The history of the Ozarks is filled with interesting and unusual stories that reach back decades.
The great Ozarks cobra Hunt of 1953 stands out among them.
John Sellars was four years old when cobras crawled wild in what was then east Springfield
“I just knew it was hot and I couldn't go outside,“ he said
“The first snake was found and people thought, thats wierd.”

But that was just the beginning.
Hank Billings was and is a reporter for the Springfield News Leader.
He was covering the police beat at that time and remembers someone killed a snake. When police couldn’t identify it, they called a local science teacher.
Billings: “He said my god that’s a cobra.”
The cobra was found on St. Louis Street between Glenstone and National.
Billings: “It was pretty tense they brought in anti venom.”
Sellars: “It got to the point where police were burning off lots.”
Billings: “They kept finding snakes you know.”
Sellars: “It got to be kind of a sideshow.”

People in Springfield seemed to embrace the cobras Business advertised cobra haircuts, the cobra district. Someone wrote a song called the “Snake ‘em out Blues”, even downtown bars got into the act.
“The cobra cocktail, which I think would enable you to see cobras even if there weren't any,” Billings said.
The cobra hunt lasted from August to October. LIFE Magazine even did a story called “The Big Ozark Cobra Hunt.” It was published on page 51 of the September 28th issue in 1953.

Billings remembers how the city health commissioner decided to round up the cobras.
“He decide he would get a sound truck and play snake charmer music. All of us reporters were embarrassed. LIFE Magazine thought is was hilarious,” he said.
Oddly enough it worked, luring one cobra out from under a house.

In all 11 cobras were found, and although no one ever knew for sure where they came from lots of fingers were pointing at Reo Mowrer.
He ran an exotic pet store along St. Louis Street where the snakes were discovered.
But he denied everything.

Ironically, another News Leader columnist, Mike O'Brien discovered the truth years later.
A teenager who dealt with Mowrer admitted that he felt he'd been shortchanged and was out for revenge.
“There was a sack on the porch,” Billings said. “He looked in and saw these snakes and thought, ‘I'll get even with him’ and let them loose.”
Billings says the cobra story is probably the biggest he's covered in Springfield history.
For Sellars it was bigger than life.
“Everybody wanted to be a part of it,” he said. “They all wanted to catch a snake”
To this day no one knows for sure how many cobras were released or if they found all of them.
No one was ever bit.