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Post by Angela on Jun 5, 2009 6:40:54 GMT -5
Just found this site and joined up. I saw the Documentary in Mt. Airy the other week. I've known about this story as far back as I can remember from my Dad who knew the Manrings, as I did in later years. I live between the NC-VA line not far from where the Manrings were raised. I went to the house where the murders occurred before it was torn down and have been to the cemetery several times. Sockeye
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Post by Angela on Jun 5, 2009 6:43:00 GMT -5
Welcome to our forum Sockeye. Did you hear any other stories bout the murders while growing up that are different from what we know? Ladebug
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Post by Angela on Jun 5, 2009 6:51:18 GMT -5
I didn't hear much about the possible reasons for the tragedy back when I was a kideven though my dad knew the Manrings. I don't remember trying to find out things that I would like to know now. We didn't travel as far from home back then so we didn't see people that would have had ideas and theories on the subject. I suppose it seemed farther away from me than it really was. My Mom had an Uncle that killed himself on January 27, 1930, only 33 days after the Lawson murders. He lived about one mile from us and I remember Mom talking about it, wondering if it had any influence on his actions. Maybe thinking about the publicity, etc. Clarence
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Post by Angela on Jun 5, 2009 6:52:02 GMT -5
What did you think of the recreations? Eric
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Post by Angela on Jun 5, 2009 6:55:57 GMT -5
I have read both books and watched the DVD. For several years before any books were written on this subject, I had heard about Charlie lawson killing his family on Christmas Day. Many people talking about this said that Charlie had put pennies over their eyes after he killed them. Have you ever heard of this before? Hymes
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Post by Angela on Jun 5, 2009 7:03:26 GMT -5
There are a number of variations floating around about how Charlie said good-bye to his children in a burial ritual. I remember one story we heard was that he propped their eyes open with broomstraws and I had heard the pennies version before. This is a much older story that goes back to classical mythology and paying your way to be taken to the afterlife. Stories that touch us deeply often get combined with other stories deep in our heritage and I think that's what happened with the pennies. When you get closer to the story, it becomes more consistent that he simply closed their eyes, crossed their arms, and gave them pillows. The few 1st and 2nd person accounts at the scene that day tell it this way. Eric
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Post by Angela on Jun 5, 2009 9:09:55 GMT -5
I'm curious as to why Clarence's Mom thought her brother's suicide was possibly caused by the publicity of the murders Charlie Lawson committed. Was his Mom and Charlie related? I would love to know what her maiden name was. If she was not related to Charlie then I can't understand how the publicity about the Lawson murders would influence him to committ suicide.
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Post by angel71242 on Jun 5, 2009 9:33:41 GMT -5
Yeah, that's odd to think that the Lawson tragedy had something to do with her uncle committing suicide.
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