The Felon File

The California Cold case that ended in a small town in Western North Carolina. Part 2: Moonshine!

Today’s shade of blue story,  is a 1985 story that starts all the way across the country to the west coast. The land of make be-leave and stories. But the story begins its ending here, in the mountains of Appalachia.  If you grew up in the 70’s and 80’s the victim’s name might not be familiar, but his large body of work will be...

Episode -24- Jane Doe of the Mountain. Identification of a 50 year  old cold case murder Victim.

Jane Doe of the Mountain. If you took  a short walk through a wooded area on a hill overlooking the city of Harlan Kentucky in the 1970s or 80s  you would find a grave marker that simply said, “Unidentified Girl Burial, June 5th, 1969”.  This was the resting place of Jane Doe of the Mountain. Found murdered on a mountain in Kentucky...

Episode-23-   The Ballad of Poor Ellen Smith and the truth behind the song.

This episode starts with The Ballad of Poor Ellen Smith.  The morning of July 21, 1892, the body of Ellen Smith was found behind the Zinzendorf Hotel in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Shot through the heart. The story of Ellen Smith’s murder is a classic tale of seduction and betrayal...

Episode -22- The 1970s  Virginia Bunny man mystery and Investigation.

Who was the Virginia Bunny man? Ghost? Specter from the past? A crazed ax welding man in a rabbit costume?. Perhaps a simply misunderstood guy who liked to dress up as a Bunny. If so why the ax?

Find out the reality of the 1970’s story of the Virginia Bunny Man and the police investigation into his existence. 

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Episode -21-The story of Namoni Wise. Was  Bob Dylan and Doc Watson correct in telling the story?  

A shade of blue that starts with a sound clip by Doc Watson. A recorded Ballad of the story of Namoni Wise. Down loaded from  Smithsonian Folkways. The nonprofit record label of the Smithsonian Institution.   Naomi Wise was said to be an extraordinarily beautiful, young teen age orphan indentured as servant to a farming family in North Carolina...

Episode -20- The Right Rev. George Washington Carawan and the school teacher Charles  Lassiter. 1852.

Though a preacher of the gospel, The Reverend George Washington Carawan, was a  prominent and powerful North Carolina Baptist minister. A man of violent temper and strong animal passions, more likely to inspire terror than piety in the community and those around him...

A cold 1904 January in Mitchel County North Carolina, the body of a young man is found lying near the railroad tracks. Lying face first in or near a small creek, The young man shot three times in the head and five in the back.  

The county Coroner was summed and an inquest held. In 1900’s North Carolina many times the initial investigation of a death or homicide was completed by a coroner's jury. They would make the initial determination of foul play...

Episode-18- Why did the Deputy shoot Tom Mashburn? & Who killed the father of NC Ginseng Trade

The song says Someone may have shot the sheriff and claims they did not shoot the deputy, but we do know for sure that the Deputy shot Tom Mashburn.

Part 2- Is it true that the murder will return to the scene of the crime? The fact is sometimes he does...

Episode- 17- A 1960s unusual disappearance and missing person case with connections to Western N.C. 

A new shade of blue looking at an unusual disappearance and missing person investigation. In the mid 1960’s  Mary Little was a Bank secretary in Atlanta, Georgia, she disappeared from the parking lot of Lenox Square Mall shopping one night...

The Murder of W. W. “Bill” Ormond by Mr. William Bonaparte Cole.  

Episode - 16- Part 2. 

 Part two of the Murder of W. W. “Bill” Ormond by Mr. William Bonaparte Cole.  

W. “Bill” Ormond, a veteran of the trench warfare of World War One was a young man returning home from war. He becomes romantically involved with Influential Mill owner, Mr.  William Cole’s daughter...