Bloodiest Christmas Massacres #1: The Lawson Family Slaughter

This sentence of twelvemonth , nothing goes better with too much eggnog than grim story of slaying . ( That ’s how we roll up at True Crime , anyway . ) The first in our series take seat in 1929 , on a farm outside Germanton , North Carolina — where on Christmas Day , Charlie Lawson murdered his kinsfolk before taking his own life .

It was a crime as methodical as it was horrifying — and baffling , too .

The victims include six of Charlie Lawson ’s seven children ( an eighth childhad give-up the ghost eld prior of pneumonia ) and his wife of nearly 20 years , Fanny . The youngest , Mary Lou ( see in Fanny ’s subdivision in the portrayal above , which was famouslytaken shortly before the massacre ) , was just four months old . older Logos James Arthur , who was 16 , survived only because he ’d been institutionalize on an errand that fateful good afternoon .

The errand was an eerie one : Arthur ( nicknamed “ Buck ” ) and his first cousin trudge through the snow into Germantonto bribe more shotgun shell . When Buck refund , he was greet with the crashing horror of his mother , sistersMarie ( 17 ) , Carrie ( 12 ) , Maybell ( 7 ) and child Mary Lou and brothers James ( 4 ) and Raymond ( 2 ) , all slaughtered by the family paterfamilias . They ’d been pick off one by one , and Charlie had apparentlychased down Carrie and Maybellas they ran away in terror .

Some had been killed by gunshot , others by bludgeoning , and others by a combining of the two . All of their bodies were either in the family ’s small house , or in the adjacent tobacco b . Some accounts report thatCharlie had come in stonesover their eyes .

The only Lawson mob member lack from the view was the culprit , Charlie , who’d kick the bucket into the woods to shoot himselfafter he ’d completed his terrible deed . The shot wassaid to be overheardby law of nature enforcement who were investigating the law-breaking aspect . Local legend has it that there werepace mark in the grassnear where his body fall , suggest he ’d nervously walk in circles before lastly rend the trigger .

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“ CRAZY FARMER KILLS WIFE , 6 CHILDREN , ” announce no less an authority than the New York Times the next sidereal day . Rural Stokes County , North Carolina had made the big clock time , for all the ill-timed reasons . After the initial shock of what had find , there was one question : Why ? At first , there was no apparent motive . The Lawsons were n’t robust , but they were n’t bear any particular fiscal struggles , and Charlie Lawson was n’t known to have extreme religious beliefs or exhibit odd behavior . In fact , he waswell - respected in the residential area .

Two theory eventually emerged . The first was that Charlie had a medical condition that regard his actions and made him snap that daylight . Perhaps he ’d pick apart a screw loose aftersuffering a head injury while digging a ditchon the farm . Or , as some reported , he had some kind of “ painful outgrowth ” on his pectus that had him in constant torment , and he ’d decided to terminate it all and take his family with him .

The 2d possibility was far more salacious;there were rumors that Charlie had impregnated his teenage daughter , Marie , and had killed his house to forestall the incestuous dirt from being hump .

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But the truth , which Charlie took to his tomb , will never be known .

The killing attract so much care thatan estimated 5,000 curiousity - seekersattended the Lawson menage funeral . They were all buried in a single large plot of ground in the privateBrowder Family Cemeteryjust outdoors of Germanton .

In the aftermath of the murders , the Lawson farm became a tourist finish . cover menage extremity who subsist in the area started charging admittance for tours of the prop . Though the homewas later demolished , the orbit still has enough spooky history to have inspiredghost sightingsofthe fated Lawson children , and of murderous Charlie Lawson .

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Unbelievably , the catastrophe of the Lawson mob did n’t end in 1929 . In 1945 , James Arthur Lawson , the only child to go the Christmas Day bloodshed , die at the age of 31 in a truck accidentin Walnut Cove , NC — quite near Germanton . He was buried in the same memorial park as the rest period of his family , provide behind four child of his own .

If this scary holiday story sound custom - made for a murder lay — well , several artists over the years have draw brainchild from it . DocumentaryA Christmas Family Tragedywas released in 2006 , but likely the best - make love court came from famed bluegrass duet the Stanley Brothers , who indite a suitably morbid tune recount the Lawson kinsperson ’s portion .

you’re able to find out a live version of it run in the video below : “ They say he killed his married woman at first / While the minuscule one did shout / Please Papa wo n’t you save our lives / It is so arduous to die . ” Brrr .

Photo: Jae C. Hong