How come this has not been made into a horror movie yet, I have no idea. I wish they would so this family could get their money back and life on track. Also some people in Rexburg, Idaho should have stepped up and told the Sessions family about what was in the house before buying it.
A 5 bedroom house on two acres for just $180,000? Sounded wonderful to this couple who already had two small children and another on the way. What they found though was the house had been built on a winter snake den. What that means is that all winter long, you would find snakes everywhere. So many in fact that Ben Sessions, once killed 42 in a single day. Didn't matter how many he killed, every morning he would do a sweep of the house to capture all the ones which got inside during the night. The couple would lie awake at night listening to the snakes in the rafters and in the walls. The water tasted funny because of all the snake musk. Luckily the snakes were just garter snakes, but many were over two feet long.
The family could not handle it and moved out. The house was foreclosed and was recently on the market for $100K. Previous buyers of the house have attempted to sue the previous sellers but it always gets dismissed. Locals know it is as the snake house. Now the locals do make sure they warn any potential buyers if they see them at the house. Worst nightmare ever.
Yeah. When you use the phrase "Satan's lair" to describe your home, it's definitely time to leave.
ReplyDeleteHeebie Jeebies!
ReplyDeleteWhat asshole locals for never telling people until now. I can just hear the conversation.
ReplyDelete"OHMYGODTHEREARESNAKESINMYHOUSEWHATTHEFUCK?!!!!"
"Uhhhhh yep, folks here do tell of a house full o' snakes. Sounds like it's yer house."
"WHATTHEFUCK!"
"Uhhhh yep, folks say the house been infested pert near 25 year...."
"WHATTHEFUCK! WHY DIDN'T ANYONE TELL US!"
"You didn ask."
"...."
Now just do the voice as Cletus the Slack-jawed Yokel and you're set.
Why don't they just raze the house at this point?
ReplyDeletehas anyone studied the reason(s) the snake are so drawn to that house?
ReplyDeletei was ready to go on and on about what a great deal 5 bdrms/2 acres for $180k must be...but that business of snakes in the walls and rafters...*i shudder*
I am so scared of snakes, even garter snakes. I have one in my flower bed right now and refuse to go out in the grass. I make my husband water and weed the flowers because I won't go off the deck. This would given me a heart attack. I would not have lasted as long as they did.
ReplyDeletei want these motherf**kin snakes out this motherf**kin house!
ReplyDeleteSounds like something that should have been legally disclosed at the time of sale.
ReplyDelete@juicy,
ReplyDeleteI was waiting for someone to say that, LOL
There's a show on the National Geographic channel called "Infested!" (or something equally scary). I saw these people on that show and almost died when they showed the extent of the problem.
ReplyDeletecrazy story...but i can't get past that guy's mouth/tooth situation.
ReplyDeleteMy friends bought a vacation home in upstate New York, great buy, a pool, lots of land...well they couldn't even sit by the pool...SNAKES everywhere....they totally
ReplyDeletefreaked...just sold it...
I wonder if they ever mentioned the snakes ?
Hubby killed seven black widows in our small residential backyard in one day last summer. Does that compare? I guess not.
ReplyDeleteIt WAS disclosed and the new owners signed it. The real estate agent dismissed it with the 'that's just a rumor' story and the new owners believed it. I think that damned real estate agent should have to live there for a while and see how true the rumor is. Moron.
ReplyDelete@Momster - Argh! What state do you live in?
ReplyDeleteDid they get a home inspection? I've got the heebs.
The story freaked me out when I first heard it. Ugh, I don't think I would ever recover from something like this!
ReplyDeleteDo those sound things work on snakes? I know they do work on spiders. I put several of them in my house and on my boat. My boat never had spiders and there are few spiders at my house. Except the tarantulas. But only a few of those. They're pretty and furry. The big one wasn't even bigger than my hand. Really, they're not a bother.
ReplyDeletejuicy - well done...I was gonna say it if no one else did :)
ReplyDeleteReally _-_=_? Tarantulas? Oh my god I would die. I hate snakes, but Spiders are my ultimate fear!!! No way in hell. That's why I live in the city and in the north, to stay clear of those babies! Yuck!
ReplyDeleteThis might be a time where eminent domain can be used for good. The city or county should 'buy' the house, raze it, clear the land, then sell it with a building permit. Might be the only way to salvage the property.
ReplyDeleteThe realtor got them to sign off by saying the snake story was just so the previous owner could get out of their mortgage.
ReplyDeleteNow Chase keeps relisting the house (I think $110,000. was most recent price). Chase now says they'll rid it of the snakes before listing again.
yeah right..
@ ms cool--NE Oklahoma. Where the tornado sirens are currently going off, dammit.
ReplyDelete/heads to closet
I used to work with real estate agents they will bend the truth as far as possible to get that commission.
ReplyDeleteStay safe, Momster!
ReplyDeleteI say burn the house down.
I bet they don't have a mice or chipmonk problem like I do. I have a few garter snakes around the yard, but they can't keep up with the rodent population.
I was thinking the exact same thing as Chrissy Buns LMAO!!
ReplyDeleteAnd the spider & tarantula stories have me HORRIFIED. o_O
Chopchop, I would give anything to be able to say "I was thinking the exact same thing as Chrissy Buns."
ReplyDeleteI hate snakes and this would freak me the eff out. I can't believe they stayed in the house as long as they did. The day I found out my house was infested with snakes or any creature I would move until they were gone.
ReplyDelete_-_=_, what are the sound things you are talking about? I've never heard of them.
I hate, loathe, detest, despise freak the hell out over spiders!!! UGH. Yeah, wouldn't want the snakes either but...ok no, no buts here. Neither one. I'd raze the f'ing house and sell the land.
ReplyDeleteWhen the original King Kong was previewed in 1933, there was a scene where some sailors were shaken off a log by Kong, fell into a ravine and were attacked by giant spiders. Viewers were so shocked by it many got up and left the theater or talked about it through the rest of the movie; the footage was edited out and is now lost.
ReplyDeleteGiant apes and dinosaurs are one thing. Giant spiders? HELL, no!
Creepy. If I have nightmares tonight, I'm blaming you, Enty!
ReplyDeleteI've actually seen black widows up close, and they're pretty exquisite -- if you're into that kinda thing. :-) Their webs are CUH-RAZY, too. Pretty fascinating. They're the batshit members of the arachnid world.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I'd rather swim in a pit of snakes and/or sleep in a bed crawling with tarantulas than spend an HOUR in a room with one cave cricket/jumping spider/whatever you wanna call 'em. That's the only creature on earth that makes me shriek and cry. TOTAL phobia. Ever since childhood.
Snakes freak me out - I mean, like one at a time. Not a house full of them. There isn't enough Xanax in the world to help me relax in a situation like that. Spiders are a whole other level of fear for me, though. I live in NYC, but we have a backyard, so every now and then a rogue giant spider decides to take up residence near my house. One year I went to grab a t-shirt out of my closet and a spider came with it. I am sweating now even thinking about it. As much as I adore the summer months, the one thing I cannot stand about the summer is the idea of spiders. It prevents me from being able to water or weed (hubby), and I seldom venture out to use the grill without doing a full sweep first to make sure there aren't any big ones lurking from the tree tops. Okay, I am officially freaking out. Calgon.
ReplyDeleteI feel jumpy after reading this post/comments.
ReplyDelete@FS - That seems like it would be the only option to me. Unless some snake lover decides to buy it.
KLM, live in Australia, hate spiders. My worst spider story, well there are many, but this one still has me scared. Came home one night and saw legs poking out from behind the screen door up the top. My husband was inside. I barely managed to press the door bell. Hubby comes to the front door and as he is opening it I am bat shit scared and screaming 'Spider, spider spider!' My lovely husband casually went, got spray and paper towel, and killed it. But now, I hate screen doors. Never hated them before, but this bloody spider creeped me out so much because it was hiding, and I would have had the door opened before I realised, and it COULD HAVE FALLEN ON ME! Also, I hold the screen door open in order to open the big door behind it. You may be wondering about our screen doors. They are so we can have the big door open and allow air in our houses without the flies and mosquitoes getting in. But really, come visit Australia.
ReplyDelete@feraltart -- I did an independent month-long project in Kakadu park, and stayed in a pretty dumpy hostel while I was there. The only showers were outside. My first day there, I trudged out there to bathe, and noticed about TEN of THE MOST GIGANTIC spiders I have EVER SEEN just chillin' on the bathroom wall. They made our North American wolf spiders look like daddy long legs in comparison. Like, these things came straight out of Harry Potter. TERRIBLE.
ReplyDeleteAnd you know what? I don't really mind most insects, but I will NOT mess with ANY Australian ones. Nuh uh. Not even the butterflies.
Anyway, guess who went 30 days without showering? I'd rather be disgusting than DIE.
Ida, I totally heart you, and I too would choose being smelly over death.
ReplyDeleteWell, feraltart, I totally heart you, too -- and living among mutant spiders was honestly worth it. I am obSESSed with your country.
ReplyDeleteBut I definitely like my pictures of the Outback more than I liked actually being there. :-) I was there in November -- aka, the pre-monsoon season. Yay! And I was warned that it would be unbearably hot and humid, and I thought that I could take it, being from the mid-Atlantic region and all, but...no.
Eff it. NO.
Anyway, though, I still love Oz. I wanna click my heels and go back!
I totally saw this story on Infested and did research, in Idaho the garter snake is a protected species, meaning it would be illegal for them to clean out the winter snake den. Because of that they have to leave it alone. So basically any new owners are completely screwed. They should just buy it and make it a musuem or exhibit or something.
ReplyDeleteRose, go to Amazon.com and search for something like "ultrasonic pest control." I've thought about getting one, but it sounds like it's a crapshoot - sometimes they work, sometimes they don't. I'm trying to keep rabbits out of my mom's yard, but so far the only sure-fire option seeps to be spraying disgusting, foul, smelly concoctions on everything. No thank you.
ReplyDeleteOh, and on-topic, I like spiders and snakes, it's the damned millipedes that freak me out. Too many legs!!!!!
ReplyDeleteSo tonight I go out to fire up the grill for dinner. I notice some white fuzzy stuff on the side of the grill. I figured they were eggs of some kind. So I go in and find something to squish the eggs with. As I am squishing the eggs, this hairy, black spider jumps on the squished eggs. It has been over an hour and the damn spider is still there. I would love to go cover my grill back up, but not while that spider is hanging out. Nightmares tonight for sure. I have already been feeling like I have creepy crawlies on me.
ReplyDelete*shudders at jumping spiders*
ReplyDeleteI do happen to like snakes and spiders. I know..weirdo.. but I am honestly surprised that someone hasn't mentioned this yet..
WTF with this guy killing 42 snakes a day?
Ok I get it..its creepy and you don't want to hear them in your house and rafters. That is AWFUL..almost as bad as killing 42 snakes in one day.
Why not catch them and relocate instead of killing them?
That makes me sad :(
@Alicia -- I actually had that same thought about snake relocation -- but I'm used to people thinking that I'm insane, so I didn't mention it. :-)
ReplyDelete@ Ida..me too girl. My son has a pet name for me " coo coo " lol
ReplyDeleteGarter snakes are so damn cute to me...I used to love catching (and freeing) them as a kid. I'd be thrilled to have them in my yard, but not my house.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if anyone tried feral cats? They love catching the little buggers.
@LetLoveRule, you can have my garter snake. I think he is too little to take care of my mole problem. Of course I probably don't want to see the snake that could do that.
ReplyDeletenot to freak everyone out more, but there is a Spider 3 feet away from you at all times. UGH! I think I first heard that on Criminal Minds and per GOOGLE (ha) it is TRUE. My worst nightmare.
ReplyDelete@lisap - I remember reading when I was kid that the average person will swallow 5 spiders throughout their lifetime while they are sleeping. I've never forgotten it, true or not.
ReplyDelete