Southern Mysteries Podcast

For more than two centuries, a hidden society existed in one of the most unforgiving landscapes in the American South. In this episode of Southern Mysteries, explore the remarkable history of the Great Dismal Swamp maroons, one of the longest-lasting acts of resistance to slavery in American history. Through historical records, firsthand accounts and modern archaeology, this forgotten chapter of Southern history reveals how an entire community survived in plain sight and why so few people have heard their story.

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Episode Sources

“The Hidden Black Society They Don’t Teach You About” — In the Margins, PBS. Overview of the Great Dismal Swamp maroons, including interior, fringe and canal communities; the stories of Harriet Jacobs, Venus and Jack; the canal labor economy; and the Easter Conspiracy.

“The Great Dismal Swamp” — 99% Invisible. Podcast episode exploring the landscape, history and archaeology of the swamp’s maroon communities.

“Tom Copper’s Rebellion and Great Dismal Marronage” — National Park Service. Detailed history of Tom Copper, Mingo, New Begun and the alleged Easter Conspiracy of 1802.

“Anthropologist Daniel Sayers on the Maroons Who Found Freedom in the Great Dismal Swamp” — National Endowment for the Humanities. Interview about Sayers’ archaeological research and the evidence of long-term maroon settlements.

“The Dismal Swamp: One Road Out of Slavery Took You Straight to the Boggiest Place You’ve Ever Been” — National Endowment for the Humanities. Background on the landscape, archaeology and people who sought freedom inside the swamp.

“Deep in the Swamps, Archaeologists Are Finding How Fugitive Slaves Kept Their Freedom” — Smithsonian Magazine. In-depth account of Daniel Sayers’ excavations and the evidence uncovered at interior maroon sites.

A Desolate Place for a Defiant People: The Archaeology of Maroons, Indigenous Americans, and Enslaved Laborers in the Great Dismal Swamp — Daniel O. Sayers. Archaeological study of Indigenous occupation, enslaved labor and maroon resistance within the swamp.

Dismal Freedom: A History of the Maroons of the Great Dismal Swamp — J. Brent Morris. History of the maroons and the ways they created independent lives beyond white-controlled society.

City of Refuge: Slavery and Petit Marronage in the Great Dismal Swamp, 1763–1856 — Marcus P. Nevius. Study of temporary and long-term escape, informal labor networks and the connections between maroons and the swamp’s commercial economy.

“A History of the Maroons of the Great Dismal Swamp” — Virginia Museum of History & Culture. Program featuring historian J. Brent Morris and his research into the swamp’s maroon communities.

“Gabriel’s Conspiracy” — Encyclopedia Virginia and Virginia Humanities. Historical overview of Gabriel’s planned 1800 uprising near Richmond.

“Letter from Mosby Sheppard to James Monroe, Aug. 30, 1800” — Encyclopedia Virginia and the Library of Virginia. Primary-source warning sent to Virginia’s governor after the planned uprising was revealed.

“Testimony in the Trial of Gabriel, Oct. 6, 1800” — Encyclopedia Virginia and the Library of Virginia. Surviving testimony from Gabriel’s prosecution.

Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl — Harriet Jacobs, available through Documenting the American South at the University of North Carolina. Jacobs’ firsthand account of her escape from slavery and the time she spent hiding in a swamp.

Narrative of the Life of Moses Grandy, Late a Slave in the United States of America — Moses Grandy, available through Documenting the American South. Firsthand account of slavery, waterway labor and the economy surrounding the Great Dismal Swamp and its canal.

Episode Music

Out of the Mines, courtesy of Ross Gentry, Asheville, North Carolina.

This Southern Mysteries Classic revisits a chilling historical true crime case from the Kentucky mountains. In February 1933, a church service ended with the death of 72-year-old Lucinda Mills. Nine of her relatives were jailed and accused of murder, while the national press labeled the case a human sacrifice. Decades later, the question remains: what really happened inside that cabin?

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Episode Sources

Laben T. Mills Obituary. Big Sandy News. July 31,1914

Lucinda Ward Mills. Find A Grave. [Lucinda’s age listed as 65 here but based off of census records she was believed to have been 72] 

Burning of Body on Altar Halted by Inez Police. The Owensboro Inquirer. February 9, 1933 

Cult Victim Held Willing Sacrifice. The Courier-Journal. February 10, 1933

Insanity Plea Planned in Cult Slaying Case. The Courier-Journal. February 11, 1933

Bare Details of ‘Sacrifice’ Death Scene. Indianpolis Times. February 11, 1933

Mills Held Without Bond for Slaying Mother in Cult ‘Sacrifice’. The Lexington Herald. February 12, 1933

Nine Relatives of Cult Victim Are Indicted. The Owensboro Messenger. April 5, 1933

Insanity Held Slaying Cause. The Courier-Journal. April 7, 1933

Two Relative Freed In Cult Slaying Trial. The Lexington Leader. April 9, 1933

Prosecutor Contends Slayers of Mrs Mills Cold Blooded Murderers. The Courier-Journal. April 10, 1933

Mills Kneeling on Mother’s Body Fought Deputies. The Owensboro Inquirer. April 11, 1933

Cult Case Goes to Jury. The Courier Journal. April 12, 1933

Cult Leader Is Given Life Term for Matricide. The Courier-Journal. April 12, 1933

Blaine McGinnis is Given Pardon. Lexington Herald-Leader. November 3, 1933

Odd Fellows Have Skeletons in Their Closets--and Their Walls and Attics. Los Angeles Times. April 2001.

Episode Music

Out of the Mines, courtesy of Ross Gentry, Asheville, North Carolina.

In the 1880s, Rowan County, Kentucky, became known as “Bloody Rowan” after politics, old grudges and personal revenge led to one of the state’s deadliest feuds. This episode traces the Rowan County War from an Election Day shooting in Morehead to three years of ambushes, militia intervention and a final armed showdown that ended the violence, but not through justice.

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Want more Southern Mysteries? You can hear the Southern Mysteries show archive of 60+ episodes along with Patron exclusive podcast, Audacious: Tales of American Crime and more when you become a patron of the show. You can immediately access exclusive content now at patreon.com/southernmysteries

🎧 Explore More Southern Mysteries

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Episode Sources

Pearce, John Ed. Days of Darkness: The Feuds of Eastern Kentucky. University Press of Kentucky, 1994.

Blair, Juanita and Brown, Fred Jr. Days of Anger, Days of Tears: Rowan County, Kentucky, 1884–1887. 1984. Morehead State University Rowan County War Collection.

Morehead State University Rowan County War Collection. scholarworks.moreheadstate.edu/rowan_county_war

Kentucky Historical Society. Rowan County War historical marker, Morehead, Kentucky.

The New York Times. “The Rowan County War: Two Factions Thirsting for Each Other’s Blood.” July 6, 1885.

The New York Times. Coverage of the reported Grace Martin and Frank Tolliver marriage. 1889.

Maysville Daily Evening Bulletin. “Bloody Election Day.” August 6, 1884.

Maysville Daily Evening Bulletin. “A Train Stopped and a Murderer Riddled with Bullets.” December 1884.

Maysville Daily Evening Bulletin. “Deadly Feud Ended in Marriage.” 1889.

Louisville Courier-Journal. “The Rowan County War.” April 4, 1885.

Louisville Courier-Journal. “Rowan County: A Three-Years’ History Written in the Blood of Seventeen Murdered People.” June 12, 1887.

Coats, Harold Wilson. “The Man Unafraid,” from Stories of Kentucky Feuds.

U.S. Forest Service historical account of the Daniel Boone National Forest, Chapter 23.

Episode Music

Out of the Mines, courtesy of Ross Gentry, Asheville, North Carolina.

In 1912, 18-year-old Ella Barham left her family’s farm near Pleasant Ridge, Arkansas, on an ordinary errand and never came home. Her brutal murder shocked Boone County and led authorities to a neighbor accused of killing her after years of rejected romantic interest. More than a century later, Ella Barham’s murder remains one of Arkansas’ darkest and most troubling true crime stories.

Join the Community on Patreon:

Want more Southern Mysteries? You can hear the Southern Mysteries show archive of 60+ episodes along with Patron exclusive podcast, Audacious: Tales of American Crime and more when you become a patron of the show. You can immediately access exclusive content now at patreon.com/southernmysteries

🎧 Explore More Southern Mysteries

Visit SouthernMysteries.com for more episodes and source lists.

📱 Follow on Social Media:

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Episode Sources

Gould, Nita. Remembering Ella: A 1912 Murder and Mystery in the Arkansas Ozarks. Butler Center Books / University of Arkansas Press, 2018. (rememberingella.com)

Barham, Ella (Murder of) - Encyclopedia of Arkansas 

Gould, Nita, ed. The 1913 Trial of Odus Davidson: The Official Witness Testimony. Companion volume to Remembering Ella.

Encyclopedia of Arkansas — 'Barham, Ella (Murder of)' (encyclopediaofarkansas.net)

Encyclopedia of Arkansas — 'Davidson, Odus' (encyclopediaofarkansas.net)

Find a Grave — Ella Lillian Ethel Barham (memorial #40832262)

Find a Grave — Odus Davidson (memorial #31134642)

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette — 'The verdict: Guilty of murder' (review of Remembering Ella by Tom Dillard, December 9, 2018)

AY Magazine — 'Murder Mystery: In Memoriam: Ella Barham' (aymag.com)

Case file: State v. Davidson, No. 183 (Ark. Cir. Ct. 1913). Boone County Circuit Clerk's Office, Boone County Courthouse, Harrison, Arkansas.

Case file: Davidson v. State, 108 Ark. 158, S.W. 1103 (1913). University of Arkansas at Little Rock William H. Bowen School of Law / Pulaski County Law Library, Little Rock, Arkansas.

Boone County Court Record Book L, County Clerk's Office, Boone County Courthouse, Harrison, Arkansas.

Lead Hill, Arkansas newspaper, November 22, 1912 — first published account of the murder (via Chronicling America, Library of Congress, loc.gov)

Batesville Daily Guard — editorial on circumstantial evidence and the Davidson verdict

Shiloh Museum of Ozark History — 'Scenes of Boone County' (shilohmuseum.org)

Episode Music

Out of the Mines, courtesy of Ross Gentry, Asheville, North Carolina.

One of the Civil War’s most controversial events unfolded on June 11, 1863, when Union forces entered Darien, Georgia, an undefended town of little strategic importance, and left it in flames. Homes, churches, businesses and one of the oldest Black congregations in the South were destroyed. The troops ordered to take part included the famed 54th Massachusetts, one of the first official Black regiments of the Civil War. But the story of who set the destruction in motion is more complicated than many people came to believe.

Join the Community on Patreon:

Want more Southern Mysteries? You can hear the Southern Mysteries show archive of 60+ episodes along with Patron exclusive podcast, Audacious: Tales of American Crime and more when you become a patron of the show. You can immediately access exclusive content now at patreon.com/southernmysteries

🎧 Explore More Southern Mysteries

Visit SouthernMysteries.com for more episodes and source lists.

📱 Follow on Social Media:

Facebook: Southern Mysteries Podcast
Instagram: @southernmysteries
Email: southernmysteriespodcast@gmail.com 

Episode Sources

Burchard, Peter. “One Gallant Rush: Robert Gould Shaw and His Brave Black Regiment.” St. Martin’s Press, 1965.

Burchard, Peter. “We’ll Stand by the Union: Robert Gould Shaw and the Black 54th Massachusetts Regiment.” Facts on File, 1993.

Coulter, E.M. Writings on the burning of Darien, including his characterization of the destruction as a “barbaric act” and “wanton vandalism.”

Duncan, Russell, editor. “Blue-Eyed Child of Fortune: The Civil War Letters of Colonel Robert Gould Shaw.” University of Georgia Press, 1992.

Duncan, Russell. “Where Death and Glory Meet: Colonel Robert Gould Shaw and the 54th Massachusetts Infantry.” University of Georgia Press, 1999.

Emilio, Luis F. “A Brave Black Regiment: History of the Fifty-Fourth Regiment of Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, 1863-1865.” Boston Book Co., 1894.

Francis Lieber, “Instructions for the Government of Armies of the United States in the Field,” General Orders No. 100, April 24, 1863.

Georgia Historical Society historical marker, “The Burning of Darien,” erected in 2001.

Historical Marker Database, “The Burning of Darien,” marker transcription and location information.

King, Spencer Bidwell Jr. “Darien: The Death and Rebirth of a Southern Town.” Mercer University Press, 1981.

Levin, Kevin M. “James Montgomery, the Burning of Darien, and the Innocence of Robert Gould Shaw.” “Civil War Memory,” Oct. 23, 2023.

Levin, Kevin M. “Vindicating Col. Robert Gould Shaw and the 54th.” “Civil War Memory,” May 19, 2013.

Massachusetts Historical Society, “The Destruction of Darien, Georgia,” “The Beehive,” Oct. 25, 2017.

National Museum of African American History and Culture, “The Combahee Ferry Raid.”

National Museum of the United States Army, “Robert Gould Shaw.”

National Park Service, “54th Massachusetts Regiment.”

National Park Service, “Combahee River Ferry & Harriet Tubman Bridge.”

National Park Service, “We Called Ourselves Combee: Freeing the Enslaved People of the Combahee River.”

Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume XIV.

Shaw-Minturn family papers, Massachusetts Historical Society, including Robert Gould Shaw’s June 1863 letters describing the burning of Darien.

St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, Darien, Georgia, church history materials.

“Written in Glory: The 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment,” entries related to June 1863, July 1863 and the burning of Darien.

Episode Music

Out of the Mines, courtesy of Ross Gentry, Asheville, North Carolina.