Hatfields and the McCoys
April 5, 2007 5:47 PM Subscribe
As legends go, the first recorded instance of violence in the feud occurred after an 1873 dispute about the ownership of a hog: Floyd Hatfield had it and Randolph McCoy said it was his. The rest is Appalachian history. But it turns out that history may have had a helping hand in something called Von Hippel-Lindau disease. It weren't the moonshine, Pa. It was the DNA that did it.
Let's get our hillbilly grammar in order here: 'It was the DNA what did it'.
posted by dgaicun at 6:04 PM on April 5, 2007
posted by dgaicun at 6:04 PM on April 5, 2007
so THAT'S why my ex was crazy
posted by pyramid termite at 6:07 PM on April 5, 2007
posted by pyramid termite at 6:07 PM on April 5, 2007
As a Hatfield decendent (honest) thank you for this post. Also, there's absolutely no reason for me to be bragging about that part of my heritage. They were crazy rednecks. It's like if someone a century from now were bragging about being a McVeigh.
Anyhoo... thanks...
posted by Navelgazer at 6:16 PM on April 5, 2007
Anyhoo... thanks...
posted by Navelgazer at 6:16 PM on April 5, 2007
i wish i was kidding ... my ex really IS descended from the mccoys
posted by pyramid termite at 6:17 PM on April 5, 2007
posted by pyramid termite at 6:17 PM on April 5, 2007
Violence is as American as cherry pie.
Violence, like cherry pie, is something we've learned from others. "English tradition credits making the first cherry pie to Queen Elizabeth I."
We just happen to be really f'n good at violence.
Cherry pie, too.
posted by frogan at 6:40 PM on April 5, 2007
Violence, like cherry pie, is something we've learned from others. "English tradition credits making the first cherry pie to Queen Elizabeth I."
We just happen to be really f'n good at violence.
Cherry pie, too.
posted by frogan at 6:40 PM on April 5, 2007
Wait, so do Navelgazer and pyramid termite have to fight now?
I suppose this calls for popcorn.
posted by nebulawindphone at 7:26 PM on April 5, 2007
I suppose this calls for popcorn.
posted by nebulawindphone at 7:26 PM on April 5, 2007
Let's get our hillbilly grammar in order here: 'It was the DNA what did it'.
I think it would look even hillbillier if it said "It were the DNA what did it."
posted by amyms at 12:07 AM on April 6, 2007
I think it would look even hillbillier if it said "It were the DNA what did it."
posted by amyms at 12:07 AM on April 6, 2007
no, no, no ... "that dna done did it"
posted by pyramid termite at 1:14 AM on April 6, 2007
posted by pyramid termite at 1:14 AM on April 6, 2007
My dad's family were McCoys, and allegedly part of the infamous Hatfield & McCoy feud. The relatives involved never said much about it, and of course there wasn't a lot of documentation back then, so we can't be completely sure. Genealogy and photos seem to confirm that my ancestors were a branch of the McCoys who moved away to get away from the feud, and ended up in Arkansas and Missouri.
That branch of the family lived in the southern Missouri hills. In the 70s, when I was a little kid, dad took us to visit these cousins twice. You had to search for their houses which were practically hidden in the hills behind trees, way off the roads. Dad would holler up to the houses and tell them who he was. The first time, there was no answer, so we left. The next year dad tried again, and a lady hollered back that she was glad to see dad but Jimmy Frank was about to come home and he was still hoppin' mad about some supposed slight from the 1950s. So we left before Jimmy Frank saw us. It was a very Erskine Caldwell situation.
posted by smashingstars at 3:24 AM on April 6, 2007
That branch of the family lived in the southern Missouri hills. In the 70s, when I was a little kid, dad took us to visit these cousins twice. You had to search for their houses which were practically hidden in the hills behind trees, way off the roads. Dad would holler up to the houses and tell them who he was. The first time, there was no answer, so we left. The next year dad tried again, and a lady hollered back that she was glad to see dad but Jimmy Frank was about to come home and he was still hoppin' mad about some supposed slight from the 1950s. So we left before Jimmy Frank saw us. It was a very Erskine Caldwell situation.
posted by smashingstars at 3:24 AM on April 6, 2007
From the Wiki link
"The 1951 Abbott and Costello comedy film, Comin' Round The Mountain was about a feud between the Bloodfields and the McCrips"
How bizarre
posted by fullerine at 10:37 AM on April 6, 2007
"The 1951 Abbott and Costello comedy film, Comin' Round The Mountain was about a feud between the Bloodfields and the McCrips"
How bizarre
posted by fullerine at 10:37 AM on April 6, 2007
My entire father's side of the family is riddled with VHL. Some have lost eyes or the ability to walk and many have lost their lives to it, but none of them were ever violent or angry.
I think the docs may need to look somewhere else for the rage disease, but VHL is a nasty, nasty disease.
posted by Ateo Fiel at 2:11 PM on April 6, 2007
I think the docs may need to look somewhere else for the rage disease, but VHL is a nasty, nasty disease.
posted by Ateo Fiel at 2:11 PM on April 6, 2007
fullernine, according to the imdb entry on that movie, the characters were Winfields and McCoys. Somebody's been playing tricks with wikipedia again, and it seems to have been corrected this afternoon or yesterday night.
posted by dilettante at 3:25 PM on April 6, 2007
posted by dilettante at 3:25 PM on April 6, 2007
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posted by stenseng at 5:58 PM on April 5, 2007