I have found racers to vary quite a bit in behavior from one individual to the next. Some will vibrate their tails in leaves when alarmed, others will immediately flee as fast as they can, others will attempt to zig toward you rapidly and sometimes reverse directions a couple of times as a way to confuse you assuming you are a predator (this is the chasing behavior people talk of), and some will calmly lay there until you touch them.

In my opinion best advice is to seek treatment for phobia. I had a severe phobia of dogs that I had to get treated and it is very worth it and I think a lot of people that have more "socially acceptable phobias" (e.g. spiders or snakes rather than beloved dogs, people thought I was evil for being scared of dogs! even though I have been up to cottonmouths before and been fine, didn't bother me,... but as a kid I got CHASED DOWN by dogs and attacked so...). We share this world with a lot of creatures, it's something to get used to. Desensitization&exposure therapy is best to build yourself up first before you ever see one. That being said, eliminating brush piles in areas you frequent/maintain a lot, keeping it open will keep snakes out of those areas and make them favor more wild spots. Keeping things open tends to be best for the more cultivated areas of the garden anyway, to maintain airflow. ALSO snakes are often not very active in the day except after rains. They don't like being out in the open especially in the day because one of their main predators, hawks, can see them. I rarely see snakes around my house and I have a bunch of brush lol I've only seen them out at night (there's the cutest baby kingsnake but i digress). avoid times when snakes are most active and you'll be a lot less likely to see them. anyway best of luck treating your phobia, it's a hard road but very worth it to be free of it

viridis - thanks for the info. I've seen many pictures of adult Copperheads and a couple in real life, but just wasn't sure what they looked like when very young. There is a park in the North Georgia mountains called Unicoi State Park where you can visit Anna Ruby Falls which is a nice, fairly easy hike, and very beautiful. About 20 years ago I saw a Copperhead sunning itself on the rocks at the falls with people all around. Recently someone told me that there is now a warning sign on the trail for Copperheads.

That is one of the most docile and beautiful of the snakes in the SE US. The Mudsnake (Farancia abacura). Although they can be large snakes, they are completely docile. They never try to bite, even if you pick them up and handle them. Pity it had to die. They are favorites among snake lovers, even though they don't do well in captivity. They only eat the rarely seen southeastern aquatic salamanders called sirens and amphiumas. They are very aquatic living primarly in swamps and slow moving waterways. They are rarely found far from water. Here's one of the eastern subspecies from Florida and one of the western subspecies from Texas.