A quiet day on an Orange County shoreline took a frightening turn when a beachgoer filmed a deadly rattlesnake moving through the sand just inches from his bare feet.
TV host Nicky Paris posted the unsettling video to Instagram last week, showing the snake near the surf at Crystal Cove in Newport Beach.
Paris said he had just stepped out of the ocean when he felt something brush against his big toe. Looking down, he was startled to see what he described as a “huge” rattlesnake making its way across the beach.
As the viper slipped through the sand, other beachgoers could be seen strolling nearby, seemingly unaware of the danger at their feet.
“It crawled right out of the water. Right all the way past the beach, in between my sandals, on the beach. I literally was watching it. And it just went right back up into the hill,” Paris said while recording the encounter.
The Los Angeles-based comedian was not bitten, but the close call left him shaken. He is now urging visitors to stay alert at all times, warning that even a walk along the water’s edge can come with unexpected risks.
The sighting comes amid another recent rattlesnake scare in Southern California, where an aggressive snake sent a woman to the hospital before later striking her pet.
The woman was picking up her cat’s toys in the backyard of her Los Angeles County home when the rattler appeared and bit her on the index finger. The next day, the same snake returned and bit her cat, Magic.
Earlier this month, a Calabasas family also found a rattlesnake lurking in their backyard right where their children play.
Hugo Will—a Los Angeles-based cinematographer who has collaborated with industry legends like director Ted Kotcheff, editor Thom Noble, and director James Fargo—shared a video of the chilling discovery in his yard: the snake was hiding directly among his children’s scattered toys.
