Inside West Virginia's Most Remote Holler

Added: 2026-05-21

[00:00:00]How is it here now?

[00:00:02]>> It changed in years, but my place ain't.

[00:00:05]>> Yeah. You gota be careful about people like you out here with cameras around when you're doing >> gone. This This is my business.

[00:00:12]>> I just go on up through there. Talk to me up there.

[00:00:15]>> Love you, brother.

[00:00:16]>> Love you.

[00:00:17]>> Tucked deep in the mountains of southern West Virginia is Dingus. Situated at the end of a mile long one-way tunnel originally used for coal trains, it's one of Appalachia's most isolated communities. Locals in the nearby towns had warned us against visiting, claiming its people were unhinged outlaws, hostile to outsiders.

[00:00:36]>> Straight past the lake, you'll come to the famous denis.

[00:00:40]>> Don't go through it cuz other side's a different world.

[00:00:42]>> Yeah.

[00:00:43]>> Where you you find the radicals outlaws, I guess you'd say. to see if that was actually true. Naturally, we had to visit and ended up having one of the most eyeoping experiences we ever have.

[00:00:53]>> Why is it so rough over here? Because we stick together and you can't come over here and start nothing if you don't want to finish it with the whole town.

[00:01:00]>> You know where you got family, you got >> you don't need money back. Everybody helps me. That's how we back here.

[00:01:06]>> That's the best.

[00:01:06]>> This is our journey from town through the tunnel and into the mountains.

[00:01:11]>> How is it out here?

[00:01:12]>> It's the hill. Love it.

[00:01:14]>> Are Are there police out here? Oh god.

[00:01:16]>> We take care of it.

[00:01:17]>> We Lord please as far as we said you want to walk out. We carried out.

[00:01:21]>> We got kids, you know. It's >> all about the kids.

[00:01:25]>> It's all about the kids.

[00:01:29]>> We started in Williamson on the Tug Fork River separating Kentucky from West Virginia.

[00:01:35]>> You from here? Williamson?

[00:01:36]>> Uh well close by here over Ding. It's about here.

[00:01:40]>> Someone told us about Ding. It's kind of like uh >> it's off in it own little world over there. Yeah. When you go see the tunnel and when you get there, you'll see what I'm talking about. There's a tunnel.

[00:01:49]It's almost a mile long. Yeah. That's what that separates us from the real world, I guess. Yeah.

[00:01:55]>> So, it's different from here.

[00:01:56]>> Oh, yeah. My sister lives over right now. She does. She might talk to you a little bit about how stuff goes on over there.

[00:02:02]>> We didn't have his sister's number or anything. Just some rough directions.

[00:02:06]>> Church up there. There's a turn right hand turn. Turn right hand right there.

[00:02:10]You go down probably about here the church again and turn left.

[00:02:14]>> But we decided to go look for her. So we got in the car and headed into the hills toward Dingus.

[00:02:30]>> This used to be the train tracks.

[00:02:32]>> Yeah.

[00:02:32]>> Right here. Yeah.

[00:02:33]>> Yeah. The road the the main road the county road went down this over the hill here. That road on the bottom that was the county road. It's a railroad.

[00:02:41]>> You know, a lot of people ask me why do I live here? Because I'm what about the only black person in the neighborhood in the area? And I've never had a problem with anybody.

[00:02:51]>> But if you've been here a couple months ago, Bernie Sanders was here. And >> was he?

[00:02:55]>> He wasn't welcome.

[00:02:57]>> No.

[00:02:57]>> No. No.

[00:02:59]>> People didn't take too kindly to him.

[00:03:00]>> Some did. Some did.

[00:03:01]>> Oh, everybody's for Trump now here because of co you know what they say that's what this whole place runs on.

[00:03:08]actually >> the whole country. Majority of the people that live around here works in the mines.

[00:03:12]>> Yeah.

[00:03:13]>> Till they get laid off. If you keep straight past the lake, you'll come to the famous Dingus tunnel.

[00:03:19]>> Yeah.

[00:03:19]>> That's We're on our way to right now.

[00:03:20]>> Yeah.

[00:03:21]>> Yeah. It's got lights in it. Usually didn't have lights.

[00:03:24]>> Don't go through it cuz other side's a different world. Where you you find the radicals.

[00:03:29]>> When you say the radicals, you mean like >> uh outlaws, I guess you'd say.

[00:03:33]>> Yeah. like >> open with what they >> don't give a damn for you, man. Nothing else.

[00:03:43]>> So, we we're driving to this notorious town of Dingus, but we just passed this sign. So, now we're going to go down here and take a look and see how bad it is.

[00:03:55]Not sure how far we can push it with this two- wheelel drive car right here, but it's not looking good for the people out here on Triad Road in West Virginia.

[00:04:12]>> I guess a few weeks ago they worked on it.

[00:04:14]>> Oh, yeah.

[00:04:16]>> What you video me for, brother? I don't like it.

[00:04:18]>> Oh, yeah. We're just wondering. We're just wondering cuz >> I don't like your video. Go on.

[00:04:21]>> All right. Driving down this road in the absolute middle of nowhere here. We came across a school bus that looked to be what someone was living in and next to it a pickup truck. Now we're getting out of here back to the road headed toward Dingus.

[00:04:41]So all day we've been hearing about the Dingis tunnel and Dingus. The Dingis tunnel is in front of us. It's a one lane mileong tunnel. On the other end is Dingus, which people keep saying is a different world. People say you're liable to see someone on the front porch with a shotgun. They said you're liable to see crackheads. Someone before this said this is where the outlaws and radicals hang out. We have no idea what to expect on the other end of this tunnel.

[00:05:16]And just like that, we're in Dingus.

[00:05:25]>> So, is this this is Dingus that we're in right now?

[00:05:27]>> This is Dingus. Yeah.

[00:05:28]>> What should we know about Dingus?

[00:05:29]>> There's not much to know. I mean, got one one service station, one restaurant, and a tunnel. That's just about it.

[00:05:37]>> What's the story with the tunnel? Did you see the numbers on the end of it when it was made?

[00:05:42]>> No.

[00:05:42]>> It was built in the 1800s, late 1800s, early 1900s. They run a train through there for I think up into maybe the 30s and then they they went they just closed the railroad line down and done away with it and made it a car tunnel, you know.

[00:06:00]>> And before that, there was no way to get right from here to over there.

[00:06:04]>> Not much to go over that mountain. Some people we talked to back there on the other side of the tunnel, they said dingus, they said it's known for more uh so like radicals, outlaws, they had all these terms.

[00:06:14]>> Maybe years ago, maybe. But no, not now.

[00:06:18]People are just as good here as they are anywhere else. You know, it's a whole lot more populated now than it was when I was a young boy, you know.

[00:06:25]>> Oh, really?

[00:06:26]>> Oh, yeah. We've had two or three coal mines in here >> and that's about the only work that we've got >> here local is coal mines >> and they've all pulled out and left. So I can't see it growing. Last I worked I worked for Massie in Logan County. I think somebody said a while ago they laid 500 people off.

[00:06:45]>> So it keeps happening >> in the coal industry. Yeah. I mean it just it's not going to go better.

[00:06:50]It'll but co's always like that. It's up for a while and down. You know what I'm saying? And I mean, you can't never you can't depend on it. Far as raising the family back 30, 40 years ago, I'm sure it was better because, you know, there like we talk about the drugs, there was no drugs here hardly at all at that time and now they're everywhere. Probably a better place to raise a family back 40, 50 years ago. Yeah. Dang. This is just uh >> over here by itself.

[00:07:21]>> We don't bother nobody.

[00:07:32]So, we're driving out here through Dingus and we just met these two older guys in this beat up car. They saw us put down the window and they asked what we were doing. The guy said, "Come with me. I'll take you up into the hollers."

[00:07:43]Got no idea where we're going. But now they're speeding through here. We're zipping through this this back road. We are in the sticks of West Virginia following these two old men out to the holler. Let's see what happens.

[00:08:12]>> John John Wayne.

[00:08:14]>> John Wayne actually. Yeah, >> I'm John Wayne. I' been here for 50 some years in this holler on 190 acres in here.

[00:08:24]>> Your name is John Wayne.

[00:08:25]>> John Wayne.

[00:08:26]>> Wow. All right.

[00:08:27]>> I'll show you ID. You want to look at it?

[00:08:29]>> I believe you. Did you do coal?

[00:08:32]>> No, I logged all my life and I'm right now. I own all this paid for, you know, and they're still trying to run me. people are, you know, company, state, government, president, you know, whatever. I have cones on my porch.

[00:08:48]>> Really?

[00:08:49]>> Yeah.

[00:08:49]>> How many?

[00:08:51]>> Three or four at a time on my porch. I take pictures of them.

[00:08:54]>> Can we see them?

[00:08:56]>> Huh?

[00:08:56]>> Can we see them?

[00:08:57]>> I wish I could. I don't have the phone.

[00:08:59]People broke down or whatever. They come in here or whatever, >> we'll take care of help them if we can.

[00:09:04]You know, a lot of people ain't that way in this creek, you know, but that's what we do. And everybody's welcome. This road right here can take you anywhere you want to go.

[00:09:13]>> This road right here, you can take that all the way out.

[00:09:16]>> Yeah. Hunting network. Yeah. I'm getting ready to m get timber off and all this.

[00:09:22]And uh I got a cemetery back here. A big cemetery. 3acre cemetery.

[00:09:26]>> Now, I just wanted to take 15 seconds to thank you for watching this video. My two friends and I started this channel because news companies did not care about the Americans living between the coasts, towns like the ones we grew up in. We wanted to fill that gap and bring back real journalism. So, we started Roka News with a mission of capturing the world without bias or fear. We now put out three videos like these a week.

[00:09:47]If you enjoy them and want to bring back old school journalism, please subscribe.

[00:09:52]Thank you for watching. And now, back to the holler.

[00:09:54]>> So, you I think a lot of a lot of people in other parts of the country, they us being outsiders. Yeah. You know, they say you got to be careful going out here.

[00:10:03]>> Even even in Williamson, they said you got to be careful going to Dingus.

[00:10:05]>> Yeah. You got to be careful about people like you out here with cameras around when you do that.

[00:10:10]>> Gone. This This is my business.

[00:10:12]>> I just going up through there. Talk to them up there.

[00:10:16]>> Love you, brother.

[00:10:17]>> Love you. But you're saying that's not true. That's not the reality.

[00:10:20]>> No, I'm saying we don't like this man.

[00:10:24]>> Where you're at, you know, stuff, you know.

[00:10:27]>> How is it here now?

[00:10:29]>> It changed in years, >> but my place ain't. your view here, man.

[00:10:35]I mean, these mountains just to walk outside and see this.

[00:10:39]>> Oh, I can do a lot better than that back here.

[00:10:42]>> I can show you some stuff you wouldn't believe.

[00:10:44]>> Want to hop in the car and take a take a drive?

[00:10:46]>> You going to go up through there?

[00:10:48]>> It's not going to work.

[00:10:50]>> Pain. Okay. I'm Max Frost.

[00:10:52]>> How you doing?

[00:10:53]>> Nice to meet you.

[00:10:54]>> Yeah. How is it out here?

[00:10:57]>> It's the heels. Love it.

[00:10:59]>> Got drone bills. That's it.

[00:11:01]>> Squirrels playing stuff. cats playing with the squirrels, cones.

[00:11:06]It's crazy. It's pretty when nature is something else, you know what I mean?

[00:11:08]It's really is.

[00:11:09]>> What do people do for like for for fun out here?

[00:11:12]>> Have horseshoes.

[00:11:13]>> Cook out the hills.

[00:11:14]>> We cook out, you know, on the waist trail. So, that's awesome. You know, stop, >> pull a place out, throw charcoal in it, and have something to eat, clean up a place, and go on. Just >> off the road, not bother nobody. And >> don't nobody bother us.

[00:11:30]>> And they don't.

[00:11:33]If they do, they don't do it twice, you know.

[00:11:34]>> No, you believe that >> bother you once, don't bother you again.

[00:11:37]>> Yeah, that's right.

[00:11:38]>> Is there a lot of like uh >> I don't know like people say in in Williamson and Kermit they're saying that there's a lot of like you know people get high and they they kind of act like fools and stuff like that sometimes.

[00:11:50]>> No, >> used to be >> used to be but try to be now don't happen.

[00:11:54]>> There's a lot of dry clean up a lot around here lately.

[00:11:57]>> Oh, it has.

[00:11:57]>> Yeah. Ain't many do heads or retards or special need people, you know.

[00:12:02]>> Yeah.

[00:12:03]>> So like that. A lot of them get in jail now. So they dried it up, you know what I mean?

[00:12:07]>> So what what was it like before? Oh >> people down the road naked holler and stuff, man. Trying to flag it down. They don't remember nothing. I mean for real.

[00:12:16]All chasing up down the road. It was crazy while back.

[00:12:20]>> How long ago?

[00:12:21]>> About a year ago.

[00:12:22]>> About recently.

[00:12:23]>> Yeah. Yeah.

[00:12:23]>> If we were standing here and some some naked guy came running up here, that would be >> He would make it her >> or her either.

[00:12:29]>> Are are there police out here?

[00:12:31]>> Oh, god.

[00:12:32]>> There are police.

[00:12:32]>> Yeah.

[00:12:33]>> Oh, yeah.

[00:12:33]>> Oh, yeah.

[00:12:33]>> We take care of it.

[00:12:35]>> We already police as far as that.

[00:12:36]>> We have to call a law. And if we call to call get a body pretty much forget somebody, >> but we try to take care of ourselves.

[00:12:44]>> Yeah. Law takes long to get here. So, you got to do it yourself. That's right.

[00:12:47]>> Yeah. So, I own all this. So, it don't matter. You know what I mean? We come just hollering at their mind. Obviously, they won't walk out. They we carried it out. We got kids.

[00:12:54]>> Mhm.

[00:12:55]>> You know, it's all about the kids. You know what I mean?

[00:12:57]>> It's all about the kids.

[00:12:58]>> So, you have you have kids who live here?

[00:13:00]>> What do you What do you hope for your kids?

[00:13:02]>> Oh, like every man help better life for everybody. I mean, grow up and they want that's fine. They want to move off that's fine. Kids got their own choices.

[00:13:11]You know what I mean?

[00:13:12]>> Staying here. Can they have a better life?

[00:13:14]>> Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. They could.

[00:13:16]>> Oh, yeah.

[00:13:17]>> Oh, yeah. Definitely that's up to them to get over the choice they make.

[00:13:21]>> Once they get to school, that's their choice.

[00:13:23]>> This is better than the city or >> Oh, 10 to one.

[00:13:26]>> Any place like that.

[00:13:27]>> And in terms of jobs and stuff though, there's there's work around here.

[00:13:30]>> If they want to work, there's coal mines and everything.

[00:13:32]>> Timber cutting, logging. There all kinds of jobs.

[00:13:34]>> Is that three rebel flags?

[00:13:36]>> Uh, three, four, I think.

[00:13:40]>> Four.

[00:13:41]>> One, one doesn't make it clear.

[00:13:43]>> Make sure they know it does not mean we're racist.

[00:13:46]>> No. Yeah, >> it's just a southern right.

[00:13:49]>> What does it mean to you? What's the flag mean to you?

[00:13:53]>> Flying flag.

[00:13:56]United States flag mean to me these other flags. I'm not racist for nothing at all. You know >> what do you think if pe if people say from New York if they had to know one thing about this area of the country?

[00:14:11]Yeah.

[00:14:11]>> What should they know?

[00:14:12]>> They're welcome here.

[00:14:17]the drug and stuff. We don't deal here.

[00:14:19]We drink >> about it.

[00:14:24]>> Have cookouts. Sometimes it last us a whole weekend, two or three days, you know, a whole weekend. Friday to Sunday to Monday. Sunday night it end. You know what I mean? And we set 10th up here there in here.

[00:14:36]>> What do you drink?

[00:14:38]>> We drink beer and liquor. You know, sometimes Shine.

[00:14:43]>> You guys make Shine? I can't say it on >> can neither can neither confirm nor deny that. No matter the holler you hear, all of them watch us my place and I watch their place. That's how we work. You know, >> tighten up all together.

[00:14:59]>> This is what we do for fun.

[00:15:01]>> No bars or nothing to go hang out and everything in >> these guys here.

[00:15:05]>> This is what we do for fun.

[00:15:07]>> We get family. We play >> here to be here.

[00:15:10]>> We play and we drink a few, have a barbecue, and just have a good time.

[00:15:16]That's what family is. And blood or not, >> we're still family.

[00:15:21]>> We're all family. That's what this is about. Take a take a picture of this. I left here and went to Atlanta, Georgia.

[00:15:29]Stayed in Atlanta 13 years and then came back.

[00:15:33]>> So, it's true. These mountains do call you home.

[00:15:36]>> What What led you to come back from Atlanta? Family.

[00:15:39]>> Family. And there for a while. I treated Atlanta as home. I grew comfortable with it. But then I started missing everyone back here, but most of them were done deceased. Drug addictions. I lost a lot of family to addiction and alcoholism. But being there's nothing here. That's what they grow to.

[00:16:03]And I was able to escape that. But now I'm back here. So it's a struggle.

[00:16:08]>> Said there's no place like home. I've been on this place in the army >> been around, >> but they're still like West Virginia.

[00:16:21]>> And I'm the oldest one in the whole crowd here.

[00:16:24]>> Yeah, >> the little one.

[00:16:25]>> You look that old. I'm 73.

[00:16:27]>> How are you?

[00:16:28]>> I tell he'll be >> What do you think about raising your kids unless you're >> raised tough?

[00:16:33]>> I think it's all right. I mean, I was raised here.

[00:16:37]>> Actually, one more question for everyone. The term hillbilly, do you guys embrace it? Is it an insult? What do you think about that?

[00:16:46]>> We are hillbilly a hillbilly >> and we love it.

[00:16:49]>> And I'm half my life in Ohio.

[00:16:53]>> 100% love it.

[00:16:54]>> Absolutely.

[00:16:55]>> Half my life was in Ohio and I call myself a buckabelly. Half Buckeye and half.

[00:17:00]>> No better man.

[00:17:00]>> We might lose a thumb or two, you know, but we're still here.

[00:17:05]>> This right here is what it's about. I got uncle's family. Family that's in the family now and stuck with me. Don't you?

[00:17:15]>> We don't even want you, but we love you.

[00:17:17]>> A minute ago.

[00:17:17]>> We want you, but you're here.

[00:17:19]>> I don't care what you want. This is what we do. We bicker back and forth, but we all love each other. And this is what it is.

[00:17:27]>> Yep.

[00:17:27]>> And I lived in Ohio part of my life.

[00:17:29]>> I'm sorry.

[00:17:30]>> Where my Shut up.

[00:17:32]>> Okay.

[00:17:32]>> I lived in Ohio part of my life, but this is why I'm back here. I can be me.

[00:17:37]I can be happy and that's where I want my kids to be.

[00:17:40]>> I was born and raised here. This is all I know.

[00:17:43]>> That's Mickey there.

[00:17:44]>> Yep. That's the cat, Mickey.

[00:17:47]>> And he's born and raised the cat.

[00:17:49]>> He pointed at her. He said, "This is he walked by and he's family, too."

[00:17:54]>> Oh, yeah.

[00:17:55]>> But this is what we do. This is what West Virginia is about is family.

[00:18:00]>> It's all roots. Yeah, >> I think people get that wrong to to the point that she may be for, you know, people talk about this part of the country. They talk about they talk about poverty and this and that, but that's not the point.

[00:18:09]>> I don't know where you post what you doing with this, but I'm a broke ass >> But this broke ass has family and I'll never be broke cuz I'm richer than 90% of the rich millionaires.

[00:18:19]>> Yep.

[00:18:19]>> And that's the truth.

[00:18:20]>> There you go. That's family, loved ones, and love each other, you know. And >> I got more than most people. When I lived in Atlanta, I had I was able to fly everywhere. I was able to do anything I wanted. I was making good money, >> but I wasn't happy. I didn't have nobody to >> spend it with or anything else.

[00:18:41]>> What the hell did you call?

[00:18:44]I just missed back.

[00:18:45]>> You should have called us. We spent your money with you.

[00:18:50]>> You guys are lucky.

[00:18:51]>> There's few places There's few places where you just have this many people together, you know, in a family at one like Christmas, Thanksgiving, but here for you guys, it seems like a way of life. You should have been here in the cookout because there was a bunch of >> last weekend more >> 15 20 of John Wayne not the new one that's >> I should put my six shoes in my hair you >> man said you're the oldest senior of the year.

[00:19:17]>> Well besides besides older >> I'm the youngest and last of the best.

[00:19:25]>> You don't agree with that?

[00:19:26]>> You know why he's the youngest? Cuz they quit after that.

[00:19:31]>> You know why? This is the best. This was one of my twins. You hear me?

[00:19:36]>> They quit after that.

[00:19:40]>> No point ain't doing it no more.

[00:19:41]>> I'm glad I run into you. You know, >> but I wouldn't trade it for the world.

[00:19:45]>> God must judge y'all the right way.

[00:19:48]Me, >> I guess. So >> now we got Lucky running to you and me.

[00:19:53]>> Oh, I'm not getting back. Can I get rid of some way?

[00:19:58]>> Jamie, can you take your Halloween?

[00:20:00]>> Yeah.

[00:20:01]>> I ain't taking so >> why does it sound rough over here?

[00:20:06]>> Well, I don't know. That's just how they talk. You know, we just show >> because we stick together and you can't come over here and start nothing if you don't want to finish it with the hotel.

[00:20:14]>> Given that, you know, people like your, you know, everyone knows about like the drugs and the and the kind of the theft and that stuff that some people do.

[00:20:20]>> What do y'all do to to keep it together?

[00:20:23]Right.

[00:20:23]>> Stay together. Well, they just hang together.

[00:20:27]>> Well, they by our last names and everything else, they kind of keep their distance anyway because I guess they were from >> We'll hunt them down. Like I said earlier, >> we will find them. You know, they won't get by. They they still They We will go get it. You know, >> you got family, you got to be >> You don't need money back.

[00:20:47]>> Everybody helps us beat each other.

[00:20:50]That's what we do.

[00:20:51]>> That's how we make it here.

[00:20:52]>> That's the best thing.

[00:20:53]>> You couldn't make it. And we >> gas prices, food prices up the high stuff.

[00:20:57]>> You rob him, you rob us.

[00:20:59]>> We make it, you know.

[00:21:00]>> Yeah.

[00:21:02]>> Whatever, you know, have beef and cow, whatever. You know, >> that's what we all do.

[00:21:08]>> Anyway, we clean up.

[00:21:10]>> You use some like uh screen like I don't know, some kind of filter because don't got no ide.

[00:21:22]Not even do so much walking out here talking to me.

[00:21:29]>> Dingus captures the best and worst of Appalachia. It's poor and isolated, but that's what makes it so beautiful, its people so real, and its culture so rich.

[00:21:40]People told us not to go to Dingus. Good thing we didn't listen. Everyone, thank you for watching this video. Our mission here at Roken News is capture the world without bias or fear. and we are trying to go to places that the mainstream media cannot or will not go. Places like this where we just want to see how people really live and what they really believe. Thank you for watching and please hit that subscribe button. We'll see you again soon.

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[00:22:36]We'll be back soon with some more phenomenal videos that may even be better than this.