The Appalachian Snake Handlers
What happens when a preacher discovers a passage in the Bible that so affects him, that he spends the rest of his life spreading its message. Dedicates his passion and time to these couple of sentences. Commits to its words so fervently that by the time of his death, a widespread group of followers believe so strongly in the text that they would risk their lives to continue in its practice.
We’re talking, of course, about George Went Hensley and the serpent handlers of Appalachia. This group of folks, diffuse mostly among the Southeastern US, read literally into a passage from Mark 16:17-18. In following the words, practitioners handle deadly snakes and take swigs of water poisoned with strychnine, a bitter chemical used as a pesticide. If bitten by a snake, believers aren’t allowed to see a doctor. The Bible text reads:
And these signs shall follow them that believe: In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues. 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.
Most states have outlawed snake handling, and biblical experts have suggested that the passage in question was added only in later versions of the text. Still, serpent handlers risk jail time, ridicule in the wider community, and even death from the snakes in their arms. Despite the fact that some 70 people have died during services over the years, the faithful remain so, in opposition to all outside pressure. In this case, faith triumphs over most everything.
A believer, interviewed in a 1992 audio documentary prepared by Sound Portraits Productions (now StoryCorps), explained that there was no room for doubt in reading the Bible:
“If man could have written that part of God’s word, he could have written any of it. And if I doubted that part of God’s word, then it’d give me a reason to doubt the rest of it.”
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