An Appalachian Preacher’s Fall: Bigamy, Abduction and Deceit

A preacher with five wives, a kidnapped teenage girl, and a cross-country manhunt.  This isn’t fiction, it’s the unbelievable true story of Joseph Herman Johnson, a Primitive Baptist minister whose lies and crimes unraveled in an East Tennessee courtroom in 1927. From bigamy to abduction to a bizarre promise of Hollywood stardom to his victim, this episode covers one of the most twisted scandals in Appalachian history, another one of the Stories of Appalachia.  Subscribe on your favorite podcast app so you don’t miss any of our stories.  Thanks for listening.