Among my first memories as a child in Wirt County
Are the whispered stories of Bloody Hollow.
Murder! Bloody murder!
A creepy chill went up my spine at the thought of it.
I used to go by the mouth of that hollow in such fright
Of some unknown and ethereal thing lurking;
My heart pounded madly.
A heavy stillness oft enhanced the feeling.
She still lived there – Kitty Mullenax – a real murderess.
She was quite old then and frail, with little time.
Her son took care of her.
What had happened long ago to mark her thus – outcast?
Times were so hard during the Civil War when Kitty wed.
She labored then with her man in home and field.
A child would come, a child
Ere long to bring laughter and joy into that farm home.
She hugged the thought of the child close to her as she hoed corn
Alongside her father in the field near home.
Now came a neighbor man
Plunging down the road and across the field in anger.
What was his quarrel with Kitty’s father? ‘Tis not known now.
The two men locked in struggle, Kitty watching.
“O God, my father’s hurt!”
The hoe was in her hand. With all her strength she struck her neighbor.
The man fell. Kitty stood stunned and ill at the sight of blood.
O, there it was – Bloody – the name for a sad hollow.
Kitty a murderess!
Horror and fear gripped her as she saw that he was dead.
‘Tis on record in the County Court House, the indictment
For murder in 1863 against them both.
But there is no record
That they were brought to trial; we can only guess why.
Was it because of the expected baby, due so soon?
For whatever reason, Kitty was not tried in court
But stigma clung to her.
She lived out her life shunned, hiding in Bloody Hollow.