An early morning trip to the post office turned into a frightening experience for one woman when she found a live corn snake hiding under the mail.

The non-poisonous snake, measuring between two and three feet long, slithered into the business post office box that Jean White regularly checks, sending her screaming hysterically for help.

"I reached in there and got some mail, and when I reached back in, I saw it under my mail. I saw its tongue," White said. "I screamed and I hollered and I screamed and hollered some more. Then I started hollering 'snake!'"

Postal employee Steve Simmons does not know how the snake got into the post office box but speculated that it came from outside, seeking a warm, dry place.