Hands Full of Trouble—Dewy Chafin a preacher in the Church of the Lord Jesus in Jolo, West Virginia holds two fistfuls of rattlesnakes during snake-handling church services in 1991. Dewey has been “bit” by poisonous snakes over 116 times, treating his wounds only with prayer.
I’ve got faith that of I don’t pick a snake up, it won’t bite me.
He looks possessed in that pic.
Ugh, my MIL has killed 18 rattlers in her yard this year. That isn’t a record but she’s 86 years old and lives alone. I hate walking around her yard but we try to keep it clear around everything so that they’re easy to see. I’ve never touched one, dead much less alive.
Hmmmmmm I'm not sure I want Caesar limiting what they perceive faith calls them to do? (Frankly I think they are nuts. I suggest we let Darwin farm them out.)
The astounding thing about the snake handling churches is the forebearance of the snakes. One would expect the average snake handler to be dead or seriously injured within a few weeks, but many last for years and are only infrequently bitten.
This just doesn’t make any sense.
I just hope the snakes were not hurt.
It’s good to know EVERY religion has it’s share of wackjobs.
I was watching the documentary “The Hillbillies” narrated by Billy Ray Cyrus on The History Channel, and they got to religious practices. They did a story on George Went Hensley who died of a snake bite in 1955. They showed the newspaper article, and I happened to catch that the location was Altha, FL. where my Mom’s family came from.
I e-mailed my cousin who has lived there all her life. She was 14 at the time, and I was interested in if she had heard about it.
She wrote me back and said she not only heard about it, she was there! My grandfather and another man had caught the snake and intentionally did not give it food or water for three days to make it mean. My grandfather felt so bad about it that he married Hensley’s widow.
My family does not participate in snake handling, they were only there for the entertainment value. Imagine my surprise when I learned of my family’s involvement in a story I first saw on The History Channel!
Snake bacon?