MEDICAL EXAMINER SAYS SNAKE HANDLING PREACHER DIED OF SNAKE BITE

(06/11/2012)

UPDATE - The WV Medical Examiner has confirmed that a snake-handling West Virginia preacher died from a venomous snake bite. A Bluefield newspaper says that a death certificate filed in Mercer County lists Mack Randall Wolford's death as the result of "rattlesnake envenomation." The 44-year-old Wolford was bitten by a timber rattler during a religious service in May. The death certificate says that Wolford was handling a timber rattlesnake at the time of his death. Wolford followed his father in the rare practice of serpent handling, the elder Wolford also dying in 1983 after suffering a snake bite. ORIGINAL STORY - Southern West Virginia preacher Mark Randall "Mack" Wolford, 44, was killed by a timber rattlesnake during a religious service he had organized Sunday at Panther State Forest. Woodford died from the same fate as his father years earlier, an event which he witnessed. A nursing supervisor at Bluefield Regional Medical Center said Wolford, leader of House of the Lord Jesus Church in Matoaka, came to the hospital about 10:30 p.m. Sunday with a snakebite. Read the rest Timber rattler bites, kills snake-handling preacher by Dave Boucher - Daily Mail Staff See related Hur Herald story "THEY SHALL TAKE UP SERPENTS" - Faith On Scrabble Creek

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