Episode Details

In 1945 a preacher was arrested and charged in his wife's death...by snakebite. Seems he had been holding a service near Norton, Virginia, in which a large poisonous snake had been placed in his hand, and his wife had been bitten when she reached over to pat the creature's head. Today we tell the story of a death in a snake-handling church, another part of the history of this place we call home: Appalachia.