Published in the Subic Bay News and submitted by Pat Bills, GDHS ’72
NOTE : There was a pictorial series previously titled “The Great Snake” and can be found in the right menu.
Just about anything can happen to anybody in this sprawling Naval base and that includes finding a 20-foot python in one’s own car
Pat’s Bills,17 year old senior at George Dewey High School, could hardly believe his eyes one night. While driving his car last Friday at 8 p.m. he saw a python crawling across the street at the turn of the corner just before reaching the Naval Hospital gate
The youth was on his way from the family Quarters at 99 Corsair Street in Kalayaan Housing area to the hospital theater. Despite the heavy rain, Pat could plainly see the reptile by the car headlights
Before the python could hide itself in the thick underbrush along the side of the street, Pat drove over it However, it seemed not to mind the car at all. “So I backed up and ran over it again,” he says. “I think I did that five times”
On the fifth time, Pat finally stopped where the snake was, thinking of crushing it to death with the weight of his car. He remained there for some time, and started the car again. After driving a little distance away, he stopped to check but the snake was no longer there.
“I thought it had just crawled away and disappeared among the trees lining the street,” Pat explains. So thinking, he proceeded to the theater and watched the movie until 9:15 pm. He left shortly afterward.
Upon reaching home, Pat got out only to find the snake inching its way from under the car. This time he ran into the home and got his speargun, while his father Jim Bills, held a flashlight. Pat’s shot the snake. The spear went through the back of its head.
The snake struggled to free itself, but the spear was attached to a string and held it firmly in his check, until members of the fire department came and helped put the beast into a cage. Given to JEST at Cubi for safekeeping, the python turned out to be more than 20 ft long.
Pat, whose primary sports activity is scuba diving says his knowledge of snakes is confined to what he reads about them in the newspapers. “The only time I got close to those creatures was during my rare visits to the zoo,” he says.
Not anymore. Pat drove from the hospital theater to his home with the snake. The python had hidden and wound itself around the car axle.
