The Girl From Slab Fork, West VirginiaThe Girl From Slab Fork, West Virginia
Doris Payne was born in 1930 to a coal miner in Slab Fork, West Virginia. She didn’t stay there. In fact, she ended up traveling the world for decades pursuing
Category: Crime
The Last Public Hangings in Lawrence County, Kentucky and Wilkes County, North CarolinaThe Last Public Hangings in Lawrence County, Kentucky and Wilkes County, North Carolina
Today we bring you part of the end of an era of public executions in Appalachia, which had, in many cases, turned into an excuse for a carnival, with vendors
The Outlaw Kinnie WagnerThe Outlaw Kinnie Wagner
The 1920s were a decade of loosening morals, Prohibition and crime, with notorious outlaws popping up across America. Along with the likes of Al Capone, John Dillinger and Bonnie and
The Greenbrier GhostThe Greenbrier Ghost
In 1897 a young woman’s neck was broken, killing her. Her husband was arrested and convicted, partly on testimony from her mother, who told the jury what the ghost of
Thirty-Seven Years on the Run: The Story of Patton and William FlanneryThirty-Seven Years on the Run: The Story of Patton and William Flannery
In 1890 two brothers were riding their horses in Scott County, Virginia, when they encountered a young acquaintance of theirs who happened to owe them money. After an argument, guns
The Last Gunfight of Troy and Elias HatfieldThe Last Gunfight of Troy and Elias Hatfield
In 1911 Devil Anse Hatfield’s sons Troy and Elias were in Fayette County running a bar, which was doing quite well. They had established their liquor and beer territory thanks
Moonshine, Murder and a Hatfield JailbreakMoonshine, Murder and a Hatfield Jailbreak
In 1923 two moonshiners killed a man in Dickenson County, Virginia, over a bad run of moonshine. The two were tried and sentenced in Clintwood, then sent to the jail
Frankie Silver: An Appalachian Woman Hanged for MurderFrankie Silver: An Appalachian Woman Hanged for Murder
In the early part of the 19th century, a woman was arrested for the gruesome murder of her husband in what’s now Mitchell County, North Carolina. Some said she acted
Appalachia’s Lonely Hearts Club Con ManAppalachia’s Lonely Hearts Club Con Man
In the late 1940’s a man who went by the name of Ernest I. Torrence traveled across Appalachia, from Georgia to Pennsylvania, seeking his true love. Unfortunately for the women
The Murder That Never Happened: The Story of Condy DabneyThe Murder That Never Happened: The Story of Condy Dabney
In 1925 a man from Coal Creek, Tennessee, named Condy Dabney came to Harlan County, Kentucky, looking for work down in the mines. He soon tired of that work and