2. Carolyn Bryant: Whistle Bait and the Murder of Emmett Till

10/31/18 • 32 min

1955, rural, Jim Crow-era Mississippi. Emmett Till, just 14 years old, met a horrific death after being accused of whistling at and putting his arm around 21-year-old Carolyn Bryant. Over 60 years later, her account of their fateful encounter changed. Just who is Carolyn, and what forces propelled her toward the center of a murder that would become a turning point in the Civil Rights Movement? This is the second episode in the podcast's first season, "Accessories to Murder."

If you like this episode, please subscribe and rate us with 5 stars on iTunes or wherever you access podcasts.

Hosts: Paris Brown and Desi Robba

Produced & written by: Paris Brown

Edited by: Paris Brown

Music by: Dr. Frankenstein. "Theme for 'The Mad Thinker'" from The Cursed Tapes: Stolen Songs from Dr. Frankenstein's Lab, 2005
and by Lobo Loco. "Town Searching Murder" from Headcrash, 2018.

SOURCES AND RECOMMENDED READING: Huie, William Bradford. “The Shocking Story of Approved Killing in Mississippi.” Look. Jan. 1956.

Mitchell, Jerry. “Son of Emmett Till’s Killer in Panama Papers Scandal.” Clarion-Ledger. 9 May 2016.

Nave, R.L. “Emmett Till Murder: The Full Text Testimony of Carolyn Bryant.” Mississippi Today. 12 Jul. 2018.

Perez-Pena, Richard. “Woman Linked to 1955 Emmett Till Murder Tells Historian Her Claims were False.” The New York Times. 27 Jan. 2017.

“Three Hurt in Collision Near Here on Sunday.” The Delta Democrat-Times. 19 Nov. 1956, p. 1.

Tyson, Timothy B. The Blood of Emmett Till. Simon & Schuster, 2017.

Weller, Sheila. “The Missing Woman: How Author Timothy Tyson Found the Woman at the Center of the Emmett Till Case.” Vanity Fair. 26 Jan. 2017.

If you like this episode, please subscribe and rate us with 5 stars on iTunes or wherever you access podcasts.

Hosts: Paris Brown and Desi Robba

Produced & written by: Paris Brown

Edited by: Paris Brown

Music by: Dr. Frankenstein. "Theme for 'The Mad Thinker'" from The Cursed Tapes: Stolen Songs from Dr. Frankenstein's Lab, 2005
and by Lobo Loco. "Town Searching Murder" from Headcrash, 2018.

SOURCES AND RECOMMENDED READING: Huie, William Bradford. “The Shocking Story of Approved Killing in Mississippi.” Look. Jan. 1956.

Mitchell, Jerry. “Son of Emmett Till’s Killer in Panama Papers Scandal.” Clarion-Ledger. 9 May 2016.

Nave, R.L. “Emmett Till Murder: The Full Text Testimony of Carolyn Bryant.” Mississippi Today. 12 Jul. 2018.

Perez-Pena, Richard. “Woman Linked to 1955 Emmett Till Murder Tells Historian Her Claims were False.” The New York Times. 27 Jan. 2017.

“Three Hurt in Collision Near Here on Sunday.” The Delta Democrat-Times. 19 Nov. 1956, p. 1.

Tyson, Timothy B. The Blood of Emmett Till. Simon & Schuster, 2017.

Weller, Sheila. “The Missing Woman: How Author Timothy Tyson Found the Woman at the Center of the Emmett Till Case.” Vanity Fair. 26 Jan. 2017.

Previous Episode

1. The Manson Women: Look at Your Game, Girl

You've undoubtedly memorized the story of Charles Manson and the Tate-LaBianca murders, but how much do you know about the lives of his followers, especially before they met him? Here's the life stories of five Manson Family members, which helps to explain how they became, well, Manson Family members: Susan Atkins, Patricia Krenwinkel, Leslie VanHouten, Lynette Fromme (who attempted a presidential assassination), and Dianne Lake, the youngest member of the group.

This is the first episode in the podcast's first season, "Accessories to Murder." Click on our website link below for source information. If you like this episode, please subscribe, rate us with 5 stars on iTunes or your favorite podcatcher, and consider supporting us at Patreon.

Host: Paris Brown

Produced, written, and edited by: Paris Brown

Music by:
Dr. Frankenstein. "Theme for 'The Mad Thinker'" from The Cursed Tapes: Stolen Songs from Dr. Frankenstein's Lab, 2005 and by
Julie Maxwell. "Childhood Memories" from Farther Than All the Stars, 2016.

Podcast artwork by: Nathalie Rattner ([email protected])

Logo lettering by: St. Anchor Graphics

Reddit discussion group

SOURCES AND RECOMMENDED READING:

The Anniston Star. “Relative of Miss Krenwinkel Found Dead in Mobile.” 22 Jun. 1970, p. 7.

Atkins, Susan. Child of Satan, Child of God. 1977. Menelorelin Dorenay’s Publishing, 2011.

Bravin, Jess. Squeaky: The Life and Times of Lynette Alice Fromme. St. Martin’s P, 1997.

Bugliosi, Vincent. Helter Skelter. W.W. Norton, 1974.

CieloDrive.com. “Leslie Van Houton.”
—. “Patricia Krenwinkel.”
—. “Susan Atkins.”

“Jeanne F. Jett Atkins.” Find A Grave.

Kendall, John. “‘Sexy Sadie’s’ Snitching Closed Door on Family.” Los Angeles Times. 26 Jan. 1971, p. 3.

Lake, Dianne. Member of the Family: My Story of Charles Manson, Life Inside his Cult, and the Darkness that Ended the Sixties. William Morrow, 2017.

Larsen, David. “Took Up with Strange Man: Father Recalls Odd Behavior of Girl Suspect in Tate Crime.” Los Angeles Times. 2 Dec 1969.

Sanchez, Mike. “Sharon’s Wedding Dress among Items Stolen from Debra Tate’s Home.” The Sensational Sharon Tate. 7 Sept 2011.

Torgerson, Dial. “‘Susan was a Good Kid’; Then Came Sadie Glutz. Los Angeles Times. 12 Dec. 1969.

Waters, John. Role Models. Farrah, Straus, & Giroux, 2010.

Next Episode

3. Carole Tregoff: Lover in the Bushes

This is a story local to us, and we've never heard it discussed on any other podcast.

In 1959, a glamorous, well-to-do doctor's wife named Barbara Jean Finch was gunned down one night in front of her mid-century modern West Covina, California home. A witness, her young au pair, saw the murderer with her own eyes. It was Barbara's estranged husband, Bernard "Bernie" Finch. But what the au pair didn't notice was Bernie's lover, Carole Tregoff, hiding in the bushes on the property. Even after Bernie fled the scene, she stayed there all night. Why was Carole there, and was she part of a plot to get rid of Barbara so that she and Bernie could marry? Join us to find out and, along the way, travel to Las Vegas and back, meet an accused gigolo hitman, and muse over why celebrities were so enamored with Bernie Finch.

This is the third episode in the podcast's first season, "Accessories to Murder." Click on our website link below for source information.

If you like this episode, please subscribe and rate us with 5 stars on iTunes or wherever you access podcasts.

Hosts: Paris Brown and Desi Robba

Produced, written, & edited by: Paris Brown

Music by: Dr. Frankenstein. "Theme for 'The Mad Thinker'" from The Cursed Tapes: Stolen Songs from Dr. Frankenstein's Lab, 2005
and by Lobo Loco. "Town Searching Murder" from Headcrash, 2018.