Town note
The community was named after William Anderson , a pioneer settler.
about 0:06:52Spoilers are covered until your reading preferences load.
FILE 250 / 17 November 2021 / 164 MIN / full
"We are going to , West Virginia"; it is in south-western West Virginia, "in Mingo County, which is named Bloody Mingo". about 0:04:56
The community was named after William Anderson , a pioneer settler.
about 0:06:52As of 1894 had two hotels, eight boarding houses, four restaurants, four groceries, four sawmills, and a school with two teachers and about a hundred students.
about 0:07:07133 coal miners lived in at that point.
about 0:07:58The community garnered a reputation for being completely lawless.
about 0:08:03The community was named after William Anderson , a pioneer settler.
about 0:06:52As of 1894 had two hotels, eight boarding houses, four restaurants, four groceries, four sawmills, and a school with two teachers and about a hundred students.
about 0:07:07133 coal miners lived in at that point.
about 0:07:58The community garnered a reputation for being completely lawless.
about 0:08:03A book called They'll Cut Off Your Project quoted old timers saying it was a common practice to have a killing once a month.
about 0:08:32A black writer, Uncle Jim Markham, described how a coloured person could not ride through : they would stop the train, take him off and shoot him, and nobody would say a word.
about 0:08:51From 1970 to 1972 about 17 police and lawmen of different types were shot to death in this area, which stretches 15 miles up the creek.
about 0:09:28In 1901 robbers raided the whole community and dynamited a large safe; according to the Bluefield Daily Telegraph of November 23rd, 1901, citizens opened fire and about 40 shots were exchanged.
about 0:10:42The burglars escaped on a hand car with jewellery; it was recovered about four miles from with blood spots all over it.
about 0:11:07The 3,327-foot tunnel south of town was built by Italian immigrants and opened for rail traffic in 1892; it has carried one lane of vehicular traffic since the mid-1900s.
about 0:12:09Chinese emigrants were brought in to build part of the tunnel, and locals resented what they called the influx of foreign people.
about 0:12:55Roving bands of angry locals waited at the tunnel entrances with guns and shot people; there are no official records, but estimates say hundreds were killed and rolled into the creek.
about 0:13:30In 1898 a fatal train wreck in the tunnel killed seven people.
about 0:13:59In 1905 a head-on collision between a fully loaded freight train and a work train with people on it killed three people.
about 0:14:44In 2016 Mingo County was described as one of the places in America most touched by opioids.
about 0:14:5028%
Biggest faith: Baptist, 11%
about 0:20:24White 100%
Ethnicity can overlap race.Property crime
▼ about half
Violent crime
▼ about 25% under
Three-bedroom two-bath house, 2,520 square feet on six acres
about 0:22:39Three-bedroom one-bath house, 900 square feet on 77.7 acres near Ranger
about 0:23:15Five-bedroom two-bath house, 3,000 square feet on half an acre
about 0:23:56"about half"
Comparison: "national average". Direction: below.
As told in 2021 about 0:26:12
"about 25% under"
Comparison: "national average". Direction: below.
As told in 2021 about 0:26:25
"1,196"
No direction stated.
As told in 2021 about 0:19:09
"down 38%"
Comparison: "since 2000". Direction: below.
As told in 2021 about 0:19:13
"about 38 and a half"
Direction: below.
As told in 2021 about 0:19:25
"64%"
Comparison: "normally 50-50". No direction stated.
As told in 2021 about 0:19:48
"100%"
No direction stated.
As told in 2021 about 0:20:04
"almost 10%"
No direction stated.
As told in 2021 about 0:20:56
"23%"
No direction stated.
As told in 2021 about 0:20:58
"$28,949"
Comparison: "$57,000 and a half in the rest of the country". Direction: below.
As told in 2021 about 0:21:09
"28%"
No direction stated.
As told in 2021 about 0:20:24
"11%"
No direction stated.
As told in 2021 about 0:20:37
"1%"
No direction stated.
As told in 2021 about 0:20:40
"0.0%"
No direction stated.
As told in 2021 about 0:20:48
"75 out of a hundred"
No direction stated.
As told in 2021 about 0:21:20
"26.6 out of a hundred"
No direction stated.
As told in 2021 about 0:21:22
"$61,500"
No direction stated.
As told in 2021 about 0:21:26
"$291"
Comparison: "rest of the country". No direction stated.
As told in 2021 about 0:21:30
"$700"
Comparison: "very low". Direction: below.
As told in 2021 about 0:21:50
"$59,000"
No direction stated.
As told in 2021 about 0:22:39
"$189,000"
No direction stated.
As told in 2021 about 0:23:15
"$100,000"
No direction stated.
As told in 2021 about 0:23:56
3.2 / 5 · average of 5
“Beautiful nature and trail riding, friendly folks, the simple life and good cooking.”about 0:16:07
“Mingo County has always been the writer's home and the town can leave a big impact; everybody knows everybody, visitors learn how things are done, and the only downfall is how the town is treated; the writer wishes it were livelier and a home away from home.”about 0:16:37
“The area feels safe because there are no gangs, the police are around, and there is little crime other than drunk driving and not wearing a seat belt.”about 0:18:09
“Businesses are mainly gas stations and convenience stores, there is no variety, prices are not low, and shopping online is better.”about 0:18:35
“Employment is almost zero; the coal mines are all there is and they are about to suffer because of the carbon tax, from a 2014 review.”about 0:18:51
Mingo County, nicknamed Bloody Mingo, was described in 2016 as one of the places in America most touched by opioids.
The five raped her. One of them fetched a two-by-four from a picnic table, a length of wood with nails sticking out of it, and they passed it around, taking turns. She was struck on the torso at least nineteen times, suffering three broken ribs, and then at least nine times on the head. Every bone in her skull was fractured, her upper and lower jaws were broken, and the force drove her brain forward hard enough to fracture her skull from the inside and cut her face. She was still alive. They strangled her with shoelaces, tied her hands behind her back, and dumped her in a pond at Messenger Hollow.
Her naked body was found in the shallow grave, wearing only socks, with one ear missing and a shoelace around her neck. The medical examiner gave the cause of death as multiple blunt force injuries to the head, torso and back, with ligature strangulation and drowning as contributory factors. A burned-out car found a couple of miles away was quickly linked to her. State police took over from the local force, and a two-by-four with nails in it was recovered at Messenger Hollow, along with some of her jewellery at the cemetery.
Justice Spike Maynard dissented, calling the facts among the most horrible he had read.
The bonus story moves to Sand Lick, an unincorporated community in Mercer County on Sandlick Creek, north of Bluefield, which has never been included in a census. Parsons announced that he wanted to buy a gun to shoot Terry Thomas, who he believed was sleeping with his ex-wife, Kathy. Mason's store in south-west Virginia did not have the small boot gun he wanted, so they went to Joe Dolin's home, where Parsons bought a .32-caliber pistol and shells for ninety dollars. Back at the Timberwolf they met Paul Kirk, Robert Kirk and Randy Thomas. Parsons talked Paul Kirk into driving him to Whitesville to buy his ex-wife a present: a stereo and four kitchen chairs. They bought the furniture, then spent the day drinking at Richard Jean Adkins's house from about noon until 7.30 in the evening. Then the five drove to Kathy Parsons's trailer at the Sandlick Trailer Park. She did not want the gifts. He showed her the gun and told her he was going to shoot Terry Thomas; she called him a chicken, and he shot her in the nose, later saying he did not think the gun was loaded. She died several days later.
He offered to show the deputy where the gun was hidden if the handcuffs came off and he got a cigarette, and the deputy let him walk back into the trailer, over his wife's body, lift the mattress and hand over the pistol.
August 31st to September 1st, 2002 / Canterbury Cemetery and Messenger Hollow, near , West Virginia
As told in the episode, on 17 November 2021.
Accused
Accused
Accused
Accused
Accused
November 1st, 1985 / her trailer at the Sandlick Trailer Park, Sand Lick, West Virginia
As told in the episode, on 17 November 2021.
Accused
Public places are marked on the map.
crime scene
about 0:52:23body found
about 1:04:08crime scene
about 0:59:16business
about 1:10:59hospital
about 1:24:42home
about 2:13:19crime scene
about 2:12:35business
about 2:04:36business
about 2:05:25home
about 2:07:36home
about 2:11:42landmark
about 2:02:28other
about 2:25:32