Blue Ridge True Crime

For over a century, mysterious lights have been reported floating, dancing, splitting, and vanishing over Brown Mountain in western North Carolina's Pisgah National Forest. In this episode, we explore the full story of the Brown Mountain Lights: from early 20th-century newspaper accounts and government investigations to alleged alien encounters, pop culture appearances, and a modern-day anomaly th...

In this special paranormal edition of Blue Ridge True Crime, host Alfred Dockery talks with journalists Marie Mitchell and Mason Smith, authors of Paranormal Kentucky : The Uncommonwealth of Close Encounters with Aliens, Ghosts, and Cryptids. The book covers more than 20 supernatural cases across Kentucky: UFOs, ghosts, haunted places, and creatures said to roam the Bluegrass woods. In this episod...

He called himself "Mr. Social Security." In reality, Eric C. Conn was the mastermind behind one of the largest disability fraud schemes in U.S. history. From glowing billboards in Eastern Kentucky to a 19-foot statue of Abraham Lincoln, Conn built a flashy empire on a foundation of bribes and fake medical records. Companion Substack Article Just click the link above. This is the wild story of a la...

He was a killer, a folk hero, and the most dangerous man in the Carolinas. Discover the wild true story of Lewis Redmond, the Moonshine King who defied the federal government, survived a hail of bullets, and became a 19th-century legend. In this episode, we explore the life of Lewis Redmond, the notorious " Moonshine King of the Carolinas ." More than just an outlaw, Redmond was a product of the R...

In April 1975, a disheveled hiker walked off the Appalachian Trail in Tennessee and walked straight into a sheriff's department to confess to a murder no one knew had happened. The authorities thought he was a kook looking for a warm jail cell. They were wrong. In this episode, we explore the strange, haunting case of Paul Wallace Bigley and Janice Kay Balza—a crime that raises unsettling question...

In this episode, we're joined by author Lane Dyer to discuss his novel, The Tragic Tale of Crick Davis: Ashe County Axe Murder. Set in the remote mountains of North Carolina in 1903, the book is based on the true story of Christopher Columbus Davis, a farmer who committed a brutal, seemingly senseless axe murder that shocked the nation. Lane shares the incredible journey of researching a 120-year-...

In this episode of the Blue Ridge True Crime podcast, we unravel the disturbing mystery of the Chestoa View Overlook deaths: a case that has haunted North Carolina for decades. On October 17, 1988, tourists discovered abandoned camera equipment and heard a woman's terrified scream echoing from the gorge below. Early the next morning, rescuers found the bodies of Susan Haire and Helen Gibbs on the...

Jesse James is one of the most famous outlaws in American history—but the real story is more complicated than the movies. In this episode, we map the James-Younger Gang's robberies across the Midwest, discuss how Jesse James used newspapers to forge his legend, and trace his rise to folk hero. Plus: a simulated death match between Jesse James and Al Capone. Yes, really. Companion Substack Article...

Mountain folk have a code all their own. In the winter of 1924, deep inside South Carolina’s infamous “Dark Corner,” a prohibition agent and a volunteer constable closed in on a moonshine still at the foot of Hogback Mountain. What happened next would leave one man dead, two families shattered, and a mountain code put to the test in a courtroom. This is the story of betrayal, loyalty, and a father...

In 1972, 25 young people camped in the North Carolina mountains on their way to see The Rolling Stones. Sheriff Kermit Banks and six deputies arrived with shotguns. Within minutes, 20-year-old Stanley Aultman was dead. No officer was ever charged. Historian Tim Silver joins us to break down the evidence, the cover-up, and why this forgotten case still matters. YouTube Video: Death in Briar Bottom...

In May 2008, two lifelong friends, Scott Johnston and Sean Farmer, headed into the woods of Giles County, Virginia, for a simple fishing trip. They met a friendly stranger named “Ricky” and shared dinner by a campfire. But within hours, they were fighting for their lives, bleeding from gunshot wounds, and navigating a dark mountain road with one man steering from the passenger seat and the other w...

In September 1909, six members of the Meadows family, including three young children, were murdered with an axe and a gun in their remote Virginia log cabin, which was then set on fire. Forty days later and eighty miles away, four members of the Hood family were killed in nearly identical fashion near Beckley, West Virginia. Was Howard Little, a convicted murderer with a questionable pardon, respo...

In May 1974, 17-year-old Margaret Harritt set out on the Appalachian Trail with a friend, hoping for an adventure. Days later, she found herself tied to a tree, watching a stranger named Ralph decide her fate. This episode traces the harrowing story of a hike that turned into a nightmare, and the investigation that finally brought a killer to justice. Podcast Sources "The Stranger in the Shelter"...

When the body of a young girl is discovered in an abandoned Kentucky mineshaft, the small town of Harlan believes they have finally found missing 14-year-old Mary Vickery. A local taxi driver quickly becomes the prime suspect, and a star witness comes forward with damning testimony. The case seems open and shut. But sometimes, justice takes an unexpected turn, and the truth can be stranger than fi...

We're heading to Point Pleasant, West Virginia, to uncover the true story of the Mothman . From four teenagers fleeing a winged creature at 100 mph to the bizarre phenomena that followed, including flying saucers and a telepathic alien named Indrid Cold. We explore whether there was a link between the Mothman and the Silver Bridge disaster that killed 46 people. Plus, we dissect John Keel's chaoti...

In February 1968, the small town of Gaffney, South Carolina, was plunged into darkness. Over eight terrifying days, a serial killer known as the Gaffney Strangler claimed the lives of three women, taunted the local newspaper, and left a community barricaded in their homes. This is the story of how a cryptic phone call to a newspaper editor led police to two bodies, exposed a wrongful conviction, a...

We’re switching things up! This isn’t our typical true crime story. Join me for a front-row review and insider breakdown of the live event   Serial Killers with Dr. Scott Bonn , which I caught in Spartanburg. Plus, I’m featuring exclusive audio clips from the event's Q&A session, courtesy of Dr. Bonn himself. Content Advisory:  This episode is marked  EXPLICIT  due to mature subject matter and occ...

For over 200 years, the tale of the Bell Witch has haunted the American South. From 1817 to 1821, a frontier family in Tennessee was tormented by an invisible entity that pinched, spoke, prophesied, and maybe even murdered. We delve into the legend of the witch that battled Andrew Jackson, poisoned a patriarch, and left a mystery that blurs the line between fact and folklore.  Podcast Sources ⁠⁠⁠⁠...

For Kentucky, it was the crime of the 19th century. On December 23rd, 1881, just before Christmas, a home in Ashland, Kentucky, became the scene of a premeditated and brutal act of staggering evil. Three teenagers were murdered. What followed was a storm of missteps, red herrings, mob violence, political maneuvering, and a governor’s defiant stand that would turn the case into a national spectacle...

Two young Tennessee criminals hoped to carve their own Depression-era outlaw legend. Clarence "Pee-Jem" Bunch and Gus McCoig began their path with a jailbreak from Newport in May 1934, unleashing a summer-long spree of robberies and shootouts across East Tennessee. Their run was as short as it was violent. Bunch was shot by police and died at age 23. McCoig escaped prison to rob again, but was lat...

He was a beloved legend on the Appalachian Trail, a generous, devout hiker known for his kindness and Jerry Garcia beard. To his fellow thru-hikers, he was "Bismarck." But to the FBI, he was  James Hammes , a fugitive accountant who had vanished after allegedly embezzling  $8.7 million  from his employer. For years, he lived a double life, hiking thousands of miles while hiding in plain sight. In...

Join us for a special recap episode as we raise a glass to our unforgettable debut year! We're revisiting the chilling cases and incredible guests that made Season 1 a hit, breaking down your fan-favorite "ballad" episodes, and sharing behind-the-scenes secrets from the podcast's production. Featuring clips from each of our five cornerstone ballad episodes: Appalachian Ballads: Otto Wood  with aut...

In 1927, as Charles Lindbergh crossed the Atlantic and "talkies" revolutionized film, a brutal bandit named Paul Jaworski and his Flathead Gang used buried dynamite to launch a Brinks armored car into the air in America's first armored car robbery. This is the story of a criminal with a death wish, a failed getaway, a daring jailbreak, and a three-state crime spree that ended in Pennsylvania’s ele...

In the winter of 1831, in the remote mountains of North Carolina, a young woman named Frankie Silver was accused of the brutal ax murder of her husband, Charlie. Her conviction, execution, and the gruesome dismemberment of the body made her the first woman hanged by the state of North Carolina. But her story didn’t end at the gallows—it became a legend, a haunting ballad, and a centuries-old quest...

In the turbulent summer of 1917, as America grappled with war and social upheaval, the small city of Salisbury, North Carolina, was rocked by a brutal crime. The night watchman at the local streetcar barn was found savagely beaten and stabbed, and the payroll safe was broken open. What began as a senseless murder and robbery would unravel into a chilling tale of greed, a wooden leg, and a killer w...