Harlan County — Bloody Harlan Miners Hall

Harlan County earned the name 'Bloody Harlan' from the violent coal wars of the 1930s when miners and company guards fought pitched gun battles in the mountain hollows. The miners' union hall — site of organizing meetings broken up by deputies who shot into crowds — still stands in downtown Harlan. Former miners who died in the violence are reported sitting at the meeting table inside the locked building. The sound of a gaveling meeting being called to order has been recorded in the empty hall on multiple EVP sessions.