Nothing strikes fear into the hearts of passengers on mass transportation quite like a slithery reptile, thanks to the movie that started it all, Snakes on a Plane. And because “plane” rhymes with “train,” of course a story about a train being evacuated due to a snake is going to catch the eye.

The little guy slithered onto a Swiss passenger train on Wednesday, prompting police to tell all 450 people on it to exit as they hunted it down, reports the AFP.

Passengers first spotted the 19.5-inch black garter snake — which is not venomous and known to grandmas everywhere as “That little thing? Don’t pay him any mind” as they were boarding the train on the way to the city of Basel.

They told train staff who spread the word to police, said a spokeswoman for the SBB national rail company.

“All 450 passengers on the train were evacuated,” she told AFP, making me think that either everyone was so scared they were moved to ah, “go” in their pants or that some grammar got lost in translation.

After everyone left they were moved onto another train that left later. As for the little guy who prompted such terror? He was probably someone’s pet/property that had been brought on board, the spokeswoman said.

He was finally cornered in a ventilation shaft, police said, and has been renamed Samuel. I made that last part up out of hope.

Snake on a train forces mass evacuation in Switzerland [AFP]

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