The Harpe's Head


Book Description

The author presents this as a fictional story based on unnamed historical characters of frontier Kentucky.




The Harpe's Head: A Legend of Kentucky


Book Description

The Harpe's Head: A Legend of Kentucky' is a non-fiction account about the crimes attributed to the Harpe brothers, Micajah "Big" Harpe, born Joshua Harper, and Wiley "Little" Harpe, born William Harper. They were murderers, highwaymen and river pirates who operated in Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois and Mississippi in the late 18th century. They are often considered the earliest documented serial killers in the United States history.










Mississippi Legends & Lore


Book Description

The battle for Vicksburg roils still, the outcome of the Union siege undecided as specters reload and carry on. The Pascagoula River sings out in grief, and a three-legged lady stalks a country lane outside Columbus. The Magnolia State is more than antebellum homes, fish camps and the blues. This is a land worthy of its matchless storytellers. Even after being passed back and forth between the Spanish, French and British, the ancient energy of the original inhabitants still reverberates through the region. From forgotten tales of African slaves, once the majority population, to yarns of bloodthirsty backwoodsmen on the Natchez Trace, author Alan Brown goes beyond the bullet points of Mississippi history. The legends often tell a clearer story than anything else.




The WPA Guide to Kentucky


Book Description

During the 1930s in the United States, the Works Progress Administration developed the Federal Writers’ Project to support writers and artists while making a national effort to document the country’s shared history and culture. The American Guide series consists of individual guides to each of the states. Little-known authors—many of whom would later become celebrated literary figures—were commissioned to write these important books. John Steinbeck, Saul Bellow, Zora Neale Hurston, and Ralph Ellison are among the more than 6,000 writers, editors, historians, and researchers who documented this celebration of local histories. Photographs, drawings, driving tours, detailed descriptions of towns, and rich cultural details exhibit each state’s unique flavor. The Bluegrass State of Kentucky, which was primarily a rural state in the 1930’s when this WPA Guide was published, features Louisville as the only major city. Yet this does not limit the material in the guide by any means, as it also includes essays on Daniel Boone, bluegrass music, and old Southern American culture.




A Wilderness of Tigers


Book Description

With the cessation of the Indian Wars, Silas Magby believed that Western Kentucky would be safe for his wife and children. But then the Harpes came—two mysterious brothers, Micajah and Wiley, with three devoted women followers, leaving a wake of ghoulish and seemingly motiveless murders—men, women, children, infants, bludgeoned, stabbed, shot, or set on fire. Earlier Magby had participated in a fruitless attempt to capture the brothers, but word comes that they are seeking him to enact retaliation. Now Magby must somehow stop the brothers before they can kill his wife and children. Although fiction, A Wilderness of Tigers based upon one of the earliest recorded serial killer rampages. In the 1790’s roughly 35 persons were murdered by the Harpe brothers. Kenneth Tucker has woven a haunting story whose characters linger beyond a final page of history or text."- Katherine C. Kurk, Kentucky Philological Review "Tucker tells a fascinating story of these evil doers... It's an interesting part of our history..."- Jesse Stuart Foundation. "Tucker effectively uses dialogue and and clear, graphic details to bring to light a sad chapter in Kentucky's history." - Steve Flairty, Kentucky Monthly




Passage to Natchez


Book Description

A sweeping epic of the American frontier and the brave few who risked their lives for the promise of glory and limitless fortunes For Americans in the early nineteenth century, the uncharted western frontier signified both great opportunity and grave danger. Bold pioneers left the civilized Eastern Seaboard in droves, seeking riches and reinvention. Trekking across the continent’s vast plains and rivers, they faced the threat of disease, wild animals, and violence from Native Americans who resented this invasion into their land. In this stunningly dynamic novel, author Cameron Judd portrays one such perilous journey down the Ohio River through the eyes of sixteen-year-old Celinda Ames. During the Ames family’s trip to Natchez—one of the earliest settlements in what is now Mississippi—both of Celinda’s parents die from infection. Left to fend for herself, Celinda encounters an array of seamy characters drawn to the lawless West, like the malevolent Harpe brothers—arguably America’s first serial killers—who prowl the river robbing and murdering unsuspecting travelers. This enthralling narrative leads up to the powerful earthquake of 1811 that jolted the Midwest, upended the region’s budding civilizations, and changed the course of migration to the West. With an unflinching eye, Judd evokes the dangers of the frontier with vivid clarity and illustrates the exhilarating adventures of those who dared to conquer it.




The Outlaws of Cave-in-Rock


Book Description

"The Outlaws of Cave-in-Rock: Historical Accounts of the Famous Highwaymen and River Pirates" by Otto Arthur Rothert is a fascinating and fast-paced story that seems like it could be a complete work of fiction. This adventure, however, is non-fiction, which almost makes it more compelling. American history and action lovers will enjoy this book even now, many years after its first publication.




Wicked Western Kentucky


Book Description

Western Kentucky has always had a dark side, despite being the "Birthplace of Bluegrass Music." Mary James Trotter, an arrested moonshine-selling grandma, remarked to a judge that she "simply had to sell a little liquor now and then to take care of my four grandchildren." Rod Ferrell led a bloodsucking vampire cult in Murray, Kentucky, and traumatized parents of the 1990s. In the early morning of July 13, 1928, at the "Castle on the Cumberland," seven men were put to death in Kentucky's deadliest night of state-sponsored executions. Join award-winning author Richard Parker as he takes you on a journey through fifteen of Western Kentucky's most nefarious people, places and events.