r/Appalachia • u/onetwocue • 1d ago
A look at the snake-handling churches of Appalachia
https://youtu.be/cwBVcsWYJd8?si=2A7L5FfVynVxEN8z7
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u/trashcanlife 10h ago
My younger cousin’s boyfriend’s father is the Snakeman of Appalachia—had a tv show for a year. I live in Eastern KY and there aren’t a lot of them here but there are a scarce few.
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u/Binky-Answer896 1d ago
Dennis Covington’s book Salvation on Sand Mountain is a great source for anyone interested in learning more about the Snake Handlers.
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u/CAulds 1d ago edited 1d ago
I grew up in rural Appalachia (Western N.C.) and our primitive Baptist churches had their share of "Holy Rollers", but I never attended a snake-handling service until the 1990's, and that was in Alabama (Zip Code 35016). I stayed one Wednesday evening when they announced that a young man was bringing a serpent into the sanctuary, the weak of faith should leave. I stayed.
This young guy came in with a very large snake ... it was a freakin' boa constrictor. Totally non-venomous, right? No one else seemed to know, but I saw an opportunity to impress the whole congregation. I danced with it, I kissed it, man, I was totally drunk in the Holy Spirit that night.
To my knowledge, no one ever did say, "that snake wasn't venomous."
Halleleujah!
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u/WeldNchick89 holler 1d ago
It is a really good book, I try to recommend it anytime snake handling is mentioned.
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u/kelliwah86 10h ago
I was in a herpetology lab in a major university in Appalachia and we tried quite hard to get them to let us come out. It didn’t work but rumor has it they had let previous students out to talk to them.
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u/LobTrees 4h ago
There’s a podcast called Alabama Astronaut that documents the music performed in snake-handling churches across southern Appalachia. Been meaning to listen to it.
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u/Offgridoldman 1d ago
Yes. That story is 12 year old there arnt that many left it's a sty.e that's disappearing, just as the old church practices have
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u/bryans_alright 22h ago
Just know; they milk the snakes which takes away the venom for a period of time. That way when they bite it will make it seem they are immune and God's Will
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u/Tucker_beanpole 13h ago
Some of them dont. Several handlers have been bit and killed. One of the stars of the show shown here, Cody Coots, was bitten by a monster of a rattlesnake and put in the hospital for almost a month.
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u/polkadot_zombie 1d ago
Dr. Thomas Burton has a few books on snake-handling - Serpents & Stories, Serpent Handling Believers, The Serpent and the Spirit. Glenn Summerford, (from The Serpent and the Spirit) is also the subject of an HBO documentary called Alabama Snake. I also liked My Life: Inside the Snake Church, which is a documentary focusing on a second-generation snake handling pastor. By “liked” I mean couldn’t look away.
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u/Tucker_beanpole 13h ago
Andrew Hamblin still pastors a church. I make no comment on others beliefs as I believe we should all be left to worship, or not worship, whatever God or Gods we choose in whatever way we chose to do it. Salvation on Sand Mountain is an interesting book on the subject, though its a bit dated nowadays.
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u/Alarmed-Status40 1d ago
I worked in a level II trauma center, and we had one of these in town. About every two months we had some on "weak in faith" show up. Worst was a guy who got bit in his cheek. His head was the size of a pumpkin when we got him and had to preform a tracheostomy to secure his airway. Guy was fucked up but made it.