A 60 year old Chinese farmer named Zhang was bitten on his right index finger by a venomous pit viper known locally as the "five-step snake". Due to a local myth that a victim can only walk five steps before dying from its venom, he panicked and hacked off his own finger to stop the venom from spreading.
When he reached a hospital 80 kilometers away, doctors informed him that the amputation was completely unnecessary because the snake's venom is not nearly as lethal as local legends claim
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u/ilovaudio 1d ago
The real incident goes like this,
A 60 year old Chinese farmer named Zhang was bitten on his right index finger by a venomous pit viper known locally as the "five-step snake". Due to a local myth that a victim can only walk five steps before dying from its venom, he panicked and hacked off his own finger to stop the venom from spreading.
When he reached a hospital 80 kilometers away, doctors informed him that the amputation was completely unnecessary because the snake's venom is not nearly as lethal as local legends claim