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Description
Alternate Names: Cabbage Hair-Worm
Latin Names: N/A

The Cabbage Snake was said to be a long, thin snake that lived inside cabbages. It was virtually the same color and very hard to distinguish from the leaves, and it curled all through the center of the vegetable. Said to have infected every head of cabbage grown in Iowa, Missouri, Arkansas, Kentucky, North Carolina and Tennessee in the early 1900s, Cabbage Snakes caused a massive public panic and the cabbage growing industry lost millions (and back then that was worth a lot more). Why did people panic? The rumors were that Cabbage Snakes were deathly venomous as well as poisonous to eat. If they didn't bite you when you tried to cut into a cabbage, then you'd STILL fall ill and die if you accidentally ingested any part of its body or its eggs, and it didn't matter if those were eaten raw or cooked -- you died all the same.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hint: Cabbage Snakes, like all Critters, never existed. This was a mass hysteria panic about something that never actually happened or existed. It's speculated that there was some contamination with the crops (salmonella, E. coli, or the like) that sickened and killed people, but it for sure was no snake!

What exactly IS a Fearsome Critter?
Interested in seeing more Fearsome Critters?

Source(s):
Carden, Gary. "Appalachian Bestiary" (2013), p.23

Design and all art © me.
Please do not copy, alter, trace, or reproduce in any way, shape, or form without written permission from me. Thank you

Description
Alternate Names: Cabbage Hair-Worm
Latin Names: N/A

The Cabbage Snake was said to be a long, thin snake that lived inside cabbages. It was virtually the same color and very hard to distinguish from the leaves, and it curled all through the center of the vegetable. Said to have infected every head of cabbage grown in Iowa, Missouri, Arkansas, Kentucky, North Carolina and Tennessee in the early 1900s, Cabbage Snakes caused a massive public panic and the cabbage growing industry lost millions (and back then that was worth a lot more). Why did people panic? The rumors were that Cabbage Snakes were deathly venomous as well as poisonous to eat. If they didn't bite you when you tried to cut into a cabbage, then you'd STILL fall ill and die if you accidentally ingested any part of its body or its eggs, and it didn't matter if those were eaten raw or cooked -- you died all the same.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hint: Cabbage Snakes, like all Critters, never existed. This was a mass hysteria panic about something that never actually happened or existed. It's speculated that there was some contamination with the crops (salmonella, E. coli, or the like) that sickened and killed people, but it for sure was no snake!

What exactly IS a Fearsome Critter?
Interested in seeing more Fearsome Critters?

Source(s):
Carden, Gary. "Appalachian Bestiary" (2013), p.23

Design and all art © me.
Please do not copy, alter, trace, or reproduce in any way, shape, or form without written permission from me. Thank you