The West Virginia Mine Wars: Paint Creek and Cabin Creek
For a century and a half the king of central Appalachia has been coal. That mineral powered the industrial revolution in America, made some men and corporations very wealthy and provided jobs for the ...
9 Sep 202312min
The Savant of Rhea County, Tennessee
Alvin Goins was a hard worker who, like many Appalachian men of his time, never finished school and was unable to read or write. That never stopped him from getting work as a laborer in and around hi...
2 Sep 202311min
The Dark Mystery of Booger Hole
Starting in the latter part of the 19th century and continuing up into the 20th century a valley in Clay County, West Virginia, became the site of a series of mysterious disappearances and deaths. It ...
26 Aug 202310min
The Great Glen Alum Payroll Robbery
On Friday, August 14, 1914, three Glen Alum Coal Company employees were returning to the mine office with that week's payroll. They didn't make it with the money to the mine alive.Today we tell the st...
19 Aug 202310min
From Darkness to Hope: The Appalachian Journey of Bob Childress
In 1912 a young man's life was transformed by his witnessing a historic tragedy: the infamous Carroll County courthouse shootout, which left several prominent lawyers, police officers and a judge dead...
12 Aug 202310min
The Laurel Mine Disaster of 1884
The Pocahontas coal field, located in southwest Virginia and southern West Virginia, was one of the most productive coal areas in the United States. The town of Pocahontas, in Tazewell County, Virgini...
5 Aug 20239min
Woodrow Derenberger And The Man From Lanulos
In November 1966 a man on his way home from work literally drove into Appalachian history when he encountered a UFO blocking his way on I-77 outside Parkersburg, West Virginia. Not only that, he actu...
29 Jul 202312min
Appalachia's Petticoat Government
In 1948 Clintwood, Virginia, held an election for the town's offices. After the campaigning, the voting, and the vote counting, something unique for it's time had happened: All of Clintwood's elected...
22 Jul 20238min
