Aberdeen officials cannot confirm reports,
but say odds are unlikely

The Loch Ness Monster in Aberdeen?

Recent sightings of an elusive reptile have made some Aberdeen residents believers, but the search has turned up nothing but an apparent urban legend centered on the Hub City's own Moccasin Creek.

Between July 24 and July 26, Shirley Nikodym and Chris Heinz, both of Aberdeen, were walking along the Mog near the soccer field on Melgaard Road, when they saw what appeared to be a large snake poke its head out of the water. The snake ducked back under and began swimming toward the shore - and them. Nikodym and Heinz ran, not wanting to wait around to see what was coming. They thought the snake was pretty big, but all they saw was its head.

The women told the story to a friend, who called animal control.

Enter John Weaver, animal control officer. Weaver searched the area at Melgaard Road and Squire Lane, walking up and down Moccasin Creek where the women had been, but saw no sign of the snake.

The huge ball python that Nikodym and Heinz described to Weaver is a tropical snake that needs hot weather. Weaver said it couldn't survive a winter here, and it probably couldn't even live through September.

So where did the snake go? Nikodym and Heinz said they found one that looks just like it at All About Animals, a pet store on Main Street. There, the women saw their snake - or what they thought was their snake - a 19-foot 280-pound Burmese python.

“They weren't found in Moccasin Creek,” employee Elizabeth Mount said emphatically of the store's two big snakes.

Store owner Terri Hagman wants the rumor cleared up. She said there is no way the 19-foot Burmese python in her pet store could be the mystery reptile; it has been in All About Animals' care for more than a year. And she's told that to the dozen people who have come in to see what they call the Moccasin Creek snake.

There have been at least two reports of large snakes in Moccasin Creek. One was the Nikodym-Heinz sighting. The other call came in from the 1500 block of South Cochrane Street on July 31 to the police department. But according to Police Chief Ken Schwab, no snake has been found.

“It's kind of like the Loch Ness monster,” Schwab said.

Weaver isn't a stranger to rumors involving large, scary animals. Whether it's a big snake in the Mog or a giant snapping turtle in the sewers, he's heard it all. He said he's walked up and down Moccasin Creek hundreds of times, and he's never seen a scary animal.

He said in extremely hot and humid summer months, a tropical snake could potentially live in the Mog. Does this mean that a South Dakota-born giant snake could possibly still be out there?

“Absolutely not,” said Terry Phillip, assistant curator of Reptiles at Reptile Gardens in Rapid City. Phillip said that the biggest native snake on record in South Dakota is 7 1/2 feet, and it is about as big around as a golf ball. Usually he only sees snakes around 5 feet long.

If this alleged giant snake does exist and is lurking around the Mog, Phillip said it would be something like a Burmese python, and it would have to be somebody's pet turned loose. Something like that wouldn't be native to South Dakota, and it definitely wouldn't survive long in cold weather.

“That's a monstrous animal,” he said. “If somebody saw a 23-foot snake, they would tell you it was 60 feet.”

Phillips isn't surprised by the snake story. He hears stories all the time from people seeing giant reptiles around the state. “These stories get exaggerated and out of control,” he said. “Once a story gets started, the snake gets bigger and bigger.”

Like the infamous monster of Loch Ness, it seems as though the Hub City might have its very own much-sighted-but-never-captured legend.

• Story originally published by:
American News, Aberdeen / SD | Elissa Grossell - Aug 29.01

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