As a 12 year old I lived on a ranch that had not been fully purged of rattlesnakes (in central California, if your property has water near it and not too many r

As a 12 year old I lived on a ranch that had not been fully purged of rattlesnakes (in central California, if your property has water near it and not too many roads, you probably have a few rattlesnakes). My most terrifying experience was going into the horse barn to grab a lead rope coiled up on top of a bale of hay and not seeing the juvenile rattlesnake coiled inside the lead rope. I grabbed it and the lead and by pure luck I had it right behind the head. It was rattling and writhing and trying to get a bite on me. No one was home, and I had no idea what to do. I have no recollection of anything other than holding the snake in a panic, but my parents found me holding an exhausted snake trembling violently, it was at least an hour after I had picked it up. It stands out as a totally singular experience in my life, nothing ANY degree of chemical stimulation has ever replicated. My fear was so intense I basically blacked out in place with my arm locked rigid for an hour.