Unearthing the forgotten, the mysterious, and the legendary—one Southern story at a time. Hosted by Shannon Ballard, Southern Mysteries explores the rich and often untold history of the American South through a captivating mix of folklore, legends, unexplained mysteries, and true crime. Each episode uncovers a compelling tale from a Southern state, blending history with intrigue to reveal the fascinating stories that time left behind. While some episodes delve into chilling crimes, others spotlight legendary figures, ghostly lore, or baffling events. Sometimes, the biggest mystery is why you’ve never heard these stories before.
Episodes
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?
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
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.
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
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?
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
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
Monday Apr 11, 2022
Monday Apr 11, 2022
In the late 1880s Bob Sims declared himself a prophet with more than 100 followers in his Choctaw County Alabama cult. His belief that no man could establish laws over him led to a bloody chapter in Alabama history
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
Sims War Siege. Choctaw County Geological Society
Robert Bruce Sims. Find A Grave.
The Sims War Connection. Rebellion Leader Robert Bruce Sims. Campbell Family History
Bad Literature. Bob Sims Paper ‘The Veil is Rent’. The Standard Gauge. September 10, 1891
Robert Sims, Thomas and Young Savage. Strange Fruit and Spanish Moss. December 26, 2014
A Southern Terror: Arrest of the Bloody Bob Sims and His Bad Gang. The Pittsburgh Press. December 27, 1891
Stars Fell on Alabama by Carl Carmer. University of Alabama Press (1985)
Episode Music
Argonne by Zachariah Hickman Licensed under Creative Commons
Bring Me Your Sorrows by Dan Lebowitz. Licensed under Creative Commons
Theme Song “Dark & Troubled” by Pantherburn. Special thanks to Phillip St Ours for permission for use
Monday Mar 28, 2022
Monday Mar 28, 2022
Pearl Corens disappeared on February 13, 1945. Over the next two weeks mysterious notes perplexed police as they searched for the missing war department employee. Then came a shocking discovery on the Virginia side of the Potomac River.
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
Justice and the Case of the Corpseless Head. New York Daily News. March 24, 1946
Judge is Grim in Weird Case. The Spokesman-Review. May 29, 1945.
Wife’s Head Found; Husband Held. The New York Daily News. March 1, 1945
Corens Offers Alibi for Bloodstains in Bethesda Home. The Evening Star. May 25, 1945
Rice, C. (2018). 45 Murderers: A Collection of True Crime Stories. United States: MysteriousPress.com/Open Road.
Episode Music
Falling Rain by Kevin MacLeod. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Source: http://incompetech.com
Theme Song “Dark & Troubled” by Pantherburn. Special thanks to Phillip St Ours for permission for use
Monday Mar 14, 2022
Monday Mar 14, 2022
In April 1969, Marie Arrington became the second woman ever placed on the FBI’s most wanted list. One year earlier she was sentenced to 20 years in prison for manslaughter. While awaiting appeal and out on bond she was arrested for the murder of a legal secretary. Then came a trial, Marie’s escape and the FBI’s years long pursuit of one of their most wanted
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 Resources
Mrs. Vivian June Ritter. The Tampa Tribune. April 30,1968
Letter Linked in Killing of Secretary Erased. The Orlando Sentinel. September 18, 1968
State Traces Hourly Steps by Mrs. Ritter. The Tampa Tribune. December 4,1968
Arrington v. State. Supreme Court of Florida. April 1, 1970
Wanted Persons Marie Dean Arrington. The Sheriff's Star. December 1969
Marie Dean Arrington. The Tampa Tribune. March 18, 1973
Is This The Place They Call Hell? The Palm Beach Post. March 18, 1973
Son Remains in Shadow of Mother’s Revenge. Orlando Sentinel. June 27, 1998
Marie Arrington 1960s Leesburg Killer. South Florida Sun Sentinel. July 1, 2014
30 days of mean marie. Lake & Sumter Style. July 2014
Episode Music
Sense of Loss and Lazy Days by Purple Planet Music. purple-planetmusic.com Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution
Theme Song “Dark & Troubled” by Pantherburn. Special thanks to Phillip St Ours for permission for use