I was lurking the forums this evening, reading about sightings and such, when I realized I had a sighting to report that I hadn't thought to report before. It's actually a second-hand report to be honest. So several years ago I was returning from visiting a friend of mine for the weekend, only to find my mother and sister in front of my house with flashlights. As I live in a suburb and the front of my house consists of stairs, sidewalk, and an ugly bush, I was intrigued. They then explained to me the events that lead to their apprehensive search. Apparently, as they reached the top of the first flight of stairs leading to my house (there is one flight leading up from the sidewalk and another, shorter, staircase perpendicular to it) they noticed a critter they described as long and visibly furry, with movement like a snake or large centipede, crawling up there stairs. This is where I will have difficultly giving description. It must have had tiny feet or none at all because as it ascended the stairs it's body shaped to fit the stair. To better describe it's movement I'd have to say lay a length of rope on a staircase and press it down so that all parts of the rope are laying on the top of a stair or clinging to the side of it. That explanation was probably poor but I can't explain it any better, I hope anyone reading this understands what I'm trying to express. At any rate, it began to follow them up the stairs, so naturally, they screamed and fled up the second flight of stairs (my mother and sister are very "girly" girls. I don't mean to offend but they are the type that will scream and run from a spider). As they were opening the door apparently it began climbing the second set of stairs. Apparently the critter was rather quick. My sister and mother hoped into the threshold of our front door and watched as it slithered up the stairs, onto the porch, and under the glider. They turned on the porch light and called our neighbor to come over and search for it, but it wasn't to be found.

Before you discount this story, both my sister and mother gave me the exact same story separately. Also, my mother wasn't drunk (I could tell) and my sister was far too young to have been. Also, I don't believe either of them engage in recreational drug use.

I believe this to probably some real animal. I've done extensive google searching and have found nothing. I was hoping that someone could possibly identify this creature. Any constructive input would be very appreciated. Any websites I could search on or any resources I could use would help.

Oh, I live in Western PA in a suburb of Pittsburgh. That information might be helpful.

Sounds like a millipede or centipede.. They can get pretty long. One of my friend's apartments is infested with something we call spider-bots. They're really some kind of albino milipede thing and move fast as hell, they bite too.

Odd, there have been numerous sightings of similar snakes over the years, some near your area.

Really? Do you happen to have links to any of the places you heard that from?

The books THE UNEXPLAINED by Karl Shuker and his latest book EXTRAORDINARY ANIMALS REVISITED. Sorry I don't have any web sources, but I'll do a quick search and see what I find.

The Brazillian Howler Monkey Snake: http://www.newanimal.org/howlersnake.htm

Report of a hairy viper: http://books.google.com/books?id=RAiLB8CAL...efnaLSkIR14uVcw

Could find none of the other stories on the web though sorry. If you get the chance, read the books.

Thank you so much for the information. The hairy viper report seems to accurately describe the critter I'm talking about. I will certainly try to find these books.

Awesome! Glad I could be of assistance.

Oh so much to work with but such the wrong forum. As far as a hairy snake (giggle giggle) I would suggest a Gellet micro thin. I do sugest that apon seeing one you back away slowly and never speak of it again. Just my opinion though

Huh?

EDIT: Oh, no I get it know, *Giggle giggle*

Just a few questions. How big was the creature? could they see eyes or a recognizable head? My initial thought was a weasel or something in that family, with the long sinuous body and the way they tend to lay flat and more or less slither when frightened.

Yeah, I was thinking ferret....

Reminds me of a dream I once had. There wsome breed of fox withought legs called Lazer Foxes because they could go really fast even though they were non-pedal.

Sounds like a weasel. They have very snake like movments.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weasel

But not really in the way he desribes...

I mean you would know if it was too big to be a millipede! Holy cow.....maybe it was one of those creatures from Dreamcatcher...the Stephen King movie...that's what it ounds like to me. Did you say that it followed or CHASED them up 2 flights of stairs??? Are you kidding me?

I recently re-questioned my sister and mother about this creature. They could not discern any visible head or eyes, or even a mouth. It wasn't as long as I originally remembered them saying, so now I'd estimate the length to be barely under a foot long.

Apparently it also had yellow on it (though I neglected to ask if it was in stripes, spots, ect. unfortunately). And either they told me and I forgot or they just never told me but apparently they tried to prod it away with a broom before it slithered under the glider, and when they did so the creature appeared to try to attack the broom in a defensive manner. Upon hearing this I assumed it was some kind of snake but apparently they could very distinctly see the fur and could not discern any sort of mouth, tongue, or eyes at all.

I'm not sure it chased them. Probably followed, actually. Regardless, they ran from it and it followed.

Maybe it is a fur covered snake?

What do you mean "Pointing out the obvious"?

It could have been a centipede. We get MONSTER centipedes in our house yearly, and the way they're built, it looks like they're furry snakes. (: Your description (no visible eyes or mouth, and under a foot long) seems to fit the breed we have quite nicely.

They're horrific. ):



These guys can get pretty big, and believe me, when you open the shower and find one in the bathtub, you could just positively die.

http://www.uky.edu/Ag/CritterFiles/casefil...ipede.htm#house

edit; The website says centipedes of KY (that's the search I ran, because I figured it'd be easiest to find the one I was talking about that way), but I'm sure you can find house centipedes just about anywhere.

Am I the only one with a severe case of heebie jeebies?

Although I am curious as to what this is, so you can know how to keep yourself safe. *eek!*

It seems possible. I have seen these centipedes before, unfortunately, in the shower in my old apartment and scurrying along the floors of my grandparents house at night. They do live in PA, and it seems like possibility. While I'm certain my mother and sister have seen these creepy crawlies before, it's possible that, because it was at night, my family could not identify it as such. Also, I've not known these critters to react aggressively when threatened, like this critter did. Usually when I go to squish them they run away.

By the way, thanks for bringing up those creepy little buggers. Now I have to sit with my feet up on the chair for fear that one will come streaking down the hallway and, god forbid, touch me.

Keep those feet up, they bite, too

Thank god I live in New Zealand. All we have here are Weta, basically egorged grasshoppers that are so huge they can't jump. I saw one eating a dead mouse once, thats how big they can get. And don't forget NZ has the largest confirmed centipede ever. And I live in the area where it was found.


Oh.

Could this be what you saw? It's called a Puss Caterpillar (Ok, stop snickering now. ), though in the video they call it a Bolivia Bug. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OeNggIGSKH8 Some still photos here. http://www.bugsinthenews.com/puss_caterpillar_092602.htm

Furry Snake?

Puss Catterpillar?

Have I mentioned the Giant Eel of the Penal Isles?

Woe! Cool looking critter!
Thanks for posting these links!

It's unlikely that a caterpillar would be the culprit. For one, they're very slow moving creatures, and second, if your relatives saw this "furry snake" recently--in cold temperatures--it would be the wrong season for caterpillars.



Everything looks worse at night. (: I've seen them crawling along my wall too many times to count in the dead of night, and only happened to see them from the light of my TV. They looked a lot bigger and a lot scarier then. It's also possible that in the rush to kill, and the poor creature's rush to hide, there was a bit of confusion. It may not have been chasing them, just trying to find a place to hide. After all, it's doubtful that it could see it's pursuers due to their height and lack of light.

That thing is a adorable. But unfortunately, I don't think it was it. I did some preliminary research and that caterpillar came up in my search. Apparently they really only live in the south. That's really not enough reason to discount it, though. I showed the video to my sister and she said the critter they saw was larger and moved much faster.

More than likely a Wooly Catepillar

That's precisely what I was thinking. House centipedes are just about everywhere (I get tons of them in the spring), move superfast and look hairy while doing so and have two pronounced yellowish stripes down their back. They don't get close to a foot long (though their distantly related cave cousins do) but sometimes things look so freaky you remember them as being bigger than they are.

That's weird, because the house centipedes in our house get absolutely huge. o_o Not a foot, really, but at least five-six inches. They're pretty ugly. xP

I have a new, slightly odd theory, could it have been an otter?

Yea, I'm going with the person who said ferret...

Five or six inches? Scutigera coleoptrata don't get close to that long. They're two inches long at the most and that's rare. Hemiscolopendra marginata is longest centipede found in Kentucky at 3" at the most. It looks nothing like a house centipede. Here:



The largest centipede in the world, Scolopendra gigantea, exists only in the Amazon. Scolopendra heros is the largest centipede in north america at 6.5" average with 8" being the largest ever recorded.

yuck!
i dont fear ghosts, i dont fear anything...but the creepy crawlies repulse me so much that ..my frist instict is to jump on tem and stomp them or beat the sh** out of them with a bat!! yuck!!!

Um, my post was deleted? I said Otter? asking if anyone else wondered if it was possible.

I'll have to catch one this spring, because the ones that hide in our house get much larger than two inches. They're definitely house centipedes, I'd never forget one of those ugly things. The first time I saw one I just about lost my marbles, I figured it was some sort of lizard or worm, because at the time it was relatively dark, and it was moving so I couldn't tell it had lots of little legs. But yeah, the ones we get definitely grow over two inches. o_o




Your post is still there.

Well thank you very much... I am insect phobic and your description just ensured I will not sleep at night for at least a week...

Oh, so it is sorry about that.

I have seen a larger centipede myself....When i was a kid(less than 8) my grandma killed one in her own room...it broke into 2 halves...i saw one of the halves it was larger than atleast 4 inches and the whole made nearly A FOOT..and it was broader than human fingers....

this centipede was found in her HOUSE...it looked something like a pic in above link...but was greenish-yellow

Damn i didnt take a pic...so ive got no proof

and just for info check this out.

http://www.emporia.edu/ksn/v45n3-march1999/back.htm

http://youtube.com/watch?v=0AZ0IBqS8sM&feature=related

Click to view attachment

Keep looking in your neighborhood around the same time of day your mom and sis saw it. Bring a camera!

Interesting, now we have snakes that try to look cute and cuddly like spiders.

Furry Snake - reminds me of Aanica's avatar.

uhhhhhhhhh well I'll have to explain this to you when your older.

Wow, apparently people still care about my plight.

Well, update I guess. I've been spending alot more time recently in a house that is just crawling with house centipedes at night. Some of these suckers gets huge. So large that I could see a very large one sitting on the bottom stair of the case that leads to the basement. Did I mention the lights were out and the basement was pitch black?

While I can't be certain these are what my family saw, as they assure me it was much larger and faster, I'm going to believe that they did in fact see one of these creepy crawlies. It's quite possible that they saw it as much larger and faster in their panic. And, as I've had alot of experience recently combating these little villians with a hockey stick as they run around on the ceiling at night, I fully believe that it was not being aggressive towards them and instead was just looking for a place to run and hide.

However, I could be wrong. Thank you all so much for your help and if you want to continue to discuss and debate feel free.