While we have plenty of snakes in WNC the only fatal snake bite I recall was a patient brought into the ER one night when I was working. I believe it was 1985. The patient was a Christian fundamentalist snake handler. Seems he held a rattler up to his throat and...(I don't want to spoil it)... it bit him. Right dead square into the jugular vein. It went as you'd expect.
Apparently he wasn't a true believer. I kinda see it a Darwin's work. That part of the herd definitely needed thinning.
A family member of another patient asked the church goers if they brought in the snake. They had and gave it to him. He returned a few minutes later with what looked like a couple pounds of scallops in a tupperware dish. Nice looking meat.
