Important Links:
Show Notes for each episode:
Episode 3: Thanks for the Memories
Listen to Jane Holding read the story, “Chapel Hill Murders,” from Chapel Hill in Plain Sight, by Daphne Athas:
To purchase a copy of Chapel Hill in Plain Sight: Notes from the Other Side of the Tracks, click here: http://www.enopublishers.org/books/
Music for this episode is entitled “Handmaid’s Escape,” by C.J. Oliver, available on Soundstripe; and “Missed and Mourned,” by Marten Moses, available on Epidemic Sound.
WHO KILLED RACHEL CROOK?
Four Episodes
27 Views Podcast, Season 4
Rachel Crook was a woman who minded her own business, literally. In mid-century Chapel Hill, North Carolina, her business was Crook’s Corner. For years, she sold fish and nuts and fabric remnants in that modest shop on West Franklin Street. Unlike most white women in town, she worked outside the home, one of many things that made her an enigma, even in forward-minded Chapel Hill. And there was this: She was pursuing her PhD in economics at the University of North Carolina and had been since she was fifty. She was now 71.
One summer night in 1951, Rachel Crook mysteriously disappeared. Her body was discovered the next day outside of town. She’d been brutally murdered, and initial reports were that she’d been raped. The town was in shock. Who in the world would want to harm this well-liked woman?
"Who Killed Rachel Crook?" is a four-part podcast series that explores the murder that has haunted Chapel Hill for nearly 75 years. It is based on a short essay by the late Daphne Athas, who knew Rachel Crook. The series follows the newspaper coverage of her murder, and considers the case against her accused killer, one Hobart Lee, a husky, bull-dozer operator who had a history of sexual assault.
The podcast covers Hobart Lee's trial and its aftermath. It is narrated by the series' creator, Elizabeth Woodman. Each episode includes dramatizations based on scripts compiled from reporters' accounts. Among those volunteering their acting skills to this project are Jane Holding, Nancy Demorest, Tom Rankin, Kent Davis, Sam Coleman, James Rainsford, Jill McCorkle, Randall Roden, Frances Mayes, Eryk Pruitt, Jim Parker, John Bemis, Pat Revels, and James Rives.
Though the central figures in this case are no longer living, the podcast features invaluable insights into some of them from retired North Carolina District Court Judge Alonzo Coleman. He was a child at the time of the trial, but years later, as a young lawyer in Orange County, he got to know the lawyers and the sheriff involved in this famous case.
The “Who Killed Rachel Crook?” podcast is a special presentation of the 27 Views Podcast. It is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Podbean, and other platforms.
