A recovered alcoholic and one-time war correspondent, he was attracted by the hypnotic effect the signs following service had on him and by the danger of handling four-foot rattlesnakes and deadly copperheads. Covington became caught up in the religion. After WW II the signs following cult came to insular places like Sand Mountain, Ala., where traditional life had been unsettled by the rapidly changing times. He wanted to observe firsthand the phenomenon known as ``signs following.'' The practice is based on the literal interpretation of Jesus' prophecy: ``And these signs shall follow them that believe.they shall speak with new tongues they shall take up serpents and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them.'' In order to fulfill the prophecy, believers worship with poisonous snakes, drink strychnine, and speak in tongues. Reporting for the New York Times on the case of Glenn Summerford, a snake-handling preacher who attempted to kill his wife with snakes, Covington (Lizard, 1991) attended a ``homecoming'' meeting at the Church of Jesus with Signs Following, Summerford's converted gas station church. A meandering journalistic testimony of the author's experience with a strange southern Christian sect.
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