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When I was around 10, my brothers and I went with my mom to my grandmother's place in Iredell. My grandmother had around 100 acres at the time. My brothers and I were playing horseshoes in the front yard. There was a poured concrete walkway from the dirt driveway up to the steps of the porch. My brothers were on the far end of the front yard while I was near the walkway. My mother came out on the porch to smoke a cigarette. She watched as we were playing and then she called my name with a tone of extreme terror in her voice. I froze in place, not knowing what the issue was. I jumped backwards what seemed like 5 feet in a single leap to the walkway, then walked up the stairs to my mother. I asked what was wrong. She pointed to where I had been standing. What I had not noticed, was a 2 foot long western diamondback rattler that was coiled up, and had been only inches from my ankle. It never made a sound. We waited hours for that critter to slither away before we were ready to leave.

As we were leaving, we drove over to the windmill to turn the water pump off. Mom found another snake there and decided "nope, the pump can just stay on". I believe we ran over 2 snakes on the road out as well. That story STILL gives my mom chills.