When a Final Wish Became a Circus: The Story of the Sunshine Woman
This week’s story is the bizarre true tale of Leila Davidson Hansell, known as "The Sunshine Woman," and the controversy surrounding her final resting place in Hendersonville, NC.Leila's final wish up...
24 Jan 16min
The Tennessee Moonshiner the Law Couldn’t Hold: The Story of Hut Amerine
Born in Blount County, Hut Amerine grew into one of East Tennessee’s most notorious moonshiners. After the Civil War, federal whiskey taxes ignited a bitter conflict between mountain distillers and re...
17 Jan 22min
Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On: The Story of Appalachian Piano Man Roy Hall
James Faye Hall, better known as Roy Hall, was born in Big Stone Gap, Virginia, in 1921. He died in Mt. Juliet, Tennessee in 1984. Between those dates is a story about a hillbilly boogie pianist who...
10 Jan 22min
The Tally War: The 1906 North Carolina Railroad Riot
We’ve told the story of labor conflicts from Harlan, Kentucky to Blair Mountain, West Virginia. This week, we tell a story that’s not set in the Kentucky or West Virginia coalfields, but in Western No...
3 Jan 13min
The Lost Town of Mortimer, North Carolina
A once thriving lumber and mill town in the mountains of western North Carolina, Mortimer rose fast, becoming prosperous…until it was washed away twice in massive flooding events.Shortly after a 1916 ...
27 Dec 202513min
A Christmas Morning Disaster: The 1882 Millboro, Virginia Train Wreck
This week Steve and Rod tell the story of a Christmas morning that ended in heartbreak instead of celebration.In 1882, a passenger train and a freight engine collided near Millboro, Virginia, killing ...
20 Dec 202512min
The Long-Haired Red-Bearded Beast of Georgia: John Pemberton Gatewood
John Pemberton Gatewood was a notorious Confederate bushwhacker/guerrilla leader. Born in Fentress County, Tennessee, in 1844, Gatewood's life took a dark turn after a Union attack on his family led ...
13 Dec 202521min
Moonshine, Murder, and Legend: The Story of Lewis Redmond
Major Lewis Redmond’s story sounds like it comes from a 19th century dime novel. He was a Carolina moonshiner, an outlaw and, thanks to actually being in some of those dime novels after the Civil War...
6 Dec 202517min
