Mountain Mysteries: Tales from Appalachia · Hailey and Holly

Mamie Thurman Pt. 1

February 26, 2026·34 min·2 clips

On Trace Mountain, Garland Davis finds a deceased woman in a blue and white dress with a missing shoe and a slit throat.

1. Mountain Mysteries: Tales from Appalachia covers the first half of the Mamie Thurman case in Logan, West Virginia, after June 22, 1932. 2. Hosts Holly and Haley narrate the case together, and their back-and-forth matters because they keep pausing for questions, reactions, and clarifications. 3. The episode asks what happened to Mamie Thurman after Jack Thurman came home from work and could not find her. 4. Jack Thurman returns to the garage apartment above Harry Robertson's property and learns that Mamie is missing. 5. Mamie had a habit of staying overnight with friends when Jack worked the graveyard shift, so her absence was not alarming at first. 6. The search moves to the Robertson home, where Harry Robertson says he has not seen Mamie since June 18 and offers his chauffeur, Clarence Stevenson, to drive Jack around Logan. 7. The hosts describe Logan as a small town with coal jobs, construction work, and enough nightlife for Jack's police beat to matter. 8. Mamie's background includes a childhood in rural Kentucky, a father who remarried, and a stepmother close to her own age. 9. The episode says Mamie married Jack Thurman in 1924 when she was about 24 and he was 36. 10. After the move to Logan, Mamie worked as a secretary at Harry Robertson's bank, taught Sunday school, and socialized with Louise Robertson and other local elites. 11. Mamie lost her bank job in the fall of 1931 because of the Depression, but she kept spending time with friends and going out. 12. Police receive a last-known sighting of Mamie near the town theater at about 9 p.m., wearing a blue and white polka dot dress. 13. Garland Davis, a 32-year-old mute and deaf man, finds a body on Trace Mountain while picking blackberries. 14. The body is identified as Mamie Thurman, age 31, with jewelry and cash still present and no sign that robbery was the motive. 15. The injuries include two gunshot wounds to the head, stabbing, a slit throat, and defensive wounds on her hands. 16. Investigators then hear claims that Mamie spent time at the Amour Club, a secret drinking spot that required a passcode. 17. The episode says Mamie had relationships with influential men there, including Harry Robertson, and one report places her with at least 16 men from the club. 18. Police search the Robertson basement and car, finding blood splatter and a straight razor, which leads them to arrest the adults living in the Robertson home. 19. Holly and Haley use a conversational, reactive style, with jokes about wedding planning, porch-cam fears, and the social scene in Logan. 20. People interested in Depression-era Appalachian true crime will likely stay with this case, while listeners wanting a tightly finished ending may skip part one.

As heard by us

A warm, talkative setup that keeps Mamie at the center.

Mamie Thurman Pt. 1 puts the disappearance at the center, but it gives Mamie enough room to feel like a person first. The episode lingers on her place in the community, her Sunday school teaching, and the tight circle around her, then adds family background and the move from…

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Why you'd press play

Start here if you want a chatty Appalachian true-crime yarn about Mamie's disappearance, with family history, community ties, and banter that stays warm even on Zoom.

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