In 1946 Haast decided he had enough money saved to start his snake farm. 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. It was 2006 and he was still extolling the virtues of venom, saying he injected himself weekly with a cocktail from five snakes cobras, cottonmouths, kraits, mambas and rattlers homeopathy the Food and Drug Administration would never endorse. That applies to the many other wildlife that existed back then. My first visit to the Serpentarium was in the summer of '56 when I visited family friends who lived on Key Biscayne. Everyone sold them to the Serpentarium for $1.25/Ft, good money in those days. 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 6-year-old boy fell into a crocodile pit and was killed. As my mother was paying our admission, a worker rushed over to tell us that we were going to miss the King cobra show. Disney has now closed all resort beaches out of an abundance of caution until further notice, a Disney spokesperson said Wednesday morning. Just heard the mother grieving her baby. When I was young I was always interested in snakes. Bill is a true forward thinker and an inspiration to all herpetologists. But Jonas Salk produced a polio vaccine in April 1955, ending Haast's first effort to turn venom into a miracle drug. To this day it is one of our most treasured possesions. He was born in 1910 in Paterson, N.J., to German-American parents -- his father was a mechanic, his mom a housewife. I was inspired by him because as kids we used to go all through the Evergaldes looking for snakes to catch. [2] After closing the Serpentarium, he opened the Miami Serpentarium Laboratories, a facility in Punta Gorda, Florida that produced snake venom for medical and research use. 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. Haast extracted venom 70 to 100 times a day from some 60 species of venomous snakes, usually in front of an audience of paying customers. From Dadeland areafor you have info, on this still. 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. 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. I visited the Serpentarium two time back in 1958 and 1967, it was a very interesting place to tour. Among them a zoo director from Des Moines, a local construction worker and a Venezuelan father. In his case, he claims the venom has helped him live a long and healthy life -- with the exception of his snakebitten hands. 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. One day, a six-year-old boy fell into the crocodile pit at Miami Serpentarium and was killed by "Cookie", a 12-ft-long crocodile that had been living in the pit for 20 years without incident. 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. Res 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. It was buried on the grounds. I stood, many times, on the grass in the little circle just feet from the Cobra at milking time. Haast is still trying to prove a point: He'll go to his grave believing venom can heal. The boy's father and another man, Nicolas Caulineau, jumped into the pit and straddled the crocodile. When asked if Disney was aware of alligators on the property, Wahaler advised there were signs that said no swimming. In October, a man fought a crocodile with a knife while it held his friend's head in its jaws. I'll never forget April Fools day there! Haast added a snake exhibit to the business. 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. All he did was yell ouch and that concludes the show for today. But there is no reason to visit Miami. As a joke on him, a staff member placed a rubber snake into one of the boxes that normally held a venomous snake for the show. In April 2010, a 25-year-old woman from New Jersey was killed by a . I followed his instructions and he was right. On September 3, 1977, a 6-year-old boy sitting atop the wall surrounding the Serpentarium's alligator and crocodile pit fell into the pit, and a 12-foot crocodile lunged ten feet and grabbed the boy. He bought a plot of land facing U.S. 1, south of Miami, then sold his house and started construction on the Serpentarium. Cookie broke free and took the boy underwater. MIAMI, Sept. 3 (UPI)A 6yearold boy tumbled into a crocodile pit at the Miami Serpentarium today and a 14 foot, 1,800pound African crocodile snapped its jaws around the child's middle and dragged him to his death in a small lagoon. In 1980 we took my late husband who had ALS (Lou Gerhig's Disease) to the Miama Clinic where. It's a shame that everything is gone now. The Depression killed the snake attraction, so Haast went to work for a bootlegger based in the Florida Everglades, until revenue agents busted their still. My girlfiends and I would catch 7 - 8 foot Indio snakes and we would beg my mother to drive us over to the Serpentarium so we could sell the snakes to Dr. Haas. He was able to identify the type of snake that bit me by the bite marks. I called Haast to see what he could tell me about it. I well remember Bill Haast and his snake "milking" shows. I grew up in Miami and loved the Serpentarium. One of the girls fainted right in my dad's arms! 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. Haast eventually returned home, married and enrolled in airplane-mechanic school, but Florida called. Anyone can read what you share. 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. Their daughters, Nya and Shantee probably do not even remeber me (it was in the early seventies). After Bill sold the Serpentarium, our 12,000 sq.ft. MIAMI, Sept. 3 (UPI)A 6yearold boy tumbled into a crocodile pit at the Miami Serpentarium today and a 14 foot, 1,800pound African crocodile snapped its jaws around the child's. Police spokesperson Rohan Shah Ahmad said: "There were severe injuries on the boy's body including his waist, chest and stomach." 13 I used to take the snakes I would find to a lady named Alma Bishop, who had a little shop in the Flamingo Bar. On November 3, a man was dragged underwater by a crocodile while swimming in the Kali River, in India's Uttara Kannada district, Newsroom Odisha reported. I got excited thinking it was a new toy. "Since we don't know which cave it is, or which crocodile because there are several, it's very difficult to focus on a single point. The location of where the 2yr old is missing. In the area of the Serpentarium, pigmy rattlesnakes abounded. But its very rare and it really is a shock to us to see this happen.. Haast calls it one of the lowest points in his life. It was in 1960, I was in my junior year at San fernando Valley State college at Northridge ,California. In the 1970s, along with his friend, respected Miami physician Ben Sheppard, Haast distributed PROven, a venom-based serum. It was July, 1972, and my family was making our first visit to the Serpentarium. Haast started collecting snakes and, after initial opposition from his mother, was allowed to keep them at home. In 1954 Haast was bitten by a common, or blue, krait. Bill was sort of surprised but actually seemed happy to see me. In the first chapter a bunch of young boys are headed to a swimming hole; one boy races ahead and dives in. As he announced at the time, Bill killed the croc because he did not want her to become the inevitable freak show instead of a crocodile.Neither revenge nor stress induced fuzzy thinking was involved. I have Ophidiophobia (not herpetophobia the fear of reptiles) a true fear of snakes. 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. He always survived and promoted his anti-snake venom that saved many other lives. The incident left Bill Haast badly shaken. I remember in 3rd grade, back in 1960, one of my classmates dropped her purse into the crocodile pit. Haast was born in Paterson, New Jersey, in 1910. As a young Canadian boy back in the 1960`s. It is one stop from the Magic Kingdom Park and the Seven Seas Lagoon is popular with water lovers and boating enthusiasts. It was an experiment, but having received his first venomous snake bite as a teenager, Haast was used to risks. Now if I can find out more about The Colonel? Born William E. Haast on Dec. 30, 1910 in Paterson, N.J., he was a South Florida celebrity for surviving successive venomous snakebites. I saw so many people face their phobias of snakes and actually touch one for the first time. Bill and Nanvy were the guest attraction and Bill has with them a 12' hamadrayad, (King Cobra) which was un a 4x4x8 gkass fronted cage identical to that in which the sidewinders were displayed. Worst time of my life!!! Five alligators have already been caught in the lagoon and euthanised for analysis. I hope you live to 100 to prove snake venon is an anti aging wonder. We will have to go and visit the place that a man built who was inspired by Mr. Haast. Keepers were forced to shoot and kill the 17-year-old gorilla named Harambe. Across the street, a Haast lived in a nice house. Don Julio told the Mail Online: "The hardest thing for my wife was seeing the crocodile float with my son's body.". ''Failing at this is one of my biggest regrets,'' Haast said. He died of natural causes on Wednesday in Punta Gorda, on Florida's west coast, where he had made his home. As many families do, the Malaysian family had a get together with some friends. But I always felt I would live this long. The animal was of no harm to anyone other than the fool who would allow his self to fall in. Disney spokeswoman Jacquee Wahaler said everyone at the resort was devastated by what happened and Disney was helping the family. A crocodile seized a 5-year-old boy and dragged him into a river in western Mexico as his parents watched, according to authorities who said the child's body was found Thursday. I. Woww! We would eat the snakes, along with all the fish and snapping turtles we could catch from the Lakeland area lakes. haasti is different from the parent species only by virtue of an unusual configuration of white coloration on the head and chin. 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. Walt Disney World has unveiled a lighthouse memorial for a young boy who was killed by an alligator while on holiday at the Florida theme park. 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. Set in the American South in the 20th century. i would love to read a biography on bill haast or should we say DR.HAAST? I visited The Serpentarium in '78. Having said all that, thank you Mr. Haas for all your wonderful work with snakes. I lived on Homestead AFB 1960-66 and as a kid visited the Serpentarium many times. 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. 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. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Snake man is master of poison and cure
Bill Haast, 97, is lauded for pioneering work with snake venom
By Kate Spinner
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
Published: Friday, July 11, 2008 at 4:30 a.m.
CHARLOTTE COUNTY - Bill Haast's 97-year-old fingers, withered by scores of snake bites, are too weak to handle cobras and pit vipers anymore. As a kid, it was a thrill to see the man himself up close. The show was great. 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. 2010s. While he was extracting venom from a small cobra, he was struck on the thumb and calmly told his wife that he was going to lie down for awhile. But I must say he had a good sense of humor too. Haast caught his first snake at 7; his first serious bite was at 12. Sheriff Demings said a recovery operation was under way to find the childs body in the lagoon and bring some closure to this family. After a 15-hour search, the attack was certainly not survivable at this point, Sheriff Demings said. No. "My So-Called Life", pg. brightcove.createExperiences (); The toddler who was snatched by an alligator at a Disney resort in Orlando, Florida, on Tuesday, died as a result of . His wife Nancy and I had been pleasantly talking an she was so fearful that she held my arm and squeezed hard, all the while telling me that a bite from that king cobra would likely kill Bill , because up to that point he had been bitten some 23 times , but never by a king cobra one drop of which can kill 5 men. Alexander DeMella, who was watching the events unfold from his Disney balcony, told news.com.au that resort staff and authorities had said no one is allowed on the beaches at this time. Ms Popp, who is visiting the resort, said the search party was growing by the minute. Unless otherwise noted under the right bottom of the photo, all images are copyrighted by Don Boyd, Bill Haast and the Miami Serpentarium - recent news articles, SW 128th Street and South Dixie Highway, Dade County, Memories of Old Hialeah, Old Miami and Old South Florida Photo Galleries - largest non-Facebook collection on the internet, Miami Area Tourist and Local ATTRACTIONS Historical Photos Gallery - All Years - click on image to view. REMAINS of a fourteen-year-old boy have been pulled from inside a crocodile's belly after he was eaten alive. It stood almost eye level with Bill and lunged repeatedly as it advanced across the floor toward him. We finally found them on the bottom of my feet. When he had enough, he opened the Serpentarium in Miami in 1946. We have tried to cover and visualize some, we have implemented a hook with a strip to see if it pulls something, but to no avail. I first heard of Bill Haast around 1955, when reading a "man's magazine" (as they were called back then, probably Argosy. AJ Jain, a guest at the hotel, told The Orlando Sentinel he and his family were playing at the beach just hours earlier. Although the boy's father did not blame Haast for his son's death, Haast told reporters he wanted nothing else to do with the Serpentarium and, in any event, would never again house crocodiles there. EARLY START
The story of how Haast made his way to Florida has a certain Huck Finn appeal. He agreed to chat only by telephone with a Miami Herald reporter. I'd fainted at the realization of a whole baby pig inside that snake! I could see their fears fade as they got the nerve to touch a real snake and realize that is wasn't slimy. . Then years later I lived in Punta Gorda on Washington Loop, when Bill Haast moved there. I still have his autograph and some great snapshots of that meet & greet. Mr Graves desperately tried to rescue his son but was unsuccessful. Many times Haast donated his blood to be used in treating snake-bite victims when a suitable anti-venom was not available. RESEARCH WAS GOAL
For Haast, the bites, the snakes and the Serpentarium were only a means to an end. 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. I will enjoy looking over this site over time. He introduced himself as Col. Spencer, I introduced myself as "I'm Mark and could my brother Dick come too?" And modern medical researchers are proving him right snake venom fractions are becoming recognized as potent medicines. At the same time his work saved dozens of lives. He had so much venom in him that we were told even a bee sting could kill him. And in July, a woman in Florida died after she fell into a pond and was attacked by two alligators. But at the Serpentarium, there was a monster 14 foot rattlesnake from upper Florida, probably from around the Gainesville area. The victim, identified as Stambuli Bamusi, along with his friends, had gone . I never forgot Mr. Haast and his snakes, and, to this day, I am not scared of snakes or any other animals. Sheriff Demings said police had not received any recent reports or complaints about nuisance alligators but authorities will conduct further investigations. I introduced myself and got my wife and kids to meet him too. The Reptile Centre in Northampton, England, declared him "an inspirational man within the world of reptiles." It is unclear whether the attack was fatal. When she reached into the box and found movement inside she shrieked so loudly we could hear her from far across the large garden, and we chuckled "I guess she found it" Someone said. His dream of creating a snake sanctuary grew nearer. According to eyewitnesses, the toddlers mother, Ms Graves, was playing with him at the time and also dived into the water. The attackers included cobras, a krait, green mambas, a pygmy rattlesnake, a European asp and a palm viper. Good memories of a time long ago. Now the spotlight is on three other deaths that are linked to the case. His cane was an exotic mixture of ebony and ivory. During this time Haast met and married his second wife, Clarita Matthews. All rights reserved, See Where Florida Ranks Among The Cheapest and Most Expensive U.S. THE body of the two-year-old boy, Lane Graves, snatched by an alligator at a Disney resort has . It was a rattle snake. Back in the 1980's, I lived in the Pepperwood S/D (about one block south of Kendell Drive, just west of Palmetto Expy). "And in the end the research could take care of itself.". But he felt he couldn't continue to feed the crocodile and display him under these conditions.. NEW Police have found evidence a 12-year-old was killed in a crocodile attack in northern Australia.