How good of a look did you get at the tip? There are a couple of possibilities I can think of.

Sometimes a snake will lose the end of it's tail in an accident or attack and it may heal up with a kink in it.

Also, rattlesnakes often crawl with their tail tips pointing up, so their rattles are not dragging on the ground getting damaged or making noise to give them away. The rattles sometimes get broken off, but they will still crawl with the tail tip raised.

Another possibility, but I don't think so from your description, is that a snake that is getting ready to defecate (or just finished) will crawl with it's tail raised in the air from the vent back. That would be maybe 4-6 inches of tail on the size of snake you're talking about though.
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What goes up must come down...unless it exceeds escape velocity.

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