Is there a large snake on the loose at the Jefferson County Fair? 

Three people who work at the fair say they've seen it.

"It's about 12 to 15-foot long and it was brown with like a square pattern on it," said carnival worker Ray McGee.  "It wasn't a coral snake or a copperhead."

McGee said he saw the snake Monday evening at a water station near the campers where workers live during the fair.

He said the snake disappeared into a camper, which is parked on the fairgrounds near Coffeen Street.

The camper is owned by George Day, who operates Smokey's Barbeque.

"One of the fair board members came by and wanted to know if I had a pet snake and I said, 'No, I'm scared to death of snakes.' He goes, 'Well, you better get down to your camper because your neighbor in the other camper says that he saw a big snake - he thought it was a python or a boa constrictor - crawl up underneath my camper," said Day.

Day said two other people saw the snake, including a snake handler who works at the fair.

He said the handler was able to grab the snake by its tail, but the serpent got away.

Day said his trailer was torn apart, but the snake wasn't found.

Because of that, Day he slept in his truck rather than in his trailer.

Jefferson County Sheriff John Burns said he was notified that a large snake was on the loose and referred further comment to fair president Bob Simpson.

Simpson said he was told the snake was two or three feet long.

"We called the people from county dog control and they came down. They reached out to some different people to see if they could find out some different information and if it did come out, how we could possibly catch it," said Simpson.

It's unclear what kind of snake was seen, but pythons and boa constrictors are nonvenomous snakes which wrap themselves tightly around their prey and constrict it until it's dead.

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