The Mysterious Death of Meriwether Lewis

This episode of Lore was made possible by Progressive Insurance. Do you ever think about switching insurance companies to see if you could save some cash? Progressive makes it easy to see if you could save when you bundle your home and auto policies. Try it at progressive dot comot Progressive casualty inssurance Comany and affiliates. Potential savings will vary, not available in all states insurance rate going up, even with a clean driving record, you're not alone. That's why there's Jerry, your proactive insurance assistant Jerry compares rates side by side from over fifty top insurers and helps you switch with ease Jerry even tracks market rates and alerts you when it's best to shop No spam calls, no hidden fees Drivers who save with Jerry could save over one thousand three hundred dollars a year Switch with confidence. Download the Jerry app or visit Jerry. ai slash Libbson today. J E R R Y. ai slash LIB SYN It's funny how life can turn on a dime One minute you're having a casual lunchtime swim in a trails side stream. Thee nextxt, you're staring down the barrel of a gun. At least that's how it went for one unfortunate group of men In August of eighteen oh one The swimmers were part of a team led by Colonel Joshua Baker. tasked with tracking down a famed highwayman named Sam Wolfman Mason. You see, after a decade of robbing and murdering travelers, Mason happened to steal from Colonel Baker himself earlier that year. And so in retaliation, Baker had enlisted a bandit hunting posse Judging by the burly snaggle toooth fellow in front of them now, they had managed to find the Wolfman Not in the way they had hoped But alas, here Baker's men were Naked, wet, and very much on the wrong end of the oututlaw's rifle Sam Mason stepped forward. He wore a leather shirts and leggings, his infamous wolf fang glinting crooked in his mouth I'm glad to see you, gentlemen, Mason said with a mocking politeness. And though our meeting did not promise to be quite so friendly, I am just as well satisfied. My arms and ammunition cost as much as I expected And with that, he forced Baker's men to relinquish their weapons before he vanished back into the woods, like a pirate from a storybook Baker had bested them again. He would be another year before the dreaded wolfman would finally be caught. And although he would swear before the court that he was only a humble hunter, the stolen goods, the guns, and most notably twenty human scalps in the guy's possession Told a different story And Mason's spree might have ended there, if not for the fact that when being transported to stand trial, the outlaw and his men overpowered the guards and escaped along the very same wilderness path that they had terrorized for years Who knows? pererhaps some part of him remains there to this day After all Sam Mason certainly wouldn't be the only ghost to wander the legendary trail known as the Nches Trace I'm Eron Many this is lore It's not an easy path. Wild grapevines tangle snake like in the underbrush. Cane thickets tower so high they dim the sun, while Spanish moss drips from tree limbs, ghostly and pale, swinging in the breeze like a hangman's noose. But The flora is the least of your worries What really matters is what hides inside it thieves and killers, crouching out of sight along the winding trail. guuess what They've been waiting just for you Welcome to the Nches Trace Stretching four hundred and forty miles from Nches, Mississippi to Nashville, Tennessee, the Nches Trace is simply put a historic walking trail. But its first hikers weren't exactly human No, it was actually traped into being thousands of years ago by bison and other grazing animals living along the Mississippi River Not one to let a perfectly tramped down pathway go to waste, it wasn't long before humans jumped on the bandwagon as well Rather than bushwack trails from scratch, native tribes started following the traces these animals left behind, and thus the Natchous trace was born Villages cropped up along the way, of course, some settled up to ten thousand years ago The first people traveling and living along the trace were the Mississippian mound buildilders, later, native tribes such as the Chickasaw, Choctaw, and of course, the Nches nations. But when European colonizers arrived in the so called New Wor, well they took advantage of this wilderness route themselves, widening it to accommodate horses and eventually wagons So it went. The wagon wheel rolled on and so did the years, until by the seventeen hundreds, the trace had become a full blown trade route. It would go a little something like this. Boatmen would pull their flatbats down the Mississippi iver to sell goods at the markets in Naches in New Orleans. But when it came time to head home, well, they couldn't exactly float their boats upriver as well And so merchants would sell their flatboats for lumber and then hoof it north on foot. Right along, That's right, they not just trace. Trust me, this was not an easy stroll. The trek would take about a month and all sorts of dangers lay along the trail poor weather, snake bites, sickness and injury, those were definitely tough things. But for those tradesmen whose pockets were heavy with earnings from recent sales, there was one more threat that was more dangerous than all the rest Highwaymen Suffice to say these poor merchants were easy picking for brigands and bandits. And sure, there were places to stay along the route, accommodations known as stands, which popped up to cater to travelers. One even offered and I quote, a meal of corn mush and milk and a spot to sleep on the porch for twenty five cents Czy, I know But the best corn mush in the world wouldn't protect you once a highwayman had you in his sights The trace was arguably the most dangerous place to travel in all of America Tech, according to one historian, travelers who couldn't afford weapons would even and I quote, grow out their fingernails and attempt to gouge out the eyes of anyone who tried to rob them But The truth is, despite the dangers that tradesmen faced along the trail There were people who suffered far, far worse Enslaved people were forced to march up to twenty miles a day along the trace, chained together and sleeping on the bare ground at night In multiple places, the trace crossed another famously tragic trail as well. The trarail of Tears And with all this death and terror, it makes sense that folks started calling the route by another name entirely Devil's backbone By the mid eighteen twenties, the advent of the Mississippi steamboat caused the trace to fall out of fashion. After all, now that a boat could carry you back up river, which would you rather pay a little extra for a charming passenger cruise with a singing calliopee or trudge through the robber filled wilderness for a month ret much a no brainer And that was that. Within a decade, much of the trail had been reclaimed by the elements, swallowed back up by all the cane, grapevine, and Spanish moss those bison had trampled so many millennia before But just because the trail was gone didn't mean the dangers were. blood had seeped into that southern soil. Bood that, if the stories are to be believed the devil's backbone with more than its fair share Ghosts The truth is, the dead were everywhere. Hikers just didn't know it I'm referring to the graves under stones and in mounds of earth, hidden behind tree roots and dumped into ditches. The trace wasn't just a trail It was a bone yard Remember the Mississippi mound builders I mentioned earlier, those first human residents along the trail? Well, they were called mound builders for a reason. These early peoples built at least twenty two mounds along the trace, many of which were used for burial. Excavations into one called Magnum Mound revealed more than eighty bodies sleeping in the earth, and who knows how many still remain undiscovered It wasn't only native residents using the route as a final resting place. North of Tupolao, Mississippi, lie the corpses of thirteen Confederate soldiers And the thing is, no one knows why. Their names are unmarked. Their cause of death Unknown You have to remember, by the Civil War, the trace was already out of use. so the real question is why had the men been there at all? Was there a secret field hospital on the site? Had they wandered sick and injured from a battle further away O had something else lured the soldiers onto the path and never let them leave Now, sure, the presence of graves in such a long occupied area is totally natural But some spots along the trace seem downright supernatural Take for example, a little spot known as Devil's punch ball Described by native inhabitants as the former site of a meteor strike, the deevil's punch bowl is a massive indentation in the ground, stretching some five hundred feet wide. And there are all sorts of eerie legends attached to it The steamboat operators claimed that their compasses would go wonky while passing by the punch bowl on the nearby Mississippi iver Highwaymen used to use the hole as a hideout, and their ghosts are said to haunt the site to this day, shimmering at the basin's edge. Some are even said to have hidden treasure there, deep in the hollow pits And then there's the tale of the cutthroat highwayman, Joseph Thompson Hare According to legend, when Hare found out his mistress had been cheating on him, he had her buried alive right there in the hearts of the punch ball And apparently she was wearing nothing but her jewelry On dark nights, her ghost is said to appear to travelers, offering them that same glittering jewelry in exchange for a decent Christian burial As far as I know No one has ever taken her up on the offer What I do know, though, is that real life horror will always make ghost stories pale in comparison And the reality of the deevil's Punch bowl is proof You see, in the wake of the Civil War, there was an immediate housing problem Thousands upon thousands of African Americans had become newly emancipated, and desperate to get away from the Confederate ruled regions where they had been enslaved, they began to flee north. And not as Mississippi? Well, not only was it the largest city in Mississippi, but it just so happened to be under the control of Union forces. Suddenly, countless families were flooding into naches, more than the city could possibly accommodate. And so, desperate to help, the union set up a refugee camp, smack dab in the middle of That's right, the deevil's punch ball. The Union did the best they could, but the truth is, they were ill equipped to handle the sheer mass of people who were arriving every day Sanitation was not what it could be. The drinking water was not clean. and to make matters worse, smallpox had begun working its way throughout the crowded camp Tragically, thousands of formerly enslaved people would die right there in the belly of the devil's punch bowl their lives cut short just when they had finally won their freedom Oh, and remember Sam Wolfman Mason, that highwayman who evaded capture and vanished along the trace? Even he had a tie to the devil's punchball According to legend, the wolfman and his cronies liked to play a little game there. They would throw bodies over the side and place bets on how long they would take to hit the bottom. Grizzly, right Legend or not, Mason was a very real threat along the Nch' trace But he wasn't the apex predator No, that title belonged to someone else entirely Because the only thing more dangerous than one monster is two others had a bounty on their head hundred dollars each to be exact, nearly six grand today. And trust me, stopping these guys would be worth a hundred times that and more Here was seventeen ninety nineents And Makiah and Willie Harp, AKA, Big Harp and Little Harp, were on the run from the law Why Nothing major, just some casual murdering and jail breaking. Everyone needs a hobby, I suppose Big Harp was tall and a cruel man with a broad face and curly black hair that fell over his forehead Little Harp was, as his name suggested, smaller with red hair. And though the duo told everyone that they were brothers, they were probably cousins. And look, I get it. The Harp cousins doesn't have the same ring to it. These guys were going to be on a lot of wanted posters. Branding mattered, apparently The Harps were the sons of Scottish immigrants to North Carolina, and had even fought on the side of the British during the Revolution, which, let's just say, didn't exactly leave them on warm and fuzzy terms with their American neighbors once the war was over. After the smoke cleared, the Harps decided it was time for new stomping grounds, and I'll give you one guess as to where they fled That's right. the notch's trace Now, you might think that being at war would have scratched whatever itch these guys had for bloodshed, but no, right away, the harps started killing again retty soon, they were wanted for multiple murders in Kentucky and Tennessee alike, hence those tidy little three hundred dollars bounties Just two more killers, Rving Nches trace But they weren't alone. Their wives traveled with them, a woman named Sally Rice and two sisters named Betsy and Susan Roberts, each with a baby in tow. And yes, I know there's something funny about that math, right? To Harps, three wives. Well, while Sally Rice was married to Little Harp, Big Harp considered himself married to both Betsy and Susan What do you do during a family vacation on a beautiful hiking trail by lots and lots of murdering, of course At least, that's how the harps pass their time And what can only be described as a full blown killing spree, the Hart Bothers rampaged through the south. In one incident, they were graciously invited to stay near a homestead for the night and thanked to their host by axe murdering him and his thirteen year old son Another time they shot eleven campers while they slept just for kicks. And at another time still, the Harps took a total stranger captive, stripped him naked, tied him to a blindfolded horse, and then drove the horse off a cliff, all while cackling maniacally Yeah, these guys were straight up supervillains, and as their spree continued, one thing became abundantly clear to the terrified citizens living along the trace. These men weren't like other bandits on the trail. In fact, they could hardly be called bandits at all The truth was, they rarely even stole from the people they murdered. They would burn down houses with everything inside. They would leave bodies behind with pockets still heavy with valuables. Instead of filling their own coffers with stolen goods, they spent their time filling their victims' bodies with rocks before gleefully sinking their corpses into the river The Hart Brothers weren't killing for profits They were killing for fun And it wasn't just strangers who suffered at their hands. One day, Sally Rice's baby daughter started crying and Big Heart became annoyed Now I won't go into the gruesome details here, but let's just say that the baby count immediately went down by one Death after death Cruelty after cruelty Harps were like a plague, infecting the whole of the Nach' trace Until finally, one summer They took things a step too far It was august twentieth of seventeen ninety nine when the harps arrived at the home of Moses Stieagl in Western Kentucky Now to say the Stiegls were friends with the harps would be a strong word. I really don't think these fellas were great at making friends But they were acquainted, and the Stiegels had housed the Harp wives and their children in the past On this particular night though, Moses wasn't home, but his wife was, and she gladly welcomed the harps to stay. Now, she was hosting another guest that night as well, a traveling surveyor named Major William Love, and the house was small But that's okay. Ms. Stiegel and her own baby could sleep on the floor, and the three men could share the bed When the time came to sleep, Major Love, Big Harp, and Little Harp all cozied up together in the same little bed. And I'll admit I can't help but imagine this scene as some kind of slapstick head to toe situation, like the grandparents from Willy Wonka Kind of cute, right? Or well it could have been if Major Love hadn't been a snorer Sometime during the night, the harps awoke to the major absolutely shaking the room with his snores. And so they responded in a totally reasonable way by chopping him to death with an ax And from there, they reprimanded Miss Stiegel for putting them in the bed with a snore before killing her and her baby as well And then they set the house ablaze, let on their horses and galloped off into the dark It wasn't long before the townsfolk discovered the grizzly crime scene, though, and there was no doubt in anyone's mind this could only be the work the Hart Bothers Immediately, a posse formed to hunt them down The harps were no strangers to running, and so to evade their pursuers, they decided to split up Forced to choose, the posse let littleittle Harp go and chased Big Harp Amazingly, they caught him And who had the honor of killing him Why that went to poor Moses Stiegel, who had led the hunt Some say that he shot his family's murderer through the heart, others that he used Big Harp's own butcher knife to hack off his head But either way, one thing was certain Hie a harp The demon of the Nacha's trace. Aead As a warning to others, his head was placed in a tree along the trail, not far from Stiegl's home Time passed, scavengers feasted, and soon only a grinning skull remained Today, the skull is long gone Mmory is not. In fact, a thoroughfare nearby still bears the name Carps headad Road As for Little Harp Well, he would be hanged only five years later in eighteen oh four Just like Big Harp, his head too would be placed on a stake along the trace. How was he caught? you might ask Well, he was actually the one to approach the law not to turn himself in No Little Harp had been recognized after marching right up to the authorities, plopping something in front of them and demanding a reward What was the object he brought them Well, according to Little Harp He had just delivered to them the head of Sam Wolfman Mason Trayil is a lot like a story It has turns and dips, it loops back on itself in ways that you would never expect. There are tests and perils, beasts and shadows. And finally, just when you think you're completely lost You find yourself at the end A whole adventure at your back But there is perhaps something in the wilderness of the landscape that makes the notches trace so singular, letting fiction and reality blend together Because although the Harart Brothers' real lives may have ended with their heads on pikes, Thereir stories kept right on living You see, along the trace there is a spot known as Witch Dance, where legend has it, a coven once gathered for nighttime feasts According to the Tales, Big Harp was once warned of this while passing by the spot, and not one for scary stories, began to mock these supposed witches, dancing and leaping while daring them to come after him. And well, suffice to say the witches did not love that. Some say Big Harp's gruesome death was due to a witch's curse Others hold that once Big Harp's head was nothing more than a skull in the tree, a witch stole it to grind into a healing potion. To this day, visitors claim that if you tell the story of Big Harp and the Witch dance while walking the trace, you'll hear laughter rise up through the trees. And as for the spot itself, well it's said that wherever the witch's feet once touched the earth No grass will grow. And you can see it for yourself. You can still spot bare patches of earth at wch dance today Although I have to say, given the fact that it's now an official campsite, I can't help but wonder if those bare spots may be less about the legacy of witchcraft and more the legacy of long used tent sites As for the Hart Brothers' legacy though, by the end of their reign, they were formerally linked to twenty five murders, although the true total may have been as high as forty Even now Treasure hunters still search for saddle bags full of money that the harps supposedly hid along the trail. er nine have ever been found But it's another enduring legacy that makes the harps truly chilling Because while known merely as outlaws in their time, they hold another dubious honor today Big harp and littleittle harp are considered none other than the first serial killers in American history I want to thank you for wandering with me down the winding path of the Nch's trace. It can be satisfying to see evil people get their comeuppance. crime and punishment and all of that But then again, there are some depths on the trace that remain unavenged to this day, and my team and I have pulled together one last story to explain what I mean stick around through this brief sponsor break. to hear all about it This episode was made possible by Quince. Summer always changes how I get dressed. I want pieces that feel lighter and more breathable, things that are easy but still put together. And that's why I keep coming back to Quintince. They focus on high quality essentials that feel and look amazing. Think breathable linen and soft organic cotton. well made basics, but without the luxury markup It's that rare balance where everything feels elevated, but still effortless. Quince's European linen pants and shirts are the perfect warm weather upgrade to add to your rotation, starting at just thirty four dollars. Their tees are soft and easy to wear, and their lightweight cotton sweaters are perfect for cooler summer nights. In fact, I wear one of their Flow Knit Breeze performance tees just about every single day. I have them in a whole bunch of colors and they never let me down Everything at Quintince is priced fiftycent to eighty percent less than similar brands. They work directly with ethical factories and cut out the middlemen so you're paying for quality not brand markup Quince goes way beyond clothing too. custom upholstered sofas, ceramic cookweare, premium bedding. It's the kind of brand that you end up recommending to everyone for everything Elevate your summer wardrobe, go to quintince dot com slash lore for free shipping on your order and three hundred and sixty five day returns. now available in Canada too. That's QuincE dot com slash lore for free shipping and three hundred sixty five day returns. quQintince d. com slash lore This episode was made possible by Squarespace. Before I created Lore, I was a branding designer helping businesses craft a professional presence that customers could trust. becausecause if you don't put your best foot forward, it's hard to start your business journey, which is something that Squarespace allows anyone to do with ease. Squarespace is the all in one website platform that's designed to help you stand out and succeed online Whether you're just starting out, or you're scaling a growing business, Squarespace has you covered and gives you everything that you need all in one place. Whether you're offering consultations and services or selling physical goods and digital downloads, you can showcase your offerings with a website that's designed to attract clients and grow your business. Squarespace also helps you get paid on time with professional on brand invoices and online payments, and they streamline your workflow with built in appointment scheduling and email marketing tools right on your website. Plus by using basic information about your industry goals and personality, Squarespace can generate personalized design recommendations so that your digital home perfectly represents you Get started today for free. Head over to squarespace d. com slash lore for a free trial and when you're ready to launch it, use the offer code lore to save ten percent off your first purchase of a website or domain. Squarespace. Build something beautiful This episode was made possible by Bilt. Whether you're renting or paying a mortgage, one of your biggest monthly expenses should be working harder for you. That's where built comes in. Built is the membership for where you live that rewards you with points on every housing payment wherever you live. Bilt started out rewarding members on their rent. Now as of twenty twenty six, built members can also earn points on mortgage payments where they live Every housing payment earns you points you can use toward flights with top travel partners like United and Hyat, lift rides, ammazon. com purchases, and so much more. Me personally, I definitely redeem my points for gift cards. They make great gifts for others, or a fun way to set aside something for yourself for now or for later. But here's what I think is the most underrated part Built members also get access to a neighborhood concierge. It can make restaurant reservations, book fitness classes, and find new local spots all while being rewarded at more than forty five thousand merchant partners. It's like having a personal assistant baked into where you live It's simple. being a renter and now owning a home is better with built. Join the membership for where you live at joinbilt d. com slash lore. That's JO I N B I L t dot com slash lore. And make sure to use that specific address so they know that Lore sent you. This show is sponsored by Better Help. For some, summer is their favorite season. Travel picks up, kids are out of school, and adventure is the focus. For others though, juggling it all can be tough and overwhelming and they end up counting down the minutes until the kids are back in school. and many worry that they're wasting the days of sunshine. Therapy can help people better understand their needs, feel more confident setting boundaries, and create a version of summer actually feels good. And that's where BetterHelp comes in. BetterHelp does the initial matching work for you so you can focus on your therapy goals. A short questionnaire helps identify your needs and preferences and their industry leading match fulfillment rate means they typically get it right the first time. And with over thirty thousand therapists, BetterHelp is the world's largest online therapy platform Having served over six million people globally. And it works too, with an average rating of four point nine out of five for a live session based on over one point seven million client reviews. You don't have to say yes to everything this summer. Find support in therapy. sign up and get ten percent off at betterterhelp dot com slashlore. That's betterter H E L dot com slash lore Just like any good mystery, this one begins with a death It was the night of october tenth in eighteen oh nine when shots rang out at the little inn known as Grinder Stand No witnesses, no spectacle, only that piercing crack cutting through the autumn air The sound of the gunshot, Priscilla Grinder, the innkeeper's wife Froze with fear. This was the notchious trace. When violence breaks out, the best thing you can do is stay out of it. And so Priscilla shut her eyes and tried to pretend it all away. At least she did Until the following morning when a thirty five year old man was found suffering from gunshot wounds in his room He was still alive, but barely, and only two hours later The man was dead.