SERPENT CULT

[Music] [Music] hi there this is bill bird saying welcome to adventure true adventure filmed as it happens throughout our fascinating world the story that you're about to see was made under the most difficult conditions because the people in it didn't want to be photographed and a few were openly hostile to our cameramen but he felt he had to get this story the story of the serpent cult these are the people who take up serpents because they believe it's their moral duty to do so for hours they perform their terrifying ritual defying the flames of a blowtorch drinking poisonous liquids climaxing their ceremony by draping themselves and their children with deadly reptiles there were moments when our cameraman feared for his own life but he has brought us one of the most amazing stories ever presented on television now i want to make something very clear i was brought up in a religious atmosphere and i i believe firmly in everybody's right to worship as he pleases we didn't make this film to ridicule or condemn we made it because it's true and it's a part of american life you have ever seen or heard of naturally i have my own point of view on this but i don't intend to force it on anybody else the question as to the legality of this particular religion that you can answer for yourself as you watch the picture it is probable that none like it will ever be made again this is louisville kentucky the united states of america a few miles from where our true adventure cameras will capture an episode for you that you'll find hard to believe because there's a strange group of people in this section of the south that takes these following words literally and i'm now going to quote from the bible in the chapter saint mark and these signs shall follow them that believe in my name shall they cast out devils they shall speak with new tongues they shall take up serpents and they shall drink any deadly thing and it shall not harm them we are going to visit at this location the serpent cult of kentucky one of the weirdest cults in all the world and it exists right in the united states now the people that you'll see peculiar though they may appear are sincerely trying to obey what they believe christ jesus in saint mark meant them to do to take up serpents and they're going to defy the law to do it their dangerous practices are illegal in the states where they live virginia kentucky and tennessee so their meetings are held here on this border if the police come the snake people can jump across the state line to safety our true adventure cameraman is going to try to capture what's going to happen before your eyes without the use of any special equipment like tripods because he has to photograph it as it unfolds sometimes as many as 2 000 people gather in this little hollow to handle the serpents that we'll see after a while to drink poison to prove their faith now that man speaking is lee valentine he's an old hand at this who are these serpent people what are they like well apart from their strange religious beliefs they're relatively normal men and women their family people their farmers their laborers raising their children to be well-disciplined hard-working citizens isn't it amazing that people like this can indulge in these strange customs and even bring small children into their faith music is a part the music that builds the fervor of religion in their hearts and their souls mountain music familiar to the south the guitar the tambourine the symbol the singing the hand clapping all create an atmosphere of excitement that builds slowly but surely this girl was in a complete hypnotic trance completely out of it [Music] they don't hold these meetings every week the holiness branch of the church of god as they're called meets on the second sunday of every month from spring till fall i imagine that there are some members who are secretly glad when winter come ceremony that we're witnessing frantic though it may be is only the preliminary this this is the build-up it's easy to understand why they want to work themselves into such a frenzy because in a normal rational state of mind it's doubtful that they'd ever go through with the rest of their religious rights [Music] [Applause] so the rhythm and the temple increase and as you know rhythm and music have a way of arousing human emotions perhaps in some cases this feeling is mistaken for religious fervor the snake cult of kentucky for the first time shown on television the people have a chant and i i won't attempt to sing it but i will attempt to recite it for you it goes like this and this is what our cameraman recorded to us when he got back i get happy down in my heart amen and i got it like the bible says amen now i'm going to keep it amen once i was a drinking man amen once i was a sinner with a woman amen it don't matter no more amen the serpent bite me today amen it won't matter because i can get salvation in the lord in hallelujah lee valentine the man i pointed out a moment ago is an ex-moonshiner disaster followed disaster in his life taking eight of his ten children from him and lee turned to this religion for salvation now veteran serpent handlers are called saints they're thought to be so spiritual they can exercise complete control over the reptiles but they become self-styled preachers and to warm the crowd up with their faith they have other methods of testing it prior to bringing the serpents in you are looking at a blowtorch they hold it against their skin they claim they feel no pain at all [Music] although they consider this absolute proof of their purity scientists have proven that human beings can be exposed to fire and experience no pain when put in a trance by a totally unsaintly hypnotist now i have seen the fire walkers of fiji do something similar to this but again i would remind you that this was photographed as it happened in the south in kentucky now before you say to yourself well that flame doesn't look hot that is a blue flame and our cameraman reported to me no uncertain terms he said that flame was hot [Music] it was real and it could burn now the serpent cult has had as many as 7 000 members as a matter of fact they often get new converts at such gatherings like this when word of a secret meeting leaks out many curious people of course come from all over to scoff unfortunately they're really not prepared as i was when i first saw this picture for the passionate scenes that you witnessed there's a great dispute going on that may never be resolved and that's this question of an american's right to worship as he pleads us even though it may endanger his own life many people feel that no religion can be outlawed under our form of government in which freedom religion is basic but the tennessee state legislature passed a bill which says that this cult is unlawful it's unlawful for any person or persons to display exhibit handle or use any poisonous or dangerous snake or reptile in such a manner as to endanger the life and health of the person as you will see happen after a while now the entire meeting is building the music is building the excitement is building these people honestly believe that they're doing all this under god's command in fact when the law does catch up with them as it often does they actually are glad to take their punishment now i want you to look at this little girl this was photographed and our cameraman said it almost uh brought tears in his eyes now the time is approaching the hysteria is getting more and more the music the rhythm the shouting the preaching the flames of the blowtorch they've brought the emotions to a fever pitch a station wagon arrives in it deadly rattlesnakes copperheads and water moccasins [Music] now the most dangerous moment of all the moment when the serpents are first removed from these crates and i want to remind you just quickly once again our true adventure cameraman was doing this all just as fast as he could after being cooped up for so long the snakes are coiled ready to strike it's considered an honor to be exposed to this extreme test of faith to reach in the first time the onlookers of course are in awe of the man who first handles the deadly dangerous creature this is a tremendous test of faith this is it once considered a great hoax is coming to life before our eyes the snake the snake color he admitted to me when he brought in these amazing films that his hair literally began to stand on in as he realized that he was in the midst of a frenzy madden crowd with deadly serpents in their hands he suddenly felt pretty much alone strange to see what people will do in the name of religion i guess we tend to think that all of the the peculiar behavior is reserved for far away places like india with its snake charmers but here here in the united states close to a thriving modern city like louisville kentucky this amazing cult carries on its frightening ritual the men and the women are pretty much in a trance by now they are handling deadly poisonous snakes as you watch these fantastic scenes if the people are at all conscious of what they're they're doing they don't really seem to know what they're doing perhaps a hypnotic trance has taken full possession of their senses we know of course that animals can sense fear in human beings and that our fear frightens and disturbs them it causes a snake to strike it may be that the people we're watching completely mesmerized by what they consider to be a religious feeling have overcome all fear and are consequently in less danger of arousing the snakes and they're the bible and remember what i quoted earlier from saint mark to take up serpents take them up and that's why these people do it uh in a moment you're going to see a part of this story that i find hard to accept coolly since i am a father it's one thing for adults to involve themselves in in this but it's something else for them to draw their small children into it when the danger is real and the snakes are deadly poisonous makes you feel deeply strange inside to see this i would point out to you that very few reptiles are 100 percent deadly the snakes that these people have brought from nearby hills and other places are mostly rattlers and copperheads three percent of copperhead bites are fatal 12 percent of rattlers and six percent of water moccasins but i wouldn't want to gamble on the statistics diamondback rattlers will kill about 50 percent of their victims so though it's not a certainty that the snakes are killers these people and the children are in grave danger because as i'll point out to you there have been people killed by the way our cameraman checked the snakes and he assured me since he was a scientist himself that these snakes did have poison in them now as you watch even though the sights that you see may disgust you remember that the this is not a trip they're the fangs of the snake these people have repeatedly turned down offers of huge amounts of money to perform these feats in in shows and television programs it was very difficult for us to get our cameraman there they feel it would be sacrilege to them to do such a thing and we promised that we would say nothing against their religion which we will not do and simply are showing this to you as a true adventure while the saints are handling the serpents the rest of the crowd joins in in the weird rituals those who have never taken up serpents are stirred by what they see they may become converts they may suddenly rush in and join to whether they want to or not suddenly they get the fervor in the feeling of what these people are doing this man exerts a strong hypnotic influence on the people who watch him our cameraman was was appalled see the number of people who were drawn into this activity for the first time even as he photographed this the religion began in the year 1909 a man by the name of george hensley an avid bible reader became convinced that he could never retain attain eternal life unless he obeyed to the letter the command to take up serpents for ten years he persuaded people that he could render the deadliest reptiles harmless he attracted many followers but the death of garland de fries one of the best known converts caused the cult to lose ground until it became entirely dormant this lasted for about 25 years and then in 1943 raymond hayes entered kentucky's grasshopper valley with boxes of rattlesnakes and copperheads and revived the serpent cult now even though the members are in constant danger of arrest the cult is still going strong [Music] if one of the saints is bitten though they believe that can't happen he will refuse all medical help he is convinced he cannot be harmed by the poisonous viper because he is too faithful and too pure he believes that nothing will harm him nothing i want to point out that lee valentine though you saw him earlier in here was killed shortly after these pictures were made by a snake by the way when the snake has killed a saint that snake becomes revered and highly sought by other cultists they feel that they can prove their purity much more convincingly with a known killer snake true adventure pictures taken of the snake cult in kentucky no reptiles are ever destroyed by these people they're fed cared for much like prized pets our true adventure cameraman told me that there were many times when one of the the frantic demonstrators would suddenly uh look at him and sense that he was taking pictures and suddenly point the snake right at him and he said it said cold shivers up his spine always in the background with strange weird music these worshipers may be completely aware of the fact that they're holding snakes but they're completely unaware of any danger they don't feel the danger while danger is present every moment this is brought home to them suddenly when somebody accidentally can get bitten that person then is removed and taken away this happened although we won't see it i think there you can see in the background a person was bitten our cameraman couldn't find out what happened to the man or whether he lived or died later i believe he did actually die of that rattlesnake's venom and yet the people worked up as they are after a man was bitten as you saw him led away a moment ago go right on they go right on with their religious ceremony and they don't pay any attention to what has happened around them and so do the children can you see the children in that crowd there's that child now the accident that happened a moment ago caused the state legislators to pass a law prohibiting these meetings but the members of the snake cult are patient people they're tolerant of unbelievers they feel that we'll all learn sooner or later that they're on the side of right they're on god's side they're faithful they're sincere they neither smoke or drink in many ways they live better lives than than other people whose customs and beliefs are certainly easier for us to understand normal beliefs of religion as we know them in our country our true adventure cameraman told me that the the ceremony went on for several hours on on internment he could hardly believe the physical strain these people would endure like this look at but they were about to be faced with another challenge to their faith suddenly no time to get across the border they were caught with the goods so to speak by the police someone would have to pay the legal point is a good one of course if they are stopped by law the freedom of all religions is threatened that's what they claim and yet can the law allow people literally to commit suicide and talk other people into it in the name of religion nation built on the freedom of all individuals is constantly forced to walk a legal tightrope this is one of the more dangerous ones isn't this a fantastic true adventure you this happened right before the camera police came confiscated the snakes as evidence now these people will go to jail for the lord they'll refuse the fifty or hundred dollar fine preferring to be martyrs to their cause and we have to admit they're true to their beliefs they mean to do what christ jesus instructed his followers to do but perhaps we might say this they could be reminded of one other quotation i recall from the bible when jesus was being tempted by the devil devil satan tried to persuade him to prove he was the son of god and he commanded jesus to cast himself down from the temple and see if the angels of the lord would be there to save him satan said prove yourself and jesus answered and i'm quoting from the bible it is written again thou shalt not tempt the lord thy god whatever their beliefs whatever our opinion of the people of the strange serpent cult exist in our own country in our time in the 20th century and they provided us with a fantastic true adventure so [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] you