Beauty Pageant with Snake Skinning.

Every March, in Sweetwater Texas, girls compete for the Rattlesnake Round-up tiara and the title of Miss Snake Charmer. Contestants are rated on grace, beauty, poise, and their ability to chop up, dismember, and skin a live rattlesnake in front of cheering fans.

Snakes are hunted in the wild and brought to the town Colosseum. Here they are placed in a pit where contestants proceed to chop the snake’s head off and skin them while they write in agony.  The meat is apparently fried and the skin is used for boots.

Laney Wallace, aka Miss Snake Charmer 2011, loves the round-up and bursts with glee when she tells CNN, “I get to skin snakes and chop their heads off, I’m super excited about it.”

Most disturbing of all, in accordance with tradition, the contestants smear their bloodied hands on the sacred wall leaving bloody hand prints along with their signatures in Sharpie.

Between 30,000 and 50,000 people attend the round-up every year. For $10 visitors can do their own live skinning with the help of an expert. Contestants claim it helps them have “good clean fun” that “gets them closer to nature.”