggled like a maniac at the reveal
They react to the he movement of the he flute player,not the sounds!
@Opal Allen enjoy the inevitable hate this comment will bring
I managed to not laugh all the way until “cobras cannot hear music” at which point I promptly lost it.
Also the charming cartoon with all the Cobra's chasing the truck!
I lost it when I saw the car. Cobras inability to hear just kept me going. 🤣
What a fiasco! Snake charming music! LOL! The good news is that no one was harmed but keeping cobras? I went to college in Springfield and never heard this story.
They should have blasted the deepest bass into the ground if they wanted to find all of them.
@@motxmod I'm just picturing the Simpsons episode with the snakes.
2:04 "...a deadly Indian Cobra, one thousand miles from its native habitat." Continental drift happened a lot more quickly and a lot later than I thought. I never would have guessed that as recently as 1953, Springfield, Missouri was only one thousand miles from South Asia.
I expected this to be something more people commented on. After calling snakes poisonous and saying this I just turned it off.
I dunno, I feel like it’s just some simple prose and not a literal statement that Springfield, Missouri is exactly 1,000 miles away from India.
@@ReformedBrant You stopped watching a incredibly well made video because he made 1 mispronunciation and talked about how snakes are venemous?
@@ReformedBrant Ok virgin.
@@sarahmathias9463 oh shit, you really got me there.
Why does a “pet shop” in Missouri have monkeys and deadly snakes 😂
It's the Ozarks; weird is normal.
I know right? I can't wrap my head around this? How does a guy in a small midwestern town make a living selling monkeys and penguins and shit? Where was he even finding penguins to begin with?
@@mr.peanut2096 We got penguins in Springfield. Johnny Morris has a giant preserve where he hunts every creature known to man.
it's an "exotic" pet shop, specializing in animals that probably weren't yet illegal to sell in the United states
@@Nelubez it amuses me how surprised people are at what happens around here
Wow, this live-action version of the Simpson’s “Whacking Day” episode is pretty crazy. It has snakes, a town named Springfield, and even a city-wide snake hunt.
I assume the episode was based on this event lol
@@likeastarbaby apparently not, looking on wikipedia for the "Whacking Day" episode that was inspired by Texas "Rattlesnake round-up" events
came here to post this
The thing that surprised my the most about this video that indeed in this town the people did not run away from all those cobra's, but all just wondered "a cobra, now where did I put my whacking stick"
There's also the parallel of attempting to use music to charm a city's worth of snakes.
One of your best videos, Austin. It’s a fantastic story in itself but your way of articulating it and presenting it in a way that’s enjoyable and engaging for 30 minutes is really impressive!
Thanks, James! I appreciate you taking the time to watch. If you want to do me a solid and you've got some free time, share the video around with others. Hope you have a great weekend!
You’re welcome! And sure, no problem :) Love your channel!
15:58 Depending on how far away he shot from, 5 out of 6 shots on a cobra sized target could be fairly impressive.
That's what I was thinking, especially if it was slithering. The fact that a cobra was even alive after 5 shots of presumably a .357 or .38 (given the time period) is also wild.
I had a revolver, shooting at a rattler at five feet, the snake was not moving, and hit it twice out of eight shots. lol
I was surprised they got a loop around the thing to pick it up without it falling apart!
Deadeye
DEAD EYE IS RIGHT. THAT GUY COULD SHOOT!
What I’ve learned: gardening hoes are literally the ultimate weapon against deadly snakes.
This. Only use a chainsaw during sharknados.
@@victoriakleber1397 The Governor of Utah used a tennis racket to confront that threat.
@zama422: That's not news to me -- I lost track of how many copperheads my mother killed with a garden hoe in or near our homes in Virginia. I killed one myself with a garden hoe in my father's basement office, not to mention he stomped a young one to death with his bedroom slippers on the stairs as he was heading to do some work in his basement printing shop. 🐍
@@pablohammerly448 When you realise the USA has more issues with deadly snakes than us Aussies:
@@carrott36 Nice try, but y'all Aussies have to deal with snakes that are a lot more dangerous than anything we Americans have to face, not to mention everything else trying to kill you on land and in the water. I think Australia is a nice place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there. Even going for a swim can get you killed if not eaten! I prefer dealing with the copperheads in Virginia -- at least I've never heard of a fatal copperhead bite. Eastern diamondback rattlesnakes are a lot more dangerous than copperheads, but much more rare, since I've never seen one outside a zoo. I've only seen a couple cottonmouths/water moccasins and always in water -- in the Potomac River near Washington, D.C. and in a swamp in a park near Alexandria. The venomous snakes in Virginia are a lot less dangerous than those in Australia. I don't live in the Florida Everglades, so I don't have to worry about alligators, crocodiles or more dangerous snakes. At least you Aussies don't have to deal with black mambas, since they're in Africa.
Springfield, Missouri is only 1000 miles from India? Interesting.
He probably meant *thousands of miles
Maybe he meant Indiana
Yeah its a small world didnt you know?
@Melissa Reohorn even then it's not a thousand miles
@@melissareohorn7436 Springfield to Indianapolis is 470 miles... and cobras aren't native to the United States at all
That ending, it's so perfectly written that this could make a movie. I see why you chose this, expertly done!
Would probably have to further dramatize. Maybe like 300 snakes, and maybe have a fight scene in a school where a band of misfit kids fights off the horde to save all the younger kids + add a fainted teacher for comedic effect. Also add a bad cop with a heart of gold who rushes in and makes a makeshift flamethrower to kill all the snakes as his act of redemption. Plus have him bite by one, but the female love interest who is also a doctor who doesn't play by men's rules rushes in with the antivenom to save him.
Damn I'm good. This movie is gonna be great.
@@Matthew-li7we "Damn I'm good." every indie film maker ever.
I think it would! The best way to do it essentially to make Jaws as if it would have been made by the Coen brothers instead. Not dramatize too much and just highlight the absurdity of it all. Make sure to have Charles be a side character throughout the film and then have the plot twist at the end would make it as dumb as the real life story.
Simpsons did it.
@@gabrielledebourg2487 Coen brothers. That's exactly what I was thinking. They would kill it.
After like the third time Mowrer races in to grab and hide a snake, and deny his involvement, I'm like, *"OH COME ON!!!!"*
Having grown up and still living about 40 minutes from Springfield, I have to say that this is interesting and hilariously on-brand for our area.
This is a great video.
Really like the production and how it's stylized.
Keep it up
OwO funny seeing yuwu hewe bawewy sowociabwe‼😩😩 OwO i nowoticed youwu buwgy wuwgy😳👉👈 awe youwu hiding youw own deadwy weadwy snake⁉⁉🐍😳 wiww youwu pweeeeeeeeeeeeeeaase showo us in youw next videowo❓😈😳😳😩💦
-kind wegawds, snakey wakey awtist UwU😋
If you watch Austin, you'd know the only series on here is useless facts
Cool guy alert
@@dickartist what the fuck?
@@kt_lavigne06 i love you
I love how you captured Mowrer's shadyness with such a minimalistic art style.
The way you presented this story is absolutely hilarious! Thanks so much. I needed a good laugh. I'm glad the people of Springfield had their garden tools and knew how to use them. LOL
Mowrer, while stuffing a cobra into a box: I don't know why everyone suspects me.
He may not have released the snakes but he should have KNOWN he was missing a dozen venemous reptiles. Also, he shouldn't have taken advantage of that 14 year old evil genius.
You mean that spoiled little brat?
Eye for an eye is not evil genius
It's the oldest evil
I feel like the tropical fish probably wasn’t kept in the conditions necessary for its survival by the 14yo it would have died with a week or two anyway
@@Wrestling_24 Yeah but it was alrdy kept in deplorable conditions in the pet shop so it died even sooner than that
""""""Genius""""""
I was born in Springfield and have a lot of family in the area. This is the first time I've heard about this story. Mowrer may not have let the snakes out, but he was definitely culpable for not providing the Police information that he knew 12 venomous snakes had been released in the middle of the city. His shop should have been promptly shut down when they found the conditions it was in from their inspection.
I'm gonna be honest, this is one of the first times where I'm okay with someone getting falsely accused. This guy was clearly negligent and had a disregard for the animals he was caring for and obviously abused them, not to mention he did some of the suspicious things someone can possibly do. Yeah I'm fine with this guy getting run out of town.
yeah, his shop was a ticking time bomb- it just got set off early....
He wasn't falsely accused, he was directly involved in this shitstorm, lied to authorities and hiding the evidence.
I mean those WERE his snakes, and he did the shadiest shit to avoid blame, so "falsely accused" just isnt correct, he was involved and it was still his fault to some degree
If you're okay with anyone being falsely accused you're a piece of shit.
This guy was not falsely accused though.
Why are you saying he was falsely accused?
I feel like the ending is supposed to make us feel sympathy for Mowrer, but I truly just do not lol. Not only did he have deplorable living conditions for exotic animals, and not only did he have these dangerous animals in the first place, but he continued to do the shadiest shit possible in response to these events. I feel no sympathy for that man even if it's not his fault the snakes got loose.
100% agree with you f*** that guy
Exactly, like wtf? He kept MONKEYS? And he DUMPED SNAKES IN A TUB? Fuck that guy
What an asshole that guy was.
i feel like Mowrer was more of a sociopath than the kid. who tells a kid "well that's how business works LMAO just go eat it!" and expects them NOT to take revenge on you??
I’m not sure you are supposed to feel badly for him. He knew they were his snakes and lied about them being accounted for, all while mistreating his animals. The video acknowledges all of it. If anything I felt it was framed as poetic justice that he’s never “vindicated” during his life.
The part when they blasted snake charmer music around town was awesome. Kind of reminded me of when i was a teenager and the place where i worked had a problem with birds pooping on the picnic tables.
they wanted a cheap way to get rid of the problem, so rather than put shade roofs over the tables they went with the suggestion of putting rubber snakes in the trees to scare the birds away. It was great when the next day after the snakes were put there, we had visitors from Japan. The look of amazement of the sheer stupidity of the whole thing was priceless. I was in tears explaining the reason for the snakes while they looked at me with disdain for treating my bosses so shamefully, yet they too couldn't hold back the smiles.
People ask me why i would do such a thing and it's because i have a picture-perfect memory and have to put some good memories in my head to keep me going in this world. Still makes me smile 🤣🤣🤣
"Do you still today think that what you did was right?"
*"Yes."*
Absolutely insane. I can't believe he said that
I mean... Ngl, i probably gonna do the same thing if i were 14
@@CinemaDemocratica You're giving way too much credit to a guy with a deab penguin, rotting food, suspicious and dangerous behavior preceding the cobra event. Super likely he overstocked his fish and the thing died just because of that, but selling exotic stock in the "typical plastic bag" is incomprehensible to me at its face. The guy was obviously inexperienced in way too many things, but the difficulty of keeping most fish labeled "exotic" especially in the 50s had to have been stupid hard and he would have known the fish to die when handing it over to the kid.
*"My goals are beyond your understanding"*
Mowrer had 13 deadly snakes.
Genuinely one of the most interesting stories ever, it helps too when you have such and interesting story-telling cadence
Even better that I’m from Springfield and I’ve never known of this story.
@@HaloProductionsUSA Watch out for Cobras dude!
Ive lived close by my entire life and never wouldve guessed snake bashin day actually happened here
Poor snakes
As a resident of Springfield this is my ABSOLUTE FAVORITE story of my town.
Yer name haha
me too, this is my first time hearing about it though.
Do you know about Nellie Dunn?
@@sharksport01 nope
@@genericrandomness3455
She ran a brothel in Springfield in the early 1900's. She refused to be passive when the law came after her. Interesting woman.
Citizens: - know that only cobras are the problem -
Also Citizens when seeing a turtle: *haha gun go pew pew*
Turtle: Dude! I'm not poisonous! Just let me eat my lettuce!
OMG, SNAKES ARE EVOLVING! THEY LEARNED HOW TO USE SHIELDS!
@@aronpill2767 and they also learned to play guitars and now punk rockers.
We're american, it's our culture. Ugh, some people are so inconsiderate. (/j)
when the cobras show up in your town, youll wish you had more pew and less condescension lol. Guns are a tool. Sometimes ya gotta kill some shit
I really love that Cobra's casual body language at 12:10
Like it's in the middle of venting what kind of rough day it's been having before the girl's dad gets it with the board
This comment, lol, hilarious.
This whole story is seriously hilarious, how did I spend about 20 years living in Springfield and I've never even heard of this.
Maybe it's the wrong Springfield? There are a few.
I've got family in Springfield MO that would have been there around that time. I'll have to see if Aunt Bonnie remembers any of this. Great story - thanks for sharing!!
If she does i would love to hear her stories.
You gotta at least make something up now... we're waiting
Let me know what she says
I would also like to know
I for one remember that very well. My daddy worked at the newspaper as a photographer. I am sure most of the photos were taken by him. I remember the boa because I saw it stretched out on the ground as he photographed it. But my strongest memory is of the monkey incident. My little sister and I were both with Daddy when he went to cover the capture. The monkey was in a garage up in the rafters and the men were having no luck getting their hands on it. So someone came up with the brilliant idea of sticking my sister up there so the monkey would come to her. I well remember the screaming fit she had over that idea. I sure laughed all during the video, well told, thanks.
Q: "How should we deal with the cobras?"
A: "Kill the turtles!"
Ninja Turtles: Dont sing it! Bring it!
LOL....proven again that RUclips user's are far more entertaining and witty than anyone coming out of Hollywood...why I always read the comments
MOO- Snuckle
1 second ago
If youve ever seen a alligator snapping turtle capable of snapping your hand off at the wrist like we have here, its not as sad. Think less michaelangelo and more bowser. Dont feel bad for those assholes lol
I remember learning about this event in the early 90’s. I don’t know if Springfield still celebrates “Whacking Day”, but it did make for a funny episode.
Forget "Snakes on a Plane", we've got "Snakes on our Lane"!
Please see yourself out🤣🤣
Tʀᴀᴘᴘᴇᴅ ɪɴ ᴀ ʙᴏᴡʟɪɴɢ ᴀʟʟᴇʏ ᴅᴜʀɪɴɢ ᴀ ᴠɪᴄɪᴏᴜs sɴᴏᴡsᴛᴏʀᴍ, ғᴏᴜʀ ᴜɴʟɪᴋᴇʟʏ ʜᴇʀᴏᴇs sǫᴜᴀʀᴇ ᴏғғ ᴀɢᴀɪɴsᴛ ᴄᴏʙʀᴀs ɪɴ ᴛʜᴇ sᴍᴀsʜ ʜɪᴛ ᴏғ ᴡɪɴᴛᴇʀ 202x!
(Cameo by Samuel L. Jackson, as the owner of the bowling alley.)
Brava!!
I gotta say, this whole town was super cavalier about just killing these six foot long, highly venomous snakes. If I saw a fucking cobra, I would scream.
this whole thing just sounds like a movie down to the timing of the snake problem and the soon-to-be city manager lmao
People were far tougher back then. The men off to war during that era (WWI, WWII, and Korea) so the women and kids learned to deal for themselves. Nowadays, people would scream until they ruptured themselves and then sued the cops & EMS for it!
@@nancythane4104 okay boomer
I don’t think people were “tougher” back then, especially when it came to wild animals.
Even today, Springfield is a VERY small city in an extremely rural county. It's a part of the country that has a lot of venomous Coppermouth (Water Moccasion) and Rattlesnakes. I remember once being threatened by a Coppermouth crossing a river as we were canoeing past. It was all of about 5 seconds we were facing each other and I spent the whole time ready to swat the thing with my oar if it got adventurous. Most of my family from around those parts won't hesitate to kill snakes in their yard or run over them in the road.
Yeah I've killed several snakes at my old job on a golf course and around my house. I usually use a shovel, has good distance and a sharp blade.
I had no idea this story about my hometown existed, thanks for making it.
This guy was still the villain. He lied repeatedly, stole evidence, and the dang snake WERE HIS! He may not have instigated the incident but he built the tender box. Just because he didn’t light the match does not alleviate his guilt.
if he didn't keep the snakes they couldn't get out,and removing a snake's fangs to "make them safe" is stupid because fangs grow back
Frankly, I'm shocked they didn't arrest him on multiple charges of obstruction.
*tinderbox, not 'tender box'
@@RockandrollNegro Are you sure? Those "boneless wings" had to have come from somewhere...
Eh lying and destroying evidence isn’t as bad as letting over 10 deadly snakes loose, also one of the fastest venous snakes. Surprised no people were bitten given people actively hunting for them
Mowrer might not have released the snakes, but he knew from the beginning what they were and where they came from and said nothing.
Yep, it's still his fault even though he didnt release them, he actively hampered the police investigation
And how many! Imagine if they had known from the start that they were looking for 12. They could have swept the area immediately around the shop and probably find
the snakes much faster.
When they show the picture of the shop, it looks like a house we lived in when I was little. We lived in the 1400 block of Olive, but i'm old so I'm not exactly sure. A little bit of a rundown area when I was little.
I just realized, Rio would have known the whole time the cobras where lose, but he did not tell the police anything, all it would have taken was 3 people to get bit and there would be no more anti venom
The weirdest part about this is the town panicking though. Like "oh god, there may now be 12 cobras out there. What if they hide amongst the venomous copperheads and cottonmouth snakes already native to the area?"
Yah a Little bit, but they have anti venom not sure and if we have even any neurotoxin snakes in missouri only vipers I think not sure but that may affect treatment in atleast keeping someone stable. Personally I'd be most worried about their behavior: where will it hide? How aggressive?
@@swampdonkey1567 Even with the relative lethality considered it still seems strange to me. Its 12 snakes as far as these people knew, compared against all the natural and man made risks to life they faced daily. This seems a lot more like some weird kind of snake xenophobia and media panic than it does any kind of considered risk assessment.
The native snakes would be on the Cobra’s menu! A veritable banquet!
Copperheads are quiet snakes that don't cause trouble unless you trouble them. I don't know anyone who's even seen a cottonmouth.
Yo I grew up in KC been all over Missouri what about the rattlesnakes and water moccasins they ain't thug enuff? Them cottonmouths (water moccasin same snake idk) aggressive as hell come at you. You'll know real quick out fishing and one falls in the boat everybody getting wet.
At the Ozarks Empire Fair Police Koisk: there were pages from the newspaper all about the snake scare. When the story was presented in 1988; I was 24, and I knew the story it referred to. As no one died; all limitations statutes had expired. If anyone starts with stupid things they did when young; Barnett can always tell them to hold His beer and listen. He tormented himself for 35years over this. I respect Him for clearing it up. 👍
Imagine being the new city manager for a small city in Missouri, missing your first couple of days due to a painful UT issue, and just glad to be past that and finally getting started to work:
"OK, what's our first order of business?"
"The cobras."
"Cobras? Is that the high school mascot or an acronym?"
"No, actual cobras! Snakes. Several Indian cobras have been spotted and killed across town in the last couple of days."
"What the ACTUAL FFF....?"
Absolutely fascinating. One thing I noticed though - snakes are basically never poisonous; the correct term is "venomous". There were also a couple of times where "viper" and other terms were used for cobras that aren't accurate, but the poison vs venom thing was the most obvious. You're doing an amazing job and it's not a huge deal - I just know you like to be correct in the way you talk about things so hope this helps!
sNaKeS ArE VeNoMoUs nOt pOiSoNoUs
@@NeverEvenThere But they are, your point here is?
I bet you're fun at parties...
@@NeverEvenThere there are some poisonous snakes.
@@PabloSanchez-qu6ib incredibly rare and only one has been actually found as I know it, and it is also venemous. Its poison also only comes from its diet.
I lost track of your channel years ago & was delighted to rediscover your content on Nebula. You’ve absolutely got to keep making really weird history. You’ve only got 5 of them. They are all fantastic - but more would be greatly appreciated. Thx
'Deadly snakes invade town'
In Florida, we call this: Tuesday
Lmao
Actually, since king cobras are predators of other snakes, some civic minded Floridian should establish breeding colonies of them in the state, thereby enabling them to control the invasive python problem. No need to mention this to the government or scientists, after all, they never do anything useful.
How is Florida allowed?
"Those aren't my snakes." --Man Whose Snakes Those Are
(whose fault their escape was not)
I’m glad the views were there for this one. Loved this and the times beach video. Looking forward to any new video essays/mini documentaries you are planning. I’m sure you can get a good format going for this channel and make it really big again. On that note, you don’t really have a format. Sometimes you make movie reviews, sometimes you look into weird questions, sometimes you do challenges, and sometimes you make documentaries. A format might limit you creatively but it might be something to look into.
Its crazy how he was worried about his buisness and hired an atorney and was talking about his innocence yet didnt tell anyone as to why he was innocent. He mustve known about the missing snakes maybe not initially because of how negligent he was but atleast later. And because of that he felt like he never could tell anyone the truth or did not know wheter it was an accident.
Let me just say that I absolutely *love* these type of videos. They're by far my favorites from this channel. Austin is such a great storyteller
Thanks! They’re my favorite kind of video to make. I’m hoping it picks up some traffic in the next day or two… right now it’s on pace to be one of my worst performing videos all year. 😣 Do me a favor and share it around, if you have some time. Hope you’re having a great week! Take care.
I love this! I live on a bayou in Shreveport, Louisiana.A couple of years ago my Brother and I waged a war against "swamp cobras" aka Water Moccasins.
I've missed these type of videos, it's what got me into your channel in the first place and i applaud you for still managing to find the time to make them. It was a joy as always! Hope to see another one again... maybe even next year? :P
Pet shop owner: There not my snakes..."I'm just holding them for a friend" ! 🤣🤣
Your continued ability to tap into off-the-wall topics and STILL complete engage me proves once again why you are my favorite RUclipsr! Merry Christmas Austin!!
This story is absolutely hilarious, but honestly Austin, your quality on story telling has increased 10 fold, from the art style to the music and narration, this is incredible high quality, its been great seeing you develop with this and get so good at it.
please keep doing videos like these
Love your weird history series, can't wait to see more should you decide to make them!
Honestly, though, I feel the worst for those poor snakes… they didn’t ask to be unleashed on an unsuspecting town!
Or all the other reptiles that were killed because the townsfolk can't tell the difference between a snake and an iguana.
fuck the snakes, that poor iguana tho
Cobras are awesome, especially Kings (not actually Cobras, I know) and this guy was a turd. The dead Penguin really sucked. I'm from Missouri, a Cobra-lover and never heard this. Great video.
Glad to meet a fellow reptile lover! The cobras were definitely a danger to people but they were just doing what their instincts told them to.
Im a kansas city native who just started watching your videos. Id love more of these history videos! Doesnt even have to be about Missouri these are interesting!
Just love it when I randomly discover a new good channel
This entire story is completely insane, and I love it.
“One thousand miles from its native habitat”…anyone else wondering how Missouri and India were so much closer in the 50’s??
Great story!
Continental drift!
Lol
I think he misread 10,000 as 1,000 but that caught me by surprise too.
Yeah even I'm like "uh missouri on any edge is 1k miles away from out of the US".
Grant Pittman, Pangea.
At 20:03 min mark, the newspaper article refers to the 'Merlin' Perkins Zoo in Branson. MARLIN Perkins was the creator of the Branson Zoo to help promote the cave tour business in what is now part of Silver Dollar City amusement park.
Marlin Perkins was also curator of the world famous St Louis Zoo and the TV program spokesman for 'Zoo Parade' in the 1950's then for 24 years 'Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom'.
This was a great documentary on something I'd never heard of, I can so easily see it being a movie that's part suspense part dry comedy. Could even have a catchy title insulting Mauer, like 13 Snakes or 12 Snakes and a Rat.
12 snakes and one dead fish
The Dead Fish Conundrum
"A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky creatures and you know it."
Another case that proves Agent K wiser than most.
Beautiful
This is a great video. Very well produced. You guys did an excellent job. I had things to do but stuck out the whole video. How has this not been made into a movie by now? Christopher Walken could play Reo. Ahahahaha
So well done with attention grabbing and humorous visuals peppered with relevant news from the time, that praise must be given to you and StoryBlocks for a brilliant collaboration. Nice work.
That was a solid twist, and totally something to come out of Missouri. The most unbelievable part for me was the penguins, PENGUINS 😳 in a pet store, honestly I kinda wonder what else they had back then
Exotic animals even to this day is hardy any effort for those who know how and where to look i myself have found zebra's, african porcupines, venamous snakes of many species, exotic rodent species such as patagonian hares and capibaras, multiple crocodillian species, douzins of rare exotic bird species, moray eels and pirahnas and it just keeps going and thats just in europe and i know that in america you can get large cats and bears without to much effort aswell
I'm surprised Mower wasn't lynched, or at least tarred and feathered. The biggest shock is that after they found out he was storing the snakes so close by, they still left him to his own devices to move them again.
Weird thing, I remember hearing a story like this from a friend from Springfield that moved to KC, told me about how his dad saw one of the Snakes mentioned in this story, what a small world.
It’s honestly quite sad that these poor animals had to die for this. I understand that they are dangerous but being around the presence of people clearly stressed them out causing them to show signs of aggression like that. Instead of shooting the snakes the police could have easily relocated them. But I suppose it was earlier times then, animal safety wasn’t exactly cared for then. I mean hell, the dude was housing monkeys and penguins in awful environments, and those are warm blooded creatures, the poor reptiles and amphibians probably had terrible vitamin deficiencies. God it is just terrible to think about. With that aside; Austin, this was an extremely interesting video. Thank you for making such amazing videos that not only entertain but bring light to and educate about subjects and events that would have otherwise flown under all of our radars. And to whoever is reading this, I hope you have a nice day!
Agreed
yes! sympathy for the cobras it's not their fault
Dont forget the many harmless reptiles that got sho because they had scales too
@@dragotyranniraptorex6460 Exactly.
I completely agree with you. It's terrible to think of.
You did a great job putting this story together. I live just south of Springfield and one of our daughters lives there now. She hates snakes so I have to share this with her!
You could actually make this into a series. A lot of peculiar stuff happens in Missouri towns.
The "show me" show?
Hahaha! And still do!
@@mtn1793 Agree!!! Minus the Hahaha!
@@brianpeterson1675 Yeah. It’s not so funny is it?
that's true, but they don't allow you to show incest on RUclips :p
This is the coolest thing I have seen on RUclips this year... I know it's early in the year, but RUclips will really have to impress me in the remainder of the year to surpass the amount of awesome I just listened to
21:24 This is the old-fashioned American idiocy I knew from my childhood. This really brings me back. Thanks!
Imagine just chilling and then seeing an army of snakes...
Biblical!
daily life in the ozarks to be honest. We somewhere near 100 different typea of snakes and every water snake here is venomous. With the difficulty to see a copperhead with their camo, anytime you walk 100 ft in any wilderness, theres a good chance you never saw the snake you never noticed.
I love the art style of these videos, glad to see another one added to the series!
Thanks for watching! I'd really appreciate you sharing the video around, if possible. These take a ton of work, and they don't usually perform as well as I'd like.
@@austinmcconnell You got it, boss o7
Would hate to see this series kick the bucket cause it's not viewed enough to justify the production costs
@@austinmcconnell barely sociable commented and as a sub of his I would def see the appeal if you reached out and asked him to share too. Every little helps and I hope your heart is still hearty enough :)
I didn't realize iguanas had ever been an item in US pet stores. But my dog is buried in a local cemetery that has a pet section, and I've seen a marker for "Charlie, my beloved iguana, miss you sweet baby." That lizard has been gone for fourteen years, and it's still getting flowers on its grave.
That’s honestly beautiful
They still are in stores
Amazing narration every time. Always look forward to these uploads
That was wildly entertaining. I love that you detailed the weapons of choice for each encounter and the cobra-safe homes hustle was hilariously American
My great grand father was a Judge in Greene County (Springfield). The old court house is right across the street from where this started. He saw one rise up with hood out. When he came home and told his family they thought he was suffering from dementia. I remember that story up till my mom died in 1991. When I first found THIS out about 6 years ago I couldn't believe it was real! Besides old Pappy NOT being crazy my other favorite part is that the snakes were mostly killed by hoes! 😂
Wow, this is just a few blocks from my grandparents old house in the 1100 block of E Walnut! I did not know this! Now I'll have to drive up to Springfield from Joplin to see where this happened. Thank you for the opportunity to learn something historically significant about my family history!
Bring a hoe and watch out for..... well you know.😁
Hey does anybody remember that news story about The Deadly Hornets? And how we all thought that that was going to be one of the major things of 2020? How naive we were.
Washington state has been putting in a shit ton of work trying to stop them, hopefully we succeed
@@jimmyisawkward yep! It wasn’t that long ago(relatively speaking) that they discovered a possible location of a nest for immediate elimination
lmao, forgot about that
That happened after COVID
Oh man. yeah, I remember that now.