Jaws dropped. A son, William Haast Jr., predeceased him. Did you know that Charlie Baxter aka MT GRAVES IS STILL ALIVE & is one hell of a nice guy. The 35' cobra ended up on the roof (south side) of South Miami Senior High-my old high school-where it served proudly for many years. I remember it sliding around my leg and shaking my leg till it feel off. We visited the Serp many times as a family visiting from Illinois and I have an autographed copy of Cobras In His Garden along with several movies that I gotta get moved over to DVD's.. Doc always took time to shake hands or pose for a picturetime that in retrospect I know he didn't really have to give, but he always did. He moved his venom-gathering operation to Utah. Thanks for putting it up! 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. His take on the matter was generally to the effect that the placement of this variant of the common black racer into a separate subspecies status seemed dubious. He received the key to the city.Those same hands that for decades eased venom from the world's most poisonous snakes held the key to the city of Miami on Thursday. Although Haast did not have antivenin for that snake, he knew a collector who did and who provided the 15 vials of antivenin that saved the victim's life. But in 1980 the Food and Drug Administration banned the product as useless after saying that numerous deficiencies had been found in Mr. Haasts manufacturing process. From The Miami Herald, August 3, 2006 FLASHBACK | THE MIAMI SERPENTARIUM 'Miami snakeman' is 95 and still injects himself with venom BY LUISA YANEZ lyanez@MiamiHerald.com IN PUNTA GORDA: Bill Hasst sold his Miami Serpentarium site in Pinecrest in 1984, and settled in southwest Florida. He always survived and promoted his anti-snake venom that saved many other lives. Haast is still trying to prove a point: He'll go to his grave believing venom can heal. We will have to go and visit the place that a man built who was inspired by Mr. Haast. But Haast no longer can handle the forked-tongued killers that made him famous. I knocked and went in. When I was a child in the 1950's, Mama made us stay in the house. He's truly an amazing man who has lived a life of exemplary devotion to his work. Luckily I caught myself in time to stop myself from falling in. I think its horrible that he killed that animal. The seller's address: Eureka, Fla. Haast knew he had to head south, to a warmer climate favored by snakes. I think that this Dr., was loved by thousands of Miamians, because of him lives are save. I don't remember how long he was but I DO remember how strong he was. Haast really wanted to find the cure or treatment for polio and feels he came close. Anyone can read what you share. boy killed by crocodile at miami serpentarium. ( Because they wouldn't let me move here by myself.) The incident left Bill Haast badly shaken. The incident did not end Haast's interest in venom research. I was inspired by him because as kids we used to go all through the Evergaldes looking for snakes to catch. After Bill sold the Serpentarium, our 12,000 sq.ft. He was a great neighborhhod Dad, and I will always remember the fun we had with he, his wife and his children. I read here about the boy who was killed after falling into the crocidile pit. The night of the accident, he took his Luger, walked out to the pit and shot Cookie in the head. We used to hunt non-poisonous snakes in the Glades, Homestead farmlands: king snakes, red ratsnakes, yellow ratsnakes, indigos, black racers, etc., and take them down to mr Haas and he had a yardstick on the table and would measure them by the foot, pay us maybe .25cents/foot for the ratsnake, .35/foot for the kingsnakes, etc. Bill was sort of surprised but actually seemed happy to see me. This official Bill Haast website is being presented in honor of one of the greatest pioneers, visionaries, humanitarians and scientists of all time. His grey pleated linen trowsers were pressed and as spotless as his egyptian cotton White shirt, topped with a most stunning Pith Helment. But Jonas Salk produced a polio vaccine in April 1955, ending Haast's first effort to turn venom into a miracle drug. "If I live to be 100, I'll really make the point.''. carpet warehouse became the new home for several large ( 2 to 4 foot ) lizards, which I guess, were living in the trees and were never captured. ABOUT 1975 OR SO, I TOOK MY FAMILY ON VACATION TO SEE ALL THE SIGHTS MIAMI HAD TO OFFER INSTEAD OF LEAVING TOWN AS WE ALWAYS DID. But none the less just because Mr. Hass felt bad about what happened he, Haas, shot the alligator for no reason. Miami's independent source of Detectives said when they arrived to the scene, people were attempting to take the teen to the hospital. i grew -up in south fla. in the sixties through the eighties,reading about bill haast brought back so many great memories.it was a huge treat when my mom and dad would pile all five of us kids in our station wagon a few times a year and spend the day at the miami serpentarium. Six years later, he returned to Florida and opened the facility in Punta Gorda, where he raised and milked snakes but did not resume his snake show. I well remember Bill Haast and his snake "milking" shows. Cox was ultimately arrested and transported to the Juvenile Assessment Center. Miami-Dade police are investigating after a 16-year-old boy was fatally shot late Tuesday night at an apartment complex. For more information, call (407) 892-6905 or visit www . He was in a special hospital room on site with feet and hands swollen into black balls and other life threatening injuries incurred from what I recall as being a diamondback rattler bite. He shot the 1800-pound crocodile nine times with a Luger pistol, yet it was still an hour before it died. Even though this article is of the Snakeman as we called him I want to comment a special person. I grew up living close to the Haast's in the 60's. Back in the 1980's, I lived in the Pepperwood S/D (about one block south of Kendell Drive, just west of Palmetto Expy). The latest local, regional and national news events of the morning are presented by the Local 10 News Team along with updated sports, weather and traffic. STAFF PHOTO / ED PFUELLER Order photo Bill Haast, center, is recognized by members of Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Venom Response Unit for his work helping snake-bite victims. The Roberson Funeral Home of Port Charlotte said Friday that arrangements were incomplete. If you are the site owner (or you manage this site), please whitelist your IP or if you think this block is an error please open a support ticket and make sure to include the block details (displayed in the box below), so we can assist you in troubleshooting the issue. Thank you Diana, and all the other folks who have posted, for posting your personal memories of Bill Haast and your insights that the general public would never know about if you hadn't written in. During the 1950s, he was bitten by cobras about twenty times. [9] In an August 2008 Florida Trend interview, he stated, "Aging is hard. Watching Bill milk then tube feed special formula into those angry hooded cobras he'd take out of the boxes is something I will never forget. If you wish to purchase venoms, we invite you to telephone (800) 248-5050 or e-mail nancy@miamiserpentarium.com and we will be happy to be of service. I'm glad I got to experience that part of S. Florida/s history, visiting The Serpentarium, now part of mine. He agreed to chat only by telephone with a Miami Herald reporter. I visited the Serpentarium in1969 as an 18-year-old on spring break with a buddy. In fact, his poison-proof plasma saved over 21 people. In 1964, a book was written about him. Bill was an outstanding dedicated man. Among them a zoo director from Des Moines, a local construction worker and a Venezuelan father. Worst time of my life!!! I will forever carry fond memories of "Doc" and how he turned my life around. But there is no reason to visit Miami. He bought a plot of land facing U.S. 1, south of Miami, then sold his house and started construction on the Serpentarium. THE BAND FROM SOUTH MIAMI HIGH RODE WITH THE COBRA TO THE SCHOOL ON A FLAT BED TRUCK WITH THE BAND HAPPILY PLAYING AND BEATING THEIR DRUMS--SUDDENLY--SEVERAL CARS AHEAD OF ME THE SNAKE --WHICH WAS PLANTED STRAIGHT UP--SUDDENLY FELL APART ON THE TRUCK --JUST SORT OF DISENTAGRATED --AND THE BOTTOM WAS RUINED--BUT A SMALL PART INCLUDING THE HEAD REMAINED-AND APPEARED UNDAMAGED---AND I PRESUME--MADE IT SAFELY TO THE SCHOOL--J. MUDD. William E. Haast was born on Dec. 30, 1910, in Paterson, N.J. By then Cookie, the 12-foot, 2,000-pound crocodile, had the boy in its mouth. Sad to say, a passerby noticed that the snake was poisonous and killed it before we could take it to the Serpentarium to get paid for all our efforts. Editor's Note: We are saddened to learn of the death last Saturday of Dean Ripa, owner of the Cape Fear Serpentarium in downtown Wilmington, North Carolina, and the subject of this beloved 2005 Oxford American feature by our contributing editor Wendy Brenner.Brenner was a finalist for an ASME National Magazine Award in Feature Writing for this story, which was also anthologized in Best . A secret of his success was the immunity he had built up by injecting himself every day for more than 60 years with a mix of venoms from 32 snake species. He suddenly dropped his hook and reached in with his hand, and grabbed it then swung it over the heads of the audience. Haast still grows somber when retelling the story: It was a Sunday. He flew around the world to donate his antibody-rich blood to 21 different snakebite victims. Of course he would buy the rare Indigo snakes, because they could rear up and spread their neck like a Cobra, but were not poisonous. I first heard of Bill Haast around 1955, when reading a "man's magazine" (as they were called back then, probably Argosy. The victims mother identified him as Barry Ellis, an eighth-grade student at Horace Mann Middle School. ``I can't complain. I said yes, I got to feed his snakes white mice, met his daughter (she had a pet lion), used to catch snakes and sell them to Mr. For all the time he spent with snakes, Mr. Haast harbored no illusions that they liked him. Anyone can read what you share. But the reptile managed to crawl away into a moat in the 50foot square pit, dragging the child with him. Cloud, Florida and it just so happens that my dad lives there now. By 1965 the Serpentarium housed more than 500 snakes in 400 cages and three pits in the courtyard. During World War II, he was aboard flights that delivered food and medicine to Africa and Asia. He later received commendations from President Gerald Ford and Miami Mayor Stephen Clark. Unfortunately, in 1977 a six-year-old boy fell into the crocodile pit at Miami Serpentarium and was killed by "Cookie", a 12-ft-long crocodile. It taught me an important life lessons about fearto just face fears because most of the time our anxiety really isn't worth it. The Miami Serpentarium, an early Florida roadside tourist attraction, was once located on this site. I came upon a reference to a varieth of the black racer that bears the name Coluber constrictor haasti. Since the county revived the antivenin bank in 1998, it has saved 1,000 snake-bite victims, Seigert said. Thanks again Bill.. I took care of Clarita Haast's original Continental Mark. I gave Dr. Hasst an iguana that got too large for me to keep and from then on he let me come in for free.. "He'd put on a show just to supplement the research for the while," she said. other sizes: small original auto previous | next Unless otherwise noted under the right bottom of the photo, all images are copyrighted by Don Boyd comment | share MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. The person who shot and killed a 15-year-old boy is on the run. Today, a McDonald's and a shopping center sit where the Serpentarium once thrilled. "And in the end the research could take care of itself.". "I could become a poster boy for the benefits of venom,'' Mr. Haast boasted. There were others I recall, Monkey Jungle, Parrot Jungle, but none had the that eye catching element of suspense like The Serpentarium. [4] As of 2008 he continued to have his wife inject him with small amounts of snake venom. He could not have been nicer to us and spent some time talking to us. I introduced myself and got my wife and kids to meet him too. That might have occurred, since some recent field guides I have examined do not include haasti. They paid my mother something like $10 or more for the snake. I'm 5'2 from s city in north Jersey myself, and the snake was about my size! it stirred interest faster than the key lime pie and local jelly signs. 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. Miami-Dade police said they arrived to the scene to find a 16-year-old boy who had a gunshot wound to the back of his head. Using nothing but a thin hooked metal rod. The Reptile Centre in Northampton, England, declared him "an inspirational man within the world of reptiles." When the show headed to Florida, Haast convinced his parents to let him go. I would see him periodically. MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. - The person who shot and killed a 15-year-old boy is on the run. MIAMI (CBS4)- The man who mesmerized generations of paying customers from 1947 to 1984 by extracting venom at his Miami Serpentarium as a spine-tingling South Florida attraction is dead. Haast caught his first snake at 7; his first serious bite was at 12. From Dadeland areafor you have info, on this still. His first king cobra bite was in 1962. The last snake I had was a 12' burmese python that I owned a few years ago. I told my mother how I'd really like to get an Indigo and she kind of shrugged it off. I was 11 in 1972 when my folks agreed to stop at the Serpentarium when our family of seven drove down from Massachusetts to Key West for February school vacation. Lee Martines - Growing up in Miami in the 40s and 50s I would visit the Serpentarium every couple of years and always marveled at the variety of snakes and the process of extracting the venom from the poisonous ones. The favor was returned in 1989 when, according to The Associated Press, the White House used secret connections to spirit a rare serum out of Iran to treat Mr. Haast as he fought to recover from a bite by a Pakistani pit viper. It was not that far from us and yet we were not fearful. She would take some of her snakes to Bill Haast. Lots of people like me. And modern medical researchers are proving him right snake venom fractions are becoming recognized as potent medicines. Part scientist, part entertainer, Mr. Haast spent his early years in Miami as a mechanic for Pan Am, while he built the snake farm he called The Serpentarium along a portion of U.S. 1 that today is part of Pinecrest. In the summer of 1972 I was bitten by a pygmy rattle snake in the middle of a subdivision in south Miami. I, and many other people, really enjoy reading the comments that are left under the photos. Consequently, the snakes grew to tremendous lengths, by not being hunted by the indians, and were probably fed leftover game to achieve the fantastic length. Anyone with information is urged to call Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers at 305-471-TIPS. He was carrying a snake-bite kit, and had a friend inject him with antivenom; the bite hospitalized him for a week. When he had enough, he opened the Serpentarium in Miami in 1946. According to the report, Cox fled the scene but later responded to the Miami-Dade Police Departments Homicide Bureau where he provided a video-recorded statement. Palm vipers. The Serpentarium's landmark 35-foot-high, hooded, concrete-and-stucco cobra stuck out its forked tongue at motorists and arriving patrons on South Dixie Highway and Southwest 126th Street. America is still arguing today about whether the Cincinnati Zoo should have shot and killed Harambe, a 17-year-old male, Become a member to support the independent voice of South Florida He placed a live, non-venomous snake into one of the supposedly empty boxes to be cleaned. Looking back I'm glad it was in the dark because I never saw the snake Approximately an hour later my foot started aching and my parents looked all over my legs and feet for a bite mark. 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. Bill Haast (December 30, 1910 - June 15, 2011) was the director of the Miami Serpentarium Laboratories, a facility near Miami, Florida that produces snake venom for medical and research use. Copyright 2023 by WPLG Local10.com - All rights reserved. I was a good friend with Bill Haast's grandson Willie, He and I would catch snakes and bring them to the Surpentarium, I also would go camping in the everglades with Willie and his sister pinkie and their mom and dad, we would swim in the water around gaters and catch snakes. A significant historical year for this entry is 1946. 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. I still miss the animals. He owned and operated the Miami Serpentarium, a Florida tourist attraction where he extracted venom from snakes in front of paying guests, from 1947 until 1984. Hi, my uncle Ted Kundtz just passed away a few months ago and he told me that he had helped out Mr. Haast when he was younger. In the first chapter a bunch of young boys are headed to a swimming hole; one boy races ahead and dives in. ", By his 95th birthday, he was a bit of a recluse. "My So-Called Life", pg. Marker is located in the Pinecrest Town Center parking lot along US 1. A pair of 911 calls brought both Miami police and Miami-Dade police to 8050 NW Miami Ct. around 4:35 p.m.
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