This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human.

Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of IHeart Radio.

Hey, Brainstuff, Lauren Vogelbaum here.

For somewhere around 150 years, the Hatfields and the McCoys have been synonymous with bad neighbors.

Theirs is the quintessential American feud in all its glorious pettiness and startling violence.

The true story of the Hatfields and McCoys goes well beyond simple fighting, though. The feud

literally reached across borders, reflecting a tumultuous

time in American history that bridged the Civil War and the Industrial Revolution.

It was a period in which the country, and certainly much of Appalachia, the setting of the feud,

was torn between past and future. The rivalry featured its own Romeo and Juliet,

and it's part of why Appalachia is still often misunderstood and misrepresented.

For the article this episode is based on,

How Stuff Works spoke with Dr. Charles Keeney III,

also known as Chuck,

a history professor at Southern West Virginia Community and Technical College.

He said, I'm a native West Virginian. I grew up around the history. My specialization is Appalachian history.

So the Hatfield-McCoy feud is something that I've grown up with and has played such a huge role in shaping people's perception

of my home.

The Hatfield-McCoy feud is, as best feuds are, populated with a cast of colorful characters

doing sometimes dastardly deeds.

It begins with two principles.

William Anderson Hatfield, also known as Devil Ants, born in 1839,

...