Dead Man's Cut

Between the towns of Northfork and Keystone is an infamous section of railroad track known as Dead Man's Cut. A 1912 publication about Keystone entitled "The Sodom and Gommorah of Today" warned the reader about "a narrow cut through which runs the Norfolk and Western Railway [now Norfolk Southern]." This track, abutted on both sides by a rock face--the taller of which separated the track from view of either town--provided bandits, murderers, thieves, and other criminals with enough seclusion for an ambush. Dead Man's Cut gets its name from the number of men discovered dead within this small patch of land. Often in fact, bodies were reported to have been placed on the railroad itself to be mutilated by the next passing train. In Keystone the traveler took his life into his own hands if he ever attempted to walk here after dark.

Lad, Virginia. Sodom and Gomorrah of Today; or the History of Keystone, West Virginia. 1912.