Snake Handling

That snake handling scene in the preview of Justified reminds of an incident involving a snake handling preacher It happened soon after I first moved to the mountains of North Carolina. He had a little Holiness congregation over in Canton. His day job, I kid you not, was as a wholesale bait dealer .

Our sheriff at the time who didn't exactly have a sterling reputation went to break up one of his outdoor revivals on the grounds that snake handling is illegal in North Carolina. One thing lead to another and the sheriff got bit by the rattler. The sheriff made it to the hospital in time and lived. However, he did retire soon thereafter.

I guess we can thank that rattle snake for helping clean up law enforcement in Haywood County.




Oh, and that snake handling preacher who got arrested? He got bit by a rattler at a service in Greene County, Tennessee later in the year, refused treatment, and died.