For many people, the illegal and deadly ritual that killed a Middlesboro, Ky., pastor is difficult to understand. But professors who study snake handling say worshipers are very aware of the risks ...

Pastor Jamie Coots, a 42-year-old Pentecostal preacher and third-generation snake handler from Middlesboro, Ky., spoke to NPR in October about his unusual way of leading church services. "We sing, we ...

JACKSON COUNTY, AL (WAFF) - While definitely in the minority, snake handling churches have dwindled over the years as states have passed laws making it illegal to possess poisonous snakes. But a few ...

(WMC-TV) – A church in east Tennessee is defying man's law to honor what they say is God's law. Snake-handling. It is an ancient form of worship with a modern day twist. The pastor of the Tabernacle ...

In a story Feb. 26 about a snake-handling preacher who recently died from a bite, The Associated Press reported erroneously the number of deaths each year from snake bites in the United States. Around ...

A snake-handling pastor who died Saturday in Middlesboro, Ky., once let his finger rot off after a previous snakebite - and he saved the rotten finger in a jar. The Rev. Jamie Coots, pastor since 1994 ...

(ABC News) -- Standing in front of his congregation at a small Pentecostal church in Kentucky, Pastor Jamie Coots held the long, sleek body of a poisonous snake, practicing what he considers a holy ...

LAFOLLETTE, Tenn. (AP) – An East Tennessee pastor who has appeared on a reality television show about handling snakes in church faces charges of assault and reckless endangerment. Media outlets report ...

Snake-handling is a tradition for the Coots family of Kentucky. But months after taking over for his father to lead a Pentecostal church, Cody Coots says he was bitten this week. His father, Jamie, ...

Snake handlers dwell at the edge of the spiritual frontier — a community of people who are willing to die for their faith three times a week in church. Members of the Pentecostal Holiness Church take ...

Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Even if you have found yourself in the hollers of the Appalachian Mountains, you still may not have come across one of America’s ...