The Snake Handler

All the Snake Handlers I Know Are Dead

"Well-done fantasy. Happy ending without dripping sentiment. ... Deftly sprung, and nice dialogue and narrative voices."--Locus All the Snake Handlers I Know Are Dead, by Dennis Danvers, is dark, magical realism tale about a lone woman building a cabin in the mountains of Appalachia and the strange man she encounters there. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

In the House of the Serpent Handler

Serpent Handling Believers

In some remote churches in East Tennessee and nearby states, Jesus’ words in the sixteenth chapter of Saint Mark are taken literally: “and they shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them.”Members of these churches describe themselves as Pentecostal-Holiness, autonomous groups of Christians with strong traditional religious views and a fundamentalist approach to biblical interpretation. Their strong faith is based largely on personal experience. Handling serpents and fire, laying on the hands of healing, speaking in tongues, and drinking poison are seen as acts of Christian obedience that demonstrate the power of the Holy Spirit. In the past these very religious people have often been distorted by the media as members of a “snake religion” or a “snake cult” because of their unorthodox beliefs and practices. Thomas Burton seeks to present a more balanced view of this generally misunderstood group in this in-depth study of serpent handlers and their religious culture. Using both oral history and scholarly research, Burton traces the evolution of Christian serpent handling from its apparent beginning in East Tennessee and explores legal and ethical issues associated with this and other unorthodox practices, allowing participants to speak for themselves through personal interviews. The result is both a dramatic presentation, through vivid photography, and a thorough analytical insight into the serpent handlers’ culture.