Inside the secret deadly church services of Appalachia's serpent handlers who lift rattlesnakes above their heads and drink poison all in the name of God

Stirring themselves into a state of religious ecstacy through hours of music and the drinking of poisonous Strychnine, the serpent handlers of the Appalachian Mountains stand on the edge of radical Christianity.

Holding aloft deadly rattlesnakes, worshipers at the Church of the Lord Jesus in Jolo, West Virginia, claim to speak in tongues and to be able to perform healing miracles as the power of the Holy Spirit comes to them during their services.

It is a tradition that has fascinated and frightened the wider public in equal measure since its institution over 100 years ago and is now back in the news following the death of Mack Wolford, one of the foremost proponents of the risky religious practice.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2153933/Revealed-The-secretive-deadly-church-services-Appalachias-serpent-handlers-lift-rattlesnakes-heads-drink-poison-God.html