Matewan Depot Replica and Museum

Haunted Heather visits Historic Matewan WV-Home of the Matewan Massacre

Matewan is a beautiful city nestled in the mountains of WV, and right on the KY border. Its famous for its ATV trails and River. as well as Hatfield & McCoy locations. Ellison Hatfield died in what was then the back of the train depot in a house in Warm Hollow, after being stabbed 27 times at the Hog Trial cabin location in McCarr KY. Also the remnants of Devils Anse Hatfields home is in Matewan. Its well known though for the Matewan Massacre.
The Matewan Massacre, or Battle of Matewan, was the biggest shoot-out in U.S. history, bigger than the gunfight at the OK Corral. The events and underlying forces that led to it were more important then those at the OK Corrall.
It doesn’t get as much attention, maybe because it was a more serious matter. In Matewan, men from the Baldwin-Felts Detective Agency were slaughtered by miners and union sympathizers.
They came from outside the area during a union membership drive. The union’s demands: the right to shop in non-company stores and an end to armed mine guard watching everything they did. On May 20, 1920, thirteen Baldwin-Felts men put families whose men were suspected of union sympathies out on the street, or, since the streets weren’t paved, out in the mud. On their way back to the train station to get out of town, they had a confrontation with Matewan Police Chief and union sympathizer Sid Hatfield. Who fired first isn’t clear, but when the shooting ended most of the Baldwin-Felts men were killed and the rest ran for their lives. A few innocent citizens were caught in the middle and killed, Including the Mayor. Find me on Facebook, we do ghost hunts and events in these locations.