"I just have a curious nature," he said. The boy and his father, David Wasson, 42, were throwing grapes at the crocodile, hoping to see it move, when the boy slipped off a retaining wall on which he had been sitting and fell into the crocodile pit. I also supplied 40 desert sidewinder rattlesnakes for Jim to exhibit in a large glass fronted cage filled with sea sand. "I could become a poster boy for the benefits of venom," Haast boasted. I also remember Mrs. Haast coming to the schools, all the way into my sophomore year at Gables High, to talk about their work - and the high point of her talks was when she would take an indigo snake out of her purse and invite everyone to feel it. This time it came out! Thanks again Bill.. Source = Youtube. flashbackmiami.com/2013/11/26/serpentarium-2/, Mozilla/5.0 (iPad; CPU OS 15_5 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/605.1.15 (KHTML, like Gecko) GSA/219.0.457350353 Mobile/15E148 Safari/604.1. Haast caught his first snake at 7; his first serious bite was at 12. MIAMI, Sept. 4 (UPI)A 12foot African crocodile that killed a 6yearold boy was killed today by the owner of the Miami Serpentarium, who pumped nine shots into it with a Luger. I read here about the boy who was killed after falling into the crocidile pit. But at the Serpentarium, there was a monster 14 foot rattlesnake from upper Florida, probably from around the Gainesville area. Opening day was Jan. 1, 1948. I lived across South Dixie Highway from the Miami Serpentarium. It was buried on the grounds. That photo is one of my favorite collectables. Did you know that Charlie Baxter aka MT GRAVES IS STILL ALIVE & is one hell of a nice guy. Luckily though, I see from visiting one of the links that there is an attraction to view snake milking in St. I'm recommending this site to my grandson, Piers and now that I'm a snowbird residing in Ft. Myers part time, I'll keep watching for news of your 100th birthday party! Grainy WTVJ footage from 1962, now part of the Wolfson Archive, shows a fit, toothy 51-year-old Haast in a hospital recovering from his 79th snake bite his first ever by a King Cobra. We considered him the Patron Saint of Junkies in those days. Sheriff Demings identified the young boy as two-year-old Lane Graves of Nebraska, whose parents are Matt and Melissa Graves. It took a group of people to get . My parents stayed at the motel pool, while I was the first one thru the door at the Serpentarium that day. Thank you for reminding me about this incredible man. It had been bit my Cookie while trying to stop Cookie from getting out on US1.Also their pet lion jumped across the roof of the Shelby and the chain scratched the roof. But thanks to Bill, there were not many poisonous snakes left in South Dade in the 60s-70s when I had an youngsters craving for catching reptiles. I will think of my uncle as I visit. All he did was yell ouch and that concludes the show for today. The boy was dragged into the water by an alligator at 9pm Tuesday, local time, while wading in about a foot of water during a movie night at Disneys Grand Floridian Resort & Spa. THE body of the two-year-old boy, Lane Graves, snatched by an alligator at a Disney resort has now been recovered. I will admired and respect this wonderful human being for the rest of my life. People were lining up for a show. It was July, 1972, and my family was making our first visit to the Serpentarium. The boy's father and another man, Nicolas Caulineau, jumped into the pit and straddled the crocodile. The seller's address: Eureka, Fla. Haast knew he had to head south, to a warmer climate favored by snakes. Like I said, we were always grabbing any snakes we came across, and one day finally got a Moccasin. When asked if Disney was aware of alligators on the property, Wahaler advised there were signs that said no swimming. THE body of the two-year-old boy, Lane Graves, snatched by an alligator at a Disney resort has . FOR THE MIAMI HERALD King cobras. Soon after opening the Serpentarium, Haast began experimenting with building up an acquired immunity to the venom of King, Indian and Cape cobras by injecting himself with gradually increasing quantities of venom he had extracted from his snakes, a practice called mithridatism. Originally, the shots immunized Haast against snake bites, an occupational hazard. Bill was sort of surprised but actually seemed happy to see me. For almost four decades, Haast charmed curious tourists who flocked to his South Dixie Highway attraction, the Miami Serpentarium, to watch his snake show. I remember a Coral snake bit and killed a man digging in his yard in Whispering Pines in 1965. REMAINS of a fourteen-year-old boy have been pulled from inside a crocodile's belly after he was eaten alive. Donated several snakes over the years also, mostly coral snakes from Opa Locka area. "He'd put on a show just to supplement the research for the while," she said. Julio's distraught parents have urged authorities to find the crocodile and kill it. In 1977, a 6-year-old fell into a reptile pit at the Serpentarium and was killed by an 1,800-pound crocodile named Cookie. Worst time of my life!!! ( Because they wouldn't let me move here by myself.) I'm sure they still carry around enough guilt, even after all this time, without you adding to it. Haast started collecting snakes and, after initial opposition from his mother, was allowed to keep them at home. When I was a child in the 1950's, Mama made us stay in the house. According to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, population growth and increasing participation in water-related activities are resulting in more frequent alligator-human interactions. These Valuable Pennies Are Worth Thousands. In 1954 Haast was bitten by a common, or blue, krait. The year was 1977 when a young boy tumbled into an enclosure at the Miami. [3] Haast extracted venom from venomous snakes from the time he was a boy. I remember seeing an alligator gulping down whole chickens and being allowed to handle an Indigo snake after Mr. Haast's presentation. local news and culture. The snake had disappeared, but I estimate that the snake, which had at least a one foot girth, was 14 feet or more. One day I noticed his handshis fingersthey were deformend, mangled, sort of like a something from an old horror moviea result--one of many, of having been bitten by so many venomous snakesI think his own blood was an anti-venom, as a result of being bitten so much, I think he used to distribute this "antivenom (his blood)worldwide to snakebite vicims. He's truly an amazing man who has lived a life of exemplary devotion to his work. TimesMachine is an exclusive benefit for home delivery and digital subscribers. Finding this site reminds me what saints my parents were! Don Julio told the Mail Online: "The hardest thing for my wife was seeing the crocodile float with my son's body.". Find out more about our policy and your choices, including how to opt-out. BOY KILLED The attraction prospered until a tragedy in 1977. . The crocodile is believed to measure 2.5 to three . CANCUN -- A 12-year-old boy who was bitten by a crocodile at a Mexican resort spoke to "Good Morning America" on Wednesday in his first television interview. Addressed to Guest: How dare you ever get on a site, and reproach a man for his dispair over the loss of an innocent 6 year old boy. I somehow got to this page from an old email I found and did the Google thing for " Bill "Miami Snakeman" Haast " and here I find myself with those shared memories. In October, a man fought a crocodile with a knife while it held his friend's head in its jaws. Nonetheless, the boy, who was battered and submerged, was killed. Thank you for the bio of this incredible man. I gathered from what he said that it would not bother him in the least were this variety of snake removed from its separate classification and returned to the larger taxon from which someone had extracted it. Thanks for the memories, as Bob Hope would say. We ran it over, and with a little coaxing, I convinced the driver to return. My first visit to the Serpentarium was in the summer of '56 when I visited family friends who lived on Key Biscayne. By the mid-1960s he was putting on five shows a day, dressed in a white lab coat, extracting venom to sell for scientific experimentation. ''From the first day I walked into the Miami Serpentarium, I knew that was for me,'' he said. Florida is considered one of the most vulnerable states in America when it comes to rising sea levels, causing the ocean to start seeping into the Everglades swampland, where alligators live. The crocodile is suspected of eating a farmer who went missing in July in the town of Bunawan, and of killing a 12-year-old girl whose head was bitten off two years before. My uncle made a point to tell me to look up this site. bill was to capture this cobra and milk it for the crowd. It was damaged by a hurricane in 2005 and they just built a new one. Haast's mental trauma over the boy's death eventually led to the closure of the Serpentarium on South Dixie Highway. Name a deadly snake and Bill Haast has either tamed it or been bitten by it. But he felt he couldn't continue to feed the crocodile and display him under these conditions.. In his case, he claims the venom has helped him live a long and healthy life -- with the exception of his snakebitten hands. Yep, I was a snake kid, read all the books in my library, found "Cobras In His Garden" and was as surprised as my parents when Bill Haast wrote back to me a few times. An eight-year-old boy was dragged underwater and mauled to death by a crocodile in front of his horrified parents while paddling in shallow water in a river near his home in Costa Rica. joe pylandgrew up at sunniland park two blocks from the serpentarium.Remember it well..Billy..the grandson ran over my arm in 1962 with his bike..breaking it and I missed the 1st 6 weeks of Khoury League.Remember Haast tamping alsoThis man was incredidle and brave. Needless to say I was quite nervous also, thinking of what might happen if that snake went through the crowd. It was a rattle snake. I used to take the snakes I would find to a lady named Alma Bishop, who had a little shop in the Flamingo Bar. I grew up in North Miami Beach and remember going to the Serpentarium many times, but my favorites were Sundays when the King Cobra came out. Is it the venom? Haast saw that a boy had fallen into the crocodile pit. Haast jumped down into the pit. THRIVING BUSINESS Despite the medical debacles, the Serpentarium continued to flourish. I remember it sliding around my leg and shaking my leg till it feel off. The location of where the 2yr old is missing. My mother took my brother and I to the serpentarium in 1977. Every year we took a field trip there, and every year I looked forward to it. I'm sorry I can never take my grandchildren there. All this may be imaginative conjecture of a teenage boy.. .Once thing sure, though, Him and his wife sure looked scary, to we boys, in those white Drs. Friday, his wife Nancy put his lifetime tally at 172. Suddenly, he heard screaming and ran toward the commotion. Born William E. Haast on Dec. 30, 1910 in Paterson, N.J., he was a South Florida celebrity for surviving successive venomous snakebites. Haast's passing reminded South Floridians of a certain age of the bygone era when entrepreneurs could set up quirky roadside attractions along Dixie Highway, US 1, to thrill both local school kids and wintering vacationers who fled the cold. LIVES SAVED But if a life was lost at the Serpentarium, Haast wants it known that transfusions from his immunized blood to snake victims helped save 21 lives. He bought a plot of land facing U.S. 1, south of Miami, then sold his house and started construction on the Serpentarium. ``I can't complain. My mother was deathly afraid of snakes but she was a real trooper driving us to Dr. Haas, all the while saying, you better not let that snake go in this car! Bill Haast (December 30, 1910 June 15, 2011[1]) was the owner and operator, from 1947 until 1984, of the Miami Serpentarium, a tourist attraction south of Miami, Florida, where he extracted venom from snakes in front of paying customers. Still remember running a service call on a friday night for a NO COOLto be met by a Llama (male) at the entry gate who put his massive head through my truck window and pinned me against my seat..Nancy told me he liked me but to come back because she was delivering a Llama "cria". We also used to go to his show at the Serpentarium, and it fascinated my brother. Haast could not make the ceremony, so part of the ceremony came to him. Even though the Serpentarium was there, some people still got bitten, and died from the poisonous snakes. My heart is shattered. I'm very glad I did. Haast added a snake exhibit to the business. Join the New Times community and help support #BreakingNews #Orlando pic.twitter.com/8AUeiXdmBk, Search crews at Grand Floridian Beach pic.twitter.com/wTCsxsJwNO, Search party is growing pic.twitter.com/AwpHtHwgXy. How lucky were we that we had this place? National television shows hosted by Merv Griffin, Mike Douglas and Johnny Carson invited him or featured him during visits to Miami. As soon as it was handed back to an embarassed little girl, one of the boys said, "Now you have to look and see if it punched your bus ticket!" One particular snake that I remember from my childhood visits to the Serpentarium was a big, oversized Florida Eastern Diamond Back rattlesnake. Snake handler, venom researcher. Access from your Country was disabled by the administrator. But I still think he should not have shot that alligator. I cant imagine what those parents are going through. "I know a lot of people in Miami still remember the Serpentarium and wonder what became of me," he said, "that's why I'm talking to you.". My Grandfather was a construction worker and used to drop me off there every day over the summer, and weekends when he would work. The boy's father was helpless to save his son from the creature. During this time Haast met and married his second wife, Clarita Matthews. Jim F. Thank you for bringing back many many wonderful memories. There's a picture of me and an indigo snake, probably nearly as long as I was tall.