Exploring Southern history and true crime. Hosted by Shannon Ballard.
Episodes
Monday Jan 16, 2023
Monday Jan 16, 2023
In November 2012, the Alabama Board of Pardons and Paroles pardoned three black men who had been wrongly convicted of assaulting two white women in 1931. They were the last of nine young men associated with the case to have their convictions officially cleared from the record. Their arrest and the trials that followed served as a catalyst for the Civil Rights Movement.
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Episode Sources
Scottsboro Trials. Accessed December 14, 2022.
“Scottsboro Boys” Trials (1931-1937). Famous Trials by Douglas O. Linder. Accessed December 10, 2022.
Without Fear or Favor: Judge James Edwin Horton and the Trial of the “Scottsboro Boys” By Douglas O. Linder. Accessed December 10, 2022
The Saga Of The Scottsboro Boys. Accessed January 2, 2023.
The Scottsboro Trials: A Legal Lynching. Accessed January 2, 2023.
The Scottsboro Boys: Injustice in Alabama. Accessed December 15, 2022.
Episode Music
No 7 Alone with My Thoughts by Esther Abrami. Licensed under a Creative Commons License
Theme Song “Dark & Troubled” by Pantherburn. Special thanks to Phillip St Ours for permission for use
Monday Dec 19, 2022
Monday Dec 19, 2022
The 1965 disappearance of Mary Little remains one of Georgia’s most mysterious missing person cases. On October 14, 1965 Mary spent the day working, socializing with friends and shopping. Mary Little never made it home.
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Website: southernmysteries.com
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Twitter: @southernpod_
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Episode Sources
The Strange Disappearance of Mary Little. Historic Horrors. October 2022
The Mary Shotwell Little Case. The Southern Voice.
Mary Shotwell Little. The Charley Project
The Case of the Missing Bride. Buckhead.com
What Happened to Mary? The Disappearance of Mary Shotwell Little, Woman's College Alumna. The University of North Carolina at Greensboro
Episode Music
Autumn Sunset by Kevin MacLeod. Kevin MacLeod. Licensed under a Creative Commons License
Theme Song “Dark & Troubled” by Pantherburn. Special thanks to Phillip St Ours for permission for use
Monday Nov 14, 2022
Monday Nov 14, 2022
It’s been 90 years since Mamie Thurman was brutally murdered in Logan County, West Virginia. While investigating the murder of the wife of a local police man, authorities learned Mamie had been leading a double life.
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Website: southernmysteries.com
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Twitter: @southernpod_
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Episode Sources
Mamie’s Husband Didn’t Wait Long to Remarry. Coal Valley News. October 23, 2019
WV: The 1932 Murder of Mamie Thurman. Thoughts and Ponderances. March 10, 2020
The Secret Life and Brutal Death of Mamie Thurman. F. Keith Davis
Episode Music
Evening Fall Harp. Kevin MacLeod. Licensed under a Creative Commons.Theme Song “Dark & Troubled” by Pantherburn. Special thanks to Phillip St Ours for permission for use
Monday Oct 31, 2022
Monday Oct 31, 2022
The Bell Witch legend is one of the most recognized examples of the unexplained in Southern American lore. How did the legend take hold of and define a small town in Tennessee?
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Website: southernmysteries.com
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Email: southernmysteriespodcast@gmail.com
Episode Sources
Bell Witch lore spins dark tale, but could science explain it all?. The Tennessean. October 28, 2021
Tennessee Myths and Legends. Tennessee State Library and Archives.
The Year of the Witch. Tennessee Historical Society. October 13, 2017
John William Bell. Findagrave.
The Mark of the Bell Witch (Documentary). Seth Breedlove, Small Town Monsters. 2020
Historian, descendant recount Bell Witch legend. Associated Press. November 4, 2018
Episode Music
Industrial Music Box. Kevin MacLeod. Licensed under a Creative Commons.
Theme Song “Dark & Troubled” by Pantherburn. Special thanks to Phillip St Ours for permission for use
Monday Jul 04, 2022
Monday Jul 04, 2022
Southern Mysteries is on hiatus. I’m taking a much needed break from researching murders and mysteries this summer. I’ll be back with new episodes in time to celebrate the 5th anniversary of the show this fall.
If you’re a patron of Southern Mysteries, you’ll still hear the Patreon exclusive episodes, The Lesser Knowns, each month. If you don’t already support the show you can check out patreon.com/southernmysteries to catch up on the show archive and hear Patron exclusive episodes like the one I’m sharing today.
Before we say goodbye for the summer, this is the story of a cold blooded killer who became the last woman to die by electrocution in Alabama….Rhonda Belle Martin
Episode Sources
Rhonda Belle Martin. Murderpedia.
A Plot Full of Poison. LIFE. 26 March, 1956
The Penalty Is Death: U. S. Newspaper Coverage of Women's Executions by Martin Shipman. University of Missouri Press.
Governor Holds Murderess' Fate. Montgomery Advertiser. 10 October 1957
Grisly Momma. The Malefactors Register.
Music
Emotional and Alone. Purple Planet Music. Licensed Under Creative Commons
Monday Jun 20, 2022
Monday Jun 20, 2022
The Shelton Laurel Massacre in January 1863 is a striking example of divided loyalists and complicated battle lines in North Carolina during the Civil War.
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Website: southernmysteries.com
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Twitter: @southernpod_
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Email: southernmysteriespodcast@gmail.com
Episode Sources
The Massacre Men. Scalawag. July 27, 2017
Atrocity at Shelton Laurel. Our State. April 29, 2012
Blood in the Valley: The Shelton Laurel Massacre’s Haunting Legacy. Mountain Xpress Asheville
History and Writing about the Massacre. Vicki Lane Tales of Appalachia
The Shelton Laurel Massacre, Madison County, NC,Winter of 1863. Shelton Family History Blog
Episode Music
Leoforos Alexandras by Dan Bodan. Licensed under a Creative Commons.
Theme Song “Dark & Troubled” by Pantherburn. Special thanks to Phillip St Ours for permission for use
Monday Jun 06, 2022
Monday Jun 06, 2022
In the summer of 1976 two bodies were discovered in rural Sumter County, South Carolina. Their identities remained a mystery for nearly 45 years
Want more Southern Mysteries?
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Website: southernmysteries.com
Facebook: Southern Mysteries Podcast
Twitter: @southernpod_
Instagram: @explorethesouth
Email: southernmysteriespodcast@gmail.com
Episode Sources
Sumter Couple Mystery Website dedicated to the case
Killer Remains Nameless. January 2021.
Sumter County Does. The Doe Network
Sumter County murder victims laid to rest. The Index Journal. August 15, 1977
Episode Music
Long Note One by Kevin MacLeod. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Source: http://incompetech.com
Sense of Loss courtesy of Purple Planet Music. https://www.purple-planet.com/
Theme Song “Dark & Troubled” by Pantherburn. Special thanks to Phillip St Ours for permission for use
Monday May 23, 2022
Monday May 23, 2022
Some of the oldest true crime cases in America are racial terror lynchings. To understand the history of lynching in the American South you have to know what led to the acceptance of racial terror and the brave people who led anti lynching campaigns in an effort to end the violence and save lives.
Want more Southern Mysteries?
Hear the Southern Mysteries show archive and immediately access exclusive content when you become a patron of the show. Join now at patreon.com/southernmysteries
Connect
Website: southernmysteries.com
Facebook: Southern Mysteries Podcast
Twitter: @southernpod_
Instagram: @explorethesouth
Email: southernmysteriespodcast@gmail.com
Episode Sources
Hanging Bridge: Racial Violence and America's Civil Rights Century by Jason Morgan Ward. Oxford University Press
The Cross and the Lynching Tree (James Hal Cone and Bill Moyers). The Journal.
Emmett Till Antilynching Act. Public Law No: 117-107 (03/29/2022). This bill makes lynching a federal hate crime offense.
This Bridge in Mississippi Has Hosted Decades of Racial Violence. Vice. April 27, 2016
What happens when we forget? Facing South. May 7, 2018
Thirty Years of Lynching in the United States 1889-1918. NAACP Report on Lynching
Equal Justice Initiative, Lynching in America: Confronting the Legacy of Racial Terror (3d Ed., 2017).
How one Civil Rights activist posed as a white man in order to investigate lynchings. Fresh Air, NPR. March 30, 2022
Episode Music
“One” courtesy of Ross Gentry. Special thanks to Headway Recordings, in Asheville, North Carolina.
Theme Song “Dark & Troubled” by Pantherburn. Special thanks to Phillip St Ours for permission for use
Monday May 09, 2022
Monday May 09, 2022
The Hillsville Massacre has been described as one of the most bizarre incidents in Virginia criminal and legal history. Floyd Allen, the patriarch of the Allen clan, known for feuding, moonshining and violence, was executed after he stood trial for triggering the 1912 courthouse massacre. But the question remains…who shot first?
Want more Southern Mysteries?
Hear the Southern Mysteries show archive and immediately access exclusive content when you become a patron of the show. Join now at patreon.com/southernmysteries
Connect
Website: southernmysteries.com
Facebook: Southern Mysteries Podcast
Twitter: @southernpod_
Instagram: @explorethesouth
Email: southernmysteriespodcast@gmail.com
Episode Sources
Gunfight in courthouse after guilty verdict left 5 dead, 7 wounded. New York Daily News. July 4, 2021
Floyd Allen (1856–1913). Encyclopedia of Virginia.
Courthouse Tragedy. The Carroll County Historical and Society Museum
The Hillsville Massacre. The Roanoker. November 1982
Floyd Allen. Murderpedia
Episode Music
Loneliest Road in America by Jesse Gallager Licensed under Creative Commons
Theme Song “Dark & Troubled” by Pantherburn. Special thanks to Phillip St Ours for permission for use
Monday Apr 25, 2022
Monday Apr 25, 2022
Emil and Kelly Mitchell, known as the King and Queen of the Gypsies, have long been a part of Meridian, Mississippi lore but their story is complicated and often misunderstood
Want more Southern Mysteries?
Hear the Southern Mysteries show archive and immediately access exclusive content when you become a patron of the show. Join now at patreon.com/southernmysteries
Connect
Website: southernmysteries.com
Facebook: Southern Mysteries Podcast
Twitter: @southernpod_
Instagram: @explorethesouth
Email: southernmysteriespodcast@gmail.com
Episode Sources
Queen of the Gypsies Dead. Our Southern Home. February 10, 1915
The Rose Hill Company of Players. Facebook
Queen Kelly Mitchell: A Slice of Meridian’s History. The Meridian Star. December 26, 2007
Historical tales abound within Rose Hill Cemetery. Today in Mississippi
Fortune telling ordinance challenged. The Meridian Star. February 13, 2011
Meridian, Mississippi, the Queen City. The Meridian Star. October 28, 2011
Why Being 'Gypped' Hurts The Roma More Than It Hurts You. Code Switch NPR. December 30, 2013
Roma Culture: Customs, Traditions & Beliefs. Live Science. November 26, 2018
Meridian’s Royal Past. Mississippi FolkLife. February 4, 2019
Episode Music
Alone with my Thoughts by Esther Abrami Licensed under Creative Commons
Theme Song “Dark & Troubled” by Pantherburn. Special thanks to Phillip St Ours for permission for use