Appalachia's Darkest Ambush: The Killing Rock Massacre

Killing Rock still keeps its name above a mountain road at Pound Gap, where Kentucky meets Virginia. This is the true story of what happened to Ira Mullins and six fellow travelers on a May afternoon in 1892, and the preacher who answered for it. In the moonshine border country of the Appalachian Mountains, a wagon party of seven crested Pound Gap and was set upon from behind a stone breastwork screened with rhododendron. This is the full account of the Pound Gap tragedy: the old bad blood between Ira Mullins and Doctor Marshall Benton Taylor, the coal money creeping into the hollows, a ten-week manhunt across three states, and a trial built on a lone eyewitness whose story changed. It follows all three accused men to their very different fates, and a case the mountains never truly answered. Researched from court records, contemporary newspapers, and historical archives. Archival images are public domain or used for historical commentary; where no photograph survives, imagery is illustrative. Subscribe for more true stories from the Appalachian Mountains. #Appalachia #AppalachianHistory #TrueCrime #AppalachianCases