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Snakes
in the Ball Pit
| Subject: You should know this!! This is a true story...
About a week or so ago, a mother took her eager 3 year old son to
Burger King for lunch. After they ate their lunch the mother said that the son could go
and play on the playground for awhile since he ate all his lunch.
She watched as the boy played in the tunnels, slide and in the
ball-pit. The boy played for about 10 minutes when he started to whimper slightly.
The mother asks the boy what had happened and he mearly replied,
"Hurt mommy." The mother assumed that the little boy had banged his elbow or
something while playing.
They left to return home. A half and hour after they were home,
the mother noticed some big red welts on the little boys arms and legs. Not being able to
figure out what they were, the mother started to look at them closer. Could be red ant
bites...she did not know.
An hour later, the little boy died. Come to find out, when
returning to Burger King to see if there were red ants in the play area, in case the
little boy had an allergic reaction. Burger King employees and herself discovered that
there was a family of baby rattlesnakes living underneath the balls in the ball-pit area.
She has since found out that this happens more frequently than not. The snakes will crawl
into the ball pit because it is dark and warm in there. She knows for a fact that another
death has occurred because of this in South Carolina. Please use caution when letting any
children play in an outside play area of a fast food restaurant, this could happen
anywhere. Burger Kings are now building their play area's inside the buildings for a safer
environment. |
Guide's note: This is a variant of a legend Jan Harold Brunvand
calls "Death in the Funhouse." Older versions were typically set at amusement
parks, where rumors of "razor blades in the water slide" or "snakes in the
merry-go-round" have long been de rigueur.
Consider Brunvand's 1989 description of the classic snake infestation legend:
The story usually goes that a small child on a popular ride complains about stings or
bites. At first, the parents laugh, but eventually they investigate. The cause proves to
be an infestation of poisonous snakes. First aid is provided too late to save the child.
The Burger King playground version follows the classic form to the letter, with the
additional (and highly effective) element of being framed as a warning to parents. Certain
lines give it away as a work of fiction: "She has since found out that this happens
more frequently than not," which would mean, literally, that the majority of
Burger King ball pits are known to be infested with baby rattlesnakes. Then: "She
knows for a fact that another death has occurred because of this in South Carolina,"
which would mean that two children have died in this manner without the press taking
note... or a high-profile lawsuit being filed. The latter, especially, ought to raise
eyebrows in this litigious day and age.
Another variant of the legend circulated earlier this year with a McDonald's ball pit
cited as the scene of the attack (see Snakes in McDonald's
Ball Pit from alt.folklore.urban, 1/28/98).
For what it's worth, the Burger King Corporation categorically denies that incidents of
the type described have occurred at any of its restaurants. See the company's official statement, Web-posted on
10/23/98.
For expert analysis of recent incarnations of this legend, see
The Culprit in the Ball Pit
by Barbara Mikkelson.
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