HIPPO EATS DWARF:
A Field Guide to Hoaxes
and Other B.S.
hippo
FM
Hoop Snake
Kingdom: Animalia
Location found: North America and Australia
image Sightings of hoop snakes have been reported since colonial times in North America and for at least the past century in Australia. This snake grasps its tail in its mouth and rolls after its prey, thereby achieving great speed, especially when going downhill. Hoop snakes have been clocked going over 60 m.p.h. At the tip of its tail is a highly venomous stinger, making this a creature to be avoided at all costs. It is the only species of snake known to have a stinger on its tail, and this stinger is so poisonous that even if it strikes a tree, the tree will instantly wither, turn black, and die.

If you should encounter a hoop snake in the wild, the best defense is to run as fast as you can and hope to find a fence to leap over. The hoop snake will have to uncoil to get through the fence, thereby slowing it down. Some have reported that diving through the hoop of the snake will cause it to run away. This, however, has never been verified.
Total Comments: 32

Comments
Listed in chronological order. Newest comments at the end.
Page 1 of 2 pages  1 2 >
 Rolling after me,
A giant,speeding hoop snake
thank goodness it's missed me
Posted by J  on  Wed Nov 15, 2006  at  10:42 AM
Maybe the last line could be changed to: thank goodness, it missed.

That would make it five syllables.
Posted by Alex  in  San Diego  on  Wed Nov 15, 2006  at  07:23 PM
Alex,thanks for the suggestion.I agree it was writtenslight ly wrong
Posted by J  on  Mon Nov 20, 2006  at  12:33 PM
Interestingly,this legend seems to have it's roots in reality.Some species of snake curl into a hoop shape for unknown reasons. This is remarkably similar to the amphisbaena of myth.This half-bird half-snake would put it's tail in it's mouth and roll away from danger.
Posted by Thisisnotadrillalienshaveinvadedtheplanetearth  on  Mon May 28, 2007  at  11:55 PM
This kind of snake appears frequently in Swedish folklore too, where it is often called "Hjulorm" or "Lindorm". A Swedish scientist that did research in folklore, Gunnar Olof Hyltén-Cavallius, put out a reward 1884 to anyone that could catch or kill one of these snakes.
Posted by Robin Bruhn  in  Sweden (Lund)  on  Thu Nov 22, 2007  at  06:01 PM
Hoop Snakes are NOT hoaxes! I live in PA in the country and have seen these back in the late 60's, but none since. They may have died out, or are just very rare. You can read a true encounter I had with one, one summer with my dad, here:
http://ezinearticles.com/?The-Dreaded-Pennsylvania-Hoop-Snake&id=1030006
Posted by Robert  in  Pennsylvania  on  Sun Jul 06, 2008  at  10:14 AM
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
Posted by thisisnotadrillmybuttisonfireandineedsomeointment  in  asdfasdfasd  on  Tue Dec 30, 2008  at  04:37 PM
LOL!! Holy crap that is funny!! "Some have reported that diving through the hoop of the snake will cause it to run away. This, however, has never been verified." Now that is funny stuff. Great website! Halo 4
Posted by lol  on  Thu Jan 15, 2009  at  09:35 PM
LOL Hi hi hi hillarious.. ! smile
Posted by Espen Hæhre  in  Gjøvik  on  Tue Jan 27, 2009  at  12:28 AM
Thank you. You've helped me prove their real.
Posted by mimi  in  missouri  on  Wed Mar 04, 2009  at  02:23 PM
hi i was wondering if the hoop snake is real i need to know so please email me back




- brittney
Posted by brittney  in  ny  on  Wed Mar 11, 2009  at  11:19 AM
thank you for the wonderful emformation grin
Posted by brittney  in  ny  on  Wed Mar 11, 2009  at  11:22 AM
Hoop snakes were included in the book "Elijah", when the preacher tells Elijah that if a hoop snake stings you, your body will explode, except for your head. Then you must wait in agony for 2 weeks before you die of starvation, since you no longer have a stomach. This, of course, is complete bogus. Unfortunately, I cannot recall the name of this author.
Posted by liddle bum  on  Sat Mar 14, 2009  at  10:52 PM
this has got to be one of the most childish, patheticly stupid thing to believe in. Snakes cannot even hold themselves upward for more than a few seconds, let alone hold themselves in a perfect circle capable of rolling. Then on top of that.. 60 mph? do you really belive that a wheel shaped piece of rope could propel itself at a cars speed? But wait it gets better.. A stinging tail that kills trees instntly, any venom capable of killing a tree in a few seconds would make any ither victim explode in a fiery cluster of flesh. I find it very humerous that any grown person would belive in anything so rediculous. Well, im off to find Bigfoot, and shoot him with my magic wand.
Posted by NoClip  on  Mon Apr 27, 2009  at  05:31 AM
cheese 60mph is nothing.. hoop snakes in the alps can easily reach 200mph riding avalanches. But they will often crash into 1000 pieces at the bottom as they are very easily frozen. Most intelligent hoop snakes are even scared of icecream. But their fierce hunting instinct sometimes override that fear.
Posted by Espen Hæhre  in  Gjøvik  on  Mon Apr 27, 2009  at  05:52 AM
the hoop snake is not childish is is very real rolleyes
Posted by brittney  on  Mon Apr 27, 2009  at  11:51 AM
Young hoop snakes are often a bit childish.. but they are very serious and methodic hunters from early puberty.
Posted by Espen  in  Gjøvik  on  Mon Apr 27, 2009  at  12:14 PM
When I was about 10 I saw a snake "roll" itself out of my way. To me, it looked exactly like a wheel. Nobody believed me. Shortly afterward I read that it is an optical illusion. this was in 1979. snake <--that is a snake too. By now I had assumed it was common knowledge.
Posted by mario fernandez  in  new jersey  on  Mon Apr 27, 2009  at  12:38 PM
raspberry Christopher Pual Curtis is the author of Eligah, my daughter just purchased the book from the book fair
Posted by louis  in  mchenry,illinois  on  Wed Apr 29, 2009  at  07:35 PM
The hoop snake is real and in SC.I was 8 yrs old picking black berrys with my Grandma when she said run Norma I said run. I went past her this snake was crawing after her. When I went passed her so did that snake.I saw it when it grabed its tail in its mouth. It looked like a holu hoop to me. I never new it was called a hoop snake till this year. BUT THEY ARE REAL.
Posted by Norma Nichols  in  Pickens, SC 29671  on  Sat May 02, 2009  at  03:05 PM
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HOAX HAIKU
Rolling after me,
A giant,speeding hoop snake
thank goodness it's missed me
(by J)

Write a haiku about the Hoop Snake, and submit it in the comments. If I like it, I'll post it above.

The definition of a haiku: a short, three line poem. The first line has five syllables, the second seven, and the third five. Examples here, here, and here.