In July 1911, Louise Beattie was found mortally wounded after a late-night drive outside Richmond, Virginia, and her husband insisted a stranger had stepped from the darkness and fired the fatal shot. But the story he told began to crack almost as soon as investigators looked more closely at the road, the evidence, and the life he had been hiding. What followed was a murder case filled with scandal, deception, and testimony that gripped the nation. In this episode, Southern Mysteries examines the death of Louise Beattie and the trial that turned a Virginia killing into one of the most infamous crimes of its time.

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Episode Sources

• Style Weekly Richmond — 'Finding Beulah' (styleweekly.com)
• Virginia Chronicle Digital Newspaper Archive — The News Leader, September 7, 1911 (virginiachronicle.com)
• San Francisco Call — August 29, 1911 — Paul Beattie testimony (California Digital Newspaper Collection, cdnc.ucr.edu)
• Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection — Rocky Mountain News, September 9, 1911
• Pottsville Republican — November 24, 1911 — Beattie confession and execution (newspapers.com)
• Old Songs — Henry Clay Beattie folk ballad, Kelly Harrell 1927 recording (lizlyle.lofgrens.org)
• Find a Grave — Henry Clay Beattie Jr. (memorial #11571632), Louise Wellford Owen Beattie (#11571649), Henry Clay Beattie Sr. (#11571129)
• WikiTree — Henry Clay (Beattie) Owen — Wellford Beattie name change record
• William & Mary Law School Digital Repository — A Full and Complete History of the Great Beattie Murder Case (scholarship.law.wm.edu)
• Trotti, Michael Ayers. The Body in the Reservoir: Murder and Sensationalism in the South (University of North Carolina Press, 2014)
• Grossman, Mark. The Trunk Dripped Blood: Five Sensational Murder Cases of the Early 20th Century (Exposit Books, 2018)
• A Full and Complete History of the Beattie Case, Most Highly Sensational Tragedy of the Century (Phoenix Publishing Co., 1911) — Harvard CURIOSity Digital Collections and WorldCat
• Virginia Museum of History & Culture — Richmond automobile culture and Kline Kar history, 1911 (virginiahistory.org)
• Venture Richmond / Wikipedia — Manchester neighborhood history and 1910 consolidation with Richmond
• Chesterfield Historical Society of Virginia — Russ Lescault, board member, quoted in Style Weekly

Episode Music

Out of the Mines, courtesy of Ross Gentry, Asheville, North Carolina.

On a quiet night in October 1973, two men fishing along the Pascagoula River in Mississippi walked into the sheriff’s office with a story that would follow them for the rest of their lives. Charles Hickson and Calvin Parker claimed they were taken aboard a strange craft and examined by beings they could not explain. This episode of Southern Mysteries, explores the Pascagoula Incident, the fear and fallout that shaped both men’s lives, and why this Mississippi case still raises questions more than 50 years later.

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Episode Sources

• Reuters. “Mississippi man who said he was abducted by aliens dies.” Sept. 13, 2011. https://www.reuters.com/article/world/uk/mississippi-man-who-said-he-was-abducted-by-aliens-dies-idUSTRE78C66R/
• WLOX. “Calvin Parker, who claimed he was abducted by aliens in Pascagoula in 1973, has died.” Sept. 2, 2023. https://www.wlox.com/2023/09/02/calvin-parker-who-claimed-he-was-abducted-by-aliens-pascagoula-1973-has-died/
• WLOX. “Coast Life: Alleged Pascagoula River Alien Abduction 50-years later.” Oct. 16, 2023. https://www.wlox.com/2023/10/17/coast-life-alleged-pascagoula-river-alien-abduction-50-years-later/
• Country Roads Magazine. Alexandra Kennon Shahin, “The Pascagoula Abduction.” Sept.21, 2021 https://countryroadsmagazine.com/art-and-culture/people-places/the-pascagoula-abduction/
• Office of the Director of National Intelligence. “2022 Annual Report on Unidentified Aerial Phenomena.” Jan. 12, 2023. https://www.dni.gov/index.php/newsroom/reports-publications/reports-publications-2023/3667-2022-annual-report-on-unidentified-aerial-phenomena
• Office of the Director of National Intelligence. “ODNI Releases Annual Report on Unidentified Aerial Phenomena.” Jan. 12, 2023. https://www.dni.gov/index.php/newsroom/press-releases/press-releases-2023/3668-odni-releases-annual-report-on-unidentified-aerial-phenomena
• Office of the Director of National Intelligence. “2022 Annual Report on Unidentified Aerial Phenomena” (PDF). https://www.dni.gov/files/ODNI/documents/assessments/Unclassified-2022-Annual-Report-UAP.pdf
• U.S. Department of Defense. “Department of Defense Releases the Annual Report on Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena.” Nov. 14, 2024. https://www.war.gov/News/Releases/Release/article/3964824/department-of-defense-releases-the-annual-report-on-unidentified-anomalous-phen/

Episode Music

Out of the Mines, courtesy of Ross Gentry, Asheville, North Carolina.

In February 1975, nine-year-old Marcia Trimble vanished while delivering Girl Scout cookies in Nashville’s Green Hills neighborhood, shattering the sense of safety surrounding one of the city’s most affluent communities. Her disappearance and murder became one of Tennessee’s most haunting cold cases, marked by suspicion, unanswered questions, and a mystery that lingered for decades.

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Want more Southern Mysteries? You can hear the Southern Mysteries show archive of 60+ episodes along with Patron exclusive podcast, Audacious: Tales of American Crime and more when you become a patron of the show. You can immediately access exclusive content now at patreon.com/southernmysteries

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Visit SouthernMysteries.com for more episodes and source lists.

📱 Follow on Social Media:

Facebook: Southern Mysteries Podcast TikTok @southernmysteries Instagram: @southernmysteries Email: southernmysteriespodcast@gmail.com

Episode Sources

• The Tennessean archival reporting on the disappearance, search, and investigation of Marcia Trimble (1975–2009): https://www.tennessean.com/
• Nashville Banner historical coverage via Nashville Public Library Digital Collections: https://digital.library.nashville.org/ (digital.library.nashville.org in Bing)
• Metro Nashville Police Department public statements and case summaries related to the Trimble investigation: https://www.nashville.gov/departments/police (nashville.gov in Bing)
• Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals opinion in State of Tennessee v. Jerome Sydney Barrett (2009): https://www.tncourts.gov/
• Davidson County Criminal Court filings and docket information for Barrett’s prosecution: https://sci.ccc.nashville.gov/ (sci.ccc.nashville.gov in Bing)
• Vanderbilt University archives documenting the murder of Sarah Des Prez and Barrett’s connection: https://www.library.vanderbilt.edu/speccol/
• Belmont University reporting and campus safety archives referencing the February 1975 assault linked to Barrett: https://www.belmont.edu/
• A&E Cold Case Files episode “The Girl Scout Murder” (Marcia Trimble case): https://www.aetv.com/shows/cold-case-files (aetv.com in Bing)
• Nashville Scene long‑form reporting on the Trimble case and the Womack investigation: https://www.nashvillescene.com/
• Interviews with Jeffrey Womack published across multiple decades, including retrospective reporting by The Tennessean: https://www.tennessean.com/
• Nashville Public Library Metro Archives: Belle Meade and Green Hills neighborhood development history, maps, and planning documents: https://library.nashville.org/research/metro-archives (library.nashville.org in Bing)
• U.S. Census Bureau demographic data for Nashville and Davidson County (1960–1980):
• Historical accounts of Belle Meade’s origins and incorporation as an independent city: https://www.citybellemeade.org/
• Reporting on the 1979 grand jury indictment of Jeffrey Womack via The Tennessean archives: https://www.tennessean.com/
• Coverage of the 2008–2009 DNA breakthroughs and Barrett’s prosecution from The Tennessean and AP News: https://apnews.com/
• Academic research on investigative tunnel vision and wrongful suspicion in 1970s policing (National Criminal Justice Reference Service): https://www.ojp.gov/ncjrs
• Oral histories and interviews with Nashville residents who participated in the 1975 search efforts (Nashville Public Library Oral History Collections): https://library.nashville.org/research/oral-history (library.nashville.org in Bing)
• Contemporary reporting on changes in Tennessee missing‑child protocols influenced by the Trimble case (TBI & state legislative archives): https://www.tn.gov/tbi

Episode Music

Out of the Mines, courtesy of Ross Gentry, Asheville, North Carolina.