Welcome to "Tombigbee Tales a podcast dedicated to illuminating the untold stories of remarkable, colorful, and unusual people who lived, worked, or passed through Columbus, Mississippi. Today, we'll explore the extraordinary life of Beulah Ruth Bettersworth, an artist who transcended mere visual representation to become a profound social documentarian of early 20th-century America and who painted the mural in our downtown post office in the 1930's.

Welcome to "Tombigbee Tales" - where we dive deep into the fascinating narratives that shape our regional history. Today, we're exploring the life of William J. "Buddy" Adair Jr., a man whose story reads like a complex tapestry of crime, family, and regional intrigue. He loosely associated with a local group of “entrepreneurial bootleggers and gambling den owners some called the Dixie Mafia.

Welcome to "Sin City South," a Tombigbee Tales series that delves into the shadowy past of Columbus, Mississippi, and its surrounding areas. I'm your host, [Name], and in this expose series, we'll explore how this seemingly conservative Southern town earned its notorious nickname in the mid-20th century. Get ready to have your perceptions challenged as we uncover a story that's been hiding in plain sight for decades.

Alexander McClung was involved in at least a dozen duels. He organized the Tombigbee Volunteers to go to the Mexican War in 1846. He is buried in Soldiers Cemetery in Vicksburg, MS but has a cenotaph in Friendship Cemetery in Columbus, MS. 

Caroline Seabury came to Columbus Female Institute from Brooklyn, NY to teach French in 1854. She would be the tutor for the children of Col. George Hampton Young at Waverley Mansion. She would stay there until after the Fall of Vicksburg before leaving North for home and an uncertain future. 

Carroll County, Mississippi Sheriff Clint Walker endangers private citizens' lives over accusations related to a missing Blues Trail Marker that is in the hands of Mississippi Blues Trail Commission designees Hammons and Associates. Walker has yet to reach out to the family or Hammons and Associates.

Interview with Cy Yuan Suo about his experience at the Mississippi John Hurt Memorial Walk in October 2023, where the marchers, students, and Mary Frances Hurt, the granddaughter of Blues musician John Hurt were heckled by racist neighbors in Carroll County, Mississippi.

The Director of the Mississippi John Hurt Foundation - Mississippi John Hurt's Granddaughter Mary Francis Hurt talks about the fire, the lack of information, suspicions of arson, and the "theft" of the Blues Trail Marker.  Ugly racist motives and white supremacists abound in the Mississippi Delta... To follow/suppport the Mississippi John Hurt Foundation on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/johnhurtfoundation

There is a tale attached to this house...that it was turned by a team of oxen from facing the river to face Bridge Street and all the new bridge traffic. Let's explore a little early Columbus history found in this almost 200 year old home. 

Call your Mississippi legislators and tell them to vote NO on Bill 2715 to move MSMS to Mississippi State's Campus!

The outgoing director of the Columbus Visitor's Bureau, Nancy Luke Carpenter tried to undermine and negate the contracts of the new Director and the new COO at the February board meeting. 

MUW's fiasco riddled naming committee has alienated the alumni with their lack of transparency, lack of inclusion, and total incompetence resulting in zero confidence in the school's leadership. 

While rigging the Beauty Review is quite obvious, what is most disheartening is that these kids pour their hearts into this event. How disappointing that the adults in charge have little oversight and allegedly manipulate the outcome each year to benefit certain children more than others who are equally as invested in the event. It would seem that this is one more space where Heritage should look more carefully into the less-than-transparent processes and events that negatively impact the students. If the school motto includes high moral standards perhaps they should start with the moral turpitude of the adults who are teaching and guiding and supporting the children.

According to multiple parents who messaged me, after beauty review was over, several participants went to the office to check their beauty review ballot scores. It was obvious to each of the participants, numbers had been erased and replaced with lower numbers. Why? Because this is Heritage where some are more equal than others.

Mississippi University for Women's new branding "expert" and her pals seem to think the host of this podcast is at least three different people...so let's dispel that myth...and discuss the clones that ARE out there. I invite all of those suspected clones to join me on a zoom call with a camera...(the film version of this podcast will be available on YouTube). 

Someone is cloning alumni Facebook profiles and trying to skew public sentiment on state legislator Clay Mansell's page. 

The powers that be at Mississippi University for Women are slapping lipstick on their renaming efforts and royally alienating alumni...and it is UGLY...

Mississippi University for Women has had two failed renaming campaigns and is currently on their third...why is so much money and energy put into rebranding the University when students say they are exiting because they don't feel safe on campus and their rooms are devoid of the minimum expectations of housing: heating and air conditioning.  Bernie Ellis, MA, MPH, a 7th generation Lowndes Countian, retired public health epidemiologist, former Program Director at the National Cancer Institute and the Centers for Disease Control and a former Assistant Dean of Admissions at Vanderbilt University provides insights and observations on the issues.

CVB Director Nancy Carpenter won't return calls or emails to tournament organizers. In other words, she is not doing her job! 

Nancy Carpenter is scrambling to find the match share grant for the Tennessee Williams building because she waited to the last minute - as usual - and her last minute mess is catching up with her. She's getting pretty desperate. 

CCHF Director Nancy Luke Carpenter and Mayor Keith Gaskin are making some shady backroom deals with OUR tax dollars.  

To follow my Facebook page where the mayor has been commenting: https://www.facebook.com/ShannonBEvans

Abe Loftis was a constable in Columbus, MS who fell to his death breaking up a craps game on top of the coal chute at the Southern Railroad yard. 

St. Paul's Episcopal Church of Columbus' Rector J. H. Ingraham's book The Pillar of Fire was the most popular book across the US (other than the Bible) after the Civil War. His name appears as the writer on the movie The Ten Commandments right after Cecil B. DeMille's. 

The Heritage Academy athletic director Moe Reed has to be more nervous than a nine-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs. Her varsity girls' basketball team is now 0-10. They lost to a big rival by 29 points. Yikes. Then, they made the parents drive their kids on a workday across the state to Magnolia Heights for them to lose there too.

Did Hilma Ensminger try and poison her step-son or was she framed? 

The actual application sent to MDAH is super interesting for what it contains and what it did NOT contain. Did MDAH VP Nancy Luke Carpenter get special treatment by her pals on the grant board? 

Carpenter and the Columbus Cultural Heritage Foundation have to come up with over $200,000 up front for their latest grant boondoggle at the Tennessee Williams home before they ever get a dime of reimbursement from the MDAH. How is THAT going to work out? 

Where is the Tennessee Williams Welcome Center Money Renovations Money Going to Come From? The work has to be paid out of pocket and then reimbursed at 80%. Where does Nancy Luke Carpenter and the board at the Columbus Cultural Heritage Foundation think that money will come from? Certainly not the CVB!

Born in Columbus, MS, graduate of S. D. Lee High and Tougaloo University, journalist Roger B. Brown will be inducted posthumously in the Texas Black Sports Hall of Fame on February 24, 2024. 

When the CVB Director Nancy Luke Carpenter makes wild claims, people now know to question them and look for the truth. Sometimes the truth is more interesting than her "claims".

The Columbus Convention and Visitor's Bureau director, Nancy Luke Carpenter has "lost" $15,000+ owed to the Historic Home Tours Association. Additionally, she is charging them for her overspending (in kind) on advertising for the Spring Pilgrimage. 

Dexter Wade's body was finally found by his mother in plot #672 behind the Hinds County Jail in  Jackson, Mississippi.  For more follow Tazadaqya on Tiktok: @upkmississippi

John Allison Hardy was a well respected business man, plantation owner, and community leader. He was gunned down on his property on a cold rainy February night in 1952. The man hunt that ensued was one of the largest the state ever held. #murder #murderinmississippi #mississippi #columbusms #tombigbeetales

The benign neglect of the director of the Columbus Visitors Bureau, Nancy Luke Carpenter and her lack of investment in our town's future tourism almost resulted in the loss of a film documentary and a series of YouTube documentaries on the ghosts and legends of our town. Ghost tourism is a HUGE boost for many communities. We are missing out due to Carpenter's apathy. 

The Historic Home Tours of Columbus, Mississippi: https://www.facebook.com/HistoricHomeToursOfColumbus

The Dixie Mafia, also known as the Dixie Mob, is a criminal organization active in the Southern United States since at least the 1960s. Their name is synonymous with illegal bootlegging, gambling, contract killings, safe cracking, and murder. They first emerged in the American South in the 1960s but grew out of a long and storied history of organized crime in the South. Any loyalty or oath did not unite members and were loosely connected by a willingness to commit any crime, from extortion to murder, if there was money to be made. Join me as we begin to untwist the historically messy underbelly of Columbus. 

THE MAGNOLIA LITERACY PROJECT (MLP) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that uses literacy as a means of celebrating Mississippi while promoting activism and advocacy across the state. The organization's mission is to offer a platform for young Mississippians to showcase literary talent, build identity, and represent community. Our goal is to provide youth with cultural enrichment, mentoring, and publishing opportunities while teaching multimodal literacy. Empowering writers, visual artists, orators, photographers, and videographers, we serve communities that lack widespread access to growth resources. 

To learn more:  https://www.magnolialiteracyproject.org/

Augusta Palmer Film Maker of the Memphis Country Blues Festival Documentary shares her experience with capturing the history the Festival spearheaded by her father Robert Palmer and of country blues artists including Bukka White from Aberdeen, MS.  1/26 NJ Film Festival (tickets to watch online or to attend):   https://watch.eventive.org/newjerseyfilmfestivalspring2024/play/65248690160895008328b0c0

Jon Mattox murdered Gene Cain Tate on Jan 31, 1960 in Columbus, Mississippi #columbusms #visitcolumbus #mississippi #murder 

Baskerville Manor is a gorgeous Italianate antebellum home built as a wedding present and eventually lost in a poker game. Here is a story about the lives of some of the people who once lived in this gorgeous home on the Columbus Spring Pilgrimage in Columbus, MS.

Daniel Baldwin (future father of a Confederate General) owned a tavern and was an excellent distiller of hard liquor in Columbus. He stood accused of selling alcohol to two enslaved men in 1855 by the state of Mississippi. 

My friend Alan from Porch Talk Podcast talks Mississippi musicians, Columbus, and upcoming Porch Fest Music Festival during Pilgrimage this spring! 

William Faulkner stole Cornell Sidney Franklin's wife back all the way form Shanghai, China. #knowyourhistory #williamfaulkner #columbusms #mississippi #visitcolumbusms #visitmississippi #oxford 

Interview with the Cultured Bumpkin Podcast Host and Voice Over Actor Jake Philips of Columbus, MS #visitcolumbus #visitmississippi #mississippi #mississippiartists #columbusms #lowndescountyms 

Leroy Shackelford was murdered by two slaves: Wiley and Dock near Crawford, MS. Aaron, an enslaved man, was murdered by his owner James Paul using a weighted wagon whip. #knowyourhistory #mississippi #visitmississippi #columbusms #mississippigirl #mississippihistory

How the Columbus Cultural Heritage Foundation and Nancy Capenter Plans to Profit off the Monroe Crypt "Restoration" #cvb #tennesseewilliamshome #visitcolumbusms #visitmississippi #restorationwork #thievesandcrooks 

First Methodist's Vaughn Stafford and company know exactly what they're doing. The Heritage and Board administration allows them free reign over the children at the school every time they invite them on campus. It’s not just the Baptists at Heritage who should be worried.  

Gustavus Hendrick was accused of plotting the murder of Col. Thomas Townsend and Alexander Carter while at the home of Silas McBee (Liberty Hall). #columbusms #visitcolumbus #visitmississippi #knowyourhistory #historyisbrutal #murderforhirestory 

Peter Stuart Hairston, Crawford native was a wealthy man working in Toronto, Canada on the Toronto Stock Exchange at his death. #murder #arson #fire #ColumbusMS #visitcolumbus #visitmississippi #mississippi

Dancey Blewett was murdered for messing around with a married woman... #mississippi #visitmississippi #visitcolumbusms #Blewett #mississippigirl