West Virginia is brimming with goodness and beauty, including stunning views, charming towns, and novel seasonal traditions. But she also hides her share of shameful, dark secrets. Like every community, there are unseemly and criminal aspects of everyday life that peek through even the squeaky cleanest of histories. These incidents in particular have a lot to say about our country’s history, and its current state. Some of those West Virginia shameful secrets are the terrible events that took place in decades past near the Dingess Tunnel in Mingo County.
Tucked away in the remote mountains of southwestern West Virginia in Mingo County is the small community of Dingess. Here you’ll find a spread of historic and contemporary homes and lots of natural beauty in the landscape.
Brandon Ray Kirk/Wikimedia This unincorporated community has under 2,000 residents living in it. And that may be in part due to the chilling history of the town.
It’s so remote, in fact, that one of the only ways to reach it is through a mile-long, single lane tunnel.
Tug Valley Area CVB Check before you enter to make sure you don’t see any headlights coming toward you, because you don’t want to meet another car somewhere in the middle of that long, narrow stretch of brick! Truly, even today, there is no light or other way of mitigating traffic other than to hope for the best.
Though the mile long tunnel is unnerving to say the least, and is still the best way to get into Dingess to this day, it was well made. It’s 3,331 feet long and has natural airflow ventilation and a drainage ditch to the east side. It doesn’t make up for its history, but we can respect a thing well made.
prosserman/Wikimedia Dingess has a history dating back to the pioneer days, when it was named after pioneer settler William Anderson Dingess. But it also has coal and railroad history, too… and what a bleak and disappointing history it is.
In days past, Dingess earned the reputation for being one of the most lawless spots in the land. Rumor has it that it wasn’t uncommon for this small community to have a killing once a month. Unfortunately this reputation didn’t do much to attract upstanding citizens and reform wasn’t even on the minds of the area’s inhabitants.
Brandon Ray Kirk/Wikimedia From 1900 to 1972, at least 17 lawmen were killed in the area’s Twelve Pole Creek region - shot to death while attempting to keep order. It wasn’t just Dingess that had issues with the law. In neighboring Matewan, also in Mingo county, there was an enormous shootout between outlaws and lawmen, resulting in many deaths. This was eventually dubbed the Matewan Massacre.
And to make this lawlessness doubly tragic, much of it was racially motivated. The secluded community was emphatic about not welcoming outsiders who came to work at the mine or the railroad.
Prosserman/Wikimedia That meant anyone they didn’t know or weren’t comfortable with, but especially people who didn’t look like them. And unfortunately, they weren’t just planning to yell visitors off the land. Their methods of removing outsiders were a lot more permanent than that.
According to the tales, African Americans and Chinese immigrants suffered the most, as they would often face hostile locals waiting at either end of the tunnel with guns, ready to shoot anyone who looked different than the homogenous local population. Or these outlaws would ambush trains and do the same with any “outsiders” among the passengers.
Tug Valley Area CVB In that way, that mile long tunnel began to look an awful lot like a mile long walk to the gallows. As if the fear of crashing into someone in another car weren’t enough of an issue.
These crimes and more (including a train collision or two) still haunt the area and earned the tunnel its terrible nickname: “Bloody Mingo.” If you ever head to Dingess to experience the tunnel for yourself, be ready for a thrill ride as you squeeze narrowly through this tunnel by car, but also be prepared for the weight of the events that happened here.
Tug Valley Area CVB
Have you driven through the Dingess Tunnel? Did you know the rumors and stories associated with its past? To learn more or get directions to the tunnel, visit the Tug Valley Area Convention & Visitors Bureau website.
Brandon Ray Kirk/Wikimedia
This unincorporated community has under 2,000 residents living in it. And that may be in part due to the chilling history of the town.
Tug Valley Area CVB
Check before you enter to make sure you don’t see any headlights coming toward you, because you don’t want to meet another car somewhere in the middle of that long, narrow stretch of brick! Truly, even today, there is no light or other way of mitigating traffic other than to hope for the best.
prosserman/Wikimedia
Dingess has a history dating back to the pioneer days, when it was named after pioneer settler William Anderson Dingess. But it also has coal and railroad history, too… and what a bleak and disappointing history it is.
From 1900 to 1972, at least 17 lawmen were killed in the area’s Twelve Pole Creek region - shot to death while attempting to keep order. It wasn’t just Dingess that had issues with the law. In neighboring Matewan, also in Mingo county, there was an enormous shootout between outlaws and lawmen, resulting in many deaths. This was eventually dubbed the Matewan Massacre.
Prosserman/Wikimedia
That meant anyone they didn’t know or weren’t comfortable with, but especially people who didn’t look like them. And unfortunately, they weren’t just planning to yell visitors off the land. Their methods of removing outsiders were a lot more permanent than that.
In that way, that mile long tunnel began to look an awful lot like a mile long walk to the gallows. As if the fear of crashing into someone in another car weren’t enough of an issue.
Dingess isn’t the only West Virginia tunnel with a less than respectable history. Here’s another: Flinderation Tunnel, a haunted spot with a dark history.
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Address: Old N W Railroad Bed Rd, Dingess, WV 25671, USA
The OIYS Visitor Center
Tunnels In West Virginia December 29, 2022 CC What are other tunnels in West Virginia?
The Big Walker East River Mountain Great Bend Tunnel
The OIYS Visitor Center
Tunnels In West Virginia
December 29, 2022
CC
What are other tunnels in West Virginia?
The Big Walker East River Mountain Great Bend Tunnel
The OIYS Visitor Center
The OIYS Visitor Center
- The Big Walker
- East River Mountain
- Great Bend Tunnel
