The infamous Hatfield and McCoy feud was not an unusual situation in Appalachia. Could it be that Appalachian and Ozark folk were carrying on with their ancestors' method of justice? Join Barry Vann as he goes in search of an answer to that question.
VIDEO HERE (9:49 minutes)
A good friend of mine who is a doctor told me this story. Up in one of the hollers in the Shenandoah Valley a doctor was called. The old doc arriving at the home and found several men needing stitches. They all were drinking and they had a knife fight. The fight was over all were getting along just fine. The old doc ran out of thread and asked one of the women if she had any heavy thread. She did and the doc went back to stitching. The boys started ragging the doc about making a home visit and not bringing enough supplies. The doc looked them and said, "Boys, nobody tol me I was a coming to a Quilting Bee.
ReplyDeleteI was born and raised in the Ozarks. Old ways run deep... you didn't want to be the stranger in a small town on a Friday night. A great or great great grand relative once decapitated a guy out of anger. Had family roots dating back over 200 years in the area, long before statehood. Watch the old John Wayne movie Shepherd of the Hills for an idea of what people were like.
ReplyDeleteHard to believe “Celtic Justice” wasn’t visited on a man who murdered an unarmed 17 year old girl.
ReplyDeleteJFM
Blood feuds can run for centuries if history is any teacher. One of the reasons why in early civilizations, if a ruler at any level killed someone, he also killed all of their relatives, especially any children.
ReplyDeleteNemo