Cloud. He was born in 1910 in Paterson, N.J., to German-American parents -- his father was a mechanic, his mom a housewife. We considered him the Patron Saint of Junkies in those days. The Serpentarium's landmark 35-foot-high, hooded, concrete-and-stucco cobra stuck out its forked tongue at motorists and arriving patrons on South Dixie Highway and Southwest 126th Street. "If I live to be 100, I'll really make the point.''. We used to hunt non-poisonous snakes in the Glades, Homestead farmlands: king snakes, red ratsnakes, yellow ratsnakes, indigos, black racers, etc., and take them down to mr Haas and he had a yardstick on the table and would measure them by the foot, pay us maybe .25cents/foot for the ratsnake, .35/foot for the kingsnakes, etc. Sheppard gave injections to patients with MS. His clinic became famous and was featured on CBS's 60 Minutes. Of course he would buy the rare Indigo snakes, because they could rear up and spread their neck like a Cobra, but were not poisonous. Thanks for the memories, as Bob Hope would say. I took care of Clarita Haast's original Continental Mark. It was buried on the grounds. But thanks to Bill, there were not many poisonous snakes left in South Dade in the 60s-70s when I had an youngsters craving for catching reptiles. I could see their fears fade as they got the nerve to touch a real snake and realize that is wasn't slimy. I visited The Serpentarium in '78. Mr Haast came out at my parents request after thrilling us with a great show. Now close to 60, a S. Floridian I can still remember driving by that concrete cobra many times. I'm very glad I did. His powerful blood also rescued 21 snake-bite victims. THIS SOFT SPOKEN WOMAN TURNED TO HER FAMILY AND SAID "I'VE COME ALL THE WAY TO MIAMI TO HAVE SOME SNAKE S__T ON ME". For years, Haast tried to prove that venom could treat multiple sclerosis, lupus, arthritis and Parkinson's disease. When he had enough, he opened the Serpentarium in Miami in 1946. I remember reading Bill Haast book Cobras in My Garden, one of the most interesting books I have ever read. I remember in 3rd grade, back in 1960, one of my classmates dropped her purse into the crocodile pit. The honor, bestowed by Miami's mayor, was delivered to Haast at his home east of Punta Gorda by members of the Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Venom Response Unit. Regarding Bill Haast's killing of Cookie the crocodile, bothe Bill Guest and jesse are wrong. I notified the person at the gate and soon Mr. Haast himself came out, grabbed the gator, and put him back in the pit. On the 2nd trip, an entire day was planned for me there. Location. Every so often the evening news would announce "Bill Haast had been bitten by a poisonous snake AGAIN." Set in the American South in the 20th century. I also remember Mrs. Haast coming to the schools, all the way into my sophomore year at Gables High, to talk about their work - and the high point of her talks was when she would take an indigo snake out of her purse and invite everyone to feel it. Outside was a 35-foot-high concrete statue of a giant cobra, forked tongue flicking menacingly. I lived on Homestead AFB 1960-66 and as a kid visited the Serpentarium many times. I told my mother how I'd really like to get an Indigo and she kind of shrugged it off. He suffered 17 bites that nearly killed him, one put him in an iron lung for three days, his system paralyzed. The bootlegger was arrested, and Mr. Haast found his way to an airline mechanics school. See, when a poisonous snake bites you, and his fangs (having hypodermic-like hollow holes at their points) inject their venom , they are in fact "digesting" you while you diethe venom is softening up your tissue, destroying it, making you easier to eat, digesthence Mr. Haas' fingers were so deformed? According to the arrest report, detectives discovered that the victim and suspect had been involved in a verbal dispute that night that resulted in them getting into a physical altercation. Most people working in the biological field take some pride in having a species or subspecies named for them, but Haast seemed to have none of that. Marker is on South Dixie Highway (U.S. 1) 0.1 miles north of Southwest 128th Street, on the right when traveling north. He's truly an amazing man who has lived a life of exemplary devotion to his work. The police department is making a plea to the public for any information that could help them solve the case. There he met and eloped with his first wife, Ann. Mr. Haast's passing reminded South Floridians of a bygone era when entrepreneurs could set up quirky roadside attractions along Dixie Highway, U.S. 1, to thrill both local school kids and wintering vacationers who fled the cold. His hands are gnarled and deadened, some fingers hang immobile, some look stunted in growth, and a pinky and index finger have been amputated at the knuckle, photographs taken by his wife reveal. However, sometime in my teens I developed a real fear of snakes, somewhat unusual since there were no poisonous varieties in my area. His wife Ann did not approve, and they eventually divorced. The guy that answered the phone was very calm, and told me to just leave it alone and that it would probably just be on it's way. Later that day, boy did he get back at the girl that had done this. I will ask him to sign a copy and send it to you and your brother." Well, my mother went on a vacation to the Miami area. The latest local, regional and national news events of the morning are presented by the Local 10 News Team along with updated sports, weather and traffic. ''I always meant for the attraction to support the venom research, but it just kept growing and growing. Bill Haast cause of death is covered in this article. I can still recall watching a 12 or 14 ft gator, said to have been the largest but for its missing tail. ''I know a lot of people in Miami still remember the Serpentarium and wonder what became of me, that's why I'm talking to you,'' said Haast, who would only be interviewed by telephone. Curabitur venenatis, nisl in bib endum commodo, sapien justo cursus urna. I remember a Coral snake bit and killed a man digging in his yard in Whispering Pines in 1965. So it was that the world-renowned Miami Serpentarium began it's life in the vivid imagination of the mind of Bill Haast, on long, tedious flights somewhere over the atlantic ocean during World war II, and it became the pioneering and premier venom production center of the world. Haast finally sold the 5.2-acre lot, now in Pinecrest, for $3.2 million and headed to Utah for more snake research. Mr. Haast, who was director of the Miami Serpentarium Laboratories, a snake-venom producer near Punta Gorda, Fla., died of natural causes on Wednesday at his home in southwest Florida, his. But I always felt I would live this long. joe pylandgrew up at sunniland park two blocks from the serpentarium.Remember it well..Billy..the grandson ran over my arm in 1962 with his bike..breaking it and I missed the 1st 6 weeks of Khoury League.Remember Haast tamping alsoThis man was incredidle and brave. and help keep the future of New Times, Use of this website constitutes acceptance of our, who would go on to become the face of Zoo Miami, Associated Press dispatch quoted a wildlife officer, Haast pumped nine shots from a Luger pistol, finally closing the tourist attraction in 1984. It was an incredible place. Eventually Bill charmed that snake and on one of its downstrikes quicker than the snake could react Bill had it behind the head and then as a finale milked a big load of venom. May he live far past the hundreds. When I was a child in the 1950's, Mama made us stay in the house. [4] As of 2008 he continued to have his wife inject him with small amounts of snake venom. The shooting was reported just before 11 p.m. March 21 at the North Park at Scott Carver apartment complex in the area of Northwest 74th Street and 23rd Court. Dr. Haast met my pediatrician at Baptist Hospital in Miami. Haast was born in Paterson, New Jersey, in 1910. [8], Haast closed the Serpentarium in 1984, and moved to Utah for a few years. When they got there, they learned a boy had been shot and was being driven to a hospital. This time it came out! Cruz called Haast after a man was bitten by a Black Mamba, one of the most poisonous snakes of Africa. The last time I saw him he told me never to get bit again and offered me a job. C.C. The great legendary Bill Haast, pioneer of venom production for venom research since 1946, was founder and director of the world renowned Miami Serpentarium Laboratories . 25 39.145 N, 80 19.797 W. Marker is in Pinecrest, Florida, in Miami-Dade County. That gave him a chance to use his toolbox to smuggle snakes, including his first cobra. We looked out and could see both Bill and Nancy peeking out from their office with a big grin! 76. Haast eventually sold his family home to buy the land on South Dixie Highway where the Serpentarium would rise. This subspecies, restricted to the Florida Keys, obviously was named for Bill Haast. As a joke on him, a staff member placed a rubber snake into one of the boxes that normally held a venomous snake for the show. He was rushed to see a doctor, but quickly recovered without further treatment. It was slithering across the road, which was about 11 feet across and the snakes head and tail were not clearly visible. What amemorable time, nobody was dissapointed and we all calmed down and talked quietly afterwaeds. One day, a six-year-old boy fell into the crocodile pit at Miami Serpentarium and was killed by "Cookie", a 12-ft-long crocodile that had been living in the pit for 20 years without incident. MIAMI (CBS4)- The man who mesmerized generations of paying customers from 1947 to 1984 by extracting venom at his Miami Serpentarium as a spine-tingling South Florida attraction is dead. TimesMachine is an exclusive benefit for home delivery and digital subscribers. From Dadeland areafor you have info, on this still. He was a great neighborhhod Dad, and I will always remember the fun we had with he, his wife and his children. This tornado also picked up a dredge crane, working on one of the drainage canals, and placed it across the canal without any significant damage. not on the animals, or even the people walking around. Copyright 2023 by WPLG Local10.com - All rights reserved. His first wife, Ann, divorced him over his snake obsession. Miami is a hotbed for venomous snake bites because it is the entry point for almost any exotic snake, whether it is bound for a collector or a zoo in another state. Thank you Diana, and all the other folks who have posted, for posting your personal memories of Bill Haast and your insights that the general public would never know about if you hadn't written in. I well remember Bill Haast and his snake "milking" shows. I've tried to keep up with him from time to time. 'There is no reason to visit Miami. I somehow got to this page from an old email I found and did the Google thing for " Bill "Miami Snakeman" Haast " and here I find myself with those shared memories. I am so glad to have found this site. The attraction had a gift shop, 400-pound turtles and a 20-foot python. But Haast had detractors. Haast maintained a similar bank in Miami when he ran the Serpentarium theme park, which closed in 1984. Operating from 1946 to 1984, the Serpentarium drew as many as 50,000 annual visitors. My uncle made a point to tell me to look up this site. I thought that was pretty cool back then, and still do. He received the key to the city.Those same hands that for decades eased venom from the world's most poisonous snakes held the key to the city of Miami on Thursday. I recall the incident where the child died -- it was very tragic and Mr. Haast clearly felt terrible about it. For some in Miami, though, the whole debate has stirred up painful memories of another tragic incident.
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