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Maggie’s Ode to Bill Haast(snake dude)

The story of Bills war with the FDA is a really good story.
Bill Haast actually developed a cure for polio. An excellent study in the origins of big pharma.

 
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Man, I remember him. When we had three channels it wasn't hard to know when he was going to be on TV.
 
I heard a cool story about Haast during the southeast asia "conflict". The army called a family and said your son was bitten by a krait.
The family had a brainstorm. They called Haast and told him what happened and can he fly to Vietnam and give their son a transfusion
(because his blood has the antibodies for every venomous snake in the world) ...Haast asked when was he bitten? They said 7 days ago....
Haast said he's dead by now.
 
I remember going to see him at his Serpentarium in FL when I was a kid. Amazing place and the dude had some serious stones dealing with (and getting bit) by all those snakes. IIRC a kid fell into the alligator pit and was killed at some point.
 
Read Cobra In His Garden when I was a kid but never made it to Miami Serpentarium. Furthest south I was able to get on family trips was Ross Allen's at Silver Springs.
 
I remember reading an interview with him and he mentioned the number of venoms he was injected with on a regular basis. I can't recall the number, but I remember thinking "WOW!"
 
I remember going to see him at his Serpentarium in FL when I was a kid. Amazing place and the dude had some serious stones dealing with (and getting bit) by all those snakes. IIRC a kid fell into the alligator pit and was killed at some point.

If we're talking the Miami Serpentarium, we used to take field trips there when I was in elementary school. The place had the giant cobra head rising above the roof line. I think they tore the place down around 1984 when Mr. Haast moved north.