Murder of Pearl Bryan
Pearl Bryan was a 22-year-old pregnant American woman from Greencastle, Indiana who was found decapitated in Fort Thomas, Kentucky in 1896.[1] Her head was severed below the fifth vertebra. Due to the murder's gruesome nature, it achieved significant notoriety at the time.[2] It is said that Pearl's boyfriend, Scott Jackson aided by Alonzo Walling murdered her after a botched abortion attempted by use of dental instruments.[citation needed] More recently, there have been claims that her ghost haunts Bobby Mackey's Music World located in Wilder, Kentucky.
Convictions
Bryan's body was found headless[3] just behind what is now the YMCA in Fort Thomas, Kentucky. Her body was identified by the tag in her custom-made shoes from Greencastle, Indiana.[3] Pearl Bryan's headless body is buried in the family plot at Forest Hill Cemetery in Greencastle. Scott Jackson was soon arrested for the murder and later implicated Alonzo Walling.[3] Jackson and Walling were later convicted and hanged in early 1897[3] behind the Newport Campbell County 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.
Popular culture
An episode of Ghost Adventures explored Bryan's murder and claims of supernatural activity at Bobby Mackey's Music World. The Ghost Adventures crew claim an Ovilus device allowed them to contact the spirit of Scott Jackson and hear him confess to the murder.
It is featured in an episode of Most Terrifying Places in America.
The case was also featured in an episode of the PRX podcast Criminal, which focused on the many versions of a folk song about the murder.[4]
Most recently, the BuzzFeed Unsolved episode called The Ghosts and Demons Of Bobby Mackey’s reviewed part of Pearl's murder.
References
- ^ "Pearl Bryan: A Murder Story". Putnam County Public Library. Archived from the original on 31 October 2013. Retrieved 30 March 2014.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|deadurl=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help) - ^ "SCOTT JACKSON THE MURDERER.; Found Guilty of Killing Pearl Bryan and Sentenced to Die". The New York Times. May 15, 1896. Retrieved 29 January 2010.
- ^ a b c d JACKSON AND WALLING DIE; Execution at Newport, Ky. March 21, 1897 New York Times
- ^ "Episode 24: Pearl Bryan (8.7.2015)". Criminal. Retrieved 7 August 2015.
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.