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(1076)

Teaser: Rendezvous With Death, Part 5

Teaser: Rendezvous With Death, Part 5

Subscribe today for access to all premium episodes! https://patreon.com/unpluggedSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

1 Juni 201910min

Hitler’s “Desert Fox”: The Military Career of Erwin Rommel

Hitler’s “Desert Fox”: The Military Career of Erwin Rommel

Erwin Rommel, a German field marshal in World War Two, was probably more respected and feared than any other figure in the Wehrmacht. He issued early defeats against the British in North Africa agains...

30 Maj 201950min

When Irish Vets of the American Civil War Invaded Canada in 1866

When Irish Vets of the American Civil War Invaded Canada in 1866

One year after the Civil War ended, a group of delusional and mostly incompetent commanders sponsored by bitterly competing groups riddled with spies, led tiny armies against the combined forces of th...

28 Maj 201950min

The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee: Native America from 1890 to the Present

The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee: Native America from 1890 to the Present

The received idea of Native American history--as promulgated by books like Dee Brown's mega-bestselling 1970 Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee--has been that American Indian history essentially ended with...

23 Maj 201936min

How Industrialists Plotted to Overthrow FDR Over The New Deal in 1934

How Industrialists Plotted to Overthrow FDR Over The New Deal in 1934

FDR launched the New Deal immediately after his 1933 inauguration, but it was not universally popular. Some hated it bitterly. Critics from the right thought it was part of a long-term plan to push Am...

21 Maj 201938min

Teaser: Rendezvous With Death, Part 4

Teaser: Rendezvous With Death, Part 4

Subscribe today for access to all premium episodes! https://patreon.com/unpluggedSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

18 Maj 20196min

Making Your Death Memorable: The Oldest Tombs We Can Trace To One Person

Making Your Death Memorable: The Oldest Tombs We Can Trace To One Person

What are the oldest known tombs that can reliably be traced to a person? These are surprisingly tricky to track down. While archeologists constantly find human remains at an excavation site, there are...

16 Maj 201936min

The Kremlin Letters: Stalin's Wartime Correspondence with Churchill and Roosevelt

The Kremlin Letters: Stalin's Wartime Correspondence with Churchill and Roosevelt

From 1941 to 1945, Joseph Stalin exchanged more than six hundred messages with Allied leaders Churchill and Roosevelt. The correspondence ranged from intimate personal greetings to weighty salvos abou...

14 Maj 201958min

Populärt inom Samhälle & Kultur

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