One of the most popular images of religion in Appalachia is that of serpent handlers. The sensationalism that has popularized this tradition since its inception has condescendingly described its followers, at best, as naive and misguided; at worst, as psychologically disturbed cultists. To themselves, they are ordinary people following their religious beliefs.

Historically, serpent handlers as a group are considered to be part of the Pentecostal movement in America, but later they formed independent Pentecostal holiness churches. The term snake handling refers to a practice in a few rural fundamentalist Christian churches in the United States. The purpose of the practice is to demonstrate the practitioners' adherence to certain Biblical "signs," of which snake handling is one. A few leaders and parishioners pick up captive poisonous snakes from a container during emotional worship services. The snakes are held for a while, as the person moves about praying and sometimes vocalizing. Those who handle the poisonous snakes are usually not bitten, and those who are bitten usually survive. Children are not allowed to handle snakes.

The practice of snake handling is based on two verses in the New Testament (quoted from the King James Bible):  

They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover (marks 16:18)

Behold, I gave unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all power of the enemy: and nothing shall by another means hurt you (Luke 10:19)

Snake Handlers are more generally known as the Church of God with Signs Following. Under this umbrella term falls the loosely organized "Pentecostal churches, ministers and itinerant preachers popularly known as snake handlers." The practice itself developed out of the Pentecostal-Holiness movement, which flourished in the first two decades of the twentieth century (Melton 1996, 636).

The practice is believed to have started with George Hensley in the hills of Tennessee (Melton 1996, 636). As church lore has it, snake handling started sometime in the later part of the first decade of the twentieth century while Hensley was preaching at the Church of God, Cleveland, Tennessee. During Hensley's sermon about Mark 16 some men dumped out a box full of rattlesnakes in front of him. Without missing a beat Hensley reached down and picked up the snakes, preaching the entire time. By 1914 the practice had spread throughout the Church of God, however, the actual act of snake handling was only practiced by a small portion of the members (Melton 1996, 636). up arrowtop

Hensley then settled to preaching in the Grasshopper Valley region of Tennessee a few miles away from Cleveland. He stayed here for a number of years. When "a member almost died from a snake bite [Hensley] moved to Pine Mountain, Kentucky." By the Late 1920s the support for snake handling vanished in the old Cleveland church and many of the Church of God branches. By 1928, snake handling became the activity of only a few independent churches nestled in the Appalachian Mountains where it stayed until its revival in the 1940s (Melton 1996, 636).

In the 1940s snake handling saw a resurgence led by Raymond Harris and Tom Harden. These men went on to start the Dolly Pond Church of God with Signs Following in Grasshopper Valley. Lewis Ford a member of the Dolly Pond congregation died from snake handling in 1945. His death led to the official banning of snake handling in Tennessee in 1947 (Burton 1993, 81). Hensley, still alive and practicing, was arrested in Chattanooga under new the statute in 1948. North Carolina which followed suit and banned snake handling as well shut down the Interstate Convention of believers in Durham in 1947. These incidents started the battles with the government over the right to handle snakes [see issues and controversies for more details] (Melton 1996, 636).

Snake handling withdrew again in the early 1950s only to be thrust into the spotlight again in 1971. After three people died in Tennessee and Georgia from either snakebites or strychnine poisoning, snake handling came under attack once more. This time the ban was challenged on First Amendment grounds, the Tennessee State Supreme Court reaffirmed the ban in 1973 (Melton 1996, 636).

An interesting footnote is that while snake handlers in North Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia all trace their heritage back to George Hensley, the sign followers in Alabama and Georgia have a different origin. Evidently a man named James Miller "took up the serpents" entirely on his own after deep reflection over the scripture. He first brought the practice to Sand Mountain, Alabama around 1912. By 1920 he had spread the practice into southern Georgia, specifically, Berrien and Cook counties (Burton 1993, 7). up arrowtop

 

Home Overview History Covington Snakes Maps Links