48: The Great Cobra Scare of 1953

An Old Timey Podcast

True Crime, History, Comedy

4.9 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 2 April 2025

⏱️ 77 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In the year of our Lord 1953, the city of Springfield, Missouri, had a terrible problem. Deadly cobras kept popping up in people’s yards! What were cobras doing in Missouri? They weren’t native to the area. Who the hell had rolled out the welcome mat??

For the local police, the sudden presence of cobras wasn’t nearly as mysterious as it sounded. A local store, the Mowrer Animal Company, sold all kinds of exotic animals. Organutans! Crocodiles! And...you guessed it...cobras! But when police talked to the store's owner, he claimed innocence. What was going on?

Remember, kids, history hoes always cite their sources! For this episode, Kristin pulled from:
“Hissy Fit: Springfield’s 1953 Cobra Scare,” OzarksWatch Video Magazine
“Ozarks Life: The Great Cobra Scare of 1953,” by Chad Plein ky3.com
“Springfield’s cobra scare of 1953,” ozarksalive.com
“Fessin’ up,” by Mike O’Brien for The Springfield News-Leader
“And where is Reo Mowrer today?” The Springfield News-Leader
“Snakes in Springfield,” by Greta Cross for The Springfield News-Leader
“Tying up some loose ends about Springfield’s loose cobras,” by Mike O’Brien for The Springfield News-Leader
“Does Drury have the sole remaining cobra of ‘53 scare?” by Mike O’Brien for The Springfield News-Leader
“Cobra hindsight beats foresight,” The Springfield News-Leader

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hear ye, hear ye. You are listening to an old-timey podcast. I'm Kristen Caruso.
0:08.3	And I'm Normie C, and guess what, Kristen? I was also in the Department of Defense's signal group chat.
0:14.3	But I got kicked out after I asked, Future Topic?
0:18.4	And on this episode, I'll be talking about the Great Cobra Scare of 1953.
0:25.5	Oh, wow. A date we all remember. I have no idea what this is about. Snakes? Yes.
0:32.6	Snakes? You did an episode on snakes? I don't like it. I've got a whole lot of disclaimers. It's
0:37.0	going to be a rough ride for all of us.
0:39.9	Great cobra scare.
0:41.8	I guess you could be talking about a car.
0:44.0	What?
0:44.4	A cobra car?
0:45.4	What?
0:45.8	I don't know anything about that.
0:47.8	Or cobra from G.I. Joe?
0:49.5	I barely know about that.
0:50.5	Evil terrorist organization.
0:52.3	Okay. Folks, if you enjoy what we're doing here,
0:56.1	please consider supporting us on Patreon.
1:00.0	Oh.
1:01.1	What, but?
1:02.1	There's someone at the door, Kristen.
1:03.8	I do appreciate that you had a doorbell sound effect.
	...

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