North Carolina

Eastern North Carolina is a land of contrasts, and its crime stories bear this out. A lovelorn war hero or a stalker? Conniving wife or consummate homemaker? Murder or suicide? The answers can be as puzzling as the questions. Mystery author Cathy Pickens details an assortment of quirky cases, including a duo of poisoning cases more than one hundred years apart, a band of folk hero swamp outlaws, sex swingers and a couple of mummies. Each story has, in its way, helped define Eastern North Carolina and its history.

North Carolina holds a special place in the history of moonshine. For more than three centuries, the illicit home-brew was a way of life.

NASCAR emerged from the illegal moonshine tradeas drivers such as Junior Johnson, accustomed to running from the law, moved to the racetrack. A host of colorful characters populated the state's bootlegging arena, like Marvin "Popcorn" Sutton, known as the Paul Bunyan of moonshine, and Alvin Sawyer, considered the moonshine king of the Great Dismal Swamp. Some law enforcement played a constant cat-and-mouse game to shut down illegal stills, while some just looked the other way. Authors Frank Stephenson and Barbara Mulder reveal the gritty history of moonshine in the Tar Heel State.

Author Rick Jackson tells the stories behind some of the most famous, and most heinous, crimes in the history of the Old North State.

The smiling faces and southern hospitality of North Carolina promise a paradise for visitors and residents alike, but darkness still lurks in small towns as well as big cities. The state's dangerous past of violence and murder is never seen in tourist pamphlets. From the capture of Olympic bomber Eric Rudolph in the mountains to the seaside murder of the Hermit of Fort Fisher, dark deeds have touched every part of the state.

Explore the dark side of the South…

The South boasts a rich storytelling tradition--and a rich history of criminal behavior. From Texas to the Virginias, each place has different stories to tell. Several involve writers of the first order: Harper Lee researched true crime in Alabama and Zora Neale Hurston reported on a landmark murder trial in Florida. A serial killer leaves Louisiana to travel the country, a lonely-hearts swindler visits Texas, Arkansas witnesses a surprising spate of unrelated strychnine poisonings, a West Virginia murder is revealed in a dream, and a one-armed conjure-man commits murder-for-hire in North Carolina. Forensic science expands the crimefighters' toolkit in this tour of some of the South's true crime cases.

Crime writer Cathy Pickens brings a novelist's eye to the sinister South and its defining--and quirky--crime stories.

North Carolina's Triangle region is known for universities, research facilities and politics, but even in such a prosperous, diverse, modern environment, crime helps define the edges. These cases cover several decades of murder, fraud and betrayal. Read about the nation's largest prison escape and a couple of North Carolina's poisoners. From a civil rights-era clash of Old South and New and a suspected Cold War spy to new-tech sleuths and tales of diligent as well as discredited investigators, these stories will keep you entertained and aghast at the dark side of daily life. Crime writer Cathy Pickens explores a collection of headline-grabbing tales that shows the sinister side of the Triangle's cities.

A thrilling account of a hundred years of sensational and sinister deeds that marked and shaped one southern town.

Crimes that captivated attention in the Charlotte area over the years run the gamut from missing people to the wrongly accused. This collection of headline stories features violent motorcycle gangs, crusading mothers, a fraudster who claimed a president was poisoned by his wife, a serial killer who broke all the rules and even a man who made Bigfoot. With a mystery novelist's ear for a good tale, Cathy Pickens presents more than a century of sensational sinister deeds that marked this diverse and dynamic city.

For nearly a century and a half, police in Charlotte and Mecklenburg County have displayed tremendous courage and sacrifice in the execution of their duty, adapted to social and cultural changes within the American South, and increasingly embraced sophisticated methods and revolutionary advances in technology to meet the challenges posed by criminals and a violent culture. Images of America: Charlotte and Mecklenburg County Police highlights the rich history of two departments that consolidated in 1993 as the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department.

Highlands, North Carolina, is not just home to cool mountain breezes, breathtaking views and world-class shopping and restaurants, it also boasts a rich and vibrant history. What started as the dream of two developers in 1875 has grown from a tiny hamlet into a beloved home and home-away-from-home for many. Join sixth-generation Highlands native Isabel Hall Chambers and her husband, Overton Chambers, as they share charming tales of old Highlands, from lazy summer days playing "town ball" to ice-skating and celebrating Christmas. Woven into this collection of articles from the Laurel are true stories of some of the area's grand old homes, its traditions and an array of interesting residents and visitors through the years, as told by fathers and grandfathers, old postcards, letters, deeds and even tombstones. Everyone who loves this unique mountain community will delight in Remembering Highlands.

Discover the wicked and sordid history of Asheville, North Carolina in this volume by author and Asheville native Marla Hardee Milling.

Asheville is a wonderfully strange city, but it has a few shadows in its past. Teenager Helen Clevenger was brutally murdered at the luxurious Battery Park Hotel in 1936. William Dudley Pelley called himself ""America's Hitler"" and founded his Silver Legion in Asheville. He stirred up enough anti war propaganda to go to prison. A desperado named Will Harris came into town on a cold night in November 1906 and left a trail of dead bodies and panic among Asheville citizens. Mayor Gallatin Roberts killed himself in the wake of collapsing banks. Asheville native Marla Hardee Milling delves into wicked stories of murder, sedition, corruption, arson and disease.

A young man charged with murder is marched through the streets of Winston and Salem and hanged on the outskirts of town...
?A tragic event carries several citizens into a raging river and to their deaths...
?An eccentric with a fascination for chemicals blows himself up at the Salem Hotel...

Through the use of primary documents, these and other fascinating stories of Winston and Salem's past are vividly brought to life. Jennifer Bean Bower, associate curator of photographic collections at Old Salem Museums & Gardens, has spent many years collecting accounts of the extraordinary historic events that have occurred in her hometown of Winston-Salem. Winston & Salem: Tales of Murder, Mystery and Mayhem covers 118 years of history and introduces readers to real-life characters and stories not soon to be forgotten.

Bootleggers, swindlers, gold miners and serial killers--Charlotte has courted them all. The Queen City is renowned for its skyline, sports teams and dizzying growth, but just below its smooth, polished exterior lies a dark past full of crime and myriad misdeeds. This second history of Charlotte has been concealed and denied by those who retell the city's story, and by those who have lived it. Until now.

In Wicked Charlotte, discover the tale of the Chicago gangsters who invaded the city looking to pull a heist to fund sinister maneuverings in their boss's criminal trial. Learn how a golden nugget found in a nearby creek changed Charlotte from a trading crossroads into a rough and tumble town full of fortune seekers bent on finding a quick dollar and instant riches. And read about the details of the death of one of Charlotte's most gifted writers, who met his end in a seedy hotel room in Mexico.

This raucous book sheds light on these incidents and many more, revealing a side of Charlotte's history that few will recognize. The sordid events described here took place on familiar streets and in well known neighborhoods, but rarely have the stories passed beyond the circles of those who lived them. Charlotte has played host to a multitude of villainous characters, and has seen scores of unsavory deeds played out on its shadowy streets. Wicked Charlotte brings it all to the forefront, as never before.

Nestled within the heart of North Carolina's Piedmont lies Lexington, a town with a history so iniquitous that few dare to tell the tales. Discover how a veritably unknown young singer named Elvis Presley wiggled and gyrated his way through town, and how the Jolly Black Widow claimed her third husband (and victim) in a string of doomed love affairs. It was here in Lexington that an obscene mail menace sent hundreds of depraved letters to wholesome families, and on a sleepy summer day, police seized nine barrels of illicit liquor only to be stolen back and imbibed by the original owners that night. Travel with local author Alice Sink down the streets of old-time Lexington to view a city riddled with all manner of unsavory deeds.

The central Piedmont North Carolina town of Kernersville is known today for its quiet neighborhoods and lovely historic district homes. Few of its citizens would suspect that in earlier times the town had its fair share of unsavory characters. Wicked Kernersville lifts the veil from this little-known facet of the town's past and introduces the reader to incidents that prompted one early resident to lament that it was unsafe to walk the streets. Using material gleaned from old newspapers and other sources, longtime residents Michael Marshall and Jerry Taylor bring these stories to life, giving the reader a glimpse of the town's history unavailable from other sources.