Crime Capsule

In the South, mystery comes heaped with added richness. And in this collection of comfort food for the curious mind, author Alan Brown guides readers into the most delightful medley of mystery the South has on offer. Witches in Tennessee. The devil’s hoofprints in North Carolina. Voodoo in New Orleans. In this South, meat rains from the sky in Bath, Kentucky. A professor’s thigh makes the case for spontaneous combustion in Nashville. UFO-induced radiation sickness befalls Huffman, Texas. From bluesman Robert Johnson selling his soul to the devil in Arkansas to the oak tree that defends the innocence of a man executed in Mobile, sometimes the inexplicable is truly the most satisfying.

Alan Brown was born in Alton, Illinois, on January 12, 1950. After earning digress from Millikin University, Southern Illinois University, Illinois State University and the University of Illinois, he taught high school English in Flora and Springfield, Illinois. In 1986, he joined the English faculty at the University of West Alabama. When he is not teaching, Alan enjoys watching old movies, traveling with his wife, Marilyn, and spending time with his grandsons, Cade and Owen. Since publishing his first book, Dim Roads and Dark Nights, in 1993, he has explored his interest in folklore, especially ghost tales, in more than thirty publications, including Stories from the Haunted South (2004), Haunted Georgia (2006), Ghost Hunters of the South (2006), Ghost Hunters of New England (2008), Haunted Birmingham (2009), The Big Book of Texas Ghost Stories (2010), Haunted Meridian (2011), Ghosts Along the Mississippi River (2012), Ghosts of Florida’s Gulf Coast (2014), The Haunted South (2014), Ghosts of Mississippi’s Golden Triangle (2016), The Haunted Southwest (2016) and The Haunting of Alabama (2017).

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In the South, mystery comes heaped with added richness. And in this collection of comfort food for the curious mind, author Alan Brown guides readers into the most delightful medley of mystery the South has on offer. Witches in Tennessee. The devil’s hoofprints in North Carolina. Voodoo in New Orleans. In this South, meat rains from the sky in Bath, Kentucky. A professor’s thigh makes the case for spontaneous combustion in Nashville. UFO-induced radiation sickness befalls Huffman, Texas. From bluesman Robert Johnson selling his soul to the devil in Arkansas to the oak tree that defends the innocence of a man executed in Mobile, sometimes the inexplicable is truly the most satisfying.

Alan Brown was born in Alton, Illinois, on January 12, 1950. After earning digress from Millikin University, Southern Illinois University, Illinois State University and the University of Illinois, he taught high school English in Flora and Springfield, Illinois. In 1986, he joined the English faculty at the University of West Alabama. When he is not teaching, Alan enjoys watching old movies, traveling with his wife, Marilyn, and spending time with his grandsons, Cade and Owen. Since publishing his first book, Dim Roads and Dark Nights, in 1993, he has explored his interest in folklore, especially ghost tales, in more than thirty publications, including Stories from the Haunted South (2004), Haunted Georgia (2006), Ghost Hunters of the South (2006), Ghost Hunters of New England (2008), Haunted Birmingham (2009), The Big Book of Texas Ghost Stories (2010), Haunted Meridian (2011), Ghosts Along the Mississippi River (2012), Ghosts of Florida’s Gulf Coast (2014), The Haunted South (2014), Ghosts of Mississippi’s Golden Triangle (2016), The Haunted Southwest (2016) and The Haunting of Alabama (2017).

Purchase Unexplained South HERE

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Join us next Thursday for part one of our conversation with author Alan Brown.

Alan Brown was born in Alton, Illinois, on January 12, 1950. After earning digress from Millikin University, Southern Illinois University, Illinois State University and the University of Illinois, he taught high school English in Flora and Springfield, Illinois. In 1986, he joined the English faculty at the University of West Alabama. When he is not teaching, Alan enjoys watching old movies, traveling with his wife, Marilyn, and spending time with his grandsons, Cade and Owen. Since publishing his first book, Dim Roads and Dark Nights, in 1993, he has explored his interest in folklore, especially ghost tales, in more than thirty publications, including Stories from the Haunted South (2004), Haunted Georgia (2006), Ghost Hunters of the South (2006), Ghost Hunters of New England (2008), Haunted Birmingham (2009), The Big Book of Texas Ghost Stories (2010), Haunted Meridian (2011), Ghosts Along the Mississippi River (2012), Ghosts of Florida’s Gulf Coast (2014), The Haunted South (2014), Ghosts of Mississippi’s Golden Triangle (2016), The Haunted Southwest (2016) and The Haunting of Alabama (2017).

Purchase Unexplained South HERE

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Join us in 2 weeks for a brand new episode...

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Chapel Hill has seen its share of violence and murder, but it has been able to push those instances aside and keep the ambiance of a Norman Rockwell–style small town. A walk through the campus of the University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill can be inspiring, but the school has a darker side that has been well hidden. Over the years, there have been many murders that have taken place among the oak trees and in the dorms and frat houses on campus. Many of the murders are unsolved and remain mysteries to this day. The victims know the truth, though, that evil has no boundaries. Local historian Rick Jackson narrates the mysteries of one of North Carolina’s quaintest towns.

Rick Jackson is a native North Carolinian who grew up in Durham and now lives with his family in Wake Forest, just outside Raleigh. He currently teaches business and economic courses to high school students after spending many years in banking and finance in various positions. He has always had a passion for history and the stories of the people that lived it. He holds a bachelor’s degree in history from Campbell University and an MBA from The University of Mount Olive.

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Chapel Hill has seen its share of violence and murder, but it has been able to push those instances aside and keep the ambiance of a Norman Rockwell–style small town. A walk through the campus of the University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill can be inspiring, but the school has a darker side that has been well hidden. Over the years, there have been many murders that have taken place among the oak trees and in the dorms and frat houses on campus. Many of the murders are unsolved and remain mysteries to this day. The victims know the truth, though, that evil has no boundaries. Local historian Rick Jackson narrates the mysteries of one of North Carolina’s quaintest towns.

Rick Jackson is a native North Carolinian who grew up in Durham and now lives with his family in Wake Forest, just outside Raleigh. He currently teaches business and economic courses to high school students after spending many years in banking and finance in various positions. He has always had a passion for history and the stories of the people that lived it. He holds a bachelor’s degree in history from Campbell University and an MBA from The University of Mount Olive.

PURCHASE HERE

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Untangle the complex conspiracy that led to the tragic deaths of Charlotte Kay Elliott and Kevin Edwin Frase on the banks of the Rio Grande.

On the night of July 13, 1980, a hitman fired a high-powered rifle into the crowd at Pepe's On the River, an outdoor bar in Mission, Texas. He missed his target, a witness in the Loop 360 drug case, but killed two young bystanders. While state court prosecutions for capital murder inexplicably faltered, a federal court gave the assassin a life sentence for attempted murder of a grand jury witness. A member of the judge's staff who was present throughout the trial, author John W. Primomo revisits the dramatic twists and turns surrounding this murder on the Rio Grande.

John W. Primomo served twenty-nine years as a U.S. magistrate judge for the Western District of Texas in San Antonio. He previously authored two books: The Appomattox Generals: The Parallel Lives of Joshua L. Chamberlain, U.S.A., and John B. Gordon, CSA, Commanders at the Surrender Ceremony of April 12, 1865 (2013) and Architect of Death at Auschwitz: A Biography of Rudolf Höss (2020). For thirty-plus years, he has volunteered with Camp Discovery, a summer camp in south Texas for children with cancer. He is also the president of the nonprofit corporation that operates Camp Discovery and several other camps for children with life-threatening illnesses and their families throughout the year.

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Untangle the complex conspiracy that led to the tragic deaths of Charlotte Kay Elliott and Kevin Edwin Frase on the banks of the Rio Grande.

On the night of July 13, 1980, a hitman fired a high-powered rifle into the crowd at Pepe's On the River, an outdoor bar in Mission, Texas. He missed his target, a witness in the Loop 360 drug case, but killed two young bystanders. While state court prosecutions for capital murder inexplicably faltered, a federal court gave the assassin a life sentence for attempted murder of a grand jury witness. A member of the judge's staff who was present throughout the trial, author John W. Primomo revisits the dramatic twists and turns surrounding this murder on the Rio Grande.

John W. Primomo served twenty-nine years as a U.S. magistrate judge for the Western District of Texas in San Antonio. He previously authored two books: The Appomattox Generals: The Parallel Lives of Joshua L. Chamberlain, U.S.A., and John B. Gordon, CSA, Commanders at the Surrender Ceremony of April 12, 1865 (2013) and Architect of Death at Auschwitz: A Biography of Rudolf Höss (2020). For thirty-plus years, he has volunteered with Camp Discovery, a summer camp in south Texas for children with cancer. He is also the president of the nonprofit corporation that operates Camp Discovery and several other camps for children with life-threatening illnesses and their families throughout the year.

Purchase HERE

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In 1988, Judge Joe O’Kicki was regarded by many of his peers as one of the most brilliant legal minds in the country. Newly remarried and sworn in as the president judge of Cambria County, he had ambitions for a seat on a federal bench. But a state police vice unit was in the midst of a covert investigation into O’Kicki’s personal affairs. He was accused of soliciting bribes, protecting illegal gambling interests and running the county as if it was his personal fiefdom. When he was found guilty on corruption charges and set to serve jail time, he fled to central Europe, becoming an international fugitive. Using courtroom testimony, contemporary interviews and excerpts from O’Kicki’s unfinished memoir, author Bruce Siwy freshly examines the extraordinary case that captured headlines across the state and nation.

Bruce Siwy has a bachelor’s in journalism from the University of Pittsburgh and is employed as the managing editor of the Daily American newspaper in Somerset. His résumé includes Associated Press Managing Editors and Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association Professional Keystone Media awards in the spot news, sports column writing, sports, business, investigative reporting, column, enterprise reporting and podcast categories. He lives in Western Pennsylvania with his wife and kids. You can follow him on Twitter at @BruceSiwy.

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In 1988, Judge Joe O’Kicki was regarded by many of his peers as one of the most brilliant legal minds in the country. Newly remarried and sworn in as the president judge of Cambria County, he had ambitions for a seat on a federal bench. But a state police vice unit was in the midst of a covert investigation into O’Kicki’s personal affairs. He was accused of soliciting bribes, protecting illegal gambling interests and running the county as if it was his personal fiefdom. When he was found guilty on corruption charges and set to serve jail time, he fled to central Europe, becoming an international fugitive. Using courtroom testimony, contemporary interviews and excerpts from O’Kicki’s unfinished memoir, author Bruce Siwy freshly examines the extraordinary case that captured headlines across the state and nation.

Bruce Siwy has a bachelor’s in journalism from the University of Pittsburgh and is employed as the managing editor of the Daily American newspaper in Somerset. His résumé includes Associated Press Managing Editors and Pennsylvania NewsMedia Assocation Professional Keystone Media awards in the spot news, sports column writing, sports, business, investigative reporting, column, enterprise reporting and podcast categories. He lives in Western Pennsylvania with his wife and kids. You can follow him on Twitter at @BruceSiwy.

Purchase HERE

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