The Legends of Reelfoot Lake

“Suddenly the beat of the drums was drowned out by a roar louder than any noise Reelfoot had ever heard. The earth vibrated from the sound waves, and then it heaved in mighty spasms that splintered giant trees and sent them crashing down into newly formed crevices. Then came a rushing wall of water that swallowed up the village, covered the whole countryside, and formed a great lake.””

— Kathryn Tucker Windham, "Thirteen Tennessee Ghosts and Jeffrey"

“it has been discovered that a lake was formed…”

Along the northwestern edge of Tennessee sits Reelfoot Lake. The only natural lake in the state, it's a flooded cypress forest that has more in common with the bayous of the deep south than other more open and expansive lakes of the surrounding area.

Yet this lake dates back only two centuries and owes its creation to the massive New Madrid earthquakes that rocked the area in 1811-1812 and caused the Mississippi River to temporarily flow backward. Yet according to local legend the cause of those earthly upheavals was more than simply nature. Legend says that the origins of Reelfoot Lake can be traced back to the actions of a Chief of the Chickasaw people who once inhabited the now submerged land.

Additional Links From This Episode:

• Purchase the Feminine Macabre, Vol. 3.

Sources:

Center for Earthquake Research and Information. “New Madrid Compendium Eyewitness Accounts.” University of Memphis. Accessed September 9, 2022. https://www.memphis.edu/ceri/compendium/eyewitness.php.  

Eastwood, Vera. “The Legend of Reelfoot Lake.” The Taylor-Trotwood Magazine, XII, no. 1 (November 1910): 155-159. GoogleBooks. 

Jillson, Willard Rouse. “The Discovery of Kentucky.” Register of the Kentucky Historical Society, 20, no. 59 (May 1922): 117-129. GoogleBooks. 

Nelson, Wilbur A. “Reelfoot - An Earthquake Lake.” The National Geographic Magazine, 43, no. 1 (January 1923): 94-114. Accessed September 9, 2022.

“Notes & Comments.” The Bulletin: A Monthly Journal Devoted to the Interests of Hoo-Hoo XV, no. 157 (November 1908): 3-6. GoogleBooks.

“The Legend of Chief Reelfoot.” Reelfoot Outdoors. Accessed September 9, 2022. https://www.reelfoot.com/legend_1.htm. 

“The Murderous Night Riders.” Collier’s The National Weekly, November 14, 1908. GoogleBooks. 

Vanderwood, Paul. Night Riders of Reelfoot Lake. Tuscaloosa, AL: University of Alabama Press, 2003.

Walker, Emma. “The Fascinating Story Behind Reelfoot Lake.” RootsRated. December 12, 2016. https://rootsrated.com/stories/the-fascinating-story-behind-reelfoot-lake. 

Windham, Kathryn Tucker. Thirteen Tennessee Ghosts and Jeffrey. Tuscaloosa, AL: University of Alabama Press, 2016.

Wright, George C. Racial Violence in Kentucky, 1865-1940: Lynchings, Mob Rule, and “Legal Lynchings.” Champaign, IL: University of Illinois Press, 1990.

The Ghost of Alice Riley

“This magnificent and storied square was also ominously known as ‘hanging square,’ the place where the condemned met their fate on the gallows in the eighteenth century. Knowing its past history, one cannot walk around it at night or on a bright sunny day without feeling, and perhaps faintly hearing, the cries, moans and groans of those who met their deaths dangling from the end of a sturdy rope.””

— Michael Harris & Linda Sickler, "Historic Haunts of Savannah"

The First Woman Executed in Georgia

According to local legend, visitors to Savannah’s Historic Wright Square have been known to encounter a young woman dressed in 18th-century style clothing. Some are said to have been approached and begged for their assistance in finding the woman’s lost son. Yet when folks begin to search the area, the girl disappears.  Many believe this is the ghost of Alice Riley, the first woman executed in the colony of Georgia.

Alice Riley arrived in the American Colonies in January of 1734 as an indentured servant who would work for about five to seven years to pay back her debt and earn her freedom. To pay back the cost of the voyage she would be sent to work for William Wise, a man of questionable character. It would be a tragic assignment that led to Wise dead and Alice Riley convicted of a murder that some believe she may not have actually committed.

Additional Links From This Episode:

• Purchase the Feminine Macabre, Vol. 3.

Sources:

“Alice Riley.” Murderpedia. Accessed August 15, 2022. https://murderpedia.org/female.R/r/riley-alice.htm. 

Brown, Alan. Haunted Georgia: Ghosts and Strange Phenomena of the Peach State. Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 2008.

Byrd, Georgia R. Haunted Savannah. Guilford, CT: Morris Book Publishing, 2011.

Caskey, James. Haunted Savannah: The Official Guide to Savannah Haunted History Tour, 2010. Savannah, GA: Bonaventure Books, 2005.

Freeman, Robert Michael. “Alice Riley: A Sad Savannah Story.” Freeman’s Rag (blog). April 28, 2018. https://www.freemansrag.com/historical-ruminations/alice-riley-a-sad-savannah-story

“The Ghost of Alice Riley: Savannah’s Most Famous Ghost Story.” Ghost City Tours. Accessed August 15, 2022. https://ghostcitytours.com/savannah/ghost-stories/alice-riley/. 

“The ghost of Alice Riley and the legend spanish moss.” Random-Times. July 29, 2020. https://random-times.com/2020/07/29/the-ghost-of-alice-riley-and-the-legend-spanish-moss/

Harris, Michael & Linda Sickler. Historic Haunts of Savannah. Charleston, SC: The History Press, 2014.

Harris, Michael. “Murder & lies: The ghost of Savannah’s Wright Square.” Savannah Now | Savannah Morning News. October 30, 2014. https://www.savannahnow.com/story/news/2014/10/31/murder-lies-ghost-savannahs-wright-square/13526612007/

“History of Savannah.” Visit Savannah. Accessed August 15, 2022. https://www.visitsavannah.com/article/history-savannah. 

Michaels, Brenna & T.C. Michaels. Hidden History of Savannah. Charleston, SC: The History Press, 2019.

Temple, Sarah Gober & Kenneth Coleman. Georgia Journeys: Being an Account of the Lives of Georgia’s Original Settlers and Many Other Early Settlers. Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press, 2010.

The Mysterious Death of Meriwether Lewis

American Explorer’s Unsolved Death

On May 14, 1804 Meriwether Lewis and William Clark set out on what would become a two year expedition across the western half of the United States.

Yet for all the successes of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, there lies a shadow over the legacy of the famed Meriwether Lewis-- for as this daring explorer was able to survive the treacherous journey into the vast wilderness of North America, his life came to an end not long after his return-- a tragedy with mysterious circumstances that over two centuries later remains unsolved.

Murder of the Lawson Family

On Christmas Day in 1929, North Carolina farmer Charlie Lawson murdered his entire family before turning his gun onto himself.  Almost a century has passed since this gruesome crime, but the question of motive has remained unanswered to this day.

Black River War

From 1847-1870, along the Black River in Catahoula Parish, Louisiana, two neighboring plantation owners engaged in a violent family feud. The cause of the dispute is still unknown, but whatever it may be, the result was the loss of numerous lives, including Confederate Brigadier General St. John Richardson Liddell.

Legacy of Lavinia Fisher

Many legends claim that Lavinia Fisher was the first female serial killer in the United States.  She and her husband John operated an inn just outside of Charleston, South Carolina.  They named it Six Mile Wayfarer House, but their intentions behind the business were sinister.  It is said the Fishers targeted wealthy travelers, poisoning them at dinner and stealing their valuables.  For these crimes, the Fishers were executed on February 18, 1820.  It is said that Lavinia wore her wedding dress to the gallows and when it came time for her to speak her last words she unrepentantly bellowed, “if you have a message you want to send to hell, give it to me, I’ll carry it.” 

But the historical accuracy of this legend is entirely false.  In fact Lavinia may not have actually murdered anyone.

The Woolfolk Family Massacre

On August 6, 1887 one of Georgia’s darkest, and most infamous murders occurred at a farmhouse in Bibb County.  Nine members of Richard Woolfolk’s family were brutally slain with an axe. Suspicion immediately fell on his son Thomas, the only member of the household to survive the event, and a national media circus erupted.

Explore the events that led up to the brutal axe murder of an entire family; as well as the explosive trial that followed, captivating national media coverage…

Birth of a City: New Orleans, Part III

This episode of Southern Gothic is the third in the three-part series "Birth of a City: New Orleans," a story that chronicles the inception of a great American city and the legends that evolved with it.

Part III: The Infamous Madame Delphine LaLaurie

On April 10, 1863 a fire broke out in the home of Creole socialite Madam Delphine LaLaurie; but as men rushed to save the lavish French Quarter mansion, they had no idea of the horrors they would uncover inside.  Madame LaLaurie and her husband had been brutally and inhumanely torturing their slaves.

A massive public uproar erupted and news of the vicious crimes of this Creole Queen spread across America rapidly; yet some scholars believe there may be more to this story than has been told in the portrayal of this historical figure, and it might even be possible that the infamous socialite may have survived without punishment for her crimes, making her one of the most infamous figures of New Orleans’s vast underbelly of legends and lore.

Theme music for "Birth of a City: New Orleans" was written and performed by Grammy nominated singer-songwriter Adam Wright.

Additional narration by Justin Drown of Obscura: A True Crime Podcast.  

The Seer of Shelbyville

On March 22, 1957, Simon Warner, a self-described "crime doctor," was murdered at is home in Shelbyville, Tennessee for allegedly placing a Voodoo hex on a man who had come to him for help; and while Warner was certainly not a Voodoo practitioner, many believed he held supernatural powers.

Taking Up Serpents for Salvation

The religious practice of snake handling sprung up from the isolated rural communities of Appalachia in the early twentieth century; spreading throughout the south by way of an eccentric, charismatic and often troubled group of devout pastors.