Man nearly dies in snake/spider horror show house

Here is the odd tale of Allan E. Carlson.

At 55 he's had quite the unusual life. He once turned his obsession over a Philadelphia Phillies losing streak into a hacking scheme targeting Philadelphia newspapers. He was caught and served time in prison. He was also once arrested for white supremacist vandalism in the state of California.

Adding to his colorful life, about six months ago he was nearly killed by his own pet snake. Authorities only now have released the horrific details of that incident.

Carlson was driving himself to a hospital after being bit by his African Forest Cobra. His elderly mother was in the car with him and had to take the wheel when his vision became too blurry to drive. In the parking lot of the hospital he collapsed and she had to get help to get her son inside. He came extremely close to dying but survived.

As he recuperated the elderly mom told police there might be a snake loose that would pose a danger and had them come to their Vineland home. What they found there was like something out of a horror movie.

In the house they found dozens of plastic containers crawling with bugs. Another room had 30 live tarantulas. Making their way to Carlson's bedroom they found yet more containers with their lids weighed down to prevent whatever creatures lurked inside from escaping. One door was draped with snake hooks and skins. The man's mother told police that her son fed rats to his snakes. Several snakes. So they kept searching.

Finally they came to a heavily barricaded door. The woman said it was where the snakes were fed. They needed more information about such a risky situation so they returned to the hospital. Carlson was uncooperative. Authorities got a search warrant to go inside that barricaded room.

Officials discovered two loose, slithering Reticulated Pythons. One was over 10 feet long. Also loose was the African Forest Cobra believed to have administered the venomous bite to Carlson. All three were captured. 13 more snakes joined them in being taken out of the home. The 16 snakes were taken to the Cape May County Zoo. Eventually they are being sent to a research facility out of state.

According to the DEP Carlson was charged with possessing exotic wildlife without permit and over a dozen charges of possessing a live potentially dangerous exotic animal without permit. That first charge was dropped and he pleaded guilty to the others and was fined $5,000.

I wonder if he watched Snakes On A Plane or Arachnophobia while laid up in the hospital.

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