Tragedies and Disasters

One should not infer from this recitation of tragic events that there have been no triumphs or joyful occasions in Paintsville and Johnson County in the past 100 years or more. There have been many! Actually, the joys and triumphs are far too numerous to chronicle in one brief website.

Still, it is to the darkness of disaster that the mind is inexorably drawn. Death and destruction have always held a morbid fascination for the human psyche. The events which comprise this page are of the author's own choosing. They were chosen because, more than other equally tragic local events, each of these, either by its character or by its impact on such large numbers of people, appear to have evoked much greater and immediate emotional response from the community.

Most tragedies had both villains and heroes. Some had only victims. A few remain mysterious with no official resolution. These chronicles contain all of these.

The sources for the reporting of these events include contemporary news accounts and eyewitness interviews. Folklore occasionally plays a role, as well.