For most, Halloween night means ghosts and goblins, tricks and treats. But for Myrtle Morgan, Halloween 1953 brought a real-life horror no one has ever been able to explain.

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Sources

Inspiration: Reddit post by TheBonesofAutumn - https://www.reddit.com/r/UnresolvedMysteries/comments/1kfq5vw/on_october_31_1953_60yearold_myrtle_morgan_was/

FindaGrave.com - Myrtle Samples Morgan

AP. (1953, November 1). Chattanooga woman slain by intruder. The Knoxville News-Sentinel.

Corliss, A. (1953, November 1). Woman slain in her home; fiend hunted. Chattanooga Daily Times.

Corliss, A. (1953, November 2). Wound is mystery. Chattanooga Daily Times.

Pennington, C. (1953, November 4). Neighbor jailed, questioned in slaying of Mrs. Morgan. Chattanooga Daily Times.

Corliss, A. (1953, November 8). Police put on the spot. Chattanooga Daily Times.

Staff. (1953, November 12). Murder suspect absolved, freed. Chattanooga Daily Times.

UP. (1953, December 26). Chattanooga has epidemic of attacks. The Durham Sun.

When a handsome young college student is found brutally murdered in his apartment, no one could imagine who could have done it. And when they found out who done it... no one could believe it.

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Sources

Unsolved Mysteries Wiki

Slagle v State – Court of Criminal Appeals of AL – 1992

William Slagle – Wikipedia

Crime Historian: The Debate Coach & His Student

FindaGrave – Rex Bartely Copeland

Copeland v Samford University – 1996

Copeland Award for Top First Round At-Large Team – National Debate Tournament

Cullen, S., & Wilstach, N. (1989, October 11). Brother seeks Slagle’s frozen assets. The Birmingham News.

Ross, J.D. (1990, December 4). Grisly video marks day one. Birmingham Post-Herald.

Patterson, N. (1990, December 7). Coroner supports Slagle defense. Birmingham Post-Herald.

Ray,L.A., & Faulk, K. (1989, October 8). Slagle’s behavior baffles authorities and his friends alike. The Birmingham News.

Wilstach, N. (1989, October 7). Copeland’s killing eyed by TV show. The Birmingham News.

Wilstach,N. (1990, December 4). Shelby coroner tells Slagle trial of blood at murder scene. The Birmingham News.

Wilstach, N., & Archibald, J. (1989, October 3). Prof’s letter confesses to slaying. The Birmingham News.

Dean, C.J., & Faulk, K. (1989, September 26). SU debater may have been slain in error. The Birmingham News.

Wilstach, N. (1990, December 50. Slagle talked about slaying, hair stylist says. The Birmingham News.

Wilstach, N. (1990, December 5). Slagle’s letters claim slaying was self-defense. The Birmingham News.

Joynt, S. (1989, October 3). Samford professor hunted in slaying. Birmingham Post-Herald.

AP. (1991, March 9). Debate coach gets life for killingstudent. The Asheville Times.

Jacksonville, Alabama is a sleepy little college town located in the foothills of the Appalachian mountains. Bad things don't happen in this kind of town, so when two young women go missing (Linda Faye Croft in 1970 and Rebecca "Becky" Howell in 1982), it turns the campus community upside down.

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Sources

• FindaGrave.com - Linda Fayce Croft
• The Chanticleer
• Jones, W. (1970, March 2). Strangulation Cited in Slaying of Coed. The Anniston Star.
• Jones, W. (1970, March 26). Murder suspect bound over. The Anniston Star.
• Jones, W. (1970, May 19). Jury told of victim’s note of concern. The Anniston Star.
• Jones, W. (1970, May 22). Harnage gets life sentence. The Anniston Star.
• Harnage v. State – June 13, 1972
• FindaGrave – Rebecca Suzanne Howell
• Murderpedia – James Harvey Callahan
• Uhlman, M., & Duncombe, T. (1982, February 21). Friends saw Rebecca Howell as active, serious, caring. The Anniston Star.
• Mitchell, G. (2009, January 15). James Callahan executed for 1982 rape, murder. TuscaloosaNews.com.
• Duncombe, T. (1982, February 21). Authorities feel murder will be solved. The Anniston Star.
• Gordon, M. (1982, April 11). Jimmy Callahan: A closer look. The Anniston Star.
• White, M. (1982, June 27). Callahan jury calls for death. The Anniston Star.
• White, M. (1982, June 27). How investigators cracked the Becky Howell murder case. The Anniston Star.
• AL.com – Alabama executes man for 1982 murder (Jan 15, 2009)

The Zodiac Killer had couples in California scared to go out together for risk of being attacked. In the late 70s, that fear spread to New York (Son of Sam), Atlanta (Atlanta Lover's Lane Murders), and… Jacksonville, Alabama.

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Go check out these podcasts:

• Scared All The Time
• Small Town Murder -> specifically their Alabama Zodiac episode

Sources

- The Anniston Star

- The Chanticleer

- Sparks v. State of Alabama (1979)

- Blackwell, B. (2017). Instead of 'suicide by cop,' Sparks finds life in Christ. The Baptist Message.

- The Alabama Baptist: https://thealabamabaptist.org/sparks-retires-from-full-time-pastoral-work/

- FindaGrave - Jackie Nance

- FindaGrave - Donna Madelyne Tucker

The It's Murder, Y'all take on a Christmas classic--the 1929 Lawson Family Massacre.

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Send us an email: itsmurderyall@gmail.com

Sources

- Smith, T.J. (2016). The meaning of our tears: The true story of the Lawson family murders of Christmas Day 1929.

- Taylor, T. (2018). Suffer the children: American horrors, homicides & hauntings (Dead men do tell tales).

- Murderpedia: Charles Davis Lawson

In December 1989, a string of deadly mail bombings sent shockwaves through the legal community, claiming the lives of a federal judge (Judge Robert Smith Vance) and a civil rights attorney (Robert E. Robinson), and sending federal investigators on a hunt for one of the pettiest men to ever live.

In this episode, we also discuss: The Machine (secret society at The University of Alabama), astrology (or “the dark arts of Chinese New Year animals”), Governor Memaw (Kay Ivey), and Rob’s opinion on the size of peppers and onions in food ("not gobbed on there").

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Sources:

- Winne, M. (1995). Priority mail: The investigation and trial of a mail bomber obsessed with destroying our justice system.

- Forensic Files. (1998, October 29). Deadly Delivery (Season 3, Episode 5) [can be found on YouTube]

- Robert Smith Vance. (2024). In Encyclopedia of Alabama. Retrieved from https://encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/vance-robert-smith/

- United States of America v. Walter Leroy Moody, Jr. (11th Cir. 1992)

- United States v. Moody, 763 F. Supp. 589 (M.D. Ga. 1991)

- Faulk, K. (2018, April 19). Walter Leroy Moody executed for 1989 bombing that killed Judge Robert Vance. https://www.al.com/news/birmingham/2018/04/execution_of_alabamas_oldest_d.html

- Wikipedia: Robert Smith Vance

- Wikipedia: Robert E. Robinson

- Wikipedia: Walter Moody

Can you ever really know anybody? Jamie Hahn, and her husband, Nation, thought they knew their best friend, Jonathan Broyhill, until his true colors came out... and things got bloody.

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Email us at: itsmurderyall@gmail.com

Visit our [work-in-progress] website: itsmurderyall.com

Sources

- YouTube Channel - Law&Crime Network

- State of NC v. Jonathan Wayne Broyhill (2017)

- Hahn, N. (2018, August 21). Life in a fishbowl. Medium.

- WRAL News - https://www.wral.com/news/local/asset_gallery/14465644/ - Jamie's Obituary - https://www.dukesharleyfuneralhome.com/obituary/2073308

In this episode, we cover the story of Ronald Clark O'Bryan and the urban legend that inspired his crime.

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Sources

• Murderpedia - Ronald Clark O'Bryan
• Wikipedia - Ronald Clark O'Bryan
• Dexheimer, E. (2016, October 14). 35 years later, memories of notorious 'Candyman' murder remain vivid. Austin American-Statesman.
• Ponti, C. (2020, October 22). The haunting legacy of Ronald Clark O'Bryan, the man who killed Halloween. A&Etv.com.
• Snopes - Poisoned Halloween Candy
• Wikipedia - Poisoned candy myths
• Halloween Sadism - www.joelbest.net