Tom Dooley -
The legend and the facts
Mrs. Edith Ferguson Carter In Memoriam
A warm thank you to all the people who have helped
me in my research (New 8-27-2017)
On the
First
of
May 1868
Thomas C. Dula was hanged for murder in the city of Statesville in Iredell County,
North Carolina, USA. He was accused of
having murdered and buried Laura Foster
in May
1866. Throughout the proceedings,
he declared himself not guilty of murder,
but in the end he was convicted and executed anyway. The case attracted great attention in the U.S., and journalists from as far away as New York came to Statesville to attend the proceedings and not least the execution. Why this particular case caused such a furor is unclear as there were several murder cases around the Civil War-ravaged United States, which did not get even close to the same attention.
After the proceedings were completed
several local stories about the murder began to rise and some of these turned to
legends. Some of these were in the form of
poems
and songs and some remained stories that were passed down orally. Some of these were
later written down and some of the songs were
recorded,
including
a
version
with
folk singer
Frank
Proffit
and
another
with guitarist
Doc
Watson.
In
1958,
one
of
the versions
became a
hit
for The
Kingston
Trio
and the
same
year
a
Danish
version
was recorded and released by the group
The Four
Jacks.
I heard this sad song several times in my childhood,
but it never occurred to me, that it was based on
real events. In 1959
a movie
about
the case was made,
"The
Legend of
Tom
Dooley"
with
actors
Michael
Landon and
Jo
Morrow,
starring.
Since
2001,
every
summer The Wilkes Playmakers have performed
their version of the story
in
Wilkesboro,
North
Carolina,
one
of
the
places
where Tom
Dooley
was
imprisoned
before
his execution.
Since I started on these
articles in 2011 I have discovered quite a lot of new facts. Some are
brought in the "update articles" and some are not mentioned at all. ver the
next couple of months I will make up for that by updating the articles, both
with what is in the present update articles, but also with new knowledge
that I have gathered. Some articles will only undergo minor updates, while
other will be completely re-written. Articles that have been updated/re-written will be
marked with a star («).
The article, Supporting cast, will be divided into a number of articles on
specific people that I have leaned more about since 2011, when I wrote this
article, and I will eventually only leave it with people I still do not know
much about.
Tom Dooley - An update: I
Tom Dooley - An update: II
Tom
Dooley - An Update III
Tom Dooley
- An update IV
Pictures about
the case and it's geographical area
North Carolina, Wilkes County, Elkville
- history, nature, geography.
Tourist in Dooley Country
(Updated 5-7-2023)
A trip through "Dooley-land" recorded by my dashboard camera.
Visiting Dooley related places - a video from my YouTube channel
The legend of Tom Dooley
The main characters:
«Tom Dooley,
«Laura
Foster,
«Ann Melton,
«James Melton,
«Pauline Foster and
«James Isbell
Supporting Cast:
«Lotty
Foster,
«Rufus
Dula Horton -
«Dr.
George N. Carter
Family Ties
The Story of Tom Dooley I,
Background and beginning
The story of Tom Dooley
II, Laura disappears
The story of Tom Dooley
III, The months that followed
The story of Tom Dooley
IV, The discovery
The story of Tom Dooley V,
The Grand Jury Hearing
The story of Tom Dooley
VI, Trials and appeals
The Story of
Tom Dooley VII, Execution and aftermath
Circumstantial Evidence
Strange and missing testimonies
Discrepancies about the date of the
murder
Rulings from the appeals
What really happened I, Was Laura
murdered at all?
What really happened II, Did Tom
Dooley kill Laura Foster?
What really happened III, Did Ann
Melton og Pauline Foster kill Laura Foster?
What really happened IV, Who killed
Laura Foster
What really happened V, Did the
witnesses tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
What really happened VI, A very different
theory
End of story I: Miscarriage of
Justice?
End of story II-a: Another third hand story
End of story II-b: Interesting internet pages
End of story II-c: Articles in The Recorder Online
End of Story II-d: Tom Dooley in fiction
End of Story II-e: A Pardon for Tom Dooley?
End of Story III-a: Introduction to my own theory on what really happened
End of Story III-b: Tom and the
women
End of Story III-c: The Murder of Laura Foster
End of story III-d: Conclusion
My sources for this page
A critical review of "The True Story of Tom
Dooley"
Article in New
Herald from Saturday, May 2nd 1868
Article in The Binghamton Sunday Press,
Sunday November 30th, 1958
The Judicial System in North Carolina in the
1860s