MATEWAN
Town — Matewan, West Virginia
Status: Operating · Access: Open to public
Dossier: https://haunthunt.com/place/matewan-matewan-west-virginia/

The town where Sid Hatfield shot it out—May 19, 1920.

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.

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.

WHY THIS FILE MATTERS
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.

FILED CLAIMS — 2 on record, reported not verified
· [Documented legend] named ghost legend: 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.
  source: Matewan (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matewan)
· [Anecdotal] apparition: 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.
  source: Matewan (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matewan)

HISTORY — 1 documented facts
· 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.

SOURCES — 1 cited
· Matewan — Wikipedia
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matewan

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HauntHunt is a research archive. Claims are filed as reported — documented where sources exist, marked as folklore or unverified where they do not.
Methodology: https://haunthunt.com/methodology/ · Corrections: https://haunthunt.com/report/