Qualla: 1976 Mason County Jail Bombing

1976 Mason County Jail Bombing: Introduction

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Bruce Sisk was 19. Harriet Sisk was 18. They had buried their two-month-old daughter on March 1, 1976. Harriet had confessed to strangling the baby. The funeral was held in Point Pleasant, West Virginia, and authorities allowed Harriet to attend her own child's burial under guard before returning her to the basement jail of the Mason County Courthouse. The next morning, March 2, Bruce visited the cell briefly and whispered to his wife for ten minutes. Hours later he came back with a sawed-off shotgun and a suitcase containing fifteen pounds of stolen dynamite. The blast killed both Sisks, two deputies, and the county sheriff. Three young West Virginia families lost someone that morning, and a small town in the Ohio River bend was left to figure out what to do with the ruins.

1976 Mason County Jail Bombing: Davi Calline Sisk

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

On February 28, 1976, Harriet Sisk reported to police that her two-month-old daughter Davi Calline had gone missing - possibly abducted, she said, from the family's mobile home. The search ended quickly. Officers found the baby's body in a shallow grave a short distance from the ...

1976 Mason County Jail Bombing: The Pact

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

On the morning of March 2, Bruce came to the courthouse and was allowed a 10-minute visit with Harriet in her basement cell. Her cellmate, Alice Missen, later said the conversation was conducted in whispers. Hours later Bruce returned carrying a sawed-off shotgun and a suitcase. ...

1976 Mason County Jail Bombing: The Dead

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Five people died. Bruce Sisk, age 19. Harriet Sisk, age 18. Deputy Kenneth Love, age 33. Sheriff Elvin Pete Wedge, age 48. Deputy Earnest Hesson, age 71. Three law enforcement officers and a young couple, all but one of them under the age of fifty. Eleven other people were wounde...

1976 Mason County Jail Bombing: What Remained

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Forensic investigators determined the bomb had been triggered by the electrical detonator, not by Bruce shooting the suitcase with his shotgun as initial reports suggested. He had not fired the shotgun at all. The dynamite came from a construction firm where Bruce had once worked...