Southern Mysteries Podcast

On May 4, 1931, William and Mamie Wagner were murdered at their home in northwest Mississippi. The Jackson Clarion-Ledger called the murders of one of the most prominent couples in the area, “the most brutal tragedy that has ever happened in this section of Mississippi”. Want more Southern Mysteries? Hear the Southern Mysteries show archive of 60+ episodes along with Patron exclusive podcast, Audacious: Tales of American Crime and more when you become a patron of the show. You can immediately access exclusive content now at patreon.com/southernmysteries Connect Website: southernmysteries.com Facebook: Southern Mysteries Podcast Instagram: @shannonballard_ Email: southernmysteriespodcast@gmail.com Episode Sources The Commercial AppealState Historical Society ArchivesThe Greenwood CommonwealthBiloxi Sun HeraldThe Clarion-LedgerThe Clarion-LedgerThe Clarion-LedgerNorth Mississippi HeraldNorth Mississippi HeraldHill Country HistoryAncestry.comWater Valley Chamber of Commerce Episode Music Impromptu and Unanswered Questions by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

The Nelms Sisters Mystery is one of the most sensational mysteries of the early 20th century, that most people have never heard of. In the summer of 1914, Eloise Nelms was in love with an attorney she planned to marry. Her sister Beatrice questioned the attorney’s motives and wanted proof that he had her sister's best interest at heart. The sisters took a train from Atlanta, headed to Texas to meet the attorney. They were never seen alive again. Want more Southern Mysteries? Hear the Southern Mysteries show archive of 60+ episodes along with Patron exclusive podcast, Audacious: Tales of American Crime and more when you become a patron of the show. You can immediately access exclusive content now at patreon.com/southernmysteries Connect Website: southernmysteries.com Facebook: Southern Mysteries Podcast Instagram: @shannonballard_ Email: southernmysteriespodcast@gmail.com Episode Sources An Old Coot’s EssaysForgotten StoriesAtlanta West EndThe Atlanta ConstitutionOakland Tribune:Charlotte Daily ObserverTampa Journal:The Atlanta Journal:San Francisco ExaminerThe Atlanta JournaThe Atlanta Journal:The Eugene Guard:The Atlanta Journal:The Macon TelegraphThe Americus Times Daily Recorder:The Atlanta Constitution Episode Music Northern Lights by Chris Hauge. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. Deep Haze by Kevin McLeod. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. Source: http://incompetech.com

The Battle of Blair Mountain, in the summer of 1921, was one of the largest civil uprisings in American History. Violent attacks on Appalachian miners and their families, dangerous working conditions and a forced debt system in company towns contributed to the largest and bloodiest armed uprising since the Civil War. Want more Southern Mysteries? Hear the Southern Mysteries show archive of 60+ episodes along with Patron exclusive podcast, Audacious: Tales of American Crime and more when you become a patron of the show. You can immediately access exclusive content now at patreon.com/southernmysteries Connect Website: southernmysteries.com Facebook: Southern Mysteries Podcast Instagram: @shannonballard_ Email: southernmysteriespodcast@gmail.com Episode Sources The Road to Blair MountainOn Dark and Bloody GroundNational Park ServiceSmithsonian Magazine:Zinn Education Project:ReImagine AppalachiaWest Virginia Archives & HistoryUnited Mine Workers of America:MuseumJSTOR Daily Episode Music Out of the Mines by Ross Gentry. Used with permission of artist. Resolution by Kevin McLeod. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. Source: http://incompetech.com

The disappearance of 67 year old Ruth Dorsey has perplexed her family, friends and Lee County, Alabama law enforcement for half a century. In the summer of 1974 investigators launched what would become one of the most extensive searches to date in the east central part of the state. Ruth’s disappearance remains one of Alabama’s most baffling mysteries. Want more Southern Mysteries? Hear the Southern Mysteries show archive of 60+ episodes along with Patron exclusive podcast, Audacious: Tales of American Crime and more when you become a patron of the show. You can immediately access exclusive content now at patreon.com/southernmysteries Connect Website: southernmysteries.com Facebook: Southern Mysteries Podcast Instagram: @shannonballard_ Email: southernmysteriespodcast@gmail.com Episode Sources The Charley ProjectEncyclopedia of AlabamaOpelika-Auburn NewsOpelika-Auburn NewsOpelika-Auburn NewsOpelika-Auburn NewsOpelika-Auburn NewsOpelika-Auburn NewsOpelika-Auburn NewsOpelika-Auburn NewsOpelika-Auburn NewsOpelika-Auburn NewsRootsWeb Episode Music Not Forgotten by Dan Lebowitz. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license.

The New Orleans Trunk Murders are a long forgotten dark chapter in the city's history. The gruesome discovery of two dismembered bodies in the French Quarter in October 1927 was one of the most violent crimes reported in the city in the 1920s. Want more Southern Mysteries? Hear the Southern Mysteries show archive of 60+ episodes along with Patron exclusive podcast, Audacious: Tales of American Crime and more when you become a patron of the show. You can immediately access exclusive content now at patreon.com/southernmysteries Connect Website: southernmysteries.com Facebook: Southern Mysteries Podcast Instagram: @shannonballard_ Email: southernmysteriespodcast@gmail.com Episode Sources The Historical New Orleans CollectionBayou JusticeAtlas ObscuraSouthern Spirit GuideFrench Quarter Mangement DistrictVieux Carré Digital SurveyFind A GraveFind A GraveFind A GraveThe Evergreen CourantOrlando Evening StarDaily Advertiser: Episode Music Dark Times and Long Note Two by Kevin MacLeod Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. Source: http://incompetech.com

William and Ellen Craft escaped slavery in Macon, Georgia by traveling to Philadelphia in 1848. Ellen, the light skinned daughter of her mixed race mother and their enslaver, posed as a young white male planter and William posed as her slave.Their daring escape made international headlines and the Crafts became two of the most famous emancipated people in American history. Want more Southern Mysteries? Hear the Southern Mysteries show archive of 60+ episodes along with Patron exclusive podcast, Audacious: Tales of American Crime and more when you become a patron of the show. You can immediately access exclusive content now at patreon.com/southernmysteries Connect Website: southernmysteries.com Facebook: Southern Mysteries Podcast Instagram: @shannonballard_ Email: southernmysteriespodcast@gmail.com Episode Sources Running a Thousand Miles for FreedomTime MagazineSmithsonian MagazineNational Park Service:HistoryGeorgia Women of Achievement:BBC Episode Music Traveller by Kevin MacLeod Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. Source: http://incompetech.com

Betty Gail Brown was a sophomore at Transylvania University in Lexington, Kentucky when she was murdered on campus in 1961.Betty Gail’s murder has haunted Central Kentucky for six decades. Who killed Betty Gail and why? The case remains unsolved despite the police file noting the case was closed due to an arrest. Want more Southern Mysteries? Hear the Southern Mysteries show archive of 60+ episodes along with Patron exclusive podcast, Audacious: Tales of American Crime and more when you become a patron of the show. You can immediately access exclusive content now at patreon.com/southernmysteries Connect Website: southernmysteries.com Facebook: Southern Mysteries Podcast Instagram: @shannonballard_ Email: southernmysteriespodcast@gmail.com Episode Sources Recommended ReadDaily News August 1966Find A GraveIndianapolis Star October 1961Lexington Herald-Leader January 1965Lexington Herald-Leader December 1984Lexington Herald-Leader November 2017The Rambler:The RamblerVice: Episode Music Surrender by Dan Lebowitz. Licensed under Creative Commons

On September 4, 1904, Fannie McCue was found dead in a bathtub at the McCue home in Charlottesville, Virginia. Within months a man was arrested, convicted of murder and executed. Doubts linger over his guilt and some believe his execution was staged. What happened in the McCue home the night Fannie was killed? Want more Southern Mysteries? Hear the Southern Mysteries show archive of 60+ episodes along with Patron exclusive podcast, Audacious: Tales of American Crime and more when you become a patron of the show. You can immediately access exclusive content now at patreon.com/southernmysteries Connect Website: southernmysteries.com Facebook: Southern Mysteries Podcast Twitter: @southernpod_ Instagram: @shannonballard_ Email: southernmysteriespodcast@gmail.com Episode Sources Episode Music Theme Song “Dark & Troubled” by Pantherburn. Special thanks to Phillip St Ours for permission for use. Evening Fall Piani by Kevin MacLeod Licensed under Creative Commons.

The Great Gaines Case remains the longest civil litigation in US History. The nearly six decade long court battle involved a wealthy Louisiana politician and merchant’s vast fortune, a hidden marriage and child and property in the heart of New Orleans business district. Want more Southern Mysteries? Hear the Southern Mysteries show archive of 60+ episodes along with Patron exclusive podcast, Audacious: Tales of American Crime and more when you become a patron of the show. You can immediately access exclusive content now at patreon.com/southernmysteries Connect Website: southernmysteries.com Facebook: Southern Mysteries Podcast Twitter: @southernpod_ Instagram: @shannonballard_ Email: southernmysteriespodcast@gmail.com Episode Sources Episode Music Theme Song “Dark & Troubled” by Pantherburn. Special thanks to Phillip St Ours for permission for use. Meditation Impromptu One by Kevin MacLeod Licensed under Creative Commons.

One of the biggest news stories in October 1934 was the kidnapping of Alice Speed Stoll from her home in Louisville, Kentucky. Seven days later she was set free but her kidnapper remained on the run. Who kidnapped Alice and why? Want more Southern Mysteries? Support this independent podcast on Patreon. Learn more and join today at patreon.com/southernmysteries Episode Sources https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=HT19341011.2.4&e=-------en--20--1--txt-txIN--------1https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/F2/144/392/1547644/https://www.indystar.com/story/news/history/retroindy/2019/12/20/alice-speed-stoll-kidnapping-went-louisville-indianapolis/2674240001/https://mirc.sc.edu/islandora/object/usc%3A26483https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn82015313/1934-10-17/ed-1/seq-3/https://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=HT19351024&e=-------en--20--1--txt-txIN--------1 Episode Music Alone with My Thoughts by Esther Abrami. Licensed under Creative Commons

David Stringbean Akeman was one of the biggest stars on the Grand Ole Opry throughout the 1950s. The accomplished banjo player rose to national fame thanks to his appearances on the country variety show Hee Haw. In November 1973, Stringbean and his wife Estelle were murdered at their cabin just outside Nashville. Their deaths forever changed Music City. Want more Southern Mysteries? Hear the Southern Mysteries show archive of 60+ episodes along with Patron exclusive podcast, Audacious: Tales of American Crime and more when you become a patron of the show. You can immediately access exclusive content now at patreon.com/southernmysteries Connect Website: southernmysteries.com Facebook: Southern Mysteries Podcast Twitter: @southernpod_ Instagram: @shannonballard_ Email: southernmysteriespodcast@gmail.com Episode Sources Episode Music Theme Song “Dark & Troubled” by Pantherburn. Special thanks to Phillip St Ours for permission for use. Castleshire by Chris Haugen. Licensed under Creative Commons.

The death of Daisy Keeton is one of Mississippi’s most horrifying murder mysteries. In January Daisy Keeton disappeared. Days later mutilated remains were discovered near an isolated road in Jones County. The investigation led police to Daisy’s daughter who was arrested and quickly dubbed Mississippi's Lizzie Borden. Want more Southern Mysteries? Hear the Southern Mysteries show archive of 60+ episodes along with Patron exclusive podcast, Audacious: Tales of American Crime and more when you become a patron of the show. You can immediately access exclusive content now at patreon.com/southernmysteries Connect Website: southernmysteries.com Facebook: Southern Mysteries Podcast Twitter: @southernpod_ Instagram: @shannonballard_ Email: southernmysteriespodcast@gmail.com Episode Sources Episode Music Theme Song “Dark & Troubled” by Pantherburn. Special thanks to Phillip St Ours for permission for use. Leoforos Alexandras by Dan Bodan. Licensed under Creative Commons.

Savannah is Georgia’s first city and one of America’s most haunted. If you visit Savannah’s historic district and stroll the city squares, at some point, you are walking on the dead. Victims of war, yellow fever epidemics, fires, murder and enslavement who died during turbulent times in the city. Savannah is a city that lives upon the dead and some continue to make their presence known. Want more Southern Mysteries? Hear the Southern Mysteries show archive of 60+ episodes along with Patron exclusive podcast, Audacious: Tales of American Crime and more when you become a patron of the show. You can immediately access exclusive content now at patreon.com/southernmysteries Connect Website: southernmysteries.com Facebook: Southern Mysteries Podcast Twitter: @southernpod_ Instagram: @shannonballard_ Email: southernmysteriespodcast@gmail.com Episode Sources Episode Music Theme Song “Dark & Troubled” by Pantherburn. Special thanks to Phillip St Ours for permission for use. Dark Times by Kevin MacLeod. Licensed under Creative Commons.

Demopolis, a small town in West Central Alabama, is the home to many a tale of ghosts and the unexplained, including at Bluff Hall. There is a dark history associated with the grand old home, including a funeral service for four members of the Smith family. The Demopolis Times called the discovery of their bodies in November 1934 “the most shocking tragedy that has happened in the city of Demopolis. Want more Southern Mysteries? Hear the Southern Mysteries show archive of 60+ episodes along with Patron exclusive podcast, Audacious: Tales of American Crime and more when you become a patron of the show. You can immediately access exclusive content now at patreon.com/southernmysteries Connect Website: southernmysteries.com Facebook: Southern Mysteries Podcast Twitter: @southernpod_ Instagram: @shannonballard_ Email: southernmysteriespodcast@gmail.com Episode Sources Episode Music Theme Song “Dark & Troubled” by Pantherburn. Special thanks to Phillip St Ours for permission for use. Peace of Mind and Long Note Two by Kevin MacLeod. Licensed under Creative Commons.

On December 11, 1926 a small town bank near Austin, Texas was robbed at gunpoint by a 21 year old college student Rebecca Bradley. She wasn’t the typical bank robber of the 1920s. What secrets drove this “girl next door” to armed robbery and arson? Want more Southern Mysteries? Hear the Southern Mysteries show archive of 60+ episodes along with Patron exclusive podcast, Audacious: Tales of American Crime and more when you become a patron of the show. You can immediately access exclusive content now at patreon.com/southernmysteries Connect Website: southernmysteries.com Facebook: Southern Mysteries Podcast Twitter: @southernpod_ Instagram: @shannonballard_ Email: southernmysteriespodcast@gmail.com Episode Sources Episode Music Theme Song “Dark & Troubled” by Pantherburn. Special thanks to Phillip St Ours for permission for use. Dixie Outlandish and Castleshire by Kevin MacLeod. Licensed under Creative Commons

Meet sisters Caroline Martin, Virginia Wardlaw and Mary Snead. They left a long trail of devastation and death of family members from Kentucky to Tennessee and Virginia on to New Jersey where they were implicated in the mysterious death of a young family member. Want more Southern Mysteries? Hear the Southern Mysteries show archive of 60+ episodes along with Patron exclusive podcast, Audacious: Tales of American Crime and more when you become a patron of the show. You can immediately access exclusive content now at patreon.com/southernmysteries Connect Website: southernmysteries.com Facebook: Southern Mysteries Podcast Twitter: @southernpod_ Instagram: @shannonballard_ Email: southernmysteriespodcast@gmail.com Episode Sources “Soule Sisters Series”, Daily News Journal, Sunday, October 2009. Accessed March 2, 2028. https://rutherfordtnhistory.org/rutherford-county-hosted-three-wicked-witches/ “Three Sisters in Black: The Bizarre True Case of the Bathtub Tragedy” by Norman Zierold. Accessed March 1, 2018. https://books.google.com/books?id=wqdLDwAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false “Ghosts of past still frighten New River Valley”, Collegiate Times, October 31, 2006. Accessed March 10, 2018. https://www.collegiatetimes.com/lifestyle/ghosts-of-past-still-frighten-new-river-valley/article_0b71ec43-ff02-5af4-a83e-8016c081891a.html “Sister Act: The Bizarre Drowning of Ocey Snead”, The Lineup, July 19, 2018. Accessed August 1, 2023. https://the-line-up.com/the-bizarre-drowning-of-ocey-snead Episode Music Theme Song “Dark & Troubled” by Pantherburn. Special thanks to Phillip St Ours for permission for use. Colorless Aura by Kevin MacLeod. Licensed under Creative Commons.

Otto Wood was a self–proclaimed one armed-bandit from North Carolina. He made a name for himself as a bootlegger who loved stealing from the rich. Being sent to jail only heightened his fame. He escaped prison so many times he was nicknamed the Hillbilly Houdini. Want more Southern Mysteries? Hear the Southern Mysteries show archive of 60+ episodes along with Patron exclusive podcast, Audacious: Tales of American Crime and more when you become a patron of the show. You can immediately access exclusive content now at patreon.com/southernmysteries Connect Website: southernmysteries.com Facebook: Southern Mysteries Podcast Twitter: @southernpod_ Instagram: @shannonballard_ Email: southernmysteriespodcast@gmail.com Episode Sources ‘They started popping bullets’: Eyewitness recalls the day Otto Wood died. Salisbury Post. January 2015. Accessed August 1, 2023. https://www.salisburypost.com/2015/07/30/they-started-popping-bullets-eyewitness-recalls-the-day-otto-wood-died/ Wood, Otto. Life history of Otto Wood: inmate, State Prison. Raleigh, N.C.: 1926. Otto Wood: North Carolina’s One Man Crime Wave. Old Hat Records. Accessed August 3, 2023. http://www.oldhatrecords.com/ResearchOttoWood.html The not too well-known desperado. Accessed August 3, 2023. http://kronsell.net/woodenglish.htm McKenzie, T. (2021). Otto Wood, the Bandit: The Freighthopping Thief, Bootlegger, and Convicted Murderer behind the Appalachian Ballads. University of North Carolina Press. http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5149/9781469665672_mckenzie Episode Music The Colonel by Zachariah Hickman. Licensed under Creative Commons; Otto Wood: The Bandit by The Carolina Buddies, Columbia Phonograph Recordings, 1931. Theme Song “Dark & Troubled” by Pantherburn. Special thanks to Phillip St Ours for permission for use.

In June 1964, the Ku Klux Klan conspired with law enforcement in Neshoba County, Mississippi to kidnap and murder three young civil rights workers. James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner were murdered in an effort to preserve segregation in the state and deter further civil rights activism. Despite dozens of indictments and a few trials, was justice served? What role did the state of Mississippi play in their murders? Want more Southern Mysteries? Hear the Southern Mysteries show archive of 60+ episodes along with Patron exclusive podcast, Audacious: Tales of American Crime and more when you become a patron of the show. You can immediately access exclusive content now at patreon.com/southernmysteries Connect Website: southernmysteries.com Facebook: Southern Mysteries Podcast Twitter: @southernpod_ Instagram: @shannonballard_ Email: southernmysteriespodcast@gmail.com Episode Sources Episode Music Spirit of Fire by Jesse Gallager. Licensed under Creative Commons; Theme Song “Dark & Troubled” by Pantherburn. Special thanks to Phillip St Ours for permission for use

This 2020 episode is one of the most popular in the Southern Mysteries archive. It tells the story of Elizabeth Dale. Between the 1830s and 1850s, she was married and widowed, six times. Each husband died following a mysterious illness. When Elizabeth’s neighbor accused her of murdering her husbands, he learned that questioning Elizabeth could cost you your life. Want more Southern Mysteries? Hear the Southern Mysteries show archive of 60+ episodes along with Patron exclusive podcast, Audacious: Tales of American Crime and more when you become a patron of the show. You can immediately access exclusive content now at patreon.com/southernmysteries Connect Website: southernmysteries.com Instagram: @shannonballard_ Email: southernmysteriespodcast@gmail.com Episode Sources Elizabeth High-Brown-Routt: Hazel Green's First Serial Killer, Memories of Madison County. Elizabeth Evans Dale. Huntsville History Collection Federal Writers Project (2013). The WPA Guide to Alabama: The Camellia State. Retrieved from http://books.google.com "Attempt to Convict Based On The Testimony Of A Monomaniac". Nashville Daily Patriot. [volume], January 22, 1856, Image 2 "Dead Husbands Tell No Tales". Okay, Listen Here. 27 October 2010 "Elizabeth Routt: Did She Murder Her Six Husbands Or Was She a Victim of Misfortune?" Huntsville Times. 26 February 1976 Carrington, Virgil. True Tales of Old Madison County, (1992). Johnson Historical Publications Episode Music Theme Song “Dark & Troubled” by Pantherburn. Special thanks to Phillip St Ours for permission for use. Plantation by Audionautix. Licensed under Creative Commons. One Mile East of Hazel Green by Shane Adkins, from performance at Von Braun Center, Huntsville Alabama on June 7th, 2014 as part of Jim Parker's Songwriter Series

In 1959 Osprey, Florida was shaken by the murder of the Walker Family, just days before Christmas. The quadruple murder remains unsolved. Some investigators believe there’s a connection between the murder of the Walkers in Florida…and the Clutter Family Murder in Holcomb, Kansas. Want more Southern Mysteries? Hear the Southern Mysteries show archive of 60+ episodes along with Patron exclusive podcast, Audacious: Tales of American Crime and more when you become a patron of the show. You can immediately access exclusive content now at patreon.com/southernmysteries Connect Website: southernmysteries.com Facebook: Southern Mysteries Podcast Twitter: @southernpod_ Instagram: @shannonballard_ Email: southernmysteriespodcast@gmail.com Episode Sources https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/525057/walker-2.pdfhttps://www.heraldtribune.com/story/news/2005/12/19/the-suspects-a-litany-of-names-and-clues/28452224007/https://www.theledger.com/story/news/2013/05/18/years-later-sarasota-murders-tied/8122891007/https://truecrimedetective.co.uk/in-cold-blood-ii-the-walker-family-murders-d16969e7dac4https://www.tampabay.com/archive/1994/03/23/resurrecting-the-mummy-murder-case/https://www.gcpolice.org/about-gcpd/history/famous-cases/clutter-family-murdershttps://web.archive.org/web/20151126101903/http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20130813/ARTICLE/130819868https://web.archive.org/web/20130128075855/http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20121209/ARTICLE/121209622?p=2&tc=pghttps://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424127887323951904578292491087476234 Episode Music Emotional Alone by Purple Planet Music. Licensed under Creative Commons; Theme Song “Dark & Troubled” by Pantherburn. Special thanks to Phillip St Ours for permission for use