A Quad City woman is suing a Moline motel saying she was bitten by a python hiding underneath the sheets in her bed.
Carol VanLandegen says she was sleeping in a second floor motel room back in May, when she was bitten on her left heel by the snake.
"I crawled into bed, and I feel a pain in my heel, and I whip my leg out and a snake is attached to my foot and would not let go. I literally had to beat the thing against the wall. I'm screaming the whole time. It was pure terror," VanLandegen said.
"I kinda went into shock, screaming, 'Oh my God, oh my God!'"
The lawsuit was filed by attorney Mike Warner in Rock Island County Circuit Court on Thursday, November 15, 2012.
The lawsuit claims the owners of America's Best Inn Motel are negligent for not maintaining the motel room in a "manner so as to prevent wild animals from entering the room," and "did not inspect the box springs of the bed" before renting the room to VanLandegen.
"She was injured. You are supposed to keep the premises nice and safe for people. And snake free," said Warner.
VanLandegen says her boyfriend was able to corral the three-foot-long snake into a trash can, and throw it outside.
She says the owner of the motel, Nirmal Singh, didn't believe her at first, but that he later beat the python to death with a golf club.
Singh says it never happened.
"I have never seen a snake here. I don't know what this woman is talking about," Singh said.
A photo of the snake was taken with the boyfriend's cell phone, and will be used as evidence. So will a medical report filed at the hospital.
"Thank God we have some pictures, and that I went to the hospital," VanLandegen said.
"I was scared," she said. "I'm scared to death of snakes anyway. I wonder, 'Did they clean the room, not clean the room?' How do you not notice a snake if you did?"