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John Brown, Jr., Serpent Handler
Recorded in Middleboro, Kentucky.
Premiered March 14, 1999, on Weekend Edition Sunday.

For the past 80 years, believers in the Appalachian hills of the southeastern US have incorporated handling serpents and drinking strychnine (a "salvation cocktail") into their faith and worship practice. Congregations exist mainly in poor coal mining communities, and although serpent handling has been outlawed in all but two southern states, several thousand practicing snake handlers remain to this day. When bitten, believers refuse medical treatment, in accordance with their faith. There have been fewer than 100 confirmed deaths in the history of snake handling.

Since the Sound Portraits documentary on snake handling, They Shall Take Up Serpents, aired in 1992, however, John and Melinda Brown, who were interviewed in the documentary, both died from snake bites. They were survived by their five children (John, Jacob, Jeremiah, Sarah and Daniel Brown) who were at the center of an odd and tragic custody battle between their two sets of grandparents. Inspired by the court case, producer Stacy Abramson pulled seven-year-old tape -- in which John Brown, Jr. preaches and explains why he handles serpents -- and created this documentary for the American Talkers series.

Producer: Stacy Abramson Dave Isay / Funding provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the New York State Council on the Arts and the Corporation. "John Brown, Jr." is a co-production with City Lore.

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