A Springfield, Illinois, paper has an account of a shower of what, for want of a better name, that paper calls “snakes,” which fell during the great storm of last week in that vicinity. It says : “On Saturday and Sunday last, every ditch, brook and pool on the prairie north of Taylorville was alive with nondescript creatures, which have been described to us as being from one and a half to two feet long, and from three-fourths of an inch to an inch in diameter. The diameter is very slightly lessened at the head and tail. The tail is flat like that of an eel, but has no caudal fin; indeed, there is no fin at all. The head is in shape that of an eel, but the mouth is that of a sucker. The eyes are small, and the ears are simply orifices. Immediately behind the head, on each side, is a flipper, like that of a turtle, say three-fourths of an inch to an inch in length, including the limb, which has a perfectly developed joint. In color these snakes, or whatever they are, are a dark blue.”
The Charleston Daily News, Charleston, SC, June 11, 1869