Thomas Marcum is no stranger to unexplained phenomenon underground. Besides being a highly-respected paranormal investigator and researcher living in the heart of the Appalachian Mountains in Southeast, Kentucky, Marcum has witnessed enough bizarre occurrences happening in the hills to make him start expecting to see anomalies rather than being surprised with something mysterious does appear. One of the places that has received much of Marcum's time and energy are the emptied coal mines throughout Harlan County. It is the history of mining that intrigues Marcum. Having worked around the mines since he was 13 years old, Marcum is familiar with much of the fascinating history coming out of the coal fields' abandoned portals. It is a dark and dingy history that defined the culture of Harlan County - hard work, blood, sweat and tears. But, there's more to the complex history of coal mining than is shared in textbooks, stored in local archives, and displayed at mine museums. The oral histories that are handed down by coal miners telling of their days toiling away far beneath the Earth's surface are some of the most astounding tales coming out of these hollows, surpassing time and continuing with new generations of miners and their families. It is these stories that Marcum looks for.
Unsolved Murder of Pine Mountain School Teacher Lura Parsons (Pt 2)
MOUNTAIN HAINTS Series continues
Part Two Of Pine Mountain Schoolteacher Laura Parsons' Murder Dives Into Some Of Harlan County’s Darker History
BY: JENNIFER McDANIELS
APPALACHIAN JOURNALIST
(As Published In The Tri-City News)
There is not much known about Lura Parsons, the Pine Mountain Settlement School teacher who was viciously assaulted and murdered on Laden Trail on Sept. 7, 1920. Even though she made headlines throughout the nation, her background is as shadowed as the lone, mountain trail where her body was found. Parsons was bigger in death than she was in life. Perhaps it is because her murder was shrouded in mystery and shady politics, as well as volatile social issues of the day, that her story has grown to be legendary, handed down from mountain family to mountain family. Folk Studies Professor Theresa Osborne said that is how lore and legends are born - because there is always more to the story than what has been officially recorded. The context of historical events is often more interesting, and that is no exception in Pine Mountain’s unsolved Lura Parsons murder case.
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| Pine Mountain Settlement School teachers often walked over Laden Trail on Pine Mountain. |
MOUNTAIN HAINTS SERIES Continues
Unsolved murder of Pine Mountain School Teacher Lura Parsons Remains One Of Kentucky's Greatest Mysteries 100 Years Later
(This is a two-part story. The second installment will be shared next week.)
By: JENNIFER McDANIELS
Appalachian Journalist
(As Published In The Tri-City News)
HARLAN, KY - The shrill whistle of a steaming locomotive pierced the mountain silence 100 years ago on the Poor Fork of the Cumberland River in Harlan County. It was a train carrying Pine Mountain Settlement School teacher Lura Parsons and a prominent and politically aligned Kentucky state assistant veterinarian on board. Although it is claimed the two did not know each other, they were both headed across Pine Mountain to the settlement school when the train stopped at the L & N station in the community of Dillon, which was located near what is now known as Laden, between Putney and Totz On Sept. 7, 1920, Parsons was returning from a vacation break she had spent with her family in Garrard County, Kentucky and the state assistant veterinarian, Dr. C.H Winnes, was traveling to Pine Mountain Settlement School to test cattle for tuberculosis. While the two reportedly did not know each other at the time, both Parsons and Winnes would go down in the annals of Kentucky history as being a part of one of the state’s most horrific, sensationalized, and mysterious murders.
FOLKLORE A BIG PART OF APPALACHIAN CULTURE
Possible Dogman Seen in Harlan County
I got the following report in a few days ago of a possible dogman sighting in the Totz community of Harlan county. After gathering a little more information and looking at the area on google maps the report is ready to share.
I should also say that this is an area I'm generally familiar with and travel near or through on occasions.
Here is the report and my email exchange with the witness.
Paranormal investigator Tony Felosi joins Dr. John Stamey, Devin Tait
and guest host Robin McCray to discuss the story of Manzo Shepherd
and the events that spawned one of the most infamous trials in Harlan
County, Kentucky history.
Taking place on Black Mountain at 4,145 feet
(the tallest peak in Kentucky) in late April 1942, cab driver Joe
Christian was brutally murdered by Shepherd and his two friends.
Within
one month of the murder, Shepherd would be shot in a crowded courtroom
of 300 people and his accomplices, Sherman Clouse and Howard Hensley,
would both eventually get life sentences to avoid the death penalty.
Here is the podcast
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