ABSTRACT
Ancient mythological stories about extraordinary snake-beings are recounted in nearly every culture in the world (Willis 1990), which prompts the questions: What is it about snakes that make them such ubiquitous mythic tropes? Why is it that snakes consistently represent remarkableness? And, furthermore, why do phenomenal snakes with anthropomorphic abilities persist as potent signifiers in a range of cultural contexts today? With increasing numbers of people choosing to pay to experience the company of cryptid snakes in hallucinatory form, this chapter considers the contemporary significance, the tenacity, and the value of snakes through unpacking the coalesced meanings embedded in, and embodied, by snakes as they merge with human bodies. Using Damasio’s (2000) ideas concerning the neurobiological purpose of emotions, ‘snake’ is revealed to be a sign that provokes specific physical sensations (feelings) with a view to integrate, ingest or ‘stomach’ the existentially troubling and socially important complex idea-visions that humans find difficult to digest.
