Most Notorious! A True Crime History Podcast

287: The Mysterious Disappearance of Bobby Dunbar w/ Tal McThenia


Listen Later

In 1912, four-year-old Bobby Dunbar went missing in the Louisiana swamps. After an eight-month search that electrified the country and destroyed Bobby’s parents, the boy was found, filthy and hardly recogniz­able. A wandering piano tuner was arrested and charged with kidnapping— a crime then punishable by death.


But when a destitute single mother came forward from North Carolina to claim the boy as her son, not the lost Bobby Dunbar, the case became a high-pitched battle over custody—and identity—that divided the South.


My guest, Tal McThenia,first introduced listeners of NPR's This American Life to this case in 2008. A few years later he co-wrote, along with Margaret Dunbar Cutright (the granddaughter of Bobby Dunbar) the definitive book about this historical whodunnit, called "A Case for Solomon: Bobby Dunbar and the Kidnapping That Haunted a Nation".



The author's website: https://www.talmcthenia.com/



Listen to This American Life's "The Ghost of Bobby Dunbar" here: https://www.thisamericanlife.org/352/transcript



The author's recent Audubon article: https://www.audubon.org/magazine/fall-2021/the-strange-true-story-john-williams-and-charles



Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

Most Notorious! A True Crime History PodcastBy Blue Ewe Media

  • 4.7
  • 4.7
  • 4.7
  • 4.7
  • 4.7

4.7

2,672 ratings


More shows like Most Notorious! A True Crime History Podcast

View all
True Murder: The Most Shocking Killers by Dan Zupansky

True Murder: The Most Shocking Killers

2,524 Listeners

The Generation Why Podcast by Wondery

The Generation Why Podcast

17,263 Listeners

True Crime Garage by TRUE CRIME GARAGE

True Crime Garage

34,384 Listeners

The Trail Went Cold by Robin Warder

The Trail Went Cold

3,154 Listeners

The Conspirators Podcast by The Conspirators Podcast

The Conspirators Podcast

1,183 Listeners

Serial Killers by Spotify Studios

Serial Killers

29,162 Listeners

Trace Evidence by Steven Pacheco

Trace Evidence

4,084 Listeners

Criminology by Emash Digital & Mike Ferguson, Mike Morford

Criminology

6,994 Listeners

Dark Histories by Ben Cutmore

Dark Histories

1,804 Listeners

Southern Mysteries Podcast by Shannon Ballard

Southern Mysteries Podcast

964 Listeners

Southern Gothic by Southern Gothic Media

Southern Gothic

939 Listeners

Infamous America by Black Barrel Media

Infamous America

2,914 Listeners

History Uncovered by All That's Interesting

History Uncovered

249 Listeners

Crimes of the Centuries by Amber Hunt and Audioboom

Crimes of the Centuries

3,935 Listeners

American Criminal by Airship

American Criminal

242 Listeners