The Coal Company Bought Out the Whole Holler in ’62 — My Grandpa Wouldn’t Sell Because of a Bigfoot

MINGO COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA — In the rugged hills of southern West Virginia, where coal once determined the fate of entire communities, one family’s refusal to sell their land has become the subject of a remarkable story that blends local history, family loyalty, and a mystery that has endured for generations.

While most residents of Pigeon Creek Hollow accepted buyout offers from coal companies during the early 1960s, Earl Vance stood alone. As neighboring families packed up and left, Vance refused repeated offers to sell his 12-acre property. According to his granddaughter, the reason had nothing to do with money, stubbornness, or sentimentality. Instead, she says, it was because of a decades-long relationship with a creature many would identify as Bigfoot.

The account comes from Patty Cole, a 70-year-old lifelong resident of Mingo County, who recently shared a family secret that she says was entrusted to her by her grandfather.

The Last Holdout in the Hollow

By the spring of 1963, coal companies had purchased nearly every property in the upper reaches of Pigeon Creek Hollow. Families who had lived there for generations relocated to nearby towns or moved out of state in search of work and modern conveniences.

Earl Vance, however, remained.

Representatives from the Tug River Coal and Land Company reportedly visited his property multiple times over several years, offering increasingly generous amounts of money for both the surface and mineral rights. Each offer was rejected.

According to family members, company officials warned Vance that his land would become isolated and economically worthless once surrounding properties were acquired. Yet he refused to change his position.

“He simply said the land was not for sale,” Cole recalled. “No matter how much they offered.”

At the time, many relatives believed Vance’s resistance was rooted in his famously stubborn personality. But decades later, Cole says she learned there was another reason entirely.

Strange Signs on the Eastern Ridge

The story begins in the early 1930s.

After inheriting the property from his father, Vance built a small farm and raised his family in the hollow. During a harsh winter in 1931, he reportedly discovered a series of unusual tracks near a spring seep on the eastern ridge of his land.

The footprints appeared human-like but were far larger than any he had ever seen. Over time, Vance noticed other unusual signs: a mineral salt block placed near the spring was being consumed faster than local wildlife could account for, and his hunting dogs consistently refused to venture into a particular area near a rocky overhang.

According to family accounts, Vance spent years quietly observing the phenomenon.

Eventually, he reported seeing a large upright figure moving through the trees.

Rather than attempting to hunt or expose the creature, Vance chose a different approach. He began leaving small amounts of food near the overhang. The food consistently disappeared.

Over time, what began as curiosity evolved into what Vance described as a form of understanding.

A Childhood Encounter

The mystery became personal for Cole in 1967 when she was 12 years old.

While spending spring break at her grandparents’ home, she followed her grandfather up the eastern trail one evening. Hidden among the trees, she witnessed what she says was an encounter between Vance and an enormous creature standing near the overhang.

The figure, according to her account, stood between eight and eight-and-a-half feet tall. It was covered in dark hair and possessed broad shoulders and unusually long arms.

“I knew what lived in those mountains,” Cole said. “I knew bears, deer, bobcats, and people. What I saw was none of those things.”

She watched as her grandfather calmly spoke to the creature. The being responded with a deep, resonant vocalization unlike any animal sound she had ever heard.

Vance then placed a cloth-wrapped package of food on a nearby rock. The creature picked it up and disappeared into the shadows.

The encounter lasted only a few minutes, but it would change her understanding of her grandfather’s decisions forever.

A Relationship Spanning Decades

Later that evening, Vance revealed the truth.

He told his granddaughter that he had been aware of the creature’s presence since the early 1930s. For more than three decades, he had maintained a peaceful coexistence with it.

The relationship was built not on direct communication but on repeated interactions, observations, and mutual respect.

According to Vance, the creature appeared intelligent, cautious, and deeply connected to the mountain environment. He believed it had inhabited the region long before his family settled there and perhaps long before European settlers arrived in Appalachia.

As years passed, both Vance and his wife Opel participated in caring for the mysterious visitor. They routinely left food near the overhang and replenished the mineral salt block.

For Vance, protecting the land became a moral responsibility.

“He said he could not sell the land out from under something that had been there longer than any of us,” Cole explained.

Coal Development and Conservation

The conflict between industrial development and environmental preservation forms a central part of the story.

Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, surface mining operations expanded across Mingo County. Hillsides were cleared, roads were cut through forests, and blasting became a common sound in many hollows.

Yet the eastern ridge on Vance’s property remained untouched.

Legal disputes over water sources, environmental concerns, and later federal regulations helped protect the area from mining activities. Vance documented conditions on the property carefully and challenged any actions he believed threatened the spring seep near the overhang.

His efforts succeeded.

Today, much of the surrounding landscape has been altered by decades of mining and reclamation. The eastern ridge, however, remains largely unchanged.

A Legacy of Mystery

Earl Vance died in March 1979 at the age of 74.

According to family members, unusual vocalizations echoed from the ridge throughout the night following his death. Vance’s widow later described the sounds as expressing something she could only interpret as grief.

Before his passing, Vance left the property to his granddaughter along with written instructions describing the overhang, the spring seep, and the traditions he hoped would continue.

One passage from his handwritten notes summarized his beliefs.

“It has been on this mountain since before my family or yours,” he wrote. “It has asked nothing from us except not to be driven off what is its own.”

Cole inherited both the land and the responsibility she believes came with it. For decades, she continued leaving food at the overhang and maintaining the salt block, following the practices established by her grandparents.

Whether the creature still exists remains impossible to verify. No physical evidence has been publicly presented, and wildlife experts remain skeptical of Bigfoot sightings across North America.

Nevertheless, the story has become an extraordinary piece of Appalachian folklore—a tale where history, family tradition, and unexplained encounters intersect.

For Cole, the lesson is less about proving the existence of Bigfoot and more about respecting the unknown.

“In the end,” she said, “my grandfather believed some things don’t belong to us, even if we hold the deed. Sometimes the right thing is simply to leave them in peace.”

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