{"id":2740,"slug":"matewan-matewan-west-virginia","story":[{"heading":null,"paragraphs":["Matewan is the '20 — the May 19 that's the shootout, the '10 dead' that's the 60 seconds. The Sid is the sheriff — the '27' that's the age, the 'arrest' that's the attempted. The Felts are the brothers — the 'Baldwin-Felts' that's the agency, the 'Ludlow' that's the previous.","The evictions were the spark — the 'women and children' that's the gunpoint, the 'tent camp' that's the Lick Creek. The 'acquitted' is the trial — the '17 strikers' that's the freed, the 'murdered' that's the Sid later. Matewan is the opening — the 'Blair Mountain' that's the largest, the 'mine war' that's the catalyst.","The file keeps Matewan: the 1920 massacre, the Sid Hatfield, the 10 dead, and the Blair Mountain trigger.","Matewan is the archive's West Virginia file — the mine war's start."]},{"heading":"Why this file matters","paragraphs":["Matewan is the archive's West Virginia file — the labor's shootout.","A street keeps its bullets — the file's suggestion being that Matewan's hold is the catalyst: the '10 dead' that's the minute, the 'Sid' that's the sheriff, and the 'Blair Mountain' that's the result."]}],"name":"Matewan","aliases":[],"type":"TOWN","type_label":"Town","cats":["DARK_HISTORY","LOCAL_FOLKLORE","HAUNTED_PLACE","COAL_HISTORY"],"groups":["dark-history","hauntings","legends"],"desc":"The town where Sid Hatfield shot it out—May 19, 1920.","full_desc":"Matewan is a town in Matewan, West Virginia. The town where Sid Hatfield shot it out—May 19, 1920. The name the accounts keep returning to is Sid Hatfield. The dossier holds 2 reported claims, 1 legend, 1 documented fact and 1 named or described presence — documented record and retelling kept side by side. It is a living community — be a respectful visitor.","address":null,"city":"Matewan","county":null,"state":"West Virginia","postal":null,"region":"South","lat":37.622251,"lon":-82.159266,"coord_kind":"CITY","status":"ACTIVE","access":"PUBLIC","access_notes":null,"ownership":null,"website":null,"phone":null,"year_built":null,"year_opened":null,"year_closed":null,"year_demolished":null,"designation":null,"current_use":"Historic site / park","research_notes":"WV2 batch; VERIFY task auto-queued.","stage":"SOURCE_RESEARCH","quality":{"level":"MEDIUM","score":59.4,"dims":{"location_confidence":0.75,"identity_confidence":0.65,"historical_confidence":0.8,"source_quality":0.3999999999999999,"paranormal_claim_provenance":0.8,"coordinate_confidence":0,"current_access_confidence":0.7,"freshness":0.65}},"claims":[{"id":2352,"type":"NAMED_GHOST_LEGEND","description":"Hatfield and the dead are said to be remembered in the town. Witnesses name it Sid Hatfield; the name travels further than the proof. Matewan in Matewan, West Virginia carries the story the way small towns do — as common knowledge no one quite verifies. 'Matewan' preserves the telling; the record keeps it filed where it belongs, as lore. A ghost with a name outlasts a ghost without one; the reports keep it employed.","evidence":"DOCUMENTED_LEGEND","evidence_label":"Documented legend","entity":"Sid Hatfield","where":null,"first_report":null,"approx_date":null,"confidence":0.8,"conflict_notes":null,"source":{"name":"Matewan","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matewan","publisher":"Wikipedia","type":"ENCYCLOPEDIA","authority":4},"conflicting_source":null,"variants":[]},{"id":2353,"type":"APPARITION","description":"Reported figures on the streets where the shooting happened. Matewan, West Virginia is a living community with a dead file — the reports are the town's other history. The reports are anecdotal — consistent enough to record, thin enough to stay unproven. The report is preserved in sources like 'Matewan'. The figure remains the site's most-repeated sighting.","evidence":"ANECDOTAL","evidence_label":"Anecdotal","entity":null,"where":null,"first_report":null,"approx_date":null,"confidence":0.8,"conflict_notes":null,"source":{"name":"Matewan","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matewan","publisher":"Wikipedia","type":"ENCYCLOPEDIA","authority":4},"conflicting_source":null,"variants":[]}],"history":[{"description":"The May 19, 1920 massacre is documented. The town's past is on record — this entry belongs to the verified layer beneath its folklore. The record holds it as fact — documented, not retold. Sources including 'Matewan' carry the record. It anchors the timeline the rest of the file hangs from. The lore keeps its witness.","evidence":"HISTORICALLY_VERIFIED","date_start":null,"date_end":"1920-05-19","confidence":null,"source":{"name":"Matewan","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matewan","publisher":"Wikipedia","type":"ENCYCLOPEDIA","authority":4}}],"legends":[{"name":null,"summary":"Hatfield and the dead are said to be remembered in the town. The town in Matewan, West Virginia has its documented history and then it has this — the account everyone locally knows. The story is documented as legend — recorded and retold, never verified as fact. The report is preserved in sources like 'Matewan'. Legends accrue where records go silent; this one filled the gap and stayed.","earliest":null,"evidence":"DOCUMENTED_LEGEND","source":{"name":"Matewan","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matewan","publisher":"Wikipedia","type":"ENCYCLOPEDIA","authority":4}}],"entities":[{"name":"Sid Hatfield","claimed_identity":"Sid Hatfield","verified":null,"summary":"Hatfield and the dead are said to be remembered in the town. Sid Hatfield is what the reports name it. A West Virginia town's lore is municipal property; Matewan keeps this account in its unofficial archive. The named presence is what turns a haunting into a household. The claim holds its place in the ledger.","behavior":"Hatfield and the dead are said to be remembered in the town.","area":null,"first_ref":null,"source":{"name":"Matewan","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matewan","publisher":"Wikipedia","type":"ENCYCLOPEDIA","authority":4}}],"events":[],"investigations":[],"encounters":[],"media":[],"persons":[],"visitor":{"tour_availability":"Verify before visiting","notes":"Public townsite; walkable areas are generally accessible year-round.","last_verified_at":"2026-09-18 11:32:55","source":{"name":"HauntHunt generic access guidance","url":"https://haunthunt.com/about#access-guidance","publisher":"HauntHunt editorial","type":"DIRECTORY","authority":2}},"sources":[{"name":"Matewan","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matewan","publisher":"Wikipedia","type":"ENCYCLOPEDIA","authority":4}],"conflicts":[],"wiki":null,"counts":{"claims":2,"history":1,"legends":1,"entities":1,"sources":1}}