The Hidden Truth About Appalachia’s Snake Handling Churches (From A Local)

#appalachia #appalachianfolklore #appalachianmountains Up in these Appalachian mountains, there are little churches tucked back at the mouth of a holler where, on a Sunday, folks open a wooden box and take up a rattlesnake with their bare hands. Most people who hear about it shake their heads and figure those folks have lost their minds. They have not. The truth about these churches is a lot quieter than what you see on the television, and a lot harder to forget. On a winter night, not so many years ago, a preacher in eastern Kentucky was bitten during his own service, and he finished that service anyway. Three days after they buried him, some of the folks from his church walked right back in and opened the boxes again. I'm Omer Crum. I am eighty years old, and I have spent every one of those years in the Appalachian Mountains of eastern Kentucky. The people in these churches are not strangers to me. They are the same kind of folks I worked beside in the mines and the timber woods. In this video, I am going to tell you the hidden truth about the snake handling churches of Appalachia. You will find out how it all began, and how a man who made whiskey on the sly back in the woods started the whole thing. You will learn why Kentucky passed a law against these services back in 1940, and what had folks so alarmed. And at the end, I will tell you why, after all those funerals, I do not believe these folks will ever put the snakes down. You do not have to agree with them. But there is a lot more to it than a man and a snake. Did you ever see a snake handling service, or some other strange thing folks believed in where you live? Tell me in the comments, and tell me what county you are from. I read every one of them. If you would like to hear more stories about the real people of these mountains, subscribe and ring the bell. Respect what you don't understand. Keep your people close. And remember, faith runs deep in these hills. I'll see you back on the porch. #easternkentucky #folklore #kentucky #snakehandling #snakehandlers #holiness #oldtimereligion #rattlesnake #appalachianhistory #mountainlife #rurallife #truestories