Conspiracy Theories Haunt the Assassination of MLK 55 Years After His Death

Conspiracy Theories Haunt the Assassination of MLK 55 Years After His Death

Doubts about James Earl Ray, Dr. Martin Luther King’s lone assassin, arose almost immediately after the civil rights leader was fatally shot on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis on April 4, 1968. From the start, his aides voiced suspicions that a conspiracy was responsible for their leader’s death. Over time many Americans became convinced the government investigations covered up the truth about the alleged assassin. Exactly what led Ray to kill King continues to be a source of debate, as does his role in the murder.

However, today’s guest, Mel Ayton, believe the answers to the many intriguing questions about Ray and how conspiracy ideas flourished can now be fully understood. Missing from the wild speculations over the past fifty-two years has been a thorough investigation of the character of King’s assassin. Additionally, the author examines exactly how the conspiracy notions came about and the falsehoods that led to their promulgation.

Mel is the author of The Man Who Killed Martin Luther King, the first full account of the life of James Earl Ray based on scores of interviews provided to government and non-government investigators and from the FBI’s and Scotland Yard’s files, plus the recently released Tennessee Department of Corrections prison record on Ray.


In the short-lived freedom he acquired after escaping from the Missouri State Penitentiary in 1967, following being sentenced to twenty years in prison for repeated offenses, he traveled to Los Angeles and decided to seek notoriety as the one who would stalk and kill Dr. King, who he had come to hate vehemently.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Avsnitt(1075)

The Jewish Bankers Who Built Wall Street, Financed the American Century, and Spawned Countless Conspiracy Theories

The Jewish Bankers Who Built Wall Street, Financed the American Century, and Spawned Countless Conspiracy Theories

Joseph Seligman arrived in the United States in 1837, with the equivalent of $100 sewn into the lining of his pants. Then came the Lehman brothers, who would open a general store in Montgomery, Alabam...

1 Feb 202442min

The Ghost Army of World War 2

The Ghost Army of World War 2

In the summer of 1944, a handpicked group of young GIs—including such future luminaries such as Bill Blass, Ellsworth Kelly, Arthur Singer, Victor Dowd, Art Kane, and Jack Masey—landed in France to co...

30 Jan 202441min

How Free Time Transformed From Strolls Through Aristocratic Gardens to Doomscrolling on TikTok

How Free Time Transformed From Strolls Through Aristocratic Gardens to Doomscrolling on TikTok

Free time, one of life’s most important commodities, often feels unfulfilling. But why? And how did leisure activities transition from strolling in the park for hours to “doomscrolling” on social medi...

25 Jan 202431min

Everyday Life In a War Zone: How To Live For Years With Air Raid Sirens and Tanks in the Street

Everyday Life In a War Zone: How To Live For Years With Air Raid Sirens and Tanks in the Street

What goes through the mind of a mother who must send her child to school across a minefield or the men who belong to groups of volunteer body collectors? When living in a warzone, such questions becom...

23 Jan 202435min

Behind the Bulldog: Winston Churchill's Public Image vs. Private Reality, Based on Those Who Knew Him

Behind the Bulldog: Winston Churchill's Public Image vs. Private Reality, Based on Those Who Knew Him

Winston Churchill remains one of the most revered figures of the twentieth century, his name a byword for courageous leadership. But the Churchill we know today is a mixture of history and myth, autho...

18 Jan 202437min

American Anarchy of the Early 1900s and The First U.S. War Against Domestic Extremists

American Anarchy of the Early 1900s and The First U.S. War Against Domestic Extremists

In the early twentieth century, anarchists like Emma Goldman and Alexander Berkman championed a radical vision of a world without states, laws, or private property. Militant and sometimes violent, ana...

16 Jan 202440min

Why Armies Stopped Burning Libraries and Weaponized Them Instead

Why Armies Stopped Burning Libraries and Weaponized Them Instead

Books are often seen as “victims” of combat. When the flames of warfare turn libraries to ashes, we grieve this loss as an immense human and cultural tragedy. But that’s not the complete picture. Book...

11 Jan 202440min

Shining Light on the British Dark Ages: Anglo-Saxon Warfare, 400-1070

Shining Light on the British Dark Ages: Anglo-Saxon Warfare, 400-1070

In a country fragmented by Roman withdrawal during the 5th century, theemployment of Germanic mercenaries by local rulers in Anglo-Saxon Britain wascommonplace. These mercenaries became settlers, forc...

9 Jan 202442min

Populärt inom Samhälle & Kultur

podme-dokumentar
gynning-berg
svenska-fall
aftonbladet-krim
p3-dokumentar
en-mork-historia
mardromsgasten
skaringer-nessvold
killradet
rss-mer-an-bara-morsa
creepypodden-med-jack-werner
hor-har
kod-katastrof
flashback-forever
rattsfallen
vad-blir-det-for-mord
rss-brottsutredarna
rss-sanning-konsekvens
historiska-brott
larm-vi-minns