On Christmas Day in 1929, the community of Germanton, North Carolina, was forever changed by the tragic murders of seven members of the Lawson family. One fact remains indisputable: Charlie Lawson was responsible for the deaths of his family. However, the question that has lingered for nearly a century is: why did he commit such a heinous act?

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Episode Sources

• Greensboro Daily News: Stokes Farmer Murders Family, Dec 26, 1929
• Greensboro Daily News: Victims to be Buried in Single Grave, Dec 27, 1929
• Statesville Record and Landmark: Only One Member of Family of 9 Left, Dec 30, 1929
• The Sentinel: No Report on Brain of Charlie Lawson, Jan 7, 1930
• Statesville Record: Commercializing the Lawson Home, Feb 3, 1930
• PlanetSlade: So hard to die: Murder of the Lawson Family
• Murderpedia: Charles Davis Lawson
• CLEWS: Christmas Murders and the Lawson Family Massacre, December 2006
• M. Bruce Jones with Trudy Smith: White Christmas, Bloody Christmas, 1990.
• Trudy Smith: The Meaning of Our Tears

Episode Music

Out of the Mines, courtesy of Ross Gentry, Asheville, North Carolina.