The Murder and Ghost of Pearl Bryan, Part lll

Scott Jackson continued to
insist to reporters he had
been wrongly convicted.

During Pearl Bryan's sensationalized murder trial testimony of unreliable witness accounts were used because neither Scott Jackson nor Alonzo Walling confessed to the crime.

A Star Witness

Two of the witnesses at the trials testified they saw Jackson enter Wallingford’s saloon with a blonde lady the night before Pearl was discovered dead.

Later Jackson and Walling left with this lady in a horse cab driven by a third man.

This cabman could not be found so several newspapers offered large rewards to anyone who could identify this man.

A black man by the name of George Jackson came forward to claim the reward. He was later convicted of perjury in another trial.

He told the authorities that Walling had offered him 10 dollars to drive a doctor and his patient across the bridge to Kentucky.

Alonzo Walling

Later Walling drove up in a carriage and he took over the reins.

When he heard a woman moaning in the back of the carriage he tried to leave but he stated Walling drew a pistol on him and forced him to continue.

When they arrived at their destination he saw another man exit the carriage with a woman who could barely walk--as they went into the woods he took off on foot.

George Jackson’s story was highly unlikely. Later the police chief and his former employee in Springfield publicaly stated that they believed he was lying.

He was a known conman who craved notoriety.

When he was taken to the prison to identify Scott Jackson--he didn’t recognize anyone until a guard let Jackson’s name slip at which point he pointed him out.

His story was put into evidence and used at the trials. His testimony turned out to be the most controversial. 

People wondered why two experienced horseman--Scott Jackson and Alonzo Walling would hire a witness to their crime.

George Jackson was ordered to recreate
the fatal journey. This time with
3 police officers in the back.

Final Thoughts

The story of Pearl Bryan’s death was horrific enough without all the exaggerated myths and rumors that were spread at the time.

These myths are often given as the reason why Bobby Mackey’s Music World in Wilder, Kentucky is haunted by Scott Jackson, Alonzo Walling and the most active of the three ghosts--Pearl Bryan.

Pearl probably haunts this building because it is near where she was decapitated.

But the two men probably haunt it--not because of some exaggerated story about them being members of an occult group--but because they possibly might have been convicted and hanged for a crime they didn’t directly commit.

The real truth is lost to history and a poor investigation and trial.

Haunted Night Club

Bobby Mackey, a popular country music star, bought an old wooden building located in Wilder, Kentucky in 1978. It was on this site where the original slaughterhouse building stood.

There is a sign posted on the door that states, “possibility of paranormal activity enter at own risk.”

His nightclub is a popular spot to hear good music, it is also a place that many paranormal investigators visit.

Sign on door.

Three Ghosts

Witnesses have stated that they have seen both Pearl’s and Alonzo Walling’s apparitions in this building.

Yet another newspaper reported Walling just before the noose was slipped around his neck stated he intended to return and haunt the area. Many feel he followed through on his promise.

A psychic stated that she saw Scott Jackson having an argument with Pearl. She saw him yelling at Pearl as she fretted and held her head in her hands stating, “My head, my head.”

He yelled at her, “It was your fault.”

One female employee at the bar states that as she walked into the club one day an unplugged jukebox started to play The Anniversary Song.

This jukebox does not include this song on its selection boards. This employee feels that Pearl has a romantic side and it was her that played this song.

Several women patrons, pregnant at the time they visited the night club, have started that Pearl messed with them.

Bobby Mackey’s wife Janet while 5 months pregnant--Pearl was 5 months pregnant when she died-- was grabbed around the waist and thrown to the ground by an unseen entity.

The sign posted on the door--warning patrons to enter at their own risk--was placed there at the recommendation of a lawyer after a female patron had her clothes ripped in the restroom by a disapproving entity.

In Part l of The Murder andGhost of Pearl Bryan, I share several of the bizarre rumors and myths that surround this case.

The Murder and Ghost of Pearl Bryan, Part ll

On February 1, 1896 Pearl Bryan a resident of the small town of Greencastle, Indiana was found murdered and headless on John Locke’s farm in Wilder, Kentucky.

The brutality of this crime sent shock waves beyond just the Ohio Valley.

In Part l, many of the exaggerated myths and rumors that surround the Pearl Bryan murder case are shared.

What follows is what most of the newspapers at the time didn’t share.

The Real Pearl Bryan

After this murder Pearl Bryan was described universally as a poor, innocent farm girl that was cruelly seduced and ruined by a blackguard, an older man from the east.

But Pearl wasn’t exactly the country bumpkin she was portrayed as. She was a music student at DePauw University and her wealthy family assured she had a sophisticated upbringing.

She wore all the latest fashions and many of her friends and family suspected that she had more than just a close friendship with her second cousin, William “Will” Wood.

William "Will" Wood

When her family and friends heard she was 5 months pregnant at the time of her death most believed the baby’s father was Will Wood, not Scott Jackson.

During the trial, Will denied having sexual relations with Pearl but depositions taken by sworn witnesses state the he had bragged about having a “soft snap” with Pearl and that he often spoke in detail about his sexual encounters with her.

When she told her parents she was going to visit family in Indianapolis she knew she was going to Cincinnati to obtain an abortion.

It must be noted here that this does not mean Pearl deserved to be murdered.

Two questions remain a mystery even today-- whose child was Pearl carrying and who did actually murder her?

The Blame Game

As newspapers proclaimed this murder The Crime of the Century they also touted that the investigation that led to the arrests of Jackson and Walling and their subsequent trials were good examples of efficient law enforcement and swift justice.

What seemed on the surface to be a case with no loose ends and no mysteries--was exactly the opposite.

Since the authorities knew Will Wood was considered to be a possible father of Pearl’s baby he was immediately considered to be an accomplice in this crime.

Scott Jackson and his friend Alonzo Walling were arrested in Cincinnati within a week of Pearl’s body being found. Will Wood was detained on the same day in Indiana.

Scott Jackson, left,
Alonzo Walling, right.

Ironically, when Will agreed to testify against the other two men he was released.

Jackson told the police that he had arranged an abortion for Pearl as a favor for his friend Will Wood.

Wood on the other hand stated that it was Jackson who seduced Pearl not him. Later during the trial Jackson testified that he had sexual relations with Pearl but after she was pregnant.

Which of these two men was the father was never determined with certainty.

Jackson told the authorities that he had left Pearl under his friend, Alonzo Walling’s care. He also stated that Walling had arranged for the abortion.

Walling on the other hand stated that Jackson’s plan was to lure Pearl to Cincinnati under the pretext that an abortion would be arranged.

He told the authorities that Jackson actually planned to poison Pearl and then cut up her body and place the parts in various vaults around the city.

Both men denied any firsthand knowledge of Pearl’s death stating the other was responsible.

Another Possible Suspect

Curiously, in separate last minute confessions before their executions both men implicated a medical doctor by the name of Wagner who they stated had performed the abortion.

They said there were complications and Pearl in a great deal of pain fell unconscious and died shortly afterwards.

The three men then loaded her body in a vehicle and drove her to a secluded spot where Doctor Wagner severed her head with a dissection knife and wrapped her head in her cloak.

The doctor then drove Jackson and Walling to the bridge and the 3 men went their separate ways.

Doctor Wagner was not subpoenaed to give a statement because shortly after Pearl’s body was found he was committed to the Eastern Kentucky Asylum for the Insane, in Lexington.

Circumstantial Evidence

Neither Jackson or Walling ever confessed to the murder and both maintained their innocence to the end. They were hanged together in March of 1897.

Because of this the police had to rely on circumstantial evidence during both their trails.

They used a series of witnesses that supposedly created a chain that showed both men had been seen in the company of Pearl in Cincinnati several times during the week leading up to her death.

Yet another witness account supposedly proved Jackson and Walling committed the murder.

The problem with this was several of these accounts were actually proven to be unreliable. They were also filled with half-truths and improbabilities.

These various discrepancies could fill a book so only one will be addressed in Part lll of The Murder and Ghost of Pearl Bryan. I also share the ghostly sightings of Pearl, Jackson and Walling.

The Murder and Ghost of Pearl Bryan, Part l

A Haunting

Bobby Mackey’s Music World is a nightclub in Kentucky. It is often billed as the most haunted bar in the USA.

Pearl Bryan

It is stated that two murderers and their victim haunt this building.

The victim, Pearl Bryan was murdered in 1896. This crime was touted by newspapers of the time as “The Crime of the Century.”

A Gruesome End

Early in the morning of February 1, 1896 seventeen year-old Jack Hewling was walking along an abandoned lane on the Locke farm where he worked in Wilder, Kentucky. This area was right across the river from Cincinnati, Ohio.

Through the morning mist he spotted what he thought was a bundle of clothes. As he drew closer he saw the outline of what appeared to be a person.

He then realized he was looking at the body of a dead woman. A sense of horror overcame him as he saw that just above the shoulders of this corpse was a bloody stump. The head was missing.

Hewling had just stumbled upon one of the most heinous murders of the 19^th century.

Residents who lived in the 3 mid west states involved in this crime: Kentucky, Indiana and Ohio became obsessed with newspaper reports that described every gruesome detail.

Unfortunately, a lot of these reports were more “myth” than reality.

Below are some examples of these sensationalized myths and rumors along with some true facts that newspapers across the U. S. fed to the American public.

Prominent Families

Pearl Bryan was the twelfth child of a prosperous farmer who lived in the small town of Greencastle, Indiana. By the age of 22 Pearl was considered “a catch.”

Scott Jackson

When her cousin, William Wood introduced her to a student, Scott Jackson who attended the Ohio College of Dental Surgery in Cincinnati, she fell in love.

Scott Jackson was a student but he was much older than Pearl.

He came from a prominent family so her folks did not object to his courtship.

In a whirlwind romance Jackson managed to seduce Pearl. She found herself pregnant and hiding this fact from family and friends.

She did confide in her cousin, William and he then alerted Jackson to the fact that he had “a problem.”

Secrets

Newspaper reports mentioned Jackson was not a typical dentist.

They mentioned he was a member of an occult group that met in a former slaughterhouse in Wilder, Kentucky.

In these reports it was stated that this group often sacrificed animals to pay homage to the devil and then threw their bloody bodies down an old well located in the basement of this building.

Rumors stated that this group also sacrificed mentally delayed children.

It was on this slaughterhouse site where Bobby Mackey’s Music World would be located years later.

Jackson upon hearing the news Pearl was pregnant told William to arrange for Pearl to come to Cincinnati to have an abortion.

Pearl told her parents that she was going to Indianapolis. She then met Jackson and his roommate, a man by the name of Alonzo Walling in Cincinnati. Walling was also a member of the occult group.

Pearl was 5 months pregnant. This would be the last time Pearl’s parents would see her alive.

A Botched Abortion

More sensationalism…

Unbeknownst to Pearl, Jackson intended to perform the abortion. He first gave Pearl chemicals hoping this would work--when it didn’t he took some of his dental tools and went to work.

But this second attempt did not work either. Pearl was now frightened and bleeding.

The two men then took her across the Ohio River into Kentucky where they murdered her in a secluded area near Fort Thomas and the abandoned slaughterhouse.

Using dental tools they ruthlessly severed her head from her body while she was still alive. This fact was determined later because of the presence of blood at the murder scene.

Her mother identified her body later by her clothes.

Depiction of Scott Jackson
murdering Pearl Bryan

The Trials

The investigation led to the arrests of Scott Jackson and Alonzo Walling.

Their trails were two of the most bizarre trials in U.S. history.

During these court cases thousands of citizens from far and near stood outside the courthouse clamoring to gain entrance.

Many of these spectators believed all the myths and rumors that had been reported.

William “Will” Wood, Pearl’s cousin, was arrested as an accomplice to this murder but when he agreed to testify against the other two men the charges were dropped.

Walling testified that it was Jackson that had the idea to cut off Pearl’s head so they then could dispose of it in the Cincinnati sewers.

Another myth put forth was that Jackson kept a morbid souvenir of the murder. During the investigation Pearl’s long beautiful blonde hair was discovered in his valise in his room. Her head was never found.

Jackson and Walling were quickly found guilty and sentenced to death in 1897.

At one point, “life sentences” were offered to both men if they would tell where Pearl’s head was located. Both refused. 

Both Jackson and Walling were hanged behind the Newton Courthouse in March of 1897. These were to be the last two public hangings in Campbell County.

Jackson and Walling's
gallows

More Bizarre Myths

Many speculated that Jackson used Pearl’s head in a satanic ritual at the slaughterhouse. When he was finished he dumped it down the old well in the basement of this building.

Because of this it was stated that Jackson went to his death rather than to stir up the “devil’s wrath” by revealing this sacrifice.

Along this same line people felt if he had revealed the location of her head he would have also been forced to reveal the names of other members of the occult group and their secret meeting place--the slaughterhouse.

After the trial one Kentucky newspaper account stated that an “evil eye” or curse had befallen several of the police officials and attorneys that were involved in the case.

It seems that they all had a great deal of bad luck and met with tragic ends.

In Part ll of The Murder andGhost of Pearl Bryan, information is shared that the newspapers at the time glossed over. As well as an account of the murder closer to the truth.