In the late 1700s two cousins, Micajah Harpe and Wiley Harpe, terrorized the Appalachian frontier, stealing, fighting, raping and killing pioneers as they crossed Appalachia looking for a new home. Today we tell the story of the Bloody Harpes, two of America’s most vicious serial killers.
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Greetings from Daegu, South Korea! I regularly enjoy your podcasts, and was a bit surprised to see the topic of this one as I always associated the Harpes with Western Kentucky and not Appalachia. You mentioned Henderson and Cave-in-Rock. Actually, the cave is in Illinois, across the Ohio River from present-day Crittenden County, Kentucky. It is part of a state park now, and it was one of the filming sites for the movie How the West was Won. There is a section on the Harpes in the book Satan’s Ferryman, which is about James Ford, a river pirate from the area who also killed travelers, and which may provide you with future ideas for an episode if you again choose to wander a bit west of Appalachia. Best wishes!
Thanks for your kind comment. We normally do stories about anything interesting that’s connected to Appalachia, as the Harpes were, since they terrorized central Appalachia before moving west to Illinois.