In December 1968, Barbara Jane Mackle was kidnapped from a motel room outside Atlanta, Georgia. The circumstances surrounding her abduction were so strange, investigators could barely make sense of them. The search for twenty year old Barbara Jane Mackle became a race against time that gripped her family and drew national attention. 

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Episode Sources

• Miller, Gene. 83 Hours Till Dawn. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1971.
• “FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives: Ruth Eisemann-Schier, 1969.” Federal Bureau of Investigation, Ten Most Wanted Program Archives.
• “Kidnapped Heiress Rescued from Buried Box.” The Miami Herald, December 21, 1968.
• “Barbara Mackle Found Alive.” The Atlanta Constitution, December 21, 1968.
• “Agents Seize Suspect in Mackle Kidnapping.” The Miami Herald, December 21–23, 1968.
• “Man Held in Heiress Kidnap Case.” The New York Times, December 22, 1968.
• “Girl in Box Case.” Los Angeles Times, December 22, 1968.
• “Suspect Caught in Marsh After Days on the Run.” Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale), December 1968.
• “Woman on FBI List Seized in Oklahoma.” The Oklahoman, February 8, 1969.
• United States v. Gary Steven Krist, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, 1969.
• United States v. Ruth Eisemann-Schier, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, 1969.
• FBI, Supplemental Case Report: Kidnapping of Barbara Jane Mackle, December 1968 (declassified portions).
• Jordan, C.D. “Account of the Mackle Kidnapping Rescue.” Interview, FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin, 1970.
• Associated Press. “Heiress Found Alive in Buried Box; Ransom Paid.” December 21, 1968.
• United Press International. “Search Intensifies for Kidnappers After Ransom Drop Fails.” December 1968.
• “Krist Granted Medical License Despite Record.” The Indianapolis News, July 23, 1985.
• U.S. Department of Justice. “South Florida Man Sentenced in Cocaine Trafficking Case.” DOJ Press Release, 2006.
• “Eisemann-Schier Paroled and Deported.” The Miami Herald, 1973.
• Emory Wheel (Emory University). “Student Kidnapped from Decatur Motel.” December 18–22, 1968 coverage.
• “The Mackle Kidnapping Revisited.” People Magazine (retrospective feature), 1998.
• “Buried Alive: The 1968 Abduction of Barbara Mackle.” CNN.com, Crime Retrospective Series, 2003.
• “83 Hours in the Earth.” CBS News Sunday Morning, archival retrospective segment.

Episode Music

Out of the Mines, courtesy of Ross Gentry, Asheville, North Carolina.

In 1877, a young woman arrived in Jefferson, Texas, wearing diamonds and traveling with a man who claimed to be her husband. Days later, her body was found in the woods, and her name was unknown. She became known as Diamond Bessie, and her death led to one of the most sensational murder trials in Texas history. This episode of Southern Mysteries explores her life, the circumstances of her murder, the trials of Abe Rothschild, and the legacy of a woman the town refused to forget.

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Episode Sources

• Texas State Historical Association (TSHA) entry on "Diamond Bessie"
• Handbook of Texas Online
• Library of Congress Newspaper Archives
• “East Texas in the 1800s: Jefferson and the Murder of Diamond Bessie,” Jefferson Historical Society
• Oakwood Cemetery, Jefferson Texas burial records
• University of North Texas Portal to Texas History
• The Diamond Bessie Murder Trial – Jefferson Playhouse historical archives
• “The Jefferson Murders” — archived article from The Dallas Morning News
• East Texas Tales by Bob Bowman
• Chronicling America – Historical newspaper records (Library of Congress)
• Marshall, Texas Capitol Hotel registration archives (via local historical society)
• “Diamond Bessie Reenactment Keeps History Alive” — Texas Highways
• Ancestry records and obituaries (Watertown, NY) for Annie Stone / Bessie Moore
• Archives of the Rothschild family business in Cincinnati (local historical collections)

Episode Music

Out of the Mines, courtesy of Ross Gentry, Asheville, North Carolina.

In 1905, eight-year-old Kenneth Beasley, the son of North Carolina State Senator Samuel Beasley, walked out of his one-room schoolhouse in Poplar Branch, Currituck County—and vanished. What followed was one of the most haunting and controversial cases in North Carolina history. A bitter feud between two respected families, a trial built on circumstantial evidence, and a man’s death that left more questions than answers. Over a century later, the disappearance of the senator’s son remains unsolved. In this episode of Southern Mysteries, explore the loss, suspicion, and silence that still echo through the story of Kenneth Beasley—a mystery that has never let go of the Carolina coast.

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Episode Sources

• State v. Harrison, 146 N.C. 540 (1907) – Official North Carolina Supreme Court opinion detailing the 1907 conviction of Joshua T. Harrison for the kidnapping of Kenneth Beasley; includes procedural history, evidence summary, and court rulings.
• The News and Observer (Raleigh, N.C.), February 1905 – Original newspaper publication of the anonymous letter alleging a man seen with a crying boy in a buggy near Barco on the day Kenneth Beasley disappeared. 
• The Elizabeth City Economist (Elizabeth City, N.C.), March 1907 – Contemporary reporting on the Pasquotank County trial of Joshua Harrison; includes witness testimony summaries and public reaction to the guilty verdict. 
• The Norfolk Virginian-Pilot (Norfolk, Va.), September 1907 – Coverage of Joshua Harrison’s suicide at the Gladstone Hotel following the Supreme Court’s decision; includes mention of the suicide note claiming innocence. 
• The Richmond Times-Dispatch (Richmond, Va.), September 19, 1907 – Regional coverage of Harrison’s death and aftermath, quoting Senator Beasley’s reaction that Harrison “took his secret to the grave.”
• The Atlanta Georgian, September 1907 – Additional newspaper reporting on Harrison’s suicide, reprinting statements from North Carolina officials regarding the case outcome.
• Currituck County, North Carolina GenWeb Archives – Miscellaneous Newspaper Articles – Digitized transcriptions of early 20th-century reports on the Beasley case, including disappearance coverage, Harrison’s indictment, and excerpts from the Supreme Court opinion.
• Beach Glass Books – The Senator’s Son: The Shocking Disappearance of Kenneth Beasley, and the Trials of Joshua Harrison by Charles Oldham (2018) – Modern historical investigation into the case; draws from court records, newspaper archives, and local oral history.
• Most Notorious Podcast – Interview with Charles Oldham (December 7, 2023) – Discussion of the Beasley disappearance and Harrison’s trial; includes historical context on Currituck County politics and the culture of the early 1900s.
• Strange Company Blog – “Where is Kenneth Beasley?” (January 6, 2020) – Summary of the case using verified newspaper accounts; cites the News and Observer letter and the 1907 court proceedings.
• Find a Grave – Senator Samuel Mordecai Beasley (1863–1910) – Burial information and biographical details confirming Beasley’s death in Norfolk, Virginia.
• Find a Grave – Joshua Thomas Harrison (1839–1907) – Burial and genealogical data, confirming Harrison’s identity, family connections, and date of death.
• Currituck County Historical Society Records – Local archival notes and oral tradition references to the Beasley disappearance; confirm the location of Poplar Branch schoolhouse and family properties.
• North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources – State Archives, Raleigh – Holding references for Beasley and Harrison court and legislative documents, including the 1906–1907 Currituck Superior Court docket entries.
• U.S. Census Records, Currituck County (1900 & 1910) – Verification of Beasley and Harrison family members, occupations, and ages.
• Elmwood Cemetery Records (Norfolk, Virginia) – Burial registry confirming interment of Senator Samuel M. Beasley, 1910.

Episode Music

Out of the Mines, courtesy of Ross Gentry, Asheville, North Carolina.

Across the South, the word witch has been used to explain what people fear and cannot control. For generations, healers, midwives, conjurers and root workers carried knowledge their communities needed, yet often faced suspicion when tragedy struck. In this episode of Southern Mysteries, we explore the real lives and southern legends behind those branded as witches. From colonial courts to mountain cabins and coastal swamps, these stories reveal how the line between healing and haunting has always been thin and how fear can turn ordinary people into figures of folklore.

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Episode Sources

• Anderson, Jeffery E. Conjure in African American Society. Louisiana State University Press, 2005.
• American Folklife Center, Library of Congress — regional oral history collections on conjure, hoodoo, and midwifery.
• Anniston Hot Blast and Birmingham Age-Herald (Alabama newspapers), 1880s witchcraft coverage.
• Deep South Magazine. “Julia ‘Aunt Julie’ Brown: Debunking Her Voodoo Priestess Mythos.”
• Encyclopedia of Louisiana. “Marie Laveau.” Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities.
• Encyclopedia Virginia. “Sherwood, Grace (ca. 1660–1740).”
• Federal Writers’ Project. South Carolina Slave Narratives. Library of Congress, 1938.
• Ferry Plantation House Museum archives, Virginia Beach, Virginia.
  Fett, Sharla M. Working Cures: Healing, Health, and Power on Southern Slave Plantations. University of North Carolina Press, 2002.
• Foxfire 2: Houses and Appalachian Traditions. Edited by Eliot Wigginton. Anchor Books, 1973.
• Historic New Orleans Collection. “Julia Brown: Hoodoo, Hurricanes, and a Storm-Swamped Ruddock.”
• L’Observateur (St. John the Baptist Parish, Louisiana). “Voodoo Queen and Forces Unseen.”
• Library of Virginia. “The Case of Grace Sherwood, 1706.” Princess Anne County Court Records.
• Louisiana State Museum archives, St. Louis Cemetery No. 1, New Orleans, Louisiana.
• Long, Carolyn Morrow. A New Orleans Voudou Priestess: The Legend and Reality of Marie Laveau. University Press of Florida, 2006.
• Martha Ward. Voodoo Queen: The Spirited Lives of Marie Laveau. University Press of Mississippi, 2004.
• McTeer, J.E. Fifty Years as a Low Country Witch Doctor. University of South Carolina Press, 1971.
• Mental Floss. “The Legend and Truth of the Voodoo Priestess Who Haunts a Louisiana Swamp.”
• Milnes, Gerald. Signs, Cures, and Witchery: German Appalachian Folklore. University of Tennessee Press, 2007.
• National Park Service. “Marie Laveau’s Tomb – St. Louis Cemetery No. 1.”
• Norton, Mary Beth. In the Devil’s Snare: The Salem Witchcraft Crisis of 1692. Vintage Books, 2003.
• Princess Anne County Order Book, 1695–1709. Virginia State Library microfilm collection.
• Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage. “Granny Women: Healers of the Southern Appalachians.”
• South Carolina Encyclopedia. “Dr. Buzzard.”
• South Magazine. “Lowcountry Root Doctors.”
• The State (Columbia, South Carolina). “In the mid-20th century, even the county sheriff was a witch doctor.”
• Swannanoa Valley Museum. “Mary Stepp Burnette Hayden: Midwife and Healer of Western North Carolina.”
• The St. John the Baptist Pioneer, October 1915, hurricane coverage.
• The Times-Picayune (New Orleans), October 1–3, 1915, storm and casualty reports; obituary, June 17, 1881.
• Virginia Memory, Library of Virginia. “Good Witch or Bad Witch? The Grace Sherwood Trial and Pardon.”
• Ward, Martha. Voodoo Queen: The Spirited Lives of Marie Laveau. University Press of Mississippi, 2004.
• Western Carolina University Digital Humanities Project. “Midwives and the Medicalization of Birth in Appalachia.”
• Wikipedia (used for verification of geography and storm data): “Frenier, Louisiana” and “1915 New Orleans Hurricane.”
• Wigginton, Eliot, ed. Foxfire 2: Houses and Appalachian Traditions. Anchor Books, 1973.

Episode Music

Out of the Mines, courtesy of Ross Gentry, Asheville, North Carolina.

In 1872, the quiet Georgia town of Surrency became the center of one of America’s strangest mysteries. Inside the home of Allen Powell Surrency, glass shattered, clocks ran backward, and furniture moved without a hand touching it. The events drew scientists, skeptics, and spiritualists, including one from Salem, Massachusetts. Was it a hoax, hysteria, or something that defied explanation? In this episode of Southern Mysteries, uncover the story of the Surrency family and the haunting that shook a town, blurred the line between faith and fear, and became one of the most documented poltergeist cases in U.S. history.

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Episode Sources

• The Savannah Morning News (Oct–Dec 1872) – Coverage of the Surrency disturbances
• The Atlanta Constitution (Nov 1872–Jan 1873) – Reports on the “Surrency Mystery”
• The Augusta Chronicle (Oct 1872) – Editorial accounts of the Surrency haunting
• The New York Times (Dec 4 1872) – “Spiritual Manifestations in Georgia”
• The Albany Patriot – Reprinted witness letters and commentary, 1872
• The Philadelphia Inquirer (1872–1873) – Syndicated reports on the haunting
• Harper’s Weekly (1873) – “Poltergeists and the Marvels of Surrency”
• John W. Truesdell, The Bottom Facts Concerning the Science of Spiritualism (1873)
• The Boston Globe (1872–1873) – Reports on Charles H. Foster
• Georgia Historical Quarterly Vol. 47 (1963) – “The Surrency Ghost: A Georgia Poltergeist Reexamined”
• The Georgia Encyclopedia – Entry on Surrency, Appling County
• Alan Brown, Haunted Georgia: Ghosts and Strange Phenomena of the Peach State (2008)
• Charles Elliott, Strange Tales of the South: Haunted Houses and Ghost Legends (1974)
• Dennis William Hauck, Haunted Places: The National Directory (2002)
• Jim Miles, Haunted South Georgia (2017)
• J. Michael Norman, Spirits of the Southeast (2010)
• Rosemary Ellen Guiley, The Encyclopedia of Ghosts and Spirits, 3rd Ed. (2007)
• Tiya Miles, Phantoms of the Past: The American South and the Supernatural (2021)
• Alan Gauld & A.D. Cornell, Psychical Research and the Poltergeist (1979)
• Michael Norman & Beth Scott, Haunted America (1988)
• Nancy Roberts, Haunted Houses: Tales from the American South (1972)
• Jim Miles, Haunted Georgia: Ghosts and Legends of the Peach State (2010)
• Randy Russell & Janet Barnett, Spirits of the South: Ghost Stories of Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi (2000)
• Alan Dundes, Dictionary of American Folklore (1993)
• William G. Roll, The Poltergeist Phenomenon (2012)
• Nancy Roberts, Haunted Houses: Where Ghosts Still Roam (1979)
• Kathryn Tucker Windham, Southern Spirits: Tales of the Supernatural from the Deep South (1983)
• Ann Braude, The American Spiritualist Movement, 1848–1920 (2001)
• Muriel V. Murphree, Mysteries and Legends of Georgia (2009)
• Georgia Public Broadcasting (2021) – “The Surrency Poltergeist: Georgia’s Most Documented Haunting”
• Georgia Archives – Appling County records and land grants, Allen P. Surrency estate (1870s–1880s)
• U.S. Census Records – Appling County, Georgia (1870–1880)
• Library of Congress Chronicling America – Digitized newspaper archives, 1872–1873
• Frank Podmore, The Poltergeist in History (1896)
• American Hauntings Podcast, Season 4, Episode 14 – “The Surrency Ghost”
• Beast of Bladenboro – “The Surrency Haunting: Georgia’s Most Infamous Poltergeist”
• Otherworldly Oracle – “The Surrency Ghosts: True Terrifying Tales of Haunted Georgia”
• PANICd.com – “ParaPedia: The Surrency Family Poltergeist”
• US Ghost Adventures – “The Poltergeist of Phelps Mansion”
• Paranormal Research Society of New England – “Phelps Mansion”
• American Hauntings Ink – “The Stratford Poltergeist”

Episode Music

Out of the Mines, courtesy of Ross Gentry, Asheville, North Carolina.

Across the South, battlefields and forts still bear the weight of the wars fought upon them. In this episode of Southern Mysteries, explore the haunting history of places like Shiloh, Franklin, Vicksburg, and Fort Morgan. From phantom soldiers and restless spirits to the families forever changed by the fighting, these are the stories where Southern history and haunting meet, and where the echoes of war still move through the land.

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Visit SouthernMysteries.com for more episodes and source lists.

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Episode Sources

• U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs – Bivouac of the Dead poem and history
• Emerging Civil War – “Bivouacs of the Dead” and its legacy on battlefields
• Wikipedia – Theodore O’Hara biography and authorship of Bivouac of the Dead
• National Park Service – Shiloh National Military Park history and visitor resources
• American Battlefield Trust – Battle of Shiloh Overview
• National Park Service – Battle of Stones River history and maps
• Murfreesboro Historical Association – Legends of the Headless Horseman of Stones River
• Find a Grave / Military Memorials – Lt. Col. Julius Peter Garesché burial and biographical record
• National Park Service – Battle of Franklin: Carter House and Lotz House history
• Battle of Franklin Trust – Carnton Plantation and the McGavock Confederate Cemetery
• Tennessee Encyclopedia – Carrie McGavock, “Widow of the South”
• American Battlefield Trust – Battle of Franklin Overview
• National Park Service – Vicksburg National Military Park history
• National Park Service – The Shirley House and the Siege of Vicksburg
• Library of Congress – Civil War Diaries: Emma Balfour of Vicksburg
• American Battlefield Trust – Battle of Vicksburg Summary
• Encyclopedia of Alabama – Fort Morgan: History and Civil War significance
• Alabama Historical Commission – Fort Morgan Historic Site visitor and preservation info
• Legends of America – Ghosts of Fort Morgan, Alabama
• Alabama News Center – Fort Morgan’s haunted reputation and legends
• National Park Service – Fort Monroe National Monument history
• Encyclopedia Virginia – Fort Monroe during the Civil War and the “Contraband Decision”
• Fort Monroe Authority – Historic resources and preservation efforts
• American Battlefield Trust – Fort Monroe overview and historical context
• Virginia Department of Historic Resources – Fort Monroe National Historic Landmark documentation

Episode Music

Out of the Mines, courtesy of Ross Gentry, Asheville, North Carolina.

Across the South, asylums were built with the promise of healing — but inside their walls, countless lives were marked by fear, neglect, and cruelty. In this episode of Southern Mysteries, explore the haunting history of institutions like Broughton Hospital, Cherry Hospital, Central State, and Bryce. From mysterious deaths and forced sterilizations to the tragedy of the Eller twins and the lifetime confinement of Junius Wilson, these are the real horrors that gave rise to Southern asylum ghost stories — and the suffering that still echoes through their halls.

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Want more Southern Mysteries? You can 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

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Episode Sources

• Associated Press coverage, April 1962 — “Twin Sisters Die Together in Asylum.”
  
  
• Winston-Salem Journal, April 1962 (coverage of coroner Dr. John C. Reece’s statements).
  
  
• Morganton News Herald, April 1971 coverage of Dr. Paul Douglas Boyles and Betty Cheek Yarborough.
  
  
• Associated Press regional wire, April 14–15, 1971.
  
  
• Find a Grave – Betty Jo Eller & Bobbie Jean Eller memorials.
  
  
• Southern Spirit Guide: “Ill Defined and Unknown Cause of Morbidity and Mortality.”
  
  
• Asheville Terrors: “Broughton Hospital.”
  
  
• Schoen, Johanna. Choice and Coercion: Birth Control, Sterilization, and Abortion in Public Health and Welfare. University of North Carolina Press, 2005.
  
  
• Segrest, Mab. Administrations of Lunacy: Racism and the Haunting of American Psychiatry at the Milledgeville Asylum. New Press, 2020.
  
  
• Pennsylvania Hospital Archives – Dr. Thomas Story Kirkbride papers.
  
  
• Grob, Gerald N. The Mad Among Us: A History of the Care of America’s Mentally Ill. Harvard University Press, 1994.
  
  
• Yanni, Carla. The Architecture of Madness: Insane Asylums in the United States. University of Minnesota Press, 2007.
  
  
• “Central State Hospital Cemetery Restoration Project.” Georgia Department of Behavioral Health & Developmental Disabilities.
  
  
• Atlanta Journal-Constitution archival coverage on Central State Hospital.
  
  
• The Crimson White (University of Alabama student paper):
  
  
  • “The Hidden History Behind Bryce Hospital” (2023).
    
    
  • “Bryce Uncovered: A Look at the Asylum’s Short-Lived Newspaper” (2017).
    
    
• Wyatt v. Stickney, 325 F. Supp. 781 (M.D. Ala. 1971).
  
  
• Alabama Department of Mental Health archives.
  
  
• HauntedPlaces.org – “Bryce Hospital.”
  
  
• Ghost Hunts USA – “Bryce Hospital.”
  
  
• Ghost City Tours – “Central State Hospital.”
  
  
• US Ghost Adventures – “Central State Hospital.”
  
  
• UNC–Chapel Hill Southern Oral History Program — Junius Wilson case archives.
  
  
• News & Observer (Raleigh) coverage of Junius Wilson’s release and life, 1990s–2000s.

Episode Music

Out of the Mines, courtesy of Ross Gentry, Asheville, North Carolina.

In 1891, fear and anger in New Orleans boiled over after the murder of Police Chief David Hennessy. Within months, eleven Italian immigrants were dead, their lives taken by a mob in one of the darkest and most violent moments in American history. In this episode of Southern Mysteries, we revisit the events that led to the tragedy

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Episode Sources

• New Orleans Public Library – Records of the Board of Police Commissioners, 1890–1891 (detailing Hennessy’s murder, police leadership changes, and subsequent arrests).
• Library of Congress – Historic photographs of New Orleans docks and immigrant labor, 1891.
• Smithsonian Magazine – “New Orleans Apologizes for 1891 Lynching of Italian Americans” (April 2019).
• History.com – “The Grisly Story of America’s Largest Lynching” (2019).
• American Italian Cultural Center, New Orleans – Archival material on Italian immigration and the 2019 mayoral apology.
• New Orleans Times-Democrat, October 1890–March 1891 coverage (contemporary reporting on Hennessy’s murder, the trial, and the mob attack).
• United States Department of State – Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, 1891 (diplomatic correspondence with Italy following the lynchings).
• Reimagining Migration – “The Lynching of Italian Immigrants” (educational resource on anti-immigrant violence).
• Order Sons & Daughters of Italy in America (OSDIA) – The 1891 New Orleans Project (materials on commemoration and memorial efforts).
• John V. Baiamonte Jr. – “The Mafia and the 1891 New Orleans Lynching: The Question of Criminal Conspiracy” (Louisiana History: The Journal of the Louisiana Historical Association, Vol. 21, No. 3, 1980).
• Italian Sons and Daughters of America – “Our Darkest Hour: Anarchy, a Lynch Mob and 11 Souls Lost.”
• All That’s Interesting – “The Tragic Story of the 1891 New Orleans’ Lynchings of Italians.”

Episode Music

Out of the Mines, courtesy of Ross Gentry, Asheville, North Carolina.

In June 1955, Judge Curtis Chillingworth and his wife Marjorie vanished from their Manalapan, Florida, beach cottage. There were haunting clues, but no bodies were ever found. Their disappearance exposed corruption in Florida’s courts and led to the downfall of a fellow judge. Curtis was known for integrity, Marjorie for her quiet strength — together, they became the heart of one of Florida’s most infamous true crime cases. Their story, and its unexpected ties to the legend of Trapper Nelson, remains one of Florida’s most haunting mysteries.

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Want more Southern Mysteries? You can 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

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Episode Sources

• Palm Beach Bar Association. Memorial Resolution for Judge Curtis E. Chillingworth. (1965) palmbeachbar.org
• Florida Memory. Justice Curtis E. Chillingworth Temporary Appointment Bio. floridamemory.com
• The Charley Project. Curtis Eugene Chillingworth Case File. charleyproject.org
• The Charley Project. Marjorie McKinley Chillingworth Case File. charleyproject.org
• Crime + Investigation UK. Judge Joe Peel and the Chillingworth Murders. crimeandinvestigation.co.uk
• The Coastal Star. Manalapan 60 Years On: Chillingworth Murders Still Shocking. thecoastalstar.com
• Mental Floss. What Happened to Judge Curtis Chillingworth? mentalfloss.com
• Town of Manalapan. History of Incorporation and Harold S. Vanderbilt. manalapan.org
• Wikipedia. Curtis Chillingworth. wikipedia.org/wiki/Curtis_Chillingworth
• Unlikely Friends — A municipal publication from Jupiter, FL, describing the unlikely friendship between Judge Curtis Chillingworth and Vincent “Trapper” Nelson.https://www.jupiter.fl.us/DocumentCenter/View/301/Judge-Chillingworth-Murder

Episode Music

Out of the Mines, courtesy of Ross Gentry, Asheville, North Carolina.

In February 1922, a road crew in rural Copiah County, Mississippi, stumbled upon a horrifying scene—a woman’s charred remains hidden in a ravine known as Dark Hollow. For two days, her identity was a mystery. When a child's discovery of a burned key ring offered a name, the investigation quickly escalated into one of Mississippi’s most shocking murder cases of the 1920s.

This episode of Southern Mysteries unravels the tragic life and violent death of Ada Drury Converse. From a difficult upbringing and early motherhood to a string of marriages and financial success, Ada's life was marked by struggle—and, ultimately, betrayal.

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Episode Sources

• Feb 20, 1922 – Selma Woman Killed by Husband, Uncle Charges. The Selma Times-Journal, Page 1 – Newspapers.com
• Feb 23, 1922 – Sons of Mrs. Ada Drury Converse Held on Questioning of Death. The Montgomery Advertiser, Page 3 – Newspapers.com
• Feb 23, 1922 – Converse Held in Houston in Copiah Murder. Jackson Daily News, Page 1 – Newspapers.com
• Feb 26, 1922 – Mrs. Converse Wrote to Son Since Arrest. The Selma Times-Journal, Page 1 – Newspapers.com
• Mar 01, 1922 –  Sheriff Confident Milton Drury Killed His Mother. The Selma Times-Journal, Page 1 – Newspapers.com
• May 13, 1922 – Milton Drury Please Guilty to Murder of Mother. The Montgomery Advertiser, Page 1 – Newspapers.com
• May 19, 1922 – Drury Says Pleaded Guilty to Avoid Hangman’s Noose The Winona Times, Page 1 – Newspapers.com
• Sep 15, 1933 – Infamous Copiah Murderer Once Again at Liberty. Clarion-Ledger, Page 1 – Newspapers.com
• Sep 20, 1933 – Normal People Won’t Waste Sympathy on this Convict. Clarion-Ledger, Page 6 – Newspapers.com

Episode Music

Out of the Mines, courtesy of Ross Gentry, Asheville, North Carolina.

In 1957, Arkansas attorney Maud Crawford vanished from her home in Camden without a trace. Her disappearance became one of the state’s most enduring mysteries. This episode of Southern Mysteries examines Maud Crawford’s life, the corruption she uncovered, and the investigation that revealed what may have led to her disappearance.

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Episode Sources

• Maud Robinson Crawford – Encyclopedia of Arkansas
• Clyde Falwell Crawford (1894–1969) – Find a Grave Memorial
• Maud Robinson Crawford (1891-1957) - Find a Grave Memorial
• Maud R. Crawford (1891–1957) – Arkansas Women's Hall of Fame
• Maud Robinson Crawford – The Charley Project
• Cold Case, Southwest Arkansas: A Look at Two Unsolved Cases in the Region – [Arkansas True Crime Blog or Archive Source] “The Disappearance of Maud Crawford” – YouTube
• Small Town’s Biggest Secret: Author Says Arkansas Woman’s 1957 Disappearance Is Full of Corruption – KLRT FOX16
• The Disappearance of Maud Crawford. Beth Brickell. https://www.amazon.com/Disappearance-Maud-Crawford-Beth-Brickell/dp/1628909587

Episode Music

Out of the Mines, courtesy of Ross Gentry, Asheville, North Carolina.