'What was that?'

12-foot headless snake found floating near Nippersink Lake

NIPPERSINK LAKE -- When you live for 60 years on the shores of the Chain O' Lakes, you'll see some things. Richard Tylkowski says he's caught everything from catfish to sheepshead, and snapping turtles regularly go after the carp on his lines.

But last Monday, Tylkowski saw a first: a giant snake, as thick around as a human leg, floating in a channel on the west side of Nippersink Lake.

But last Monday, Tylkowski saw a first: a giant snake, as thick around as a human leg, floating in a channel on the west side of Nippersink Lake.

"I went by it in my boat, and I says, 'What was that?'" he said Sunday, standing in his yard about 300 feet away from the site. "So I rowed back, and there it was ... It's a boa constrictor or a python. It's a big snake."

"I went by it in my boat, and I says, 'What was that?'" he said Sunday, standing in his yard about 300 feet away from the site. "So I rowed back, and there it was ... It's a boa constrictor or a python. It's a big snake."

After realizing it was dead, Tylkowski said he "pushed it and nudged it with my boat" to a clump of rocks along his seawall, where the pale yellow reptile with dark patches and circles sat coiled for the better part of a week.

On Sunday, it was time to haul the corpse ashore and take a measurement. Pulled from the dark water and reeking like an uncleaned aquarium, the snake proved to be headless, with only a long ragged strip of skin where its business end would be.

Measured from its tail to the end of the remaining skin, the snake came out at 12 feet 10 inches. Tylkowski had a theory about how it came to lose its head.

"I pull out snapping turtles all the time. They're vicious. They're probably the ones who took that head," he said. "When they go after something, they get it."

But Tylkowski said he didn't know of any local snake owners or anyone who might have released the non-native creature into the still-cold waters of the Chain. He guessed that the snake might have slipped out of an enclosure.

"I'm wondering if someone might be missing it," he said.

For the time being, Tylkowski said he will keep the corpse if anyone wants to claim it, or maybe give it a burial. But, eventually, he will have to dispose of it.

"I think I'm going to put it in the channel," he said, "and let nature take its course."

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