Murder, Mystery, and Mayhem Revisited: The True Stories behind North Carolina Murder Ballads

The True Crime genre seems to have exploded in popularity in recent years, but, truthfully, people have always had a fascination with sensational crime stories. Long before podcasts, musicians transformed these true crime tales into popular songs that have been sung and passed along for hundreds of years. In this special Halloween episode, reference archivist Katie Crickmore breaks down five popular North Carolina murder ballads and the true stories that inspired them. John, Josh, and Katie also examine archival records found in the State Archives that back up or refute the narrative of these songs. Tune in and make up your own mind about what happened in these cases.

 

Sources Mentioned:

 

General

Murder, Mystery, and Mayhem in the Old North State – Office of Archives and History Blog: https://medium.com/murder-mystery-and-mayhem-in-the-old-north-state

 

Omie Wise

Randolph County, Superior Court Minutes, 1807, C.081.30008

Randolph County, Criminal Action Papers, 1807-1813, CR.081.326.10

Randolph County, Superior Court Minutes, 1811, CRX 86

Randolph County, Miscellaneous Records, CR.081.928.1

Randolph County, Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions, 1815, C.081.317

 

Frankie Silver

Burke County, Criminal Action Papers, 1832, CR.014.326.3

Burke County, Superior Court Minutes, 1832, CR.014.321.1

Several Petitions for Pardon to Gov. Swain, Mar-Jun 1833, GP.66-67

 

Tom Dula

Tom Dula Papers, PC.1272

NC Supreme Court, State v. Thomas Dula, Jan 1867, Case No. 8922

NC Supreme Court, State v. Thomas Dula, Jan 1868, Case No. 8923

Wilkes County, Criminal Action File, 1866, CR.104.326

Wilkes County, Superior Court Minute Docket, 1868, CR.104.311.4

 

Ellen Smith

Forsyth County, Superior Court Minutes, 1886, CR.038.311.6

Forsyth County, Superior Court Minutes, 1893, CR.038.311.8

 

Lawson Family

NC Death Certificates, Stokes County, 25 Dec 1929, Lawson Family

Stokes County, Deeds, Charlie and Fannie Lawson, Bk. 75 Pg.360

Stokes County, Record of Administration, Lawson Family, 1929, Vol. 2

Stokes County, Record of Accounts, Lawson Family, 1929-19