Talk:Hoop snake

There's not a single source for any of these claims, which are all attributed to Weasel Words like, "it is said," "several sightings have been alleged," "it has been suggested," ad nauseum. This is a prime example of Wiki articles that need to be deleted because they are utterly unscholarly and seriously harm the reputation of Wikipedia.

Unless reputable sources are provided for the unsourced statements, they should be deleted. Askolnick 14:57, 14 September 2006 (UTC)

July 2007 proposal for deletion
I have reinstated the page after someone vandalized it. Before tagging the article for deletion again, please look at the page history for two seconds to make sure it hasn't just been edited by an idiot. This is a perfectly good article, with some nice citations. Here is what I reverted the page back to; if you have a problem with this page, that's fine, but don't judge the article based on a false impression. Matt Deres 23:53, 9 July 2007 (UTC)

Hoop snake = Farancia erytrogramma?
Not sure if this should go in the article, but posting it here for people to see. From James Mooney's Myths of the Cherokee (in reference to the legend of the ustu'tli, a giant snake): "The name ustu'tli refers to the sole of the foot, and was given to the serpent on account of its peculiar feet or 'suckers'. The same name is given to the common hoop-snake of the south (Abastor erythrogrammus), about which such wonderful tales are told by the white mountaineers."

Abastor erythrogrammus is what is now called Farancia erytrogramma, the rainbow snake. I wonder what source Mooney had to connect the rainbow snake to the legendary hoop-snake? Vultur (talk) 02:49, 28 September 2010 (UTC)

Interestingly, the mud snake that the article mentions as a possible source of the legend is another Farancia species. Hmm... Vultur (talk) 02:55, 28 September 2010 (UTC)

My Hoop Snake Sighting
I saw a hoop snake in Jacksonville, FL, in 1997. Here is a link to my website about my sighting: http://hoopsnakes.yolasite.com/

Robert Kirkman Miami, FL

^^^^
 * See https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3741015/I-m-having-ssssseizure-Bizarre-moment-snake-completely-flips-middle-road.html - at one point it looks a bit like your description as it rolls. 82.20.53.85 (talk) 16:33, 18 May 2022 (UTC)


 * That is quite a notable occurrence. But my snake was not in agony or writhing. It was traveling as fast as it could to get across a highway that posed danger. It's motion was smooth and uniform.
 * Bob Kirkman, Miami, FL USA. 9/12/22 2600:1700:7BB0:9B10:10C2:4A3:533F:A35D (talk) 17:05, 12 September 2022 (UTC)

May, 2023: Scientists in Southeast Asia now report that the Dwarf Reed Snake cartwheels away from danger. I propose that Black Racer Snakes of the southeast U.S. can do the same thing. I suspect that is what I saw in my sighting reported above. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 99.73.128.6 (talk) 11:40, 2 May 2023 (UTC)

Drop Bear
As per WP:SEEALSO, the section is for subjects. Given that the See Also already includes Fearsome Critters (which also includes the Drop Bear in its own See Also section) and that the actual Drop Bear article also contains a link to the Hoop Snake, it seems perfectly reasonable to include Drop Bear in this article.

WP:SEEALSO includes the example - and as I've just checked, it does indeed include Fajita along with many other examples. In this respect the article on Hoop snakes might include Drop Bears as another example of Fearsome Critters, just as the article on Drop Bears might include Hoop snakes as another example of Fearsome Critters. I understand the need to not allow lists to swell disproportionately, but given the reciprocation of Drop Bear/Hoop snake, and that Fearsome Critters includes both mythical creatures, I don't see the problem here. Chaheel Riens (talk) 06:23, 6 May 2024 (UTC)


 * Fearsome Critters is the collective name for the mythical creatures in the lumberjack folklore tradition, to which the hoop snake is a part. If our article was a bit better developed, we wouldn't need to have it in the See Also section because it would already have been mentioned in the article. Rotating locomotion is of interest because it talks directly to the feasibility of the hoop snake's supposed method of getting around. All the other articles currently in the See Also are tied specifically to hoop snakes in two ways: being myths/fables and being serpents. Drop bears are awesome, but they're only tied to hoop snakes in one way: being fabled creatures. What makes the drop bears worthy of inclusion, but not centaurs or spaghetti trees or any/all of the hundreds of other possibilities? FWIW, I think the See Also section of drop bear is questionable too.
 * Now, another possibility that might work is creating a template for hoax creatures or folklore creatures, though I bet that'd be quite an undertaking. Matt Deres (talk) 18:22, 6 May 2024 (UTC)