Southern Mysteries Podcast

For decades, anyone traveling Route 16 near Fayetteville, West Virginia would have passed a billboard featuring the photos of five children. Above the photos - the question: "What Was their Fate? Kidnapped? Murdered?" What happened to the Sodder Children?

One of the most shocking murders in Birmingham, Alabama history happened in 1921. Father John Coyle, a Catholic priest, was shot and killed by a Methodist minister. The KKK paid for the minister's defense team, that was led by Hugo Black.

In the summer of 1911 an unidentified man died in the town of Prescott, Arkansas. With no ID and no way to find his family, the town undertaker put the man’s body on public display for over 60 years. Who was this man? And why did it take 60 years to bury him?

Frenchy McCormick lived by herself in the Texas ghost town of Tascosa for almost 30 years. She refused to leave because of a promise she made to someone. Frenchy is a folklore legend in Texas but much of her life story is a mystery. MUCH, but not all.

From 1955 - 1972, Robert Harrill was known as The Hermit of Fort Fisher Island, North Carolina. He spent his life inviting in strangers and teaching them about living a life free of social norms. And in the end, the strangers he welcomed in, may have killed him.

Meet sisters Caroline Martin, Virginia Wardlaw and Mary Snead. They left a trail of devastation and death in Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, and on to New Jersey where they were implicated in the mysterious death of Ocey Snead, known as the Bath Tub Mystery

Longwood Plantation in Natchez, Mississippi epitomizes the rise and fall of the antebellum south. The history of the home may explain why spirits of the former owners are said to linger here.

On June 16, 1851 William Johnson was murdered. 75 years later, his diary was discovered and became one of the most important firsthand accounts of life in the antebellum South. What was his story? And how did the man who murdered Johnson get away with it?

Natchez City Cemetery is one of the most beautiful cemeteries in the South. Behind each monument, beneath each grave site, is a story of a life marked by tragedy and mystery. Love and devotion. This is the story of some its most fascinating occupants.

On August 4 1932 Jenny Merrill was shot and killed in her Natchez, Mississippi home, Glenburnie. An eccentric couple who lived in a run down mansion known as the "Goat Castle" were arrested and charged with murder. But an innocent African American woman went to jail for the crime. Karen L. Cox, author of Goat Castle: A True Story of Murder, Race, and the Gothic South joins me to tell the story of murder and injustice

Imagine a 5 foot tall, 100 pound heartbroken man excavating, shaping and hoisting massive coral blocks into a structure all by himself. Literally building walls to try to deal with a broken heart. This is the story of Edward Leedskalnin. This is the mystery of Coral Castle

Meet one of the most controversial women of the 19th century - Loreta Velazquez . She challenged gender, social and ethnic boundaries during the Civil War. But who was she? Did she really exist or is her story one of the greatest hoaxes of her time?

Three legendary haunts along the eight mile stretch of Lands End Road on St Helena Island, South Carolina, have led to this road being named one of the most haunted in the South

On November 24, 1956, Thomas Hotard was discovered murdered near Lake Ponchatrain in Louisiana. His lover, Audrey Moate went missing the same day. Retired detective, Wayne Norwood, investigated the cold case and discusses his theories surrounding the case

From the 1920s until 1950, Georgia Tann used a network of powerful accomplices to take advantage of the poor and helpless in and around Memphis, Tennessee. Her crimes made her one of the most notorious child traffickers of the 20th century and led to countless unsolved mysteries throughout the South and across the country.