Pearl Bryan
Pearl Bryan was a 22 year old pregnant woman who was decapitated in Fort Thomas, Kentucky in 1896. Her head was severed below the fifth vertebra. Due to the murder's gruesome nature, it achieved significant notoriety at the time.[1] More recently, there have been claims that her ghost haunts Bobby Mackey's Music World located in Wilder, Kentucky.
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[edit] Convictions
Pearl's body was found headless just behind what is now the YMCA in Fort Thomas, Kentucky. Scott Jackson was soon arrested for the murder and later implicated Alonzo Walling. Jackson and Walling were later convicted and hanged in early 1897 behind what is now the Newport Courthouse on York Street, just south of the Taylor-Southgate bridge. They were the last people hanged in Newport. The gallows located behind the courthouse were torn down following the execution. The case was very popular nationally at the time, provoking citizens to take souvenirs from the crime scene (even branches), and buy Pearl Bryan "merchandise" from a store near the Newport Courthouse. One report says the trial was "theatrical." The actual double-hanging was urged to be done hastily due to the threat of a public lynching by friends and relatives of Bryan. Jim Reis, author, historian and well known reporter and columnist for the Kentucky Post, in an article titled "Pieces of the Past," relates that even during a jail break, the two men remained in their cell in fear of being lynched and were heavily protected.[2]
[edit] In Popular Culture
An episode of Ghost Adventures explored Pearl's murder and possible supernatural activity regarding the ghosts of her murderers at Bobby's Mackey's Music World. The Ghost Adventures crew made supposed contact with the suspected killer of Pearl, Scott Jackson, who, through electronic voice phenomena, said "I killed...Pearl Bryan."
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ "SCOTT JACKSON THE MURDERER.; Found Guilty of Killing Pearl Bryan and Sentenced to Die.". The New York Times. May 15, 1896. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9B06E4D6123EE333A25756C1A9639C94679ED7CF. Retrieved 29 January 2010.
- ^ http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9907EED61F31E132A25752C2A9659C94669ED7CF JACKSON AND WALLING DIE; Execution at Newport, Ky.] March 21, 1897 New York Times
[edit] External links
- Mysterious Murder of Pearl Bryan author unknown, archived at the Kentucky Virtual Library
- Pearl Bryan Murder from Jim Reis' article Pieces of the Past
- Legend of the Pearl Bryan Murder from Troy Taylor's book No Rest For The Wicked
- Pearl Bryan a personal recollection by Albert Vinton Stegman Jr.
- JACKSON AND WALLING DIE; Execution at Newport, Ky. March 21, 1897 New York Times article regarding the execution of Jackson and Walling.
