Hoop snake
Encyclopedia
The hoop snake is a legendary creature of the United States
and Australia
. The hoop snake appears in the Pecos Bill
stories; although it is his description of hoop snakes with which most people are most familiar, stories of the creature predate those fictional tales considerably. Several sightings of the hoop snake have been alleged along the Minnesota
-Wisconsin
border in the St. Croix River valley and in Wake County in North Carolina
. (See fearsome critters
.)
According to folklore
, the distinguishing feature of a hoop snake is that it can grasp its tail in its jaws and roll after its prey like a wheel, thus looking somewhat like the ouroboros
of Greek mythology
, or Tsuchinoko
(a legendary fat snake that can roll like a wheel) in Japan. In one version of the myth, the snake straightens out at the last second, skewering its victim with its venomous tail. The only escape is to hide behind a tree, which receives the deadly blow instead and promptly dies from the poison.
The hoop snake is mentioned in a letter from 1784 (published in Tour in the U.S.A., Vol. I, p. 263-65. London):
Sightings are still occasionally reported, even though the existence of the hoop snake has never been accepted by the scientific community. Naturalist
Raymond Ditmars
placed $10,000 in trust at a New York
bank for the first person to provide evidence of a hoop snake. Some have suggested that is a distorted description of the sidewinder
of the American southwest, or of mud snakes, which will occasionally lie in a loose hoop shape. It is also possible that the hoop snake is an embellishment of actual instances of snakes swallowing their own tails. Photographic examples of this are readily found on the Internet today.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
. The hoop snake appears in the Pecos Bill
Pecos Bill
Pecos Bill is an American cowboy, apocryphally immortalized in numerous tall tales of the Old West during American westward expansion into the Southwest of Texas, New Mexico, Southern California, and Arizona. Their stories were probably invented into short stories and book by Edward O'Reilly in the...
stories; although it is his description of hoop snakes with which most people are most familiar, stories of the creature predate those fictional tales considerably. Several sightings of the hoop snake have been alleged along the Minnesota
Minnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
-Wisconsin
Wisconsin
Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...
border in the St. Croix River valley and in Wake County in North Carolina
North Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
. (See fearsome critters
Fearsome critters
Fearsome critter is a term found in early lumberjack folklore for any of the mythical beasts that were said to inhabit the frontier wilderness of North America.- Origins :...
.)
According to folklore
Folklore
Folklore consists of legends, music, oral history, proverbs, jokes, popular beliefs, fairy tales and customs that are the traditions of a culture, subculture, or group. It is also the set of practices through which those expressive genres are shared. The study of folklore is sometimes called...
, the distinguishing feature of a hoop snake is that it can grasp its tail in its jaws and roll after its prey like a wheel, thus looking somewhat like the ouroboros
Ouroboros
The Ouroboros is an ancient symbol depicting a serpent or dragon eating its own tail. The name originates from within Greek language; οὐρά meaning "tail" and βόρος meaning "eating", thus "he who eats the tail"....
of Greek mythology
Greek mythology
Greek mythology is the body of myths and legends belonging to the ancient Greeks, concerning their gods and heroes, the nature of the world, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices. They were a part of religion in ancient Greece...
, or Tsuchinoko
Tsuchinoko
The literally translating to "hammer's spawn," is a legendary snake-like cryptid from Japan. The name tsuchinoko is prevalent in Western Japan, including Kansai and Shikoku; the creature is known as in Northeastern Japan....
(a legendary fat snake that can roll like a wheel) in Japan. In one version of the myth, the snake straightens out at the last second, skewering its victim with its venomous tail. The only escape is to hide behind a tree, which receives the deadly blow instead and promptly dies from the poison.
The hoop snake is mentioned in a letter from 1784 (published in Tour in the U.S.A., Vol. I, p. 263-65. London):
Sightings are still occasionally reported, even though the existence of the hoop snake has never been accepted by the scientific community. Naturalist
Natural history
Natural history is the scientific research of plants or animals, leaning more towards observational rather than experimental methods of study, and encompasses more research published in magazines than in academic journals. Grouped among the natural sciences, natural history is the systematic study...
Raymond Ditmars
Raymond Ditmars
Raymond Lee Ditmars was an American herpetologist.Ditmars was very interested in animals, , obtaining his first snakes at twelve years of age...
placed $10,000 in trust at a New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
bank for the first person to provide evidence of a hoop snake. Some have suggested that is a distorted description of the sidewinder
Crotalus cerastes
Crotalus cerastes is a venomous pitviper species found in the desert regions of the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico. Three subspecies are currently recognized, including the nominate subspecies described here.-Description:...
of the American southwest, or of mud snakes, which will occasionally lie in a loose hoop shape. It is also possible that the hoop snake is an embellishment of actual instances of snakes swallowing their own tails. Photographic examples of this are readily found on the Internet today.
See also
- AmphisbaenaAmphisbaenaAmphisbaena , amphisbaina, amphisbene, amphisboena, amphisbona, amphista, amphivena, or anphivena , a Greek word, from amphis, meaning "both ways", and bainein, meaning "to go", also called the Mother of Ants, is a mythological, ant-eating serpent with a head at each end...
- Joint snakeJoint snakeA joint snake is a mythical creature of the Southern United States, the myth likely having spread elsewhere.Supposedly, the snake can break itself into pieces and will reassemble itself. It is said that if a piece of the snake is taken and the pocket knife used to cut the snake is set down in the...
- OuroborosOuroborosThe Ouroboros is an ancient symbol depicting a serpent or dragon eating its own tail. The name originates from within Greek language; οὐρά meaning "tail" and βόρος meaning "eating", thus "he who eats the tail"....
- Serpent (symbolism)Serpent (symbolism)Serpent in Latin means: Rory Collins :&, in turn, from the Biblical Hebrew word of: "saraf" with root letters of: which refers to something burning-as, the pain of poisonous snake's bite was likened to internal burning.This word is commonly used in a specifically mythic or religious context,...
- TsuchinokoTsuchinokoThe literally translating to "hammer's spawn," is a legendary snake-like cryptid from Japan. The name tsuchinoko is prevalent in Western Japan, including Kansai and Shikoku; the creature is known as in Northeastern Japan....