Large Snake Surprises KOTV Tower Crew

NewsOn6.com

SAND SPRINGS, OK -- A man doing work on KOTV's broadcast tower last week discovered an uninvited guest, in an unexpected place.

It was a snake, 700 feet up.

A crew from Gotcher Tower Services in Tulsa was doing an inventory of all the equipment on the tower.

The work involved taking a routine ride in the tower's elevator to photograph the equipment.

But co-workers at the bottom of the tower said they heard crew member Mike Ellis "scream like a little girl" when he got out of the elevator at the 700-foot level.

He had looked down and seen the snake crawling out of the elevator car -- the car he had just ridden -- onto the tower.

Once Ellis had calmed down, he took a picture of the snake.

After identifying it as a common -- and non-venomous -- black snake, he grabbed it and carried it the 700 feet back down to the ground where he released it.

He and the other crew members believe the snake had eaten some baby birds in a nest in the elevator car.

They believe the snake was relaxing in the car after its meal, when Ellis stepped in and took the car and the snake for a ride up the tower.