The waving wheat and old windmill set a tone of relaxation. The festival atmosphere says carefree, complete with a Ferris wheel, and a ticket booth. But then you notice the small boy backing away cautiously, as a sinister sound builds in the air.
"We probably have right now, we probably have 2,000 snakes here in town," said Keith Kendall, president of the Mangum Rattlesnake Derby.
Many of them on display right outside in the uh...
"We call this just the big, I guess the big snake box is the best way to put it," said one of the workers.
Down below...
8 year-old Sarah, very sweetly and clearly explains what could happen to you if you get bit.
"Well, you'll die," she said.
Yeah, that about sums it up. And occasionally it does happen.
"There was that guy, what, two years ago, that died from complications of a snake bite, yes," said snake hunter Jeff Harrington.
His name was Joe Maddox, his picture on display right next to the rattler that killed him. A beast he had already caught out on a hunt with a friend, and put into a box like this. The strike happened when he went to put another snake into the box while crouched in front of it.
"And he opens the container, the thing you never do, you always open it from behind, he opened it this way and the snake got him right here, just chung! Like that, right into the femoral artery," said festival official Jack Cossey.
Despite that risk, every year, people line up to go hunt them.
"This is the western diamond back rattlesnake, this is what you're all going to be out there looking for," said Keith.
Before each expedition, there's a five minute lecture on do's and definitely don't's.
"You might want to catch him with his tail and pull him back to you where you can get to, closer to his head where you can handle him," he said.
Of all the faces listening in the crowd that would soon be in a wide open field, none was as excited as Caleb.
"I really like rattlesnake hunting and I've been doing it since I was 6 or 7," he said.
Out here with his grandparents and little sister Gigi, looking for specimens.
"I do a show and tell with all the class and I love to hear all the kids, how'd you do that? Are you not scared of them?" he said.
Nope, he is definitely, not scared. Not of the creepy crawly under this rock...
"Oh, there's a little baby scorpion," he said.
Or the creepy crawly under that rock
"Hey guys, this is a giant centipede," he said.
Nor is he afraid of the tarantula he coaxed out of it's hole.
"Their uh, their stingers are actually on their butt, kind of type area," he said.
That was a technical description which no doubt will one day be used on his own television show.
"When I grow up I'd love to be on Animal Planet or something naturistic. I don't know if that's an actual word? Just made it up. Yeah," he said.
Unfortunately, there was no inventing any rattler sightings while we were with him, although...
"May not be a rattlesnake, but it's still a little prize," he said.
Kind of like a snake appetizer. Which bring us back to town and the Bite-A-Snake café.
"Lot of people say it tastes like chicken," said one official.
"Ok, it tastes like chicken," said another.
"Every year this is my dream to come here and get me some snake," said one woman.
How is it prepared you ask? Very simply. A hatchet, some flour, and then the deep fryer. And if they run out?
"When are you all going to be doing another one?" asked the cook.
They just holler next door...
Where Robert Ray, aka, The Butcher is busy prepping the next meal. Removing heads with still flickering tongues, and hearts that just don't know when to quit.
"Still beating. Takes a licking and keeps on ticking," he said.
It's an event that has spectators looking uneasy but not enough to turn away, especially if his granddaughter coaxes him to eat the gallbladder.
"Eat it! Now? Yes. Yummmmm!"
The 47th annual Mangum Rattlesnake Derby. Guaranteed to put a tingle in your spine, and then some.
"When you drink that snake blood, ole tongue kind of tingle. Yeah, got a little tingle to it," he said.
