CONTEST: Finalist for vacation horror stories – Snake! Just kidding

Here’s one of the three finalists for vacation horror stories. Do you like it? To vote, scroll to the bottom of the story. Check out the prize!

SNAKE! JUST KIDDING

By Melissa Eubanks of Dallas

Spring Break 2007, my family and I were on a short getaway to Helen. My kids wanted to swim, so we found a hotel with an indoor pool since it was kind of chilly. We paid cash for a two-night stay, went to our room and changed to go to the pool.

We had a great time, then went back to our room to get ready for bed. That’s when the trouble started.

After my kids showered, the bathroom floor was wet. I grabbed a towel to wipe up the floor, then tossed it in front of the sink in the other room.

When I tossed the towel, I noticed there was something brown that looked like a shoestring in it. Being funny, I screamed, “SNAKE!” My husband and kids jumped on the beds, screaming, “Get it! Get it!”

Laughing at them, I bent over the towel to see what was in it, and dang if it wasn’t a snake. It looked up at me and hissed, and a forked tongue came out at me! Then, I really started screaming.

My husband, not coming to my rescue, yelled at me to get the garbage can and trap it. My oldest daughter yelled that she wanted to take a picture of it. All I was thinking was this snake is between me and the door, and if the flash goes off it will scare it more.

Well, I trap the snake in the garbage can, with my husband still standing on the bed, and my kids run to get the front desk attendant.

The lady took the snake, killed it and returned to inform us that it was a baby copperhead. She asked if we wanted to change rooms, and my husband told her since it was late (by this time it was 1 a.m.) he did not want to move everything. She left.

I explained to him (in a nice, sweet, calm voice) that if there is a baby copperhead, there is a BIG MAMA copperhead somewhere near, and the kids and I would be sleeping in the truck! He then decided we should change rooms. The lady moved us to a room on an upper floor, kind of laughing about our situation, and we tried to settle in. It was now about 3 a.m.

We watched cartoons to try to forget about the snake. That worked for my husband and kids, and they fell asleep. A dang GEICO commercial came on, and that lizard’s tail looked like a snake wiggling around. Then, everything starts looking like little snakes. Even on Sponge Bob, there was a little eel that looked like a snake. I started to feel like something was crawling on me and couldn’t sleep, so I went downstairs and waited for them to wake up. Around 8 a.m., they came down and said they couldn’t rest, either.

We explained to a new lady at the counter that we would not be staying. I was really expecting to be refunded for at least the second night that we had pre-paid for, but she said we needed to speak to the manager, who was out of town.

I kept calling for a few weeks, and finally received a letter from the hotel that they were sorry for the “unwanted, uninvited guest” in our room and offered us a free night’s stay. We NEVER took them up on the offer!

Vote!

• Read Oh, it’s just a drizzle
• Read The eye, the rat & the parasite
• Read Snake! Just kidding

 Loading ...

• Atlanta, be here now. Check out ajc.com/travel