Snake (or serpent) handling in Alabama is practiced primarily by the members of the Church of God with Signs Following. The practice of snake handling first gained a foothold in Alabama in the early nineteenth century and reached its peak in the early twentieth century. The eccentricities and inherent danger of the church's practices have made it an attractive subject for social scientists. Snake handling is currently outlawed in the state of Alabama, but the practice likely continues in clandestine locations.


Despite the stereotype in popular culture that snake handling is common among Appalachian Protestant religious sects, few people in the United States—and even fewer in Alabama—actually practice it. In his 1993 book Serpent Handling Believers, English professor Thomas Burton estimates that at the time there were between only 1,000 and 2,000 total members of the Church of God with Signs Following in the entire United States. It is difficult to estimate the exact number of serpent handlers who live in Alabama—or nationwide for that matter—because the sect is not public or open in its practices. The Church of God with Signs Following has a long history of independence from any national denomination and in fact grew out of a tradition of religious autonomy. It is an outgrowth of the Calvinist Appalachian Pentecostal-Holiness church, which the Scots-Irish brought to the region in the late-eighteenth century.
Like many of the independent churches in Appalachia, the Church of God with Signs Following does not answer to a national denomination, nor does it rely on a centralized ordination process. Many scholars attribute this autonomy to the fact that such churches emerged in isolated Appalachian communities; for many years Appalachian churches have been evolving distinctly from mainstream denominations, and their relative isolation has long made them targets for stereotyping by outsiders. The publicity surrounding snake handling has drawn the ire of many rural religious communities for fostering negative stereotypes about them.

Snake handlers have earned a reputation for eccentricity among the general public, particularly as a result of the publicity surrounding injuries and deaths that have occurred among members from handling live poisonous snakes. In the 1940s, snake handling disappeared from public notice, but the practice regained media attention with the death from snake bite of a church member in Tennessee in 1947. This led Tennessee to ban snake handling, and Alabama quickly followed suit. As of now, the state of Alabama prohibits displaying a reptile in a manner that endangers anyone.
Additional Resources
Burton, Thomas G. Serpent-Handling Believers. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1993.
Covington, Dennis. Salvation on Sand Mountain: Snake Handling and Redemption in Southern Appalachia. Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley, 1995.
Additional Resources
Burton, Thomas G. Serpent-Handling Believers. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1993.
Covington, Dennis. Salvation on Sand Mountain: Snake Handling and Redemption in Southern Appalachia. Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley, 1995.
McCauley, Deborah V. Appalachian Mountain Religion: A History. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1995.