Monday, October 27, 2025

Snake-throwers

 


One of my English-language teachers was a Swedish lady who lived for decades in West Virginia. Apparently, the inhabitants of the small town where she was staying warned her about the next town further down the road: "That´s where the snake-throwers live". That is, the crazy charismatic Christians otherwise best known as snake-handlers! It seems WV is the only state of the Union which doesn´t ban religious handling of serpents. Mountaineers are always free? 

The YouTube clip above tells the story with remarkable scholarly restraint. It even mentions what species of ophidians the snake-handlers use during their services...

You have been warned. Do not drive further down the highway! Unless you are a scholar of religion...or, I suppose, a herpetologist.

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