Logan County, West Virginia. June, 1932. A young man picking blackberries on Trace Mountain finds the body of Mamie Thurman, a policeman's wife and one of the most respected women in town.
Within days, a banker is in jail. Within weeks, the whole town is whispering about a private club, a secret list of sixteen men, and a grand jury that may have had something to hide.
A note before we begin: this episode includes descriptions of violence and a brief discussion of a murder victim's injuries.
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Case at a glance
Who: Mamie Thurman, wife of Logan city police officer Jack Thurman
Where: 22 Mine Road, Trace Mountain, Logan, West Virginia
When: June 1932
Convicted: Clarence Stephenson, who maintained his innocence for the rest of his life
Status: Officially closed, widely believed unsolved
A body on Trace Mountain
Mamie Thurman was known around Logan as a respectable, well-liked woman, married to a city police officer. When she was found dead on the mountain above town, the shock rippled through the whole county.
The investigation quickly led to the home the Thurmans shared, an apartment owned by a prominent local banker named Harry Robertson. Within days, Robertson was in jail.
The secret list
That's when the rumors started. Stories spread about a private club where some of Logan's most powerful men met, and about a list of sixteen men tied to Mamie in ways nobody wanted spoken out loud in a courtroom. Whether that list was real, and what was on it, became one of the most whispered-about parts of the case.
One man convicted
In the end, the banker went free. Only one man was convicted: Robertson's handyman, Clarence Stephenson. He was sentenced to life in prison, and he spent the rest of his life saying he was innocent.
Many people in Logan County, then and now, believe the real story was never told in that courtroom, and that someone with far more power walked away.
What's missing
The trial transcripts have vanished. No one knows for certain where Mamie is buried. And for a case that once had an entire county talking, a surprising amount of the official record is simply gone.
The woman in the polka-dot dress
Today, Mamie Thurman is one of West Virginia's best-known ghost stories. People say a woman in a blue polka-dot dress walks 22 Mine Road at night, and drivers on the mountain still tell stories about her. A historical marker from the William G. Pomeroy Foundation now marks her story.
Who really killed Mamie Thurman? Listen to the episode, and tell us your verdict.
Sources
Dave Tabler, "The unsolved murder of Mamie Thurman," Appalachian History
Dolores Riggs Davis, "Does Mamie Thurman Still Walk Those Hills?" and "Part Two, The Mamie Story Continues – The Trial," Logan County, WV History and Nostalgia
Dwight Williamson, "The Murder of Mamie Thurman Remains a Mystery," loganwv.us
William G. Pomeroy Foundation, Mamie Thurman historic marker
F. Keith Davis, The Secret Life and Brutal Death of Mamie Thurman (Quarrier Press, 2007)
Pull up a chair, Holler Dwellers
From Logan County, or ever driven 22 Mine Road after dark? Tell us your verdict, or your story. Send it our way, and it might just end up on the show.
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Hosted, researched, and produced by KT.
