Replies

Confucius say “Man who play with rattlesnake get bit and die”.

I actually grew up where there was a church on the outskirts of town that would feature snake handling every now and then and found out some about it.

It became popular during the times of the travelling "tent revivals" as a hook to get people to the show. It still exists today in a very few places.

Usually the snake handling preacher is actually well schooled on the "handling" part and is knowledgeable on how to hold a snake and not get bit. Also, it was common practice for the handler to keep the snake "on ice" in a cooler until time for the show to slow it down considerably. They weren't just "trusting to providence", they were actually pretty good at what they did.

I noticed in the recent article about the guy who died - he actually sat the snake down and was bit on the leg. He may have thought that it was still "chilled" but that was a mistake.