Darwin Awards ◆ Middlesboro, Kentucky · February 2014
§ Darwin Awards / Jamie Coots
He got bit. He picked the snake back up anyway.
On February 15, 2014, Gregory James “Jamie” Coots, 42 — a third-generation Pentecostal pastor and star of National Geographic’s reality show “Snake Salvation” — was bitten on the right hand by a rattlesnake while handling three venomous snakes during a service at his Full Gospel Tabernacle in Jesus Name church in Middlesboro, Kentucky.
He dropped the snakes — then picked them back up and continued the ceremony. He was driven home rather than to a hospital. When paramedics arrived, his family refused medical intervention on religious grounds.
Coots died at home roughly two hours after the bite — his 10th snakebite in 22 years of handling, and the one that finally killed him.
Jamie Coots was pastor of the Full Gospel Tabernacle in Jesus Name in Middlesboro, Kentucky — a small Pentecostal congregation practicing serpent handling, a tradition rooted in a literal reading of Mark 16:17-18 (“they shall take up serpents”). Coots was the third generation of his family to lead the church and to handle venomous snakes as an act of worship. By his own account, he had been doing it for 22 years.
In 2013, National Geographic Channel turned that practice into a reality series, “Snake Salvation,” following Coots and fellow Pentecostal pastor Andrew Hamblin as they handled rattlesnakes and copperheads during services in Kentucky and Tennessee. The same year, Coots was arrested for illegally transporting venomous snakes across state lines — a reminder that the animals at the center of the ministry were not symbolic props. They were live, regulated, dangerous wildlife, and handling them was against the law in most states, including Kentucky.
It was not Coots’s first brush with a fatal outcome tied to the practice. In 1995, a member of his congregation died after being bitten during a service Coots led. He was charged in connection with the death; the charges were later dismissed.
Why This Was Legal to Broadcast
Serpent handling is illegal or heavily restricted in most U.S. states, including Kentucky, largely under animal-control and public-endangerment statutes rather than religious-practice bans. Enforcement against small Pentecostal congregations has historically been sporadic. National Geographic’s decision to feature the practice in a reality series drew criticism for elevating a dangerous, arguably illegal ritual to entertainment — a tension that became unavoidable when the show’s own star died from exactly the risk the series dramatized.
§ 02 / The Bite and the Refusal
He dropped the snake. Then picked it back up.
On the night of February 15, 2014, Coots was handling three venomous snakes during a service at Full Gospel Tabernacle when one bit him on the right hand. He dropped the snakes — the instinctive reaction to a bite — and then, rather than stopping to seek treatment, picked them back up and continued the ceremony.
He was not taken to a hospital. Instead he was driven home. This was his 10th snakebite in 22 years of handling; in every prior instance, he had survived without antivenom, treating the outcome as a matter of faith. In his interview with NPR before his death, Coots described the previous nine bites as proof that his belief protected him.
Snake-handling Ky. pastor dies from snake bite — CBS6 Albany
When paramedics reached the house that night, Coots’s family refused medical intervention on his behalf, telling responders that treatment was inconsistent with his faith. Deputy coroner Jason Steele was called to the scene and pronounced him dead at 10:16 p.m. — roughly two hours after the bite.
§ 03 / The Aftermath
The son inherited the church. And the snakes.
Coots’s death made national news within a day, covered by NPR, ABC News, NBC News, CNN, and Christianity Today, among others — in part because of the reality show, and in part because the details were impossible to soften: a man was bitten, kept preaching, was driven home instead of to a hospital, and his own family turned paramedics away.
His son, Cody Coots, took over leadership of Full Gospel Tabernacle and continued handling snakes in services, including the same species involved in his father’s death. Speaking to the Christian Post, Cody framed the death as an act of divine will rather than a preventable tragedy.
Snake-handling pastor Jamie Coots dies — bit by snake
Coots’s death did not end serpent handling at Full Gospel Tabernacle. It became, in the family’s telling, confirmation of the practice rather than a reason to stop it.
§ 04 / The Full Timeline
Twenty-two years. Ten bites. One that killed him.
Sources: NPR · ABC News · NBC News · CNN · Christianity Today · Christian Post
~1992
A third-generation pastor takes up serpent handling
Gregory James “Jamie” Coots grows up in the serpent-handling Holiness tradition of Appalachia and becomes pastor of the Full Gospel Tabernacle in Jesus Name in Middlesboro, Kentucky, following his father and grandfather before him. By his own account to NPR, he would go on to handle venomous snakes during services for 22 years.
1995
A congregation member dies from a snakebite at one of his services
A member of Coots's congregation dies after being bitten by a snake during a service he led. Coots is charged in connection with the death; the charges are later dismissed.
2013
“Snake Salvation” premieres on National Geographic Channel
The reality series follows Coots and fellow Pentecostal pastor Andrew Hamblin as they handle venomous snakes during worship, bringing national attention to a practice most states classify as illegal or heavily restricted.
2013
Coots is arrested for illegally transporting venomous snakes across state lines
The arrest stems from snakes used in connection with the reality show and Coots's handling practice, and underscores that the animals involved were not a metaphor — they were regulated, dangerous wildlife.
February 15, 2014 — evening
A rattlesnake bites Coots on the right hand mid-service
During a service at Full Gospel Tabernacle in Jesus Name, Coots is bitten on the right hand while handling three venomous snakes. He drops the snakes — then picks them back up and continues the ceremony rather than stopping to seek treatment.
February 15, 2014 — evening
He is driven home, not to a hospital
Rather than being taken for emergency care, Coots is driven to his house. This is his 10th snakebite in 22 years of handling; each previous bite he had survived without antivenom, treating it as a matter of faith rather than medicine.
February 15, 2014 — night
Paramedics arrive. The family refuses treatment.
When paramedics reach the home, Coots's family declines medical intervention on religious grounds, telling responders that treatment would be inconsistent with his faith. Deputy coroner Jason Steele is called to the scene and pronounces Coots dead at 10:16 p.m. — roughly two hours after the bite.
Aftermath
Son Cody Coots inherits the church — and the snakes
Cody Coots takes over leadership of Full Gospel Tabernacle and continues the practice his father died from, telling reporters it was “God saying, this is how you wanted it, and it's your time to go.”
Cody Coots on his snake-handling father — Lexington Herald-Leader
“It was God saying, this is how you wanted it, and it's your time to go. If he didn't plan it he would have stayed alive.”
Cody Coots, son of Jamie Coots — widely quoted in coverage of his father's death
The Bottom Line
Jamie Coots handled venomous snakes as an act of faith for 22 years and survived nine bites. On February 15, 2014, a rattlesnake bit him during a service at his Middlesboro, Kentucky church. He dropped the snakes, picked them back up, and kept preaching. He was driven home instead of to a hospital. When paramedics arrived, his family refused treatment on religious grounds. He died roughly two hours after the bite, pronounced dead at 10:16 p.m. by the deputy coroner. A congregation member had already died from a snakebite at one of his services in 1995. His son now runs the church, and the snakes are still handled there.
