Don’t Die in Bishop

There is a place on the border of Virginia and West Virginia. It is a small close knit community called Bishop.

Anyone reading this has probably never heard of Bishop. Don’t worry you are not missing anything.

My cousins own a house in Bishop and my family and I go down to visit occasionally.

On one sunny afternoon we take the thirty minute drive across a mountain to my cousins house. They unfortunately weren’t home.

That should have been when we went home, but no. Our other cousin was sitting out on his porch a couple houses down.

My mom, two year old sister and myself hop out of the car and mingle with my cousin.

There is a church event happening across the street. You wouldn’t think anything bad would happen.

Suddenly we hear beating and banging a couple houses up. I look and there are people camped out on a porch.

They are letting there kids run in the road and everything.

My cousin tells us they were evicted and have broken into the house. The property owners aren’t home. The only live a couple houses down the opposite direction.

My other cousins pull up in the driveway and proceed to call the property owners.

With no answer we all just go back to talking and listening to the church music.

That’s when all hell breaks loose.

A van stops in the middle of the road and tell the people camped out on the porch to leave. The people in the van are the property owners.

Screaming and cussing ensues. Then the owners get out of the van.

The people who broke in pick up anything they can and they all start fighting.

This is the definition of a hillbilly brawl.

People are throwing rocks and beating eachother with sticks. Kids are screaming and crying. The owner even got bitten by the people breaking in.

Now here I am watching from three houses down. I have three phones calling 911. None of the calls go through.

No signal of course. About ten people are using different phones to call, but no one gets an answer.

Finally a women gets here house phone and is on the phone with the police. They ask her all kinds of questions.

At this point the fight has stopped and the owners are at my cousins. We all are out on the porch waiting for the arrival of the police.

Meanwhile the people three houses up are still camped out on the porch cussing us.

The Pastor of the church that was still in service comes out of the church. He’s in his full robe and has a bible in his hand.

He’s preaching and praying. He gets on the phone to talk with the police.

Why? Because the police hung up on the women. He gets asked if we still need police assistance.

I’d say thirty minutes have gone by. We all are sitting out on the porch taking with everyone.

An hour goes by.

Then two.

Still no police.

After multiple calls they say they are coming from two hours away and are doing all they can.

Me and mom decide to take the baby home because it’s almost her bedtime.

When we reach service I dial 911 again. My call goes through and we explain the situation and tell them that there were kids involved.

The dispatcher pulls up my location. He tells me I am thirty minutes away from Bishop.

I proceed to tell him that I couldn’t get service and we called the police two and half hours before and they still weren’t there.

After five minutes he says he can’t help cause it’s not his jurisdiction. He connects me to another counties police department.

I tell them we still need police in Bishop. He rudely says that the police are on there way just give them time and hangs up.

When I got home I called my cousin and was told the police just got there. They made the people who broke in leave.

No arrests were made. No ambulances. No nothing.

The police were there for fifteen minutes and then they left.

Thirty minutes after they leave the people who break in return. They go back in the house and then get in their car and leave.

So moral of this story.

If you are ever sightseeing the United States. I do not recommend Bishop.

If you get beat up or hurt and need assistance you better hope you aren’t dying because you won’t get help for three hours.