The origins of snake handling in the churches of the southern states, where it was most prevalent, are something of a mystery. Most historians support George W. Hensley’s claim that it started ...

A snake-handling pastor who appeared on the National Geographic television reality show "Snake Salvation" has died after being bitten by a snake during a weekend church service in Kentucky.

West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee and North Carolina, dozens of small fundamentalist churches regularly include the handling of rattlers or copperheads as part of their services. How many snake ...

In southern West Virginia Pastor Mack Wolford leads one of the few remaining snake handling churches in the United States His family is deeply tied to the faith Mack was a child when he lost his ...

An unsuccessful candidate for West Virginia secretary of state was hospitalized Wednesday after being bitten by a copperhead snake while removing campaign signs. Doug Skaff, who placed second in ...

This weekend, after 20 years of handling snakes ... service at his church in Kentucky. Two hours later, he was dead. The same thing happened two years earlier in West Virginia.

Members of a North Carolina church continued to handle snakes after a 1947 police raid, officials said. Screengrab from the Museum of Durham History on Facebook A snake-handling church was the ...

A snake-handling church was the target of a bizarre police raid 76 years ago in North Carolina, historians said. On Nov. 1, 1947, a venomous copperhead snake was seized from Zion Tabernacle Church ...

An elderly renowned snake enthusiast died after he was bitten by a rattlesnake in West Virginia last week, his family said. William H. “Marty” Martin, 80, was killed on Aug. 3 after he was ...

William H. "Marty" Martin died Aug. 3 after being bitten the day before by a captive snake on the property at his home in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, according to his wife, Renee Martin.

Three people have been arrested in connection with a fire that destroyed a historic church in West Virginia, state police said. Braxton Allan Miller, 18, of Charleston; James Dean Elmore ...