Playin' on the Hatfield Cemetery

Pretty much everybody has heard of the Hatfield and McCoy feud. The leader of the Hatfield clan was Devil Anse Hatfield. The Hatfield family cemetery was about 1/2 a mile around the mountain from my Granny Brennan's house. Sometimes we would sneak around the mountain (we weren't allowed that far from the house) to play in the cemetery. We thought it was haunted.

Devil Anse' grave had a life size statue of him which was imported from Italy at the head of his grave. It was weather beaten and overgrown with vines. A ring of faded white-washed stones surrounded his sunken-in grave. The whole cemetery was overgrown with weeds and vines and the tombstones looked better than any that you can find in a horror movie.

We never stayed long because the joke was to play hide and seek and everybody would leave you behind and not look for you. All of a sudden you would find yourself alone in a haunted cemetery!

There used to be a sign marking the entrance to the cemetery it said "Devil Anse Hatfield is buried here. He was the leader of his clan in the bitter family feud with the McCoys. A life-sized statue modeled from photographs and imported from Italy marks his grave. "

Now the cemetery has been refurbished. This was done to help atract tourists to Logan, W.V. and it does. I think it was better when we were kids though.

I have video touring the cemetery as it is today in the video section of my blog.