he had to dive into the water which "had snakes and stuff in it, and it was just terrible. But to Roger, it was like [shrugs], "So you get bit by a snake — big deal!"" It was a horrendous experience, I'll tell you — just the worst." Connors said he had to do scenes near an alligator in the water (it was tied up) and a rattlesnake which crawled over its leg (its mouth was taped). "I had nightmares for weeks after I got back, about that.. .big snake," said Connors. Ed Nelson, later of Peyton Place fame, was living in New Orleans at the time, working as a floor manager for WDSU, when he heard of the film. "I had the gut feeling that being a part of the Corman group would boost my career," Nelson said. "I was right." Nelson got himself a job behind the scenes on the movie and eventually was cast as a cop as well. Nelson later said, "I did everything: I was the location manager, I wrestled the alligator. I held it up in the water so that Mike [Touch] Connors could wrestle it. " He added, ""This included bringing the limited supply of hot water to the almost primitive hotel rooms at the Georgian Manor so the performers and crew could bathe. I made hot coffee for the cast and crew, and maintained a cooler of cold Barq's Root Beer, Louisiana's favorite soft drink, when the heat was at its worst." Wild animals, such as an alligator and a rattlesnake, were hired from Arthur Jones, who then ran a roadside attraction off Highway 11 in Slidell. At the end of the film Garland's character was killed with a spear and fell out of a tree. She recalled: They got me up in this tree and Roger said, "When you're killed, you have to drop"— and this was a big tree! I'm not exaggerating when I say it was at least a 20-foot drop. I said, "Well, will somebody be there?" And Roger said, "Yes, they’ll catch you." And by God, they had three guys underneath. And when they killed me, I just fell— dead weight- on these three poor guys! Roger said to me, "You're really one of the best stuntwomen I have ever worked with." After making the movie Nelson went to see Corman in Hollywood and went to work