Blog Post: Mitch, the Sage of Jungleland

He was a tall gaunt man; I remember that. I do not recall his last name, but everyone called him Mitch, and he was the groundskeeper at Jungleland in Thousand Oaks in the mid 1950s.  

He was a story teller and had a great deal of wit to his tales. I recall one tale he told me. He was working when Jungleland was open and a lady came up to him and asked if she had missed any of the important performances that day. It was an opportunity Mitch could not let pass.

"You missed the best act of all!" he said. "The trained boa constrictors. Why they ride bicycles and all, wrap there bodied around the bike, use their tail to pump the pedals and their head to steer."    

The same lady came the next Saturday to see the amazing act, but it wasn't on the performance list. She searched the whole park until she found Mitch.

"Where are the Boa constrictors riding bicycles?" she asked indignantly.

Thinking quickly, Mitch said, "They are sick and can't perform today."  

The lady came the next week to see the talented serpents but there were none. She sought out Mitch but this time he had an answer for her. 

"You're in luck," he said, "They are practicing right now! I will take you back to see them."

"Are they on their bicycles?" the woman asked.

"They sure are," he answered. "They are riding up a storm."

He lead the lady up where a guy named Henry had some performing chimpanzees on little bikes and showed her.

"Those are not boa constrictors!" she yelled. "Those are Chimpanzees!"

Mitch just snapped his fingers and said, "I always get those two animals mixed up."

Was the story true? It was very much like Mitch, one of the more colorful people at Jungleland.

Richard Senate is a local historian and renowned area ghost hunter.