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[Users can
easily read this entire publication by C. B. Jernigan by opening HDM0553.tex.
I insert it here as indeed an extraordinary thing. -- DVM] |
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Ever and
anon for some years we have heard of an infidel who lived years ago, to a
ripe old age, and when he died, his grave was infested with a den of snakes.
Some time ago I was holding a meeting, and this story was repeated to me, by
a Nazarene preacher who had seen the grave and had killed snakes crawling
over the grave. I, at once requested that I be carried out to see this
notable grave. I spent half a day driving out to see the cemetery, and taking
a Kodak along made the picture of the monument as you see it on the cover of
this booklet. |
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We were
told that this man especially delighted in ridiculing the Bible, calling it
superstition, and ghost stories. He took special delight in deriding the
story of Eve in the Garden of Eden, and the snake talking to her. He was
often known to say that "any half-wit could write a more credible fairy
tale than that given in the Bible. The idea of a dirty slimy snake crawling into
the garden on its belly, and entering into a controversy with Eve. The most
bungling blunder, of ancient Hebrew superstition, that an ugly snake could
outwit a shrewd woman, and deceive her by his logic. Preposterous! Take a
snake story like this to prove the authenticity of your Bible. The very first
story in the book is ridiculous. I had rather have snakes crawl all over my
dead body than to believe such rot." Such are the current stories about
this man and his grave in the neighborhood where he lived. |
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This
monument with its statue was made by him, and erected before his death,
overlooking the grave of some very devoted Christian people we are told. The
picture with the snakes in it was taken by a minister, who had killed these
snakes off the grave lot at the foot of this monument. |
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The grave
lot is full of snake holes that undermine the monument, and other places on
the grave lot. We saw a dead snake on the grave the cold winter day that we visited
the place. The cemetery is more than one hundred years old, as we found tombs
there where people were buried in 1817, and many before 1830. It is one of
the most beautiful cemeteries that we have ever visited, covered with blue
grass, which is kept closely mowed, and we did not find a single snake hole
any where else in the whole graveyard except those on this grave. |
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It is
currently reported that any summer day one may find snakes crawling over this
grave. The snakes in the picture were all killed on the grave, on a sunny
November day, and hanged on the stick leaning against the monument where the
picture was made, by this minister. |
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Explain
this strange phenomenon? All that I know is what I have seen, and heard about
it. He certainly sowed infidelity and reaped snakes. |
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Story of
the Snake-Infested Grave Confirmed |
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In the
month of March, 1930, I was assisted in a revival meeting in the great Church
of the Nazarene, in East Liverpool, Ohio, by the Vaughan Radio quartet and
one night in an audience of 800 I offered this book (A Snake Infested Grave)
for sale, and while a member of the quartet was distributing the book through
the congregation, he met a gentleman who told him that he had married the
granddaughter of this noted infidel, and that he desired and interview with
me. |
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After
service, a fine looking man came up, introducing himself as Mr. B____, the
manager of one of the great chain stores in the city. He said my first wife
was the granddaughter of the man whose statue is on the monument on the cover
page of this book. She is now dead, and is buried along side this monument.
The infidel he said was a very noted character and very rich for his time,
being worth at least five hundred thousand dollars. He was notorious in his
hatred for the Bible; calling it a bundle of ignorance and superstition,
publicly defying people to discuss the question with him. The grave lot where
he was buried was on a hill side, and filled in with stones and other
rubbish, and was literally a den of snakes. |
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The next
day the |
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The next
night Mr. B____ brought us a photograph of this noted character, and the next,
night Mr. B____ was at the altar, and was gloriously converted. |
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Truth is
stranger than fiction. |
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From:
UNUSUAL OCCURRENCES Compiled by Duane V. Maxey |
