I’m excited to welcome Jen Blood, author of the Erin Solomon mystery series, to the blog today. She’s talking about something very cool and completely terrifying to me: snake handling. Please make sure to leave her some love!
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In my latest mystery, Southern Cross, reporter Erin Solomon goes to Kentucky with former mentor (and occasionally more) “Diggs” Diggins, to investigate the murder of Diggs’ childhood best friend. In short order, the investigation leads the duo to a fundamentalist preacher by the name of Jesup T. Barnel—a fire-and-brimstone sort who’s preaching the end of days, and leaving a whole lot of chaos in his wake.
As I was researching the character of Barnel, one of the things I looked into was the bizarre practice of snake handling—wherein “true believers” demonstrate their righteousness by passing around live, poisonous snakes. Snake handling is practiced in churches in the South, the Appalachias, and even in some parts of Canada, and is based primarily on a Bible verse from Mark:
“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.”(Mark 16:17-18)
Those who handle snakes say they only do so when the Holy Spirit moves them, at which time they say Christ protects them from harm. During these times, members of these churches have been known to stomp on the snakes, wrap themselves in the writhing serpents, and even drink strychnine to further prove their faith. Over the past hundred years, there have (not surprisingly) been a number of deaths attributed to these snake handling ceremonies, but one in particular really caught my attention. I thought I would take a moment to share that one today, during this week’s Thriller Thursday.
Glenn and Darlene Summerford lived in Scottsboro, Alabama, a town of roughly 14,000 people about thirty miles from the Alabama-Georgia border. The town is most famous for the “Scottsboro Boys” trial, when nine black boys were accused of raping two white women in 1931. The case became one of the most important in civil rights history because ultimately it established that no one, regardless of race, could be excluded from the right to a fair, juried trial.
By 1991, Scottsboro was a deeply religious, primarily Christian and Fundamentalist Christian community. Glenn Summerford was pastor of the Church of Jesus Christ with Signs Following. Snake handling was a big part of his ministry. He and his wife Darlene were a volcanic couple—he was a drinker, she was alleged to have slept around with both members of Glenn’s congregation and even her own step-children. One night in October, Glenn snapped. He came home drunk, beat Darlene, then dragged her to the cage where his snakes were held and forced her hand inside. Not surprisingly, she was bitten. Then, Glenn forced her to drive around with him for awhile, while her hand swelled and gradually blackened. When they returned home, he forced her hand into the snake cage again. She was bitten a second time.
Fate was on Darlene’s side that night, however, because after the second snake bite, Glenn continued drinking and eventually passed out. Darlene was able to get to a phone to call her sister, and was rushed to the hospital. She survived, and Glenn Summerford was sentenced to ninety-nine years in prison for his crimes.
After Glenn Summerford went to prison, investigative reporter Dennis Covington did an in-depth report on snake handling at The Church of Jesus Christ With Signs Following. His award-winning nonfiction account of that world, Salvation on Sand Mountain, provides a fascinating glimpse into the men and women who attend these churches. In fact, Covington became so enamored with that world that he remained a member of the church for nearly two years, during which time he became a regular serpent handler himself.
Southern Cross contains a particularly harrowing incident with snakes Reverend Barnel uses as part of his church services, and it was a great—albeit occasionally disturbing—exercise trying to get inside the mind of a man so fervent in his faith that he believes nothing can harm him.
While these ceremonies seem like the kinds of things you’d more likely find in third-world countries, it’s interesting to note that it’s estimated that up to 15,000 believers still practice snake handling today. Though it is outlawed in many parts of the U.S., there is only a nominal fine involved ($100 – $150), and because religious freedom is invariably part of the mix, few churches or individuals are ever prosecuted—even when a death occurs.
Jen Blood is a freelance journalist, and author of the bestselling Erin Solomon mysteries. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing/Popular Fiction from the University of Southern Maine, and her work has been published in Down East, Bark, Pif, and newspapers and periodicals around the country. You can learn more about Jen and the Erin Solomon series by visiting her website, http://jenblood.com/.
Buy Links:
ALL THE BLUE-EYED ANGELS, Book 1 of the Erin Solomon Pentalogy
SINS OF THE FATHER, Book 2 of the Erin Solomon Pentalogy
SOUTHERN CROSS, Book 3 of the Erin Solomon Pentalogy
Social Media Links:
Follow Jen on Twitter: @jenblood
Friend on Facebook: http://facebook.com/jenblood1
Follow on Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/jenblood1
Jen Blood
Thanks so much for welcoming me to your blog! The first time I ever heard of snake handling, it was on an X-Files episode — “Signs and Wonders,” in season seven. I was fascinated then, and continue to be fascinated now. While Glenn Summerford clearly had some, ahem, issues, it’s interesting to note just how many of these ceremonies take place around the country, during which no one is harmed… or people are bitten and show few ill effects, even! it’s a weird, weird world!
J.D.
When I was young I dated a girl whose father went to this church, and made his family go with him, so I was famiiar with Summerford and would sometimes go just to be with my girlfriend because she wasn’t yet allowed to go on dates….however I always sat as far in the back as I coud get. I never understood it neither, but I’ll be the first to admit that I saw things happen there that were beyond rational explanation.
One night, for example, I witnessed a woman get bitten by a copperhead snake! She fell out on the floor, and in my young mind iwas thinking, “I guess someone has called an ambulance”, but an ambulance never showed up and this lady eventually rose to her feet and started dancing around and handling snakes again! So in my rational mind I was telling myself that she didn’t really get bitten, so after the snakes were put away I went up and asked the lady if I could see her hand, and when she presented her hand indeed there were the 2 holes where the fangs had entered her skin with blood running from them!
Still wasn’t enough to convince me that God intended for us to handle snakes. I’ll quote another man I heard one time when speaking about snake handling, “The good Lord might tell me to pick up a snake, but I guarantee you I will kill it first!”
Stacey Joy Netzel
Yikes, what a story! I love snakes, but not enough to handle them in some religious ceremony like that. A little grass snake will do me fine. 🙂 Love the character name, Diggs.
Jen Blood
I actually don’t mind snakes either, Stacey — but, yeah, I totally draw the line at passing them around (or stomping on them!) in some sort of religious ritual. And, like you, I far prefer the little ol’ non-poisonous ones, given the choice!
Lauralynn Elliott
I’ve never understood snake handling as proof of faith. Does that mean I should walk out in front of a bus because I believe God will keep it from hitting me? LOL. God expects us to use common sense to take care of ourselves.
This book sounds really interesting. Since I live in the South, I could probably recognize some of the characters. 😉 I just bought the first book in the series and added the other two to my Amazon wish list. I LOVE a good mystery!
Jen Blood
I’ve never understood it either, Lauralynn! I agree: after all, God is the one who gave us common sense in the first place, right? So, it stands to reason we’re expected to use that common sense to keep ourselves out of tricky spots. But to each his own, I guess!
I’m glad to hear the book sounds interesting to you, and tickled to hear you picked up the first in the series. 🙂 I hope you enjoy it!
Valentine Logar
Being a good Southern Girl with family from smaller towns, I know some of these people they frighten me. I love snakes, they fascinate me however, I do not play with them; ever.
This was very interesting and the books sounds interesting as well.
Julia Duin
I hope Jen’s blog entry is not indicative of the quality of her book. There are several inaccuracies in here. First, Dennis Covington did not become a regular serpent handler. He did it once – albeit quite briefly. Many folks in the serpent handling community despise his book and it’s been openly criticized by more recent scholars. Second, where does she get the 15,000 figure in terms of how many participate? That seems quite high to me. And the fines involved for possession, transport, etc., of poisonous snakes are often way more than $100-$150. Ask Jamie Coots – one of the premier handlers in Kentucky. He’s had to pay out more than that. He was just on trial in Knoxville so it’s not hard to google info on him. I’ve written about this phenomenon in the past 18 months for both the Washington Post and Wall St. Journal, so I know a bit about it. Unlike the Summerford case, no one is made to handle those snakes. In fact, you’re not allowed to unless those leading the service know you are. And, Jen, did you visit one of these churches to do your research? I hope you did. The folks involved are actually very sweet.