Hi, I'm Holly and I'm Hailey. Welcome to Mountain Mysteries Tales from Appalachia. Welcome back. Hi.
Are your lips fully hydrated? They are. I found some Burt's Bees lip balm in my bag. Balm, balm, lip balm with Asai Berry.
Oh, I like balm. Yeah, that's for rejuvenating on it. Do you feel rejuvenated? I do.
Oh good. Indeed. It's delightful. Yeah, I take like my lips get so chapped in the winter.
Yes. Awful. Yes, me too. I hate it.
I think we talked about it. I've been so dry. My son actually has something cool. So he's gonna listen back to this in years to come and be like, stop talking about me.
He's talking about me. So you've been trying to put a lot of you know stuff on his lips and that kind of thing, but he has lip liquor dermatitis. Lip liquor, lip liquor dermatitis. Lip liquor, dermatitis.
Never heard about it. So it's where he like over licks his lips like underneath. And I know he saw he's kind of got this like little line underneath where he licks his lips so much like underneath that he's gotten this like little bit like of dermatitis with the red. I do notice he lick his lips a lot.
Yeah. Yeah. And so he's got this kind of going underneath. So we have gone to the doctor for it.
I did Dr. Google and I looked it up. And so we keep just trying to put you know some you know Vaseline and things to like keep it you know moist and all the things and it's it's a never ending battle. So I don't know if maybe we need to take it up a notch with like hydro cortisone or if he's licking it.
Yeah, I don't know about hydro cortisone. You know what I'm saying? Well maybe next time. Yeah, exactly.
So we'll take a look at it. But yeah, I get very dry lips too and that's just not cool. Yeah, this winter has been very very rough. Yeah, it's not a weird winter.
We're supposed to be having a like a super bad winter. I'm not I don't think we've been to school full week since we got back on the show either. Like because well and people always complain about our county letting out for snow. Like oh one flake with this all flurry that county's out of school.
It is slightly true but it's kind of like I didn't realize how like elevation diverse our county is. So like yeah, it could be a flaker of flurry where I live in the county and then on the other end they've got six inches of snow. Yeah, it's true. So it's crazy and we just have one like we're one of those counties that has one high school for the whole county.
So we bust kids in from every corner of the county. Yeah, so if you can't put a bus on the road in one section of the county you have to cancel. Wow, I bet the kids who live closer in who you know don't who get the one snowflake are like score. Yeah, and then we recently had to close for intense wind and flooding and flooding actually is a little bit I think scarier for our area than snow.
But we had such crazy winds like we had people lose their roofs because I think there was some microburst tornadoes that happened. Did you keep your roof? We kept our roof. You kept your top on?
Yep kept my top on. But like I had kids coming up to me in the hallway like are we going to get home earlier? We're going to go home earlier? I don't know what you're talking about.
And then there's showing me pictures of like their town because like we're not like one town school. We've got like I mean it's a whole freaking county. Right. So they're showing me pictures of their town where like their town hall roof had blown off.
There's tin wrapped around the power lines and they're like can we go home? And I'm like I don't make that decision. You're like but I kind of want to go home. But I want to go home too.
I'd love to call this. And then I went like red or gold side for some reason it's sleeting randomly. Where are we right now? Like what is like 45 degrees and there's ice falling from the sky?
I'm like what is happening? It was insane. Last week we were my son's school was closed because of we had tons of flooding. Yeah, it was bad.
It was pretty bad. And so he had gotten up that morning like he typically does and he came in my bedroom and he said are we going to school? Like he says every day and typically I say yes honey we're going to school. And I said no we're not going to school.
It's raining. You can you know it's flooding. You can stay home and work with mom. And he said um yeah he starts doing this dance.
And it's just this like he gets what he's doing. And he's like humming to this dance he made up. And it is the funniest thing I've ever seen. It just started laughing.
It was so funny. He was so excited. And he's young. Yeah.
So I feel like I can only imagine what it's going to be like as we get older. Well and I keep hearing comments from people that are like and if you live in the south you get this of people being like oh back in Marde we went to school and all this snow and everything. It's like yeah we know better now. Yeah.
But also at that time you had community schools that you could get to pretty easily. Like I'm sorry I don't want to put 70 kids on the school bus. Right. And try to have that bus you know get somewhere where it can't go any farther and then have to turn around.
On somebody's mountain roads it is a like one side of the mountain the road and then it drops right off the side. And that's the thing is it gets really tricky because you would have to call off for if you have within a county you would have to call off okay so this school is closed but this school is open but you know it just it gets so tricky. It gets really hard and like I don't envy the people who make that decision but I do appreciate you know that we put the safety of kids. Absolutely.
First and especially like student drivers. Yes. Like we have so many student drivers that like it makes me nervous when they pull out of the parking lot on like a sunny day. Exactly.
I'm like oh god. I'm like if it starts showing or if it's icy where they live like I don't want. I would never want my kid out on the road. They're them driving in that.
I never want my kid out on the road. Yeah it's scary and like a few years ago there was a fatality in our county. I mean it's been several several years ago but it was because you know they hit black ice on their way to school. Yeah that's fine.
That's fine. Died. Yeah. So before you take it to Facebook calling out your local school systems think about the safety of the children.
Wow. Yeah. I've seen anything on the big place. So you know I'm sure it's out there I don't really pay attention to it but yeah safety first friends.
What's that? Safety. I love that for you. Thanks.
You're welcome. Okay. All right. So we have a story to do.
I love it. Let's do it. Let's talk about Pearl Brian. Sure.
I bet you like that. Yeah. This is a story. We're going to go way back to 1896.
I love an old tale. I know. A lot of people do. Historic times.
Historic tale. I'm like a historic time. We're going to Fort Thomas, Kentucky. Fort Thomas is on the line between Ohio and Kentucky.
So very close to Cincinnati just to give you some because I actually didn't know where it was. So keep in mind that because we're going back and forth. It's also close to Indiana. So we're going to kind of go back and forth within the story between those three areas.
Cool. So we're going to start our story in Green Castle, Indiana in October of 1872. Sounds lovely. It was a fall day where Pearl Bryant is born.
She was the 11th of 12 children born to Alexander and Susan Bryan. Holy potatoes. That's too many. That's a lot of that is about 11 too many that maybe 12 too many.
That's too many kids too many. I say three or four feels acceptable. One feels like enough. But yeah one to none is kind of where I'm doing right now.
I feel like one is good. One says I did it. Yeah. I had it.
I saw I conquered. Yeah. I said it to college. Yeah.
I got grandchildren. I'm done. Yeah. Good to go.
Sounds good to me. Yeah. Just saying. Yeah.
But they didn't heed our advice. They just kept on. Right. Alexander the dad was a very successful breeder.
Yeah he was. Yeah he was. He sure was. What did he read?
Children? No. He did not breed children. Oh my god.
No he he bred obviously animals. He was a dairy operator. Okay. Yes.
Yeah. Oh my god. He produced a lot of children. He did produce a lot of children.
He did not breed children. He didn't breed them. That feels really cool. He himself and his wife were breeders of children.
No. Still doesn't sound right. That sounds good. No.
Weird. All right. You know what I mean. They had a lot.
They had a lot of babies. A lot of babies. Here's the thing. When the mood strikes.
Yeah. There was no birth control back then. People figured that several of them were going to die anyway. So you had to just keep having them.
When the mood strikes. Yeah. Pearl. We're just going to leave it there.
Okay. Pearl and her family were very fluent within their community. That's a good thing. Well I mean he would make money.
Children. Yeah. Well yeah. You had to be.
Oh my gosh. I knew. Feed all those kids. They were very fluent within their community and were quite the socialites.
Just like us. Pearl grew up to be very attractive. Was very charming. Had many a suitor.
Again. Just like us. By 1895 Pearl was 23 and was described by those who knew her as vivacious, pretty, fond of society and very popular. I know.
Sounds like a bitch. I'm because that's usually how those people are. That's true. You know what strikes me about this is that she's 23.
Yeah. So in 1800. Yeah. I found a old 23.
She's pretty old to not marry. Yeah. So but not kind of for it. Now that I know she's unmarried at 23 I'm like get a girl.
Yeah. Oh. Oh. Suddenly she's not a bitch.
Oh no. She's probably still a bit. Oh I'm here for it. Okay.
So she's probably the bitchy old maid but like living her own life. Yeah. Okay. We could be friends.
Oh. All right. Yeah. Here for it.
Like it. Oh the tide has turned. Has it Haley? I have some I would like her.
She's a bitch. Oh I didn't think we liked bitches. Oh I am one. So well I mean I can be.
It depends on the day. All right. Okay. We'll go with it.
Pearl's cousin William introduced her to his friend a 27 year old dental student named Scott Jackson. Scott was enrolled at the Ohio College of Dental Surgery and the two hit it off. Sounds awful. Sorry I could never date a dentist.
I would love that. You know why? I think a lot of money. Well yes.
And you get for cleanings. Well yes. And I have good teeth. Yes.
And the schedule is amazing. Yeah that's true. Like such a flexible schedule. Yeah.
Like the help with the children is amazing. I don't like the idea of I just don't like the dentist. Let's go with his hands. But like in your mouth.
Like you thought that's where it counts. Ew. And he's got his hands and other people's mouths all day. So therefore is he cheating on you?
I mean if that's your thing maybe just have a little like it. I have to get a dentist on Tuesday and I'm projecting. So it's okay. It'll be fine.
You'll be all right. Is it just a cleaning? No it's a filling. Oh well I chipped the tooth down here.
No but they're gonna fill it. So I think it'll be okay. You know it's gonna be fine. You'll be fine.
Yeah. Okay. It's all right. Don't put that off on me.
I'll marry a just a fine dentist and I don't have any friends with him. You'll like him. Okay. So he's a great smile a great personality.
You'll really like him. We'll see. He's off every Friday at 12. He's on every Wednesday.
Nice. Okay. Great. All right.
Anyway. He attended the old I-O College of Dental Surgery. I know that sounds so weird. They began a secret romance largely because Scott while primed to be a dentist didn't come from the most prestigious background that world in.
So just so she had secretly date the dentist? That is correct. Because he wasn't as rich as her. Yes.
I yeah. So they kept their budding relationship very hush-ush but also that kind of adds to the excitement right? I mean I can't. It's a dentist.
I feel like Scott was trying to have his cake and eat it too. Like I think this is from what I can summarize. It was summer break and he had you know come to Indiana from college. He meets Pearl.
She was like his summer fling right. So she's probably a little bit more invested in the relationship than he is and he's like yeah we're cool from the summer. Have you ever had a summer fling? Yes.
I don't think I have. It's not horrible. I'm stuck. I'm missing out.
Would you like to have a summer? I will schedule you for a filling this summer and a fling. Okay. You know I'm happy with my current partner so I think I'll stay there for him in there.
Oh yeah that too. Yeah he's pretty good. Yeah I probably shouldn't schedule you. Okay well I'll let you know if that changes.
I'll delete this on the calendar. Yeah take that right off the calendar. All right well yeah I took it off but I mean you can leave it in pencil. Just in case.
I mean if you're listening to this so sorry. He doesn't listen. I'm not breaking up with you. He doesn't listen.
He doesn't care. Actually he doesn't listen. Maybe. I think this is a question we did.
We talked about it. He said he's gonna start the beginning and I told him not to. Okay I want to apologize. Yeah for everything.
And to you who are listening right now I'm sorry. I'm sorry for everything. Okay ready. So yeah that's what I think.
I think that he was just this guy who was like listen you're just kind of like my summer fling like you're cool and all and she was probably a little bit more like oh hi. She was in more into him. Yeah that's how I perceive it. Okay so by the end of the summer Scott goes back to school but he continues his relationship with her long distance right so for them that's sending letters back and forth.
But again because this is a secret relationship he can't have his letters go to her house because her parents might find out that God forbid. She's dating the dentist. How dare they. So all of his letters go through William.
Yeah. It's William. The cousin. Oh I'm back now.
Yeah. It's William. The cousin. So all of the letters go through William the cousin.
So because William the cousin knows that they're dating but he's the only one who's in the know everybody else. Yeah. Okay so soon the relationship would start to reveal itself. Okay.
Because Pearl was pregnant. Oh yeah she happily told Scott that she was expecting and fully anticipated that he would ask her to marry him and that the two would build family together. The opposite happened. Scott freaked out.
Scott said no thanks. Scott told her that he was not going to marry her and that they did not know each other. I mean I just want to say that is a fair point. They don't know each other well enough to marry.
Right but you knew well enough to get her pregnant. I'm gonna get preachy for a sec. Maybe you shouldn't be having sex randomly with a risk if you don't want to make any commitment. Now even in the 1800s without condoms and birth control there were other methods to prevent pregnancy.
Yeah. So yeah I'm not saying that they should have gotten married but I'm saying that he should be stepping up in some ways if she chose to keep this baby. Right. Which it seems like she wanted to do.
Yeah. So on top of telling her he did not want to marry her he also told her she needed to have an abortion. That's not safe in those days. I'm gonna say this.
Abortion is still a real hot button topic to this day and I don't want to really get into any kind of political or religious discussions on this platform. So I'm gonna leave our opinions out of this and just address this story. Yeah. So just know that Pearl was really devastated because this was not what she wanted.
Right. So Scott explained to her that it just would not look right in social circles for her to have a baby out of wedlock because again he wasn't going to put a ring on it and her family was not going to support her. Actually at this time Pearl had started working as a Sunday school teacher and was praised in the community for upholding such strong moral conviction and virtue. Yeah.
So it wouldn't do her image any favors within the church if they discovered that she was with child out of wedlock. Back in those days even a married woman even a married woman who was pregnant while they were like teaching they like that didn't happen. You couldn't do that because you were looked upon as a bad role model to the children. If you were pregnant and married like you couldn't teach.
If you were pregnant. If you were pregnant even if you were married like you weren't allowed to teach. Yeah. Yeah.
So at least the children know what their teachers have been up to. But we weren't teaching the children what they'd been up to either. No because we couldn't talk about that. They didn't know.
They didn't know but yet to dare you. Right. We couldn't see them with child. What would they what if they asked questions?
Like just tell them we just say the Lord. That's what we did with everything the Lord. I'm going to say a really big stake. I ate a really a stake for dinner last night.
But it moved. Oh wow. The stakes moving again. The stakes kicking me again.
That's weird. Yeah. It was the Lord. It was the Lord.
Baby Jesus. Knowing. So knowing that if the 1800s she's a woman she's got very few options. She was like well yeah I mean maybe I should terminate the pregnancy.
I mean I guess so. Sure. Over the next few months he started writing letters so Scott started writing letters to William. Pearl's cousin to give to Pearl basically talking about you know ways that she could induce in this carriage.
So Pearl stated that she tried all these different ways. I don't know if she did or not but she claimed she did and none of them seemed to work. She maintained the pregnancy. So around Christmastime Scott comes to visit and she's still very much pregnant around four months.
Four going on five months at this point. Yeah so she's starting to really show and you know it's getting to this point where they're like oh dear we got to do something. So he says okay here's what we're going to do. He was like so next month you're going to come and you're going to visit me in Cincinnati where I go to school and I'm going to take care of you.
Like don't worry we're going to make this work. Pearl assumed that she was going to go to Cincinnati and that the two were going to get married. Oh she was like oh my gosh he has seen me with his child and he has fallen in love and he is right he's going to step up so I'm going to go there. We're going to get married and we're going to do this.
Yeah we're going to be a family. We're going to have his baby. We're going to do all these things. I guess he changed his mind.
Like oh wow that is not at all what Scott was thinking. I didn't figure it was. No Scott was thinking. Yeah she's going to come here.
We're going to you know have her do the abortion and then she's going to go back home and she's going to be on a merry way. Like that's what he was thinking. She was thinking something totally different. It's late for an abortion isn't it?
It's a super late abortion yeah because I mean now as she's moving the next month she would be you know probably 25 weeks pregnant. So yeah that's very far. Yeah that's really far. That's really far.
Because she's she's passed the halfway point. Well they typically you know for folks who have that procedure done it's what first trimester usually. Yeah usually around 12 weeks before 12 weeks. Yeah yeah definitely before 16.
Oh yeah yeah for sure. Wow okay yeah this point so she is so far along. Yeah so that's like that's I mean like at that point yeah it's not just like I'm a but I don't know what the procedures even look like back then. But this also makes me think so I've only had one child but I can spot a pregnant woman usually really early on like I can typically be like you look pregnant or I think you're pregnant.
Like I'm just pretty good at picking up on that. Pearl's mom had 12 kids 12. I had one. Yeah I don't understand why she wasn't like looking at her daughter even back then in like courses in clothes and not go you know Pearly you're looking slightly different.
Yeah you look a little off to me. Maybe with 12 she was like she's too busy. Yeah she just didn't have time or maybe Pearl was really good. I mean this was during the winter so maybe she covered herself a lot and maybe it wasn't as noticeable.
Well and she was what number 11? 11 of 12. And she's 23 so like her mom's probably pretty old. Yeah but by pretty old in those terms her mom was probably like you know 47.
Yeah probably yeah probably a little over that but still yeah but yeah you think like her mother would recognize that or somebody would get a clue that like something was a little off with Pearl. Yeah I don't know just just saying. All right so on January 28 1896 Pearl tells her parents that she's going to visit a friend in Indianapolis and it'll be a way for about a week or two. This would give her time to go and you know get married.
Do all the things you know maybe honeymoon and come back and then announce yes what everyone we have married and we can have a big party afterward and then suddenly just talk about how you know our baby came early but way's a healthy eight pounds. Right. You know like it's insane. Our baby is five months early but weighs eight pounds.
Oh my honey how that happens. So she hops on a train and she arrives in Cincinnati where she checks in at a hotel and registers under the name Mabel Stanley which was her older sister's name. Gotcha. Yeah and she actually checked into the hotel because when she first got there she wasn't able to find Scott.
She actually had to like send for him. Took her a while to find him and don't you love the olden days when you just you know popped up a fake name to a hotel. Yeah it was all fine. Yeah yeah I know I was thinking like if I had a fake hotel name what would it be and I thought about it and I was like what about Octonaut?
No. No. A spicy ginger. No.
That's your name. That's are these are stripper names or hotel names. I think my hotel name is going to be like Geraldine. That's really?
Oh well Geraldine. She has passed. She oh god. Okay yes rest her soul.
Yes. Concerning her legacy well. I was thinking trashy hotels. That's why I didn't think of sophisticated hotels.
Yeah something very nice like Bernadette Pepperdine. Oh that sounds nice. Barbara Westfield. You do not look like a Barbara.
Look like a Barbara? No. What about a Sharon? That is not your generation.
You need a more generationally appropriate name. Yeah but none of those are fancy. Oh do you want to fan? Well the hyphenated last name will give you the fancy.
Okay I just like the older first names I think they're fun. I do too. Yeah something that doesn't seem like it should be your name. Right but it is.
Yeah. Lucy. Like Lucille. Yeah.
Darling. Darlene. That just sounds hillbilly to me. I don't like that.
What about Lucille Uppington-Smife? That's fine. I could be Lucille. Lucille's cute.
Lucille Uppington-Smife and then I'd be like what up Lucille and you're like stop. It's Lucille. Remember that's my hotel name. I'm Octanot.
I say it's a super eight. I'm at the Hilton. I'm like what's up? Up in and smife.
I'm Octanot. I entertain at the super eight. Oh no. Okay.
Continue. All right. So she finally gets a hold of him and he says okay meet up with me at this local tavern. We were saying.
Where we said we had a local tavern. Exactly. We probably saw him there. So she goes to a local tavern.
She meets up with Scott who also brings along his college roommate Alonso Whaling. So Alonso's there. That feels uncomfortable. Yeah I don't know why Alonso's here with us.
Don't know why either. That doesn't feel like a proposal and a tavern. I don't know. And also he knew she was coming and he just brought Alonso.
Alonso. Alonso. Alonso. Alonso.
Alonso. Alonso. Alonso. Sorry Alonso.
I'm sure you're deceased as well. Rest yourself. Well of course he is. This was the 1800s.
There we are. Everybody's dead. So he brings him. So I guess the whole idea of like we're gonna have this beautiful proposal about the window because now it's like my bodice here.
Alonso in the tavern. Yeah you got us drinking in the background. Exactly. That's probably making a scene.
A broken leg. You'll remember last episode or two episodes ago. Land sakes. So what a pity.
All right so they're all drinking an unbeknownst unbeknownst to Pearl the guys put cocaine in her sasparilla. That's a part of it. Wired. So at this point cocaine is used as a pain reliever an appetite suppressant a stomach stimulant and an anemia treatment.
All right. So I get cocaine for my anemia. Can I get it to lose weight? Same because all start just running around.
Yeah. Yeah. There we go. In fact in 1885 John Pemberton the founder of Coca Cola he was a chemist.
He moved from having alcohol in his Coca Cola beverage. To cocaine. To cocaine. Made from the coca leaf.
And it was finally removed in 1903 after its addictive property became an issue for competitors because of course those who were drinking it became addicted to it and kept having to buy it so its competitors were losing money because they only wanted to buy Coke. Yeah. This one drugs will do to you. Yeah.
Exactly. Exactly. So there we are. But nonetheless I was thinking about that.
How did these guys just end up with cocaine but it wasn't like they had a dealer. It could have been you. They could have gone to the back of the town. They bought Coke from us.
Yeah. We were dealing drugs in our past. Well I apparently. No.
So. We were doing sack races and our potato and our titer sacks. We went upstairs to sleep together and started to sleep inside each other. To share a bed.
To share our small. The relationship in us and then whatever whatever you want to do. But yes. So apparently we're doing that but I was thinking he went to a dental school.
So if this was used as some kind of. He would have access to it. Exactly. So he would have access to it.
That's why he brought a lonzo. Lonzo had the Coke. He was the dealer. He was a dealer.
There we are. Yes. Yes. So she was sitting on her drink with a cocaine in it.
So he was thinking. Okay. This is going to induce a miscarriage. This is the thing that is going to because if it's a stomach stimulant he is thinking that it's going to cause cramping within the uterus which will abort the fetus.
Right. And so that is his mindset. So they waited. They actually took her back to their apartment or dorm.
I'm not really sure what they were sharing but they're shared space and they waited several hours. Nothing happened. She's just high. She's just high and probably running around like a chicken with her head.
The two men feeling like they had no other options decided they had to take some swift action. Pearl was feeling a little discomfort because of cocaine. She was feeling very much alive and you know having a good old time. When the two men took out a knife they began to stab her in the back.
Oh my god. So it is taking a drastic turn. Whoa. Yeah.
I guess the rationale was we got to do something about this. Like we can't have a baby. She's here. We can't have her going back.
Like there's no turning back now. There is. There is turning back. Turn it in saying like let's get you drug free.
Yeah. Let's send you on a train home. Yeah. And you can just deal with her.
Let's you know you had sex with her. You were the father of this baby. You put a ring on it. Like this is the 1800s.
This is what you're going to have to do. So this is bad. So bad. You know so bad.
So it starts stabbing her. Pearl was putting up a fight in an attempt to save her life in the life of her unborn baby. She was slashed across the palms of her hand as she tried to protect her face and her neck from the sharp blade. Yeah.
Pearl was still breathing when one man and I'm not sure which one held her hands with one arm and with the other held her head and tilted it backwards. The other man I'm not sure which decapitated. Oh my god. Yes.
Yes. So completely severing her head from her body. We went from cocaine to decapitation so quickly. So fast.
And meanwhile we were had nothing to do with it. We were still in the taverns. So the taverns. Is it man?
That's a weird bunch leaving here. That's what we said. Yeah. We're like that's strange.
Yeah. I wonder what's happening over there. Yeah. Yeah.
I went back to her strong. And I said I think she's pregnant. Oh. I did have a clue.
Oh, okay. Yeah. I said I just say no to drugs. I think that lady's pregnant.
Oh, okay. Yeah. So then I put my drugs back. We didn't sell them drugs.
We didn't sell them drugs. No. We said oh not them. She might be pregnant.
We shouldn't sell them drugs. It's being moral back then. Yeah. Even while we're selling drugs.
We said not the pregnant one. Anybody better. Also maybe not the 12 year olds that were there. They just got out of working in the mill.
1800s Holly and Haley were good quality humans. Yeah. Look at us. We met our choices.
We did. Good job. Nice. Good.
Good. Go us. So they took her headless body and placed it behind a building in Fort Thomas Kentucky. So they drove it to Kentucky and just kind of dropped it behind a building.
It was discovered several days later on February 1st by 17 year old farmhand named Johnny Huling. You imagine? It's a bad time for Johnny. Walking along and you find a headless corpse.
Oh my gosh. She was identified by the type of shoe she was wearing as they were specially made in Green Castle, Indiana for her. Oh yeah. Her mother was also able to identify her by a mole on her thumb.