George Went Hensley (c. 1880 – July 25, 1955) was an American Pentecostal minister best known for popularizing the practice of snake handling. A native of rural Appalachia, he came to believe that the New Testament commanded all Christians to handle poisonous snakes after he experienced a dramatic religious conversion around 1910. He began to travel throughout the Southeast United States, teaching a form of Pentecostalism that emphasized strict personal holiness and frequent contact with poisonous snakes. He became a licensed minister with the Tennessee Church of God in 1915. For the next several years, he traveled throughout Tennessee and conducted Church of God-sanctioned services. He resigned from ministry in 1921, however, after he separated from his wife due to his drunkenness and failure to earn a consistent income. Soon afterwards, he was arrested on moonshine-related charges and sentenced to a term in a workhouse. Rather than serve his entire term, he escaped from custody and fled the state.
After evading Tennessee authorities, Hensley traveled to Ohio, where he held revival services and remarried. Hensley and his family frequently moved across the Southeast, living in Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, and Indiana. Though Hensley spoke at many services, he seldom earned enough money to support his family, which frequently caused marital tension. He also faced adversity in his ministry, being arrested due to snake handling bans and witnessing the deaths of congregants during services. His second wife left him after 16 years of marriage, and he became estranged from most of his family. He continued to minister, however, and established churches, known as the Church of God with Signs Following, in Tennessee and Kentucky. His services ranged from small meetings held in houses to large gatherings that drew media attention and hundreds of attendees. He moved to Chattanooga and briefly married again in the late 1940s, but was divorced after less than a year. His next marriage was more successful, possibly because his fourth wife traveled with him on his frequent ministry trips throughout the Southeast. By the end of his career, Hensley claimed to have been bitten by snakes over 400 times without ill effect. Some family members, however, recall him being close to death after some services. In 1955, while conducting a service in Florida, he was bitten by a snake and became violently ill. He refused to seek medical attention and died the next day.
Though Pentecostal snake handling has independently developed in several ministries, Hensley is generally credited with spreading the practice throughout the Southeast. His frequent travels and media exposure significantly raised public awareness of the practice, though the effectiveness of his ministry was hindered by the excesses of his personal life, the deaths of his followers, and the proscription of snake handling by Christian denominations. He was, however, able to convince many residents of rural Appalachia that snake handling was commanded by God, and his followers continued the practice after his death.
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Hensley told his children that he was originally from West Virginia, and that his family has roots in Pennsylvania. It has been established, however, that Hensley's family lived in Hawkins County, Tennessee, in 1880.[1][A] Historian David Kimbrough argues that Hensley was born in Eastern Tennessee in 1880.[2] One of 13 children,[3] his family moved to Ooltewah, Tennessee while he was a child. By the time that he was ten years old, they had moved to Loudon County, Tennessee.[1] Hensley also lived in Big Stone Gap, Virginia as a child. There he witnessed an elderly woman handle a snake during a revival service at a coal mining camp.[4] His mother and sisters were very religious[5] and he was raised Baptist but left the church in 1901.[1]
In 1901, Hensley married Amanda Winniger and the couple moved to Hensley's brother-in-law's 400-acre (1.6 km2) farm in Ooltewah where they lived together in a shack.[1] Hensley worked in local ore mines, helped his brother-in-law with his lumber business, and participated in the production of moonshine, which was then a common beverage in that region. By 1919, Hensley's mother was living on the same farm, having separated from his father.[5] He likely encountered a Holiness Pentecostal Church of God service for the first time in the area. After attending a service where the teenage son of an evangelist spoke, he had a conversion experience and dramatically changed his lifestyle, forsaking alcohol and tobacco.[6]
Hensley was initially content after being born again at the Church of God[7] but began to wonder if he was neglecting a key aspect of God's will. He pondered the relevance of a verse in the Gospel of Mark that referred to Christians handling poisonous snakes. Psychologists Ralph W. Hood and W. Paul Williamson[8] and one of Hensley's children have suggested that a childhood memory of witnessing snake handling in Virginia drew his attention to this verse.[9] Hensley later claimed that the he began to doubt his salvation and went to a nearby hill to pray and seek God's will.[8] In a 1947 newspaper interview, he claimed to have seen a snake while he was walking on the hill, knelt in prayer, and took hold of the snake.[10] Hensley brought the snake to his church and instructed the congregation to prove their salvation by holding the snake.[11]
Hensley began to host snake handling services in rural parts of Tennessee.[12] His supporters later claimed that a large revival broke out in the area at this time, a claim which is considered dubious by historians.[13] The date of Hensley's first experience with snake handling is unknown,[12] but took place between 1908 and 1914.[13][B] After he began to practice snake handling, the Church of God allowed him to continue without objection[10] and in 1914, Hensley held a snake handling meeting with a Church of God bishop in Cleveland, Tennessee.[14] In 1915, Hensley was licensed as a minister by the Church of God,[15] though he required the assistance of his wife to complete the required paperwork as he was illiterate.[16]
After being licensed by the Church of God, Hensley held services with the Church of God throughout Tennessee[17] and held revival services at their general assembly.[14] One common topic of his sermons at that time was the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. His ministry was often mentioned in their newsletter and his wife Amanda contributed an article about him.[17] He may have led churches in Grasshopper Valley,[18] Cleveland, and Birchwood, Tennessee, in the 1910s.[5]
Hensley's sister Bertha, who lived in Ohio, was also a licensed minister with the Church of God and he conducted services with her in 1922.[17][C] More articles had been published about his ministry and in the early 1920s, snakes were regularly handled at Church of God services.[18]
In 1922, Hensley resigned from the Church of God,[18] citing "trouble in the home".[5] At the time he resigned from the Church of God, snake handling was at its zenith in the denomination.[19][D] Around that time, he became estranged from Amanda.[18] One of his children claims that the separation occurred after an incident in which George became drunk and fought with a neighbor. After Amanda left him, she began to work in a Chattanooga hosiery mill[5] but became ill and was bedridden. Some of George's relatives traveled to Chattanooga to care for her.[20]
In 1923, George was arrested on moonshine related charges and was sentenced to four months in jail and was given a fine of $100. In lieu of jail time, he was permitted to spend the sentence at Silverdale workhouse. He escaped from the workhouse, however, and evaded recapture, possibly by hiding in the mountains near his sister's farm in Ooltewah. While a fugitive, he may have been arrested and released on unrelated charges[20] before fleeing Tennessee and traveling to his sister's house in Ohio.[5]
After arriving in Ohio, Hensley returned to ministry and began holding services in the area[21] assisted by his sister Bertha. Because he was illiterate, he required an assistant to read verses from the bible during services, after which he would deliver a sermon on a theme of the verses.[22]
While ministering at a Salvation Army church in Ohio, Hensley met 22-year-old Irene Klunzinger. She was from a prosperous Lutheran family of German descent and believed that she was oppressed by a curse placed upon her by gypsies.[21][E] Hensley soon married Irene, though he was about 25 years her elder. After the wedding, they moved to Washingtonville, Ohio, where George found employment at a coal mine. Irene gave birth to their first child in Washingtonville but they later moved to Malvern, Ohio, where she had their second child. Their marriage, however, encountered conflicts due to Hensley's frequent unemployment and poor treatment of Irene. He found intermittent employment, bricklaying among other jobs, but Irene's family had to partially support them; her mother provided the family their clothing. After seven years of marriage, Irene left him to return to her family, though she returned and reconciled with George. One of their children later recalled that Irene was much more religious than George, who he claims only spoke about spiritual matters if there were church leaders present.[21]
In 1932, Hensley and his family moved to Pineville, Kentucky. There he returned to pastoring and built the Pinveville Church of God. He continued to move frequently: in July 1935, Irene gave birth to a child in Pennington Gap, Virginia and a month later, he lived in St. Charles, Virginia, and held snake handling services in the area. At that time, he had some success drawing crowds to his services: in Norton, Virginia, 500 people attended a snake handling service. The service, however, was thrown into disarray after a boy in the audience killed one of the snakes.[22]
In 1936, Hensley built a house on the back of a trailer truck and drove to Florida. By March 1936, he reached Tampa, where he drew over 100 people to a snake handling service.[22] He ministered in Bloomingdale, Florida, before traveling north to Barrow County, Georgia in late April. During a service in Barrow, a 25-year-old agricultural worker was bit by a snake and became ill. Hensley predicted that the young man would miraculously recover, but he died. This was the first death that occurred due to a snakebite in one of Hensley's services.[F] Hensley conducted the man's funeral and left the area for fear of prosecution.[23]
Hensley traveled to Ohio to bring one of his sons to live with one of Irene's sisters so he could attend school. He then returned to Pineville, Kentucky. In Pineville, he worked as a railroad conductor and pastored the East Pineville Church of God, where he was arrested for handling snakes. He moved to Knoxville in 1939, and bought a nearby farm.[23]
Hensley lived in Tennessee until at least 1941 and then moved to Evansville, Indiana.[23] While they were living in Evansville, Irene left him. It is unknown why she left him, but one of their children claimed that she threatened to have him arrested. She reconciled with him after he promised to find steady employment. They returned to Pineville with their four children. George wanted to put their children in an orphanage so Irene could travel with him, but she refused. After a visit from her sister, Irene left George and she and her children went to live with George's children from his first marriage.[24] Irene later died after experience complications from a goiter surgery. George attended the wake and visited his children, but left without them and did not return.[25]
Hensley returned to Ooltewah, where he stayed with family members[25] and ministered in the area. Snake handling had lost popularity since the late 1920s and groups that promoted Nontrinitarianism had become popular.[26] Some churches in the area barred those who practiced snake handling from becoming members.[27]
In 1943, Raymond Hayes, a younger man who adhered to Hensley's teachings, arrived in the area and began successfully preaching about snake handling.[27] Hayes handled many snakes and performed fire handling stunts.[28] In 1945, Hensley and Hayes started a church together; they named it the Dolly Pond Church of God with Signs Following.[29] In 1945, a member of the Dolly Pond Church of God with Signs Following was killed by a snakebite. Members of the church continued to handle snakes at services, including at the funeral of the man who died from a snakebite. That year, Hensley was arrested in Chattanooga on charges of snake handling. He was given a $50 fine, which he refused to pay. Though he was threatened with a sentence at a workhouse, he was released after members of his church spoke with authorities.[30]
Hensley continued to travel around Tennessee and received a mixed reception from those who were aware of his past. Some who knew him were willing to forgive him and welcome him back into ministry, though he was still estranged from most of his family.[30] In 1944, his son Roscoe, who was then a pastor,[28] saw him preach for the first time as an adult.[30]
In 1946, while performing a service in Soddy-Daisy, Tennessee, Hensley met Inez Hutchinson at a service. Hutchinson, a widow with ten children, accepted the doctrine of snake handling after speaking with Hensley. He soon proposed marriage to her and she accepted. They lived together in that area for several months. Though he had hoped that she would travel with him and read bible passages during his services, she left him after less than a year of marriage.[30] After their separation, Hensley began to preach in Chattanooga. During services at that time, he claimed to have been miraculously healed after being paralyzed for a year[31] due to an accident while mining coal. Kimbrough disputes his claim, noting that there is no one-year gap in records of Hensley moving or actively ministering.[32]
In 1951, Hensley married Sally Norman in Chattanooga, who was then in her 60s. Sally traveled with him as he ministered in Tennessee and Kentucky. In the mid-1950s, they moved to Athens, Georgia.[31]
In early July 1955, Hensley began a series of meetings near Altha, Florida. He conducted the meetings without snakes for three weeks[33] before procuring a 5-foot (1.5 m) rattlesnake[34] from a local zoo and bringing it to a Sunday afternoon service on July 24. Several dozen congregants gathered for the service, which was held at an abandoned blacksmith shop. During the service, Hensley loudly delivered a sermon about faith punctuated by glossolalia. He removed the snake from the 5-US-gallon (19 l) lard can in which it was stored, wrapped it around his neck, and rubbed it on his face.[35] He walked around the audience and returned the snake to the lard can. As he placed the snake into the can, it bit him on his wrist. After a few minutes, Hensley became visibly ill, experiencing severe pain, a discolored arm, and hematemesis. He refused medical attention though he remained in pain[33] and was urged to seek medical treatment by congregants and the Calhoun County Sheriff.[35] One eyewitness claimed that Hensley attributed his suffering to the congregation's lack of faith,[33][34] although his wife Sally stated that she believed it was the will of God. Hensley died early the next morning and was buried two days later.[35]
Hensley's relatives traveled from Tennessee to Florida for his funeral, at which a Country Music band played.[33] He was buried at a cemetery 2 miles (3.2 km) from the blacksmith shop where he was bitten. After the funeral, some congregants met and declared their intention to continue handling snakes.[35] The Calhoun County Sheriff ruled Hensley's death a suicide.[34][G]
Hensley's theology, with the exception of his snake handling doctrine, was typical of other fundamentalist Pentecostal churches.[36] His teachings on personal holiness bore a resemblance to the Wesleyan Holiness tradition.[7] In his sermons he condemned a number of practices as sinful, including gambling, consuming alcohol, wearing lipstick, and playing baseball.[22]
Mark 16 formed the core part of Hensley's justification for snake handling.[7] He interpreted the passage as a command, rather than a possibility. By handling snakes, he saw himself as part of a tradition that originated in the time of the Apostles.[37] He believed that snake handling is a way that supernatural deliverance is demonstrated in the New Testament, as examples such as Daniel in the lions' den, Jonah and the whale, or Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego did in the Old Testament.[23] He taught that steadfast faith was required to safely handle snakes,[22] saw those who rejected the practice as unbelievers,[37] and interpreted the legal difficulties he encountered as religious persecution.[38]
Practitioners of snake handling viewed Hensley a great man while some dismiss his personal failings as slanderous fabrication.[39] Hensley's personal charisma helped to fuel the snake handling movement.[37] Media coverage of the snake handling movement has focused on popular leaders, such as Hensley, and their deaths by snakebite.[4] Coverage of his ministry may have prompted some churches to include the practice in their services.[40]