If you suffer from herpetophobia, you suffer from an irrational fear of reptiles, especially snakes.

Side note – any fear of snakes is pretty much irrational. They have no interest in doing you any harm, unless backed into a corner, and will generally let you get on with your life in peace if you do the same to them.

That being said, 62-year-old Arizona man John Waddell does have quite a harrowing story to tell. He accidentally fell down a 100-foot mine shaft, where he was stuck for two days. Not only that, but the mine shaft also happened to be quite a popular hangout for venomous snakes.

His story below from VICE:

John Waddell went up to visit the abandoned mine near Aguila, Arizona, to look for gold on Monday. While he was there, he accidentally toppled down the shaft, luckily surviving the long fall but breaking both of his legs in the process. And that wasn’t even the worst of it.

While Waddell was down there in the dark, presumably cold and terrified and in excruciating pain from the massive bone fractures, he reportedly realized he wasn’t alone in the shaft—he was surrounded by rattlesnakes.

Over the course of the next two days, Waddell managed to survive, fighting and killing three rattlesnakes with his bare hands before they were able to bite him. He had no cell phone service, so he just screamed as loud as he could for help, though he likely knew that the shaft was deep and the mine was isolated and the chances of someone happening to hear him were low.

Just the three rattlesnakes. With his bare hands.

No, you’re thinking about this scene from Austin Powers:

Sorry, John, we can joke because you made it alive.

Eventually, somebody did hear his cry, so there’s a happy ending:

John owes Terry quite a few beverages of his choosing.

Let this be a lesson to us all. If you’re going looking for gold in an abandoned mine this weekend, tell a friend.

[source:vice]