Arizona prides itself on having an abundance of eccentric. Bill Esenwein had to be somewhere near the top of the list. He was a desert rat, writer and prospector who made his home in the desert east of Congress. He earned the nickname as a result of his rapport with poisonous reptiles. He rescued them, took care of them and made them welcome in his home. Outside his cabin hung a sign, “Rattlesnake Haven.” His rattlesnake pet fetish earned him the name as the “Dr. Doolittle of Diamondbacks.


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