Latest / Common Mystics / 129: A Walk of Bravery in Gadsden, AL

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129: A Walk of Bravery in Gadsden, AL · Common Mystics

• 0:01
  Speaker A: Hey, guys, it's Jill. Jen and I wanted to give you a heads up about the content on today's episode. It may be triggering for more sensitive audiences. Refer to the show notes for more specifics and take care while you listen.
• 0:21
  Speaker B: On this episode of Common Mystics, we discuss the. The bold actions of one man and his fight for equality. I'm Jennifer James.
• 0:33
  Speaker A: I'm Jill Stanley.
• 0:34
  Speaker B: We're psychics.
• 0:35
  Speaker A: We're sisters.
• 0:37
  Speaker B: We are common mystics. We find extraordinary stories in ordinary places. And today's story comes to you from Gadsden, Alabama.
• 0:46
  Speaker A: That's right, Jennifer. So last week or two weeks ago, rather, you. You discuss the history in an in depth way, and I would say of Gadsden. So this is another story we found in the area. Can you remind people why we were in the tri state area in the South?
• 1:09
  Speaker B: Yes. We were at a family wedding in Chattanooga. And so we decided to take advantage of that location and we branched out from. From there and headed into Alabama.
• 1:20
  Speaker A: That's right. And can you remind everyone of our intentions that day?
• 1:26
  Speaker B: Our intention was, as it always is, to find a verifiable story previously unknown to us that allows us to give voice to the voiceless.
• 1:35
  Speaker A: That's right. So we leave Fort Payne. We end up in Gadsden again. Lovely historical town. Crazy, haunted, afraid, ideal neighborhoods, but still, like, she cute, but she crazy. Like, we were like, we. We're not. We're not staying there.
• 1:50
  Speaker B: And I just want to say we talk in our Patreon, on our Patreon page, in our Detours, which is available at tier two for $5 a month. These, I want to say, are the silliest, funniest detours we've recorded in a while. The ones on the hauntings in Gadsden. Like, I laughed so, so hard I thought I was going to pee my pants.
• 2:14
  Speaker A: It's true. You. You got off the call pretty quickly. No, they are. It was really funny. I don't. I think it's because we recorded too much that day. We did, like the monthly episode for Here two and above. We did.
• 2:27
  Speaker B: That was really fun.
• 2:29
  Speaker A: It was a fun day, but we.
• 2:30
  Speaker B: Were slap heavy fun.
• 2:31
  Speaker A: So the next.
• 2:31
  Speaker B: So if you are interested in the. In the funny detours and also some discussion about the hauntings in Gadsden, find us on Patreon at Commonmystics. No. Is it Patreon, Commonmystics, Common Mystics.
• 2:43
  Speaker A: That's right.
• 2:44
  Speaker B: Okay, great.
• 2:45
  Speaker A: Good job. Okay.
• 2:46
  Speaker B: Oh, thank you. Okay.
• 2:47
  Speaker A: Okay, so let's go over the hits in the car.
• 2:50
  Speaker B: Okay. Start us off, Jill.
• 2:52
  Speaker A: Okay. We were both, like I said, feeling like this place is crazy haunted. We were feeling uneasy and there was something wrong with our car. Like all of a sudden the rent a car was like scraping the bottom of the road or something. I don't know what was happening, but we're like, we're not going to make this. We're not going to make it back to Chattanooga. We were afraid something was happening. Like this trip was a bus. So I actually pulled over and crawled under the car and I couldn't figure out what the in the F was happening.
• 3:21
  Speaker B: Yeah, there was nothing wrong with the car. There was nothing hanging low on the car. It was like phantom scraping. Weird.
• 3:29
  Speaker A: Interesting.
• 3:30
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 3:31
  Speaker A: I had a feeling of like a feud going on.
• 3:34
  Speaker B: Okay.
• 3:35
  Speaker A: Like in my head when I get a feeling of a feud, it's totally Hatfield and McCoys, right?
• 3:40
  Speaker B: Sure, yeah.
• 3:41
  Speaker A: Classic. Like that's the archetype of that energy. So I'm like feud. Something like a long held feud going on.
• 3:49
  Speaker B: Okay, good. And also we were both picking up on KKK vibes. Like evil, uncomfortable, Ku Klux Klan, like post reconstruction white supremacy group. Right?
• 4:05
  Speaker A: Yeah. Creepy.
• 4:06
  Speaker B: Ick.
• 4:06
  Speaker A: And remember, music is playing throughout the streets of downtown. Old folk music. Right. So just keep that in mind as we're talking because again, that was noticeable to us.
• 4:18
  Speaker B: We were like, I loved that.
• 4:20
  Speaker A: It was cute.
• 4:21
  Speaker B: It was the loudspeakers on the corner and the historic downtown playing old time music. That was everything. It really set the atmosphere. When we own a town. Let's do that.
• 4:32
  Speaker A: I can't wait for us to own a town.
• 4:35
  Speaker B: Right. What will we call it?
• 4:38
  Speaker A: Well, my head went right to Schitt's Creek when you said that. Schitt's Creek 2. Okay. Or south. South Schitt's Creek. Okay. And what was your cray cray hit?
• 4:54
  Speaker B: I was actually hearing gunshots in my head. Like my Claire audience was going off and I was hearing phantom gunshots.
• 5:04
  Speaker A: Okay. Jennifer.
• 5:06
  Speaker B: Eek. Yes. Let's chill.
• 5:08
  Speaker A: Let's just go straight to it.
• 5:09
  Speaker B: Let's just, let's get into it. Just throw dive right in.
• 5:12
  Speaker A: Throat punch. This outline. Tell us, take us to April 1963.
• 5:20
  Speaker B: The incident. It was April Jill. 1963. And civil rights activist Bill Moore had enough vacation days saved up from work to be able to take a civil rights inspired journey.
• 5:40
  Speaker A: That's right. He was a postman. So he like, he saved up all his, all his days and he, he would put his time request in and they gave it to him and he was like well, this is awesome.
• 5:52
  Speaker B: And he said, I'm, I am already impressed because that's not how I use my vacation days. Like, I don't even think about doing something for the good of others. So I'm already impressed with this man. That's pretty cool. So he decides that for his vacation he's going to go on a civil rights inspired journey. Hmm. He planned a solo march or a walk starting from Chattanooga, Tennessee, like us, and. Excuse me, like us.
• 6:25
  Speaker A: We started from Chattanooga, Tennessee.
• 6:27
  Speaker B: Oh, yeah, we did. And heading to Jackson, Mississippi. That's a long ass walk.
• 6:36
  Speaker A: It sure is, Jen. It sure is.
• 6:38
  Speaker B: About, about 400 miles, I think.
• 6:41
  Speaker A: You're not wrong.
• 6:43
  Speaker B: That would take. If you walked 20 miles a day. And I know this because I asked Google, so don't look at me like that. If, if you walked 20 miles a day, it would take you about three weeks to do that walk. Well, how many vacation days did he have saved up?
• 6:56
  Speaker A: He's a federal employee, you know what I mean? So there's union. I'm sure they're kind to him.
• 7:04
  Speaker B: So his mission, you might ask, to personally deliver a letter advocating for racial equality to Mississippi's governor. That's why he was going to Jackson, Mississippi.
• 7:16
  Speaker A: What's crazy is the metaphor that he's literally delivering the mail. He's still delivering the mail.
• 7:23
  Speaker B: Okay, good point, good point. So Moore, Bill Moore, was a white man. And he was originally from Baltimore, Baltimore, Maryland. But he was no stranger to the fight for civil rights. He had always been a passionate advocate for desegregation. And he wasn't just an outsider meddling in southern affairs. You see, Bill Moore had deep roots in the south, having been raised in Russell, Mississippi by his grandparents from the age of two.
• 7:58
  Speaker A: So is this his, like, maiden voyage to make a point, like doing this march?
• 8:03
  Speaker B: Good question. No, actually, this was his third. This was his third long walk of protest for desegregation and equality.
• 8:13
  Speaker A: Third and longest, I would say.
• 8:15
  Speaker B: Okay, so on his first walk, Jill, he started in Baltimore, Maryland, and marched to Annapolis, Maryland.
• 8:23
  Speaker A: Not too bad, not too bad.
• 8:24
  Speaker B: That was his first walk. His second walk, he began in Baltimore and walked all the way to the White House.
• 8:31
  Speaker A: Long walk.
• 8:32
  Speaker B: It's a long walk. And during one of these efforts, Bill Moore even contacted the one and only Martin Luther King Jr. While Martin Luther King Jr. Was imprisoned in Birmingham, Alabama.
• 8:47
  Speaker A: That's cool. Moore not only contacted Martin Luther King, he. He also contacted President Kennedy via a letter. Right.
• 8:57
  Speaker B: Damn, this guy has balls.
• 8:59
  Speaker A: He has big old balls. Okay. He wrote to John F. Kennedy that he intended to walk to Mississippi and offer to deliver letters from the president to anyone along his route. So he's like, if you got something to say, Mr. President, please let me know and I will hand out your letters to the citizens of your country.
• 9:20
  Speaker B: Which is what he does as a postal worker.
• 9:22
  Speaker A: That's what he does. He's like, I'm making this walk. If there's anyone in the south you want to hear from or they want to hear from you, give me some pamphlets.
• 9:30
  Speaker B: I will deliver. Okay.
• 9:32
  Speaker A: Yeah.
• 9:32
  Speaker B: All right. So Bill Moore starts out in Chattanooga, Tennessee, April 1963. This is his third march for equality. And he got dressed up for this walk.
• 9:48
  Speaker A: Did he dress up as a letter?
• 9:52
  Speaker B: He. I don't think so. Did he dress up as a letter?
• 9:56
  Speaker A: No, of course not. But he wore. He wore protest signage.
• 10:02
  Speaker B: Sandwich boards. Isn't that what they call them?
• 10:04
  Speaker A: Yeah. Oh, delicious. Yes.
• 10:07
  Speaker B: Like the big kind in the front and the back. It's so old timey. I love it.
• 10:10
  Speaker A: Yes. It really gives you a visual.
• 10:13
  Speaker B: It does it? Yeah. One side read, eat at Joe's, both black and white. So he's like, right, right. Like it's kind of a nod to eat at Joe's, everybody. You know, like, we're not segregating Joe's. I don't know who Joe's is.
• 10:31
  Speaker A: It could be a famously segregated restaurant in the South. I. I didn't. I didn't research Joe's. I'm sorry.
• 10:38
  Speaker B: And the other side of a sandwich board said, equal rights for all, Mississippi or bust. Okay, so he's making it very, very clear what he's doing. He's not just, like, keeping to himself on this walk. He is advertising that he is walking for a purpose. Trying to desegregate Mississippi in the deep south in 1963.
• 11:02
  Speaker A: In 1963, which, if memory serves, was kind of a huge, huge year. Huge year for civil rights and turbulence.
• 11:18
  Speaker B: Yeah, a lot happened.
• 11:20
  Speaker A: Okay, so, okay, the big brass balls on Bill Moore right now. Like, honestly.
• 11:29
  Speaker B: So, Jill, what did he take with him?
• 11:31
  Speaker A: So he brought along a small mail cart, or people described it as a wagon filled with a blanket, some extra clothes, and what looked like a large image of Jesus. Which is sweet, but if you look closer, it wasn't Jesus at all.
• 11:48
  Speaker B: Okay, well, what was.
• 11:53
  Speaker A: Was a wanted poster saying, wanted agitator, carpenter by trade, revolutionary consort with criminals and prostitutes.
• 12:01
  Speaker B: Which is Jesus. Yeah, that is Jesus.
• 12:04
  Speaker A: Yeah. So he. It is Jesus.
• 12:06
  Speaker B: So basically he's saying that even Jesus went against the law for good. So he's he's equating himself with Jesus Christ.
• 12:17
  Speaker A: I don't think he's. You think he's equating himself with Jesus Christ? I don't think so. I think that's bold. I think he's putting in perspective for people that Jesus went against the laws. So even though who else is? Well, he's not breaking the law.
• 12:32
  Speaker B: Well, he's calling for laws to be broken.
• 12:34
  Speaker A: He's calling for a loss change, not to be broken.
• 12:39
  Speaker B: Okay. All right, that's fair.
• 12:40
  Speaker A: Okay.
• 12:41
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 12:41
  Speaker A: I don't think he's equating himself with Jesus. Jesus wasn't a postman. Jesus was a carpenter, like he said.
• 12:47
  Speaker B: That's true. That they had some differences.
• 12:49
  Speaker A: Yes.
• 12:50
  Speaker B: That was one.
• 12:51
  Speaker A: Probably their hairstyles, too, and their shitty choices.
• 12:56
  Speaker B: Do we have a picture of this man? I mean, let's not make assumptions.
• 12:59
  Speaker A: I seen a picture of him. Did not dress like Jesus.
• 13:01
  Speaker B: Okay, all right, well, I'll take it. I'll take your word for it.
• 13:04
  Speaker A: And I don't think Jesus wore sandwich protest signs.
• 13:08
  Speaker B: Sandwich boards. You don't think so?
• 13:10
  Speaker A: No, not that I recall in the Bible.
• 13:12
  Speaker B: Eat at Joe's Bread and wine now.
• 13:18
  Speaker A: Wow. Wow, that's awesome.
• 13:21
  Speaker B: I will continue.
• 13:22
  Speaker A: No, I love it, Brian, you keep that in.
• 13:25
  Speaker B: Okay. So on his way, he actually saw people, of course, because he wasn't trying to be inconspicuous about this walk. And one of the people that encountered him briefly was a teenager named Jerry Smith. Jerry Smith was driving down the same stretch of road that Bill Moore was walking on. And he spotted Bill Moore pulling the wagon, wearing his signs. And he was. He was thinking that maybe this is trouble. Maybe this guy is like an agitator. Because Alabama's governor, George Wallace warned the public about outside agitators who would be coming into the state to fan racial fires. And so Jerry Smith, the teenager, was like, oh, here's one of those outside agitators trying to, you know, make some trouble. But as Jerry Smith slowed down to pass Moore and his wagon, he was surprised that he didn't look scary and he didn't look threatening or crazy or menacing. And the two of them locked eyes. And Jerry Smith, the teenager remembered that Moore even smiled as he passed.
• 14:39
  Speaker A: Yeah, that confused teen that's been told for so long that, like, people are coming to change the way of life. They're gonna be disrupting, they're gonna be menacing, and they're gonna be crazed. And here's the thing.
• 14:51
  Speaker B: Crazed, violent people. Yeah, right.
• 14:54
  Speaker A: Who may have looked ridiculous with his wagon and his signs. And his Jesus Wanted posters. Yeah, but he was, he looked kind too.
• 15:05
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 15:06
  Speaker A: And there is a humanity about him that came through.
• 15:09
  Speaker B: And good for Jerry Smith, the teenager who didn't jump to conclusions just by seeing this person with a sign and like, do something stupid. Do you know what I mean?
• 15:18
  Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely. Like get out and beat him up. Be like, what you doing here?
• 15:22
  Speaker B: Or something equally violent and drastic and unnecessary. So, okay, I. I have a feeling we're going to hear about Jerry Smith later in this episode.
• 15:31
  Speaker A: Why are you telling people secrets?
• 15:34
  Speaker B: Hahaha. Let's continue. All right, so later on April 23, 1963. So this is during his walk.
• 15:44
  Speaker A: More cover, about 70 miles. And then he was interviewed by a local radio station. By. Yeah, by a gentleman named Charlie Hicks, a reporter from Charlie Hicks, Gadsden, Alabama.
• 16:01
  Speaker B: You got it. Charlie Hicks had tracked down Bill Moore after receiving an anonymous tip about his location. And during the interview, Moore spoke with unwavering resolve. And he said to Charlie Hicks, do an accent. I intend to walk right up to the Governor's mansion in Mississippi and ring his doorbell. Then I'll hand him my letter. He probably didn't talk like that.
• 16:30
  Speaker A: No, but I was from Baltimore. I really appreciate it. He has Southern roots, Charlie Hicks.
• 16:35
  Speaker B: The interviewer was kind of worried about Moore's safety because he knew the environment that he was going to be walking into.
• 16:43
  Speaker A: I mean, I feel the same way. Like I want to scream at Bill Moore, like, please, not this. You know what I mean? Like, this is really dangerous.
• 16:51
  Speaker B: Yeah, you're putting yourself into danger. And so Hicks was like, hey, why.
• 16:56
  Speaker A: Don'T I give you a ride and we won't tell anyone. You'll still do your march. It'll be fine.
• 17:01
  Speaker B: I'll take you to a motel, you can think things over, take a nice hot shower. But Bill Moore wanted nothing of that. He didn't want comfort, he didn't want a ride. He was steadfast in his mission to continue on foot to the Governor's house.
• 17:17
  Speaker A: And the thing is about Bill Moore is that he wanted engagement with people. He wanted people to have the conversation with him about equality and what he's doing. Yes. So unfortunately, that bravery met with hostility. Not everyone was like Jerry Smith.
• 17:37
  Speaker B: Right. Bill Moore was pulling his mail cart loaded with copies of the letter he wrote to Governor Barnett of Mississippi. And as he made his way towards Jackson to the Governor's mansion, he was handing out these letters to anybody who crossed his path.
• 17:58
  Speaker A: Can you imagine that in the South?
• 18:01
  Speaker B: That would have pissed a lot of people off. Now, some people gladly took them and listened to his message. They were polite. Others were confused. Like, what are you doing?
• 18:12
  Speaker A: I can admit that.
• 18:14
  Speaker B: What is this?
• 18:14
  Speaker A: That is the best reaction. Like, huh? What is this? Like I doing that. I love that. That makes me happy that some people were like that. Like, have absolutely no clue, not involved in either of this. Just living their life, you know, he was like, who are you? Where are you going?
• 18:32
  Speaker B: Right. And a few people weren't so friendly. And they were tearing the letters up right in front of him.
• 18:40
  Speaker A: That's rude.
• 18:42
  Speaker B: On Moore's third day marching, while walking along a rural stretch of US Highway 11 near Gadsden, Alabama, he faced fatal resistance.
• 18:55
  Speaker A: Oh, no.
• 18:57
  Speaker B: And here's maybe where trigger warning should be mentioned. Cuz it's about to get a little violent.
• 19:03
  Speaker A: It's about to get a little violent.
• 19:05
  Speaker B: Tragically, Bill Moore's march came to an end when he was brutally shot and killed on the roadside, silencing his voice and his advocacy.
• 19:18
  Speaker A: When the Alabama Highway Patrol came to investigate the body, they found the body with two.22 caliber wounds that were at his head and on his neck. Bill was 35 years old at the time of his murder.
• 19:38
  Speaker B: Oh, so young.
• 19:40
  Speaker A: Crazy young. Crazy young. And dude.
• 19:45
  Speaker B: All right, who was this Bill Moore? Who was this guy?
• 19:49
  Speaker A: I don't know. We never met. I was hoping you can tell me. No, really. He was 35 years old at the time, and that is crazy young to be making this decision knowing that this is really dangerous.
• 20:04
  Speaker B: I.
• 20:04
  Speaker A: He has a wife at home, right? I don't know. Tell me a little bit about him. What could have made him do this? Because he really sacrificed himself.
• 20:14
  Speaker B: He did. He was born William Lewis Moore in 1927 in Birmingham, New York, and grew up splitting his time between New York and his grandparents in Mississippi. We don't know much about his early life, but later in life, he became known as both a civil rights activist and a mental health care advocate. A cause he connected deeply during his time as a graduate student at Johns Hopkins University. Wow, that's pretty. Pretty, like, advanced for his time. Like he was ahead of his time with the focus on mental health.
• 20:49
  Speaker A: Yeah.
• 20:49
  Speaker B: Wow. He, as you mentioned, was a postal worker, but he was also a former Marine. Okay, that makes sense.
• 20:57
  Speaker A: That's where the balls come from. Yes, that's where the big hanging balls come from right there.
• 21:03
  Speaker B: He was a member of the Congress of Racial Equality, known as CORE Congress of. Of Racial Equality. Okay, got it. And was known for his bold yet largely solitary activism. Interesting. Unlike the organized demonstrations commonly Associated with the civil rights movement, Moore preferred to undertake these activities by himself.
• 21:30
  Speaker A: I wonder if it's because he knew that they were dangerous and he wouldn't want to put anyone else into danger.
• 21:37
  Speaker B: I don't know. That's an interesting question. I would want to know about the personality type of the kind of person who wants to be involved in civil rights activism but wants to do it alone.
• 21:49
  Speaker A: Well, he did partake in activism with black people at the time. In one notable instance, he joined black activists standing in line at a segregated movie theater. So it wasn't like he was all about just doing it himself all the time, like he joined other people. But when he organized, he organized for himself.
• 22:07
  Speaker B: Gotcha.
• 22:08
  Speaker A: He actually refused to leave at that movie theater and it resulted in him spending a night in jail.
• 22:15
  Speaker B: Huh.
• 22:16
  Speaker A: It reminds me of John Lewis's Good Trouble. Jennifer, real quick, you mentioned the Congress of Racial Equality. What is that? Never heard of it.
• 22:26
  Speaker B: The Congress of Racial Equality, or core, is an African American civil rights organization in the United States that played a pivotal role for black people in the civil rights movement. Founded in 1942, its mission is to bring about equality for all people, regardless of race, creed, sex, age, disability, sexual orientation, religion or ethnic background.
• 22:49
  Speaker A: Wow, they covered a lot there.
• 22:52
  Speaker B: Yeah, they did.
• 22:53
  Speaker A: Okay.
• 22:53
  Speaker B: I can't think of anything they missed.
• 22:55
  Speaker A: Back to Bill. April 1965. 35 year old Bill Moore shot on the side of the road.
• 23:02
  Speaker B: Yes.
• 23:02
  Speaker A: How did they discover the body?
• 23:05
  Speaker B: Okay, so there is this guy who is driving along U.S. highway 11. His name was Willis Elrod.
• 23:13
  Speaker A: Okay, so right away, knowing that like this man was killed and like no one called it in or like, you know what I mean, it just feels it was just left there is so hard. Do you know what I'm saying?
• 23:30
  Speaker B: Well, the shooters didn't call it in, but don't you.
• 23:33
  Speaker A: Well, I'm just. Yeah. How many people do you think drove down that street? That's a major highway.
• 23:40
  Speaker B: It's a major highway, but it looks like it was kind of remote. Right? It's a. It's a lonely two road winding road is what you wrote.
• 23:48
  Speaker A: Yeah, but it's like M37, I guess in the South. So that would be like. Yeah, more desolate. It just bothers me that the shooters shot them. And I'm thinking that people are traveling up and down this road and no one thought to stop and call in and be like, hey, there's something in the road that needs investigating.
• 24:08
  Speaker B: Well, US Highway 11 is a lonely two lane road that winds through northeastern Alabama.
• 24:15
  Speaker A: Yeah, and it goes through a small little baby town, like, kind of like Banfield, Michigan, and then it ends up in Gads, in the Gadsden area. Okay, so I guess you're right when we say that you're like, this is a lonely little road. I'm Picturing like an M37 or like a more regularly used highway.
• 24:39
  Speaker B: Okay, so Willis Elrod was driving through the night along this U.S. highway 11. Okay. When he passed the Gadsden area. But soon the glow of the town's lights disappeared, leaving him alone again on the dark stretch of road heading southwest towards Birmingham and home, where he was going. And not far from town, the beam of Elrod's headlights caught something strange. He saw a figure lying motionless on the edge of the road. It was barely visible, just at the edge of light. Uneasy, curious and concerned, Elrod slowed the car and then turned around to take another look.
• 25:27
  Speaker A: Would you. Would you do that?
• 25:29
  Speaker B: Yeah, I would do that.
• 25:31
  Speaker A: Yeah, me too.
• 25:32
  Speaker B: Wouldn't you?
• 25:33
  Speaker A: Yeah. I think it's interesting that he. His clairs were firing like he. He suspected he was thinking it was probably roadkill, but something other. Something like intuitively he was like feeling uneasy and he was getting the prickles, you know what I mean?
• 25:51
  Speaker B: Well, it was dark, so it would have been hard to see. You can imagine that there's not a lot of lights on the. On the actual road. Right. It would only be his headlights, but I would think that he probably saw some sign of the boards or the cart or something to make it seem like this is not an animal. This is like human stuff around. Do you know what I mean?
• 26:11
  Speaker A: Oh, wow. Good point. Okay.
• 26:14
  Speaker B: Yeah, because remember, this guy had big sandwich board signs on him. So he was uneasy, he was concerned, he slowed, he got out. Now, he didn't know what he would find, but he was afraid that someone might needed help. Right? And so he got out. This was. This must have been really scary. And took a closer look. And he found that it was indeed a man lying face down, his head turned slightly to the side. His feet were bare, pointing toward a picnic area shaded by a sprawling tree. Gravel crunched under Elrod's tires as he circled slowly, peering through the dim light. The man was completely still. There was no movement, no signs of life. Elrod's stomach sank. He thought it was a hit and run. Shaken, he pulled back onto Highway 11 and drove about 100 yards to the nearest farmhouse. Inside, Harry Sizemore, the owner of the farmhouse, and his family were gathered around their tv. They were watching their usual Tuesday night Favorite, the Red Skelton Show. But their evening was about to take a turn. Elrod knocked on the door, interrupting the family's quiet routine, and asked Sizemore to call the authorities. There's a man back there on the highway, elrod said. It looks like he's been hit. So Sizemore grabbed the flashlight, and the two men returned to the scene. As they stepped closer, the beam of the flashlight swept over the body, revealing something far more sinister than a car accident. The man's head bore a small, clean hole just above his left eyebrow, and a gaping wound slashed across the side of his throat. Beneath him, the ground was dark with blood. My God. Sizemore gasped, stumbling back in horror. This man's been shot. The authorities arrived soon after, and it didn't take long for them to put a name to the victim. Within 30 minutes, policemen confirmed that the identity of the lifeless man on the road was indeed Bill Moore.
• 28:22
  Speaker A: It really breaks my heart.
• 28:25
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 28:26
  Speaker A: Such an interesting character, and from Jerry Smith's account, a pleasant guy. So I wonder what happened that led to his death. Do we know who the murderer is? Do we know why?
• 28:41
  Speaker B: All right, hold on. Don't jump ahead. They did find and arrest a suspect.
• 28:47
  Speaker A: Okay, okay.
• 28:49
  Speaker B: All right. His name was Floyd Simpson.
• 28:53
  Speaker A: Okay, okay.
• 28:55
  Speaker B: Floyd Simpson was born in April 1922. Floyd Simpson was schooled up until the eighth grade. He enlisted in the army and fought in World War II and then the Korean War. He retired from the military as a corporal, and he was known throughout his life by his neighbors as a respectable man. He was married and had six children with his wife. But within days of Bill Moore's death, local police officers fingered Floyd as the murderer. Sounds dirty, but it's not.
• 29:33
  Speaker A: It should be dirty. They should have fingered him. Okay, this is my thing. I think the point is that this was a regular guy, like, a regular good guy, you know what I'm saying?
• 29:45
  Speaker B: According to his neighbors.
• 29:46
  Speaker A: According to his neighbors.
• 29:46
  Speaker B: As long as his neighbors were white.
• 29:48
  Speaker A: He served in the military. You know, thank you for your service. I just feel like he enlisted twice into the military. I don't know. It. It just seems so. How can this guy, Floyd Simpson be so filled with hate to kill Bill Moore?
• 30:10
  Speaker B: Well, the FBI was called in on the case because it was considered a, quote, civil rights crime. And Floyd was apprehended and held without bond in the Etoa County Jail. Hey, we know someone else that was in the Etoa County Jail.
• 30:23
  Speaker A: We sure did.
• 30:26
  Speaker B: So Floyd Simpson was working. Did he own a grocery store?
• 30:33
  Speaker A: It's unclear if he owned it or he was just working as a grocer in the store.
• 30:38
  Speaker B: Got it. So he worked at a grocery near Colbran at the time of Bill Moore's death. Culbran is in Mississippi, I believe it's in Alabama. And the store was located on Route 11, the same route that Bill was taking on his walk. Okay, I see what's happening here.
• 30:59
  Speaker A: What's happening?
• 31:00
  Speaker B: Well, it looks like they came in contact with each other on Bill's walk and maybe had a confrontation is what it seems like. And formal first degree murder charges against Floyd were filed after the FBI ballistics report was completed on Floyd's.22 caliber rifle. The.22 bullets?22 caliber bullets were the ones that made the. The damage, Right? The Bill's body. Yeah, to Bill's head and neck. Okay, good. So it sounds like they've got their guy.
• 31:33
  Speaker A: It sounds like they got their guy, but I still am struggling with motive because, honestly, Floyd doesn't seem like a bad guy.
• 31:43
  Speaker B: He doesn't.
• 31:44
  Speaker A: Can you tell me, do we have any way to understand what happened that led to Bill's murder?
• 31:52
  Speaker B: Yes. There were witnesses. Witnesses who reported a, quote, confrontation between Floyd Simpson and Bill Moore at the Col Brand grocery store.
• 32:02
  Speaker A: Oh, no.
• 32:03
  Speaker B: Which, of course, we already know was on Bill's route.
• 32:06
  Speaker A: Yes.
• 32:07
  Speaker B: Yeah, according to a letter. Yeah, that's bad. According to a letter the Department of Justice sent to Bill's family, Moore had encountered Floyd Simpson more than once on the day he was killed. Uh, oh, first at Simpson's store and again when Floyd Simpson and another man approached Moore farther down the road. And Bill kept a journal about it.
• 32:35
  Speaker A: Okay, okay.
• 32:36
  Speaker B: This is a psa. Everyone should keep a journal, carry it around with them, and take notes, because this. This is evidence. Bill noted in his journal, quote, a couple of men who had talked to me before drove up and questioned my religious and political beliefs. Now, I know what you are, said one of the men, and one was sure I'd be killed for them.
• 33:04
  Speaker A: Wow.
• 33:05
  Speaker B: Wow, Indeed. So he encountered Floyd Simpson at the store, and then Floyd and another guy followed Bill is what happened.
• 33:15
  Speaker A: And once he found out where his political and religious beliefs stood it, he became an other. And he became.
• 33:22
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 33:23
  Speaker A: Because of that hate and rage towards people that believed in equality. Right. I feel like it's stupid that they would ask him about his political and religious beliefs. Like, read the sign, guys.
• 33:37
  Speaker B: Well, it's even more stupid for Bill to be like, well, let me tell you, I'd be like, nothing.
• 33:42
  Speaker A: Well, that the whole reason for his march is to tell People I know.
• 33:47
  Speaker B: But these guys are obviously. Floyd Simpson was obviously not a fan. He was not asking because he really wanted to be educated.
• 33:55
  Speaker A: Literally, he said, one of them told me I'd be killed for my political or religious beliefs.
• 34:01
  Speaker B: Hint, hint. Oh, Bill, come on.
• 34:04
  Speaker A: Okay.
• 34:05
  Speaker B: According to the Baltimore sun, investigators suspected that Floyd Simpson had ties to the Klux Klan. Well, I mean, that adds up.
• 34:17
  Speaker A: Yeah.
• 34:18
  Speaker B: I mean, another source described Floyd as a investigator for the clan. So he, like, had a position in the organization. That's freaking scary. As an investigator. His role involved quietly gathering and reporting information back to the group. Not to mention, racial tensions had been high in the south for more than a decade as individual challenges to segregation merged into a mass movement of sit ins, boycotts, and marches.
• 34:54
  Speaker A: Jesus. Okay.
• 34:56
  Speaker B: And then there are more witnesses. And they reported seeing a car resembling Floyd Simpson's car near the location where Moore's body was discovered.
• 35:08
  Speaker A: See this?
• 35:08
  Speaker B: And there's one more thing.
• 35:09
  Speaker A: What?
• 35:10
  Speaker B: There's more evidence. There was an Alabama analyst that investigated the shell markings, the actual markings on the bullets, the.22 caliber bullets from the crime scene. And they looked at the actual shotgun that was owned by Floyd Simpson. Now, if you have seen forensic files as many times as I have seen forensic files, then you know that when a bullet goes through the barrel of a shotgun or another rifle type apparatus, it leaves marks that are kind of like fingerprints because every barrel has different markings. And so they were able to say that these particular bullets came through this particular rifle.
• 36:02
  Speaker A: So, in short, dude, guilty. Floyd is guilty.
• 36:06
  Speaker B: In my mind, a hundred percent.
• 36:09
  Speaker A: So what happened? He's in prison.
• 36:13
  Speaker B: What happened in September 1963? Several months later, there was. There was a trial.
• 36:20
  Speaker A: Yep, guilty.
• 36:21
  Speaker B: And the grand. The grand jury ultimately declined to indict Floyd Simpson.
• 36:30
  Speaker A: But he's guilty.
• 36:33
  Speaker B: Additionally, an FBI analyst later deemed the evidence, quote, inconclusive. How can this be inconclusive?
• 36:43
  Speaker A: Oh, my Lord in heaven.
• 36:45
  Speaker B: You know, the eyes. Racist, too. What is happening? Do the KKK have relations with FBI? With the FBI? Because that's what it looks like to me. I don't look into that.
• 36:55
  Speaker A: I did not look into that. And you know what? Because not look into that. Especially today, not putting those words into any kind of search engine, thank you very much. But I will tell you that you don't have to be a Klan member to identify with the doctrination or the philosophies of the clan. And to be like, you know what? Here's a Southern. This man from the north came in. He's an agitator. He's coming in here and he got what he deserved. He didn't need to be down here with his sandwich signs and his Jesus wanted posters walking around with the smut. I can see that in that day and age.
• 37:42
  Speaker B: Okay, Jill, so what ultimately happened then? Who did they find? Who?
• 37:46
  Speaker A: Who?
• 37:47
  Speaker B: What did they do regarding Bill's case? Did they open the investigation to find other evidence? What happened?
• 37:54
  Speaker A: Bill's death remains unsolved.
• 37:59
  Speaker B: That is the saddest thing you could have said to me right now.
• 38:02
  Speaker A: I'm sorry.
• 38:04
  Speaker B: Okay, so clearly, clearly, clearly, our voiceless is Bill Moore.
• 38:11
  Speaker A: Absolutely. And there are a couple reasons why.
• 38:16
  Speaker B: First, tell me. Okay, break it down. Break it down.
• 38:19
  Speaker A: Bill's death on April 23rd marked the beginning of a wave of pivotal events.
• 38:27
  Speaker B: Tell me more.
• 38:27
  Speaker A: His murder was a spark that ignited an explosion of racial tensions in the south. If. Have you heard of freedom summer?
• 38:36
  Speaker B: Yes.
• 38:36
  Speaker A: That was the summer of 1963. So James Foreman, a leader of the SNCC student nonviolent coordinating committee. Wow, that's a mouthful. At the time. Describes Bill's death as the catalyst for.
• 38:53
  Speaker B: For action.
• 38:54
  Speaker A: After the killing, Foreman and other activists launched a campaign to complete Bill's walk.
• 39:00
  Speaker B: No. Yes.
• 39:02
  Speaker A: Isn't that the sweetest thing?
• 39:03
  Speaker B: I love that. Can I read his quote?
• 39:06
  Speaker A: Read it with the southern.
• 39:08
  Speaker B: Jill, please. Our policy was that we had to respond to murders so the segregationists would know there would be consequences for violence.
• 39:20
  Speaker A: Yay.
• 39:22
  Speaker B: We believe this could reduce the chances of further killings.
• 39:26
  Speaker A: Yeah. Despite Forman's and his SNCC resolve.
• 39:31
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 39:32
  Speaker A: Each attempt to continue Moore's walk. Bill Moore's walk. Was met with resistance as the Alabama state troopers blocked the non violent marchers and arrested them.
• 39:45
  Speaker B: Damn. Okay.
• 39:50
  Speaker A: Meanwhile.
• 39:51
  Speaker B: Okay.
• 39:52
  Speaker A: In nearby Birmingham, what was happening?
• 39:57
  Speaker B: I predict shit's about to go down.
• 39:59
  Speaker A: Shit's getting real.
• 40:02
  Speaker B: Nearby in Birmingham, it was becoming the epicenter of escalating protests, and national attention was quickly shifting from Bill Moore's story to the events unfolding in Birmingham. Within weeks, the civil rights movement crystallized in Birmingham, Alabama, with the world captivated by images of Bull Connors, police dogs, and fire hoses unleashed on demonstrators. Who's Bull Connor?
• 40:35
  Speaker A: Bull Connor is, I believe, a sheriff.
• 40:40
  Speaker B: Wow.
• 40:41
  Speaker A: Yeah.
• 40:41
  Speaker B: And then in August. So they're using police dogs and fire hoses to. To address nonviolent demonstrators.
• 40:50
  Speaker A: Yes.
• 40:51
  Speaker B: Okay, great. In August 1963, the March on Washington electrified the nation, culminating in Dr. Martin Luther King's iconic I have a dream speech.
• 41:03
  Speaker A: I have goosebumps. Shut it. Get out of my head.
• 41:10
  Speaker B: Wow. Yet the season was marred by tragedy. At least 10 people lost their lives that summer, including Medgar Evers, an NAACP field organizer who was assassinated in Mississippi in June. And then in September, the bombing of Birmingham's 16th Street Baptist Church, which claimed the lives of four young girls as they prepared for Sunday services in the church. As early as September 1963, Bill's story and the Klansmen accused of his murder had faded from the headlines, overshadowed by the mounting violence and larger battles that defined the civil rights movement.
• 41:53
  Speaker A: You know, I've heard of the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing.
• 41:59
  Speaker B: I have, too. That. Tragic, tragic, tragic.
• 42:02
  Speaker A: In these circumstances, after reading Bill's story, it just. It puts more. It's not just a headline anymore. You know, I knew about Medgar Evers. I knew about the church bombing. It just feels like Bill's story somehow made these stories three dimensional and not just blips in the history books. What's his legacy? What? I'm sorry.
• 42:28
  Speaker B: I interjected you. No, no. Just knowing that Bill Moore's resolve, his courage, his boldness sparked these, Some of them tragic events, but ultimately did work to create a greater level of equality in this country, is significant. It is. It's significant.
• 42:56
  Speaker A: He.
• 42:57
  Speaker B: He lived his life with purpose, and it was cut short unfairly. But he did make a difference.
• 43:04
  Speaker A: But he did make a difference.
• 43:05
  Speaker B: And it's sad. It's sad that the other events overshadowed his murder.
• 43:10
  Speaker A: Yeah. Bill's story is one of incredible courage and dedication to justice, even when it put his life at risk. And after his tragic murder in 1963, Moore became a powerful symbol in the fight against racial injustice, springing others to carry on his mission. His solo marches for civil rights, where he would walk bravely to deliver the letters calling for equality, showed just how deeply he believed in the cause and how dangerous activism was during the time. Although his life was cut short, Moore's actions sparked important conversations about the systematic racism and violent pushback against desegregation in the South. His legacy is a reminder of one person's commitment can mean to the larger movement, society, and country.
• 44:03
  Speaker B: So there was a Department of justice memo.
• 44:07
  Speaker A: Correct.
• 44:08
  Speaker B: Which highlighted the FBI's investigation into the case.
• 44:14
  Speaker A: Yeah. They reviewed January. Yes.
• 44:17
  Speaker B: In January of 2010.
• 44:19
  Speaker A: Yes. Which.
• 44:20
  Speaker B: Okay, I don't.
• 44:21
  Speaker A: Okay, you tell me the information, and then I have to ask you a question.
• 44:24
  Speaker B: Okay. So investigators reviewed news reports and FBI records in January 2010 and interviewed a former sheriff and others associated with this case. And according to the memo, quote, an exhaustive review conducted by the FBI and attorneys from the Department of Justice, Civil rights Division did not produce any new leads, so they didn't find anybody else who could have been responsible.
• 44:55
  Speaker A: Right.
• 44:57
  Speaker B: So in other words, they had their guy.
• 45:00
  Speaker A: Yeah, they had their guy and they let him go. Yeah, yeah.
• 45:03
  Speaker B: The memo also noted that Simpson.
• 45:08
  Speaker A: What VOICE.
• 45:12
  Speaker B: The memo also noted that Simpson was, quote, the most probable subject involved in the murder, but he had died already. He died in 1998.
• 45:28
  Speaker A: You fucking think? FBI. Wow, dude.
• 45:32
  Speaker B: Wow.
• 45:32
  Speaker A: Here I am, a middle age, cat owning, dog loving woman in the Midwest, and I picked up on that shit like as soon as I read it. You had an open and another investigation to be like, yeah, it was Floyd. Floyd Smith did it. No shit, dude. No shit. So what happened, Jennifer?
• 45:52
  Speaker B: So the FBI ended its investigation in 2012.
• 45:56
  Speaker A: It took two years for them to.
• 45:58
  Speaker B: Say that they basically, they closed the case. They're like, yeah, this is over. There is nobody else who could have done it. No other leads. It was this guy, this guy's dead. So we're just going to close the case.
• 46:09
  Speaker A: Why do you think. And how do you feel about the FBI even like opening up its books to, to look at? It's such a, it's such an insult.
• 46:19
  Speaker B: It's. It was somebody doing their job, Jill. They have, they have people who are told to go in and close cases because they can't have all these open cases indefinitely. So somebody's job is to open the case and say, okay, this one's closed. And so they were just cleaning up their paperwork.
• 46:37
  Speaker A: That's the saddest thing you could have said to me right now.
• 46:39
  Speaker B: Well, I'm sorry, but that is the truth.
• 46:42
  Speaker A: Okay, so they're just checking off the to do list.
• 46:45
  Speaker B: Yeah, I think actually that would be an interesting job, personally.
• 46:49
  Speaker A: Well, not if it's blatantly obvious and it wouldn't.
• 46:53
  Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, it wouldn't be a feel good job, but it would be interesting.
• 46:58
  Speaker A: Okay.
• 47:00
  Speaker B: Okay. So do you remember the teenage boy who passed?
• 47:03
  Speaker A: Jerry Smith.
• 47:05
  Speaker B: Jerry Smith, yes, Jerry Smith.
• 47:06
  Speaker A: He passed him on the road. They smiled at each other.
• 47:08
  Speaker B: They smiled. They locked eyes. They had a moment. He was interviewed by NPR in April 2024. That was last year?
• 47:19
  Speaker A: Yeah, that was Almost interviewed. Yes, one year. Almost.
• 47:25
  Speaker B: Wow, wow, wow. Exactly one year.
• 47:31
  Speaker A: Yeah.
• 47:32
  Speaker B: Wow. Okay. Exactly one year before we were there.
• 47:37
  Speaker A: So NPR did the story first.
• 47:40
  Speaker B: NPR did the story first. Yeah. NPR has a slightly more professional gig than we do.
• 47:47
  Speaker A: Do you think so?
• 47:48
  Speaker B: No offense. I mean, I mean, we got Brian.
• 47:50
  Speaker A: We got Brian. Brian's pretty legit. He reached out being like, hey, you usually do this. You didn't do it this month. And I was like, brian, I'm impressed.
• 47:59
  Speaker B: We love Brian, our editor. Thanks, Brian.
• 48:01
  Speaker A: Thank you, Brian.
• 48:02
  Speaker B: Okay, so he was talking to NPR in April 2024. He said, as the years passed by and other things happened, the murder of Bill Moore just lost significance in the eyes of Alabamians. Is it Alabamians or Alabamans?
• 48:21
  Speaker A: Alabamians, I believe. It better be Alabamians, because if it's.
• 48:27
  Speaker B: If you're an Alabamian, will you please contact us and correct us if we're saying it wrong?
• 48:31
  Speaker A: I'm a Michigander now. What are you, a Land of Lincoln lover?
• 48:35
  Speaker B: Yes. But I'm an Illinoisan.
• 48:37
  Speaker A: You're an Illinoisan?
• 48:39
  Speaker B: I'm annoying.
• 48:40
  Speaker A: Yeah, you are.
• 48:44
  Speaker B: And that bothered Jerry Smith as he grew up into adulthood. That really bothered him that people forgot about Bill's murder. So he thought at. We ought to at least have a plaque, have a plaque to commemorate this man. And so Jerry Smith pitched the idea of some sort of marker. And guess what? It was not open. It was not met with open arms.
• 49:14
  Speaker A: Which is kind of fucked up.
• 49:16
  Speaker B: People were telling him, just keep the past in the past. Leave it alone. People in town told him. One person even messaged him on Facebook, warning him that it could be dangerous if he. If he pushed to have a marker in Bill Moore's name.
• 49:33
  Speaker A: Isn't that something? And you know, what do you think that was, like, someone really looking out for him, or do you think that was a thinly veiled threat?
• 49:43
  Speaker B: I 100% think it was a threat.
• 49:45
  Speaker A: Wow. Okay, me too.
• 49:48
  Speaker B: But Jerry didn't back down. He kept talking to people, making calls, rallying support. And finally, he stood before the county commission and delivered a speech that changed everything. And by the end of his speech, the county commission voted unanimously to fund the project. Oh, Jerry Smith. He's a hero.
• 50:12
  Speaker A: He is a hero.
• 50:13
  Speaker B: At the site of the assassination of Bill Moore, a new black and gold marker sits on a gravel patch of road between the road and the train tracks. And it reads, william Lewis Moore was a white postal worker raised by grandparents in rural Mississippi. He was assassinated at this location during a 400 mile protest march. I have goosebumps right now.
• 50:44
  Speaker A: I have goosebumps right now, too.
• 50:47
  Speaker B: Why do you copy?
• 50:48
  Speaker A: I think I had them first, but I was being respectful of you reading.
• 50:53
  Speaker B: The marker was placed there in April of 2019. And Jerry. Jerry circles back there all the time to make sure that the marker's straight and that it hasn't been vandalized.
• 51:08
  Speaker A: And Jerry.
• 51:09
  Speaker B: Jennifer, will you reach out to Jerry?
• 51:13
  Speaker A: I will reach out to Jerry.
• 51:14
  Speaker B: I wanna talk to Jerry.
• 51:15
  Speaker A: I really believe that this story isn't about Bill saying, hey, I've been overlooked. This story is for us to reach out to Jerry and tell him that Bill Moore says thank you.
• 51:25
  Speaker B: Oh, my gosh. You're right.
• 51:28
  Speaker A: Mm.
• 51:29
  Speaker B: Oh, my gosh. Yes. You are 100% right.
• 51:32
  Speaker A: Yeah.
• 51:33
  Speaker B: Bill wants Jerry to know.
• 51:35
  Speaker A: Thank you so much for keeping my memory alive and being brave.
• 51:40
  Speaker B: Yes. He's validating Jerry and honoring him in this way. Oh, my gosh. All right. You have to reach out to Jerry.
• 51:47
  Speaker A: I'll find him.
• 51:48
  Speaker B: Okay.
• 51:49
  Speaker A: You know, I'm good at that. Jerry, I'm coming for you. Oh, gosh. I would hug him. I'm so glad that it's over. Zoom. Because I would just maul him and just, like, snap, snuggle him and be like, thank you so much. What a sweet man.
• 52:01
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 52:02
  Speaker A: Yeah.
• 52:02
  Speaker B: Okay. Well, our hits are kind of obvious. The feelings of unease, the anxiety. Hey, what do you think the car had to do with it?
• 52:10
  Speaker A: Like, the feeling that we're not gonna make it. Like, the anxiety over the journey that we were making.
• 52:16
  Speaker B: Oh, yeah, good point. The feud.
• 52:20
  Speaker A: I mean, the segregation, the whole.
• 52:24
  Speaker B: Yeah. And kkk. That's really impressive that this guy, this murderer was involved. The hit literally in, like, he hit in the kkk.
• 52:35
  Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, yeah. The hit's impressive. I'm not impressed by his involvement with the kkk. I just want to make sure we're saying that correctly. The hit.
• 52:42
  Speaker B: You know what I mean? The hit is impressive.
• 52:44
  Speaker A: The kk. We are not involved with the kkk. We don't like the kkk.
• 52:49
  Speaker B: We don't want a job with the kkk. Hey, tell me about the music that was playing in Gadsden. Why is that significant?
• 52:55
  Speaker A: Shut your face right now. You shut your face right now. You read this. You read this. You read this. Because I literally was like, holy.
• 53:05
  Speaker B: Okay, so when we were in Gadsden, we were hearing this old timey music playing on these speakers in the downtown area. Super, super cute. And we believe that it was the local radio station.
• 53:15
  Speaker A: Correct.
• 53:17
  Speaker B: Now, apparently, folk singer Phil Oakes, O C H S Oaks honored. Honored Bill Moore with a song on the 1986 album A Toast to those who Are Gone. And Pete Seeger sang William Moore, the Mailman on the Broadside ballads. Their music keeps his story alive.
• 53:46
  Speaker A: And Jennifer, who is. I just found out who Pete Seeger was from the movie.
• 53:52
  Speaker B: From the movie that I told you to watch.
• 53:54
  Speaker A: The movie, which is the movie, a.
• 53:56
  Speaker B: Complete unknown with Timothee Chalamet, whom I love that kid. That kid can do anything.
• 54:01
  Speaker A: But anyway, Edward Norton played Pete.
• 54:04
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 54:05
  Speaker A: And so when I read that, if you didn't tell me to watch it, I wouldn't have. I wouldn't have, like. I wouldn't have been like, hey, I should pay attention to this.
• 54:14
  Speaker B: Yeah. So Pete Seeger was a folk singer. And. Wow. So you're saying that the references to old music playing on the loudspeaker is a reference to the fact that our voiceless Bill Moore had music written for him about him.
• 54:33
  Speaker A: Yes.
• 54:33
  Speaker B: And that's incredible.
• 54:35
  Speaker A: Pete Seeger, if. Is a big deal. Just to let you guys know, if you hadn't seen the movie, spoiler alert. He discovered Bob Dylan. Jennifer, you're hearing faint gunshots.
• 54:48
  Speaker B: I'm kind of impressed with myself.
• 54:49
  Speaker A: I am legit impressed with you.
• 54:52
  Speaker B: Yeah. Because gunshots, of course, killed our hero, our voiceless Bill Moore. All right, Jill, thoughts? Any closing thoughts? As we wind down today's episode, we.
• 55:05
  Speaker A: Have to find Jerry Smith and tell him.
• 55:07
  Speaker B: Yes, yes. Will you please keep us posted on that? Let us know if NPR will find them. Right, Right. All right. Any housekeeping, any messages, notes?
• 55:21
  Speaker A: As a matter of fact, I have exciting news.
• 55:27
  Speaker B: Yes, Jill.
• 55:28
  Speaker A: You know, Jennifer, the people know. They know us, what we do. We get together, Tier 4, our engaging, intimate community, every month at the last Sunday of the month, 7pm and we often have honored guests and subjects that we like to tackle. Well, in the month of July, 2025, we got Deb Bowen committed to engaging with us about animal energy and how to recognize and utilize it in your life. She will be our honored guest the last Sunday of the month, July 27th at 7:00pm so, please, Eastern time. Eastern time. So please, if these types of events is something that excites you, makes you curious, please sign up for our Tier four. We do this every month and every month we try and we strive to put together engaging material that you will love and come out to support us with.
• 56:35
  Speaker B: Great. Thank you, Jill. And can someone sign up for tier 4 just for one month and then cancel?
• 56:41
  Speaker A: They can, but you don't want to. You don't want to cancel. You want to help us keep the light on and help us pay, Brian.
• 56:49
  Speaker B: And not only that, for your $25 a month at Tier 4, you get a monthly episode that is somewhat educational. Right? Wouldn't you say, Jill? Yes.
• 57:01
  Speaker A: We're not all fun.
• 57:03
  Speaker B: We are. We sprinkle in the fun. And also two detours, which are usually Ridiculous.
• 57:09
  Speaker A: They're fun. These. Actually, the next two detours are really funny. Like you said in the beginning, I have not laughed that hard with you in a while, but I do tier three.
• 57:19
  Speaker B: Tier three, you get the. The one monthly and the two detours for $10 a month. And then tier two, for $5 a month, you just. You get the two detours and then tier one. Tier one is just support us for $3 a month because you love us and you want to show how much you appreciate us.
• 57:38
  Speaker A: I just want to put this in perspective. I went to Starbucks the other day. $8.53. And that was for one cup of coffee.
• 57:47
  Speaker B: So that was a large. Probably a double shot.
• 57:49
  Speaker A: A venti. Single shot.
• 57:51
  Speaker B: Okay.
• 57:52
  Speaker A: Okay. And the reason why I'm bringing that up is because I'm channeling Claire Huxtable for less than a cup of coffee. You guys can support common mystics. Okay? Support us. Help us keep the light on. Help us realize our dreams of bringing the voiceless space spirits out into the open that want to be heard, want to say thank you, have something to say, and want people to reflect not only on their lives, but the circumstances in which they lived. So please tell us there are other.
• 58:21
  Speaker B: Ways people can help us, like. Like liking us and following us on our platforms.
• 58:29
  Speaker A: That's free.
• 58:30
  Speaker B: That's free. And we have a couple of new reviews. We're up to 198 reviews on Apple.
• 58:38
  Speaker A: Yay.
• 58:40
  Speaker B: And one of them was from June 17th from KBH773. Would you like me to read it?
• 58:48
  Speaker A: I read this a lot today. I read this so much. It made me so happy. Please.
• 58:54
  Speaker B: Such a fun podcast. Five stars. I've been listening to this podcast for a while and I love it. It's such a fun mix of humor, psychic connection and history. Thank you. And please keep the episodes coming. Oh, thank you, KBH773.
• 59:07
  Speaker A: Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you.
• 59:09
  Speaker B: See, this is the kind of stuff that keeps us going.
• 59:11
  Speaker A: I live for it. Keep going.
• 59:13
  Speaker B: And then just Thursday. Amy Jameson. Amy Jameson.
• 59:17
  Speaker A: Amy Jameson.
• 59:19
  Speaker B: Thank you. Love this podcast. The stories are great and very interesting. The hits they get to bring them to the voiceless give me goosebumps all the time. The banter between the sisters is so much fun. Love this podcast so much. Thank you, Amy. Love you so much. So please share us with your friends. Like, follow. Leave a review. Leave a review.
• 59:44
  Speaker A: They make us so happy. Oh, also, apparently the button on our website.
• 59:50
  Speaker B: Yes.
• 59:51
  Speaker A: Request a reading takes people directly to messenger. If you don't have messenger Please feel free to book a reading with us@commonmysticsmail.com I love doing the readings Jen loves the readings for. But what Jen really likes more is to create a curriculum for you guys. So please, if you have any ideas of a class, Jen will tailor. Make a class based on your needs and then promote it so that we can get other students in that class and make it happen for you.
• 1:00:23
  Speaker B: Yeah. If you have a couple friends and would like to do a zoom class with me, that is my jam. I love it. We did a psychic development partner class just recently. Eight sessions. It was fantastic. Loved it. So if you have. If you have any need for psychic development, come to me. Contact us@commonmysticsmail.com I would love, love to set up a class just for you.
• 1:00:51
  Speaker A: And she's not just a pretty face. She has a dual master's degree in education. Her specialty is knowing how people learn. Truly. I know she gets so embarrassed when I say that.
• 1:01:01
  Speaker B: Thanks, Jill.
• 1:01:02
  Speaker A: All right, Wait, one more thing. Oh, we have the best fans in the world.
• 1:01:07
  Speaker B: We do. We love our fans.
• 1:01:09
  Speaker A: We have the best friends in the world. If you're a fan of us, you usually, like, come hard, and we love that energy. Come at us hard with it. Tell us you love us because we love you back. And it always tickles me when I meet a random friend. I actually met a random fan the other day and she was like, I know all about you. Is this. Is that weird? And I was like, I guess not, because I'm the one telling it. Like, is it that I'm telling you all about me? So thank you guys, so much.
• 1:01:36
  Speaker B: We love you.
• 1:01:37
  Speaker A: We love you.
• 1:01:38
  Speaker B: All right. Thanks, Jill.
• 1:01:40
  Speaker A: Thanks, John. Bye.
• 1:01:42
  Speaker B: Bye.
• 1:01:43
  Speaker A: This has been a common Mystics Media Production Editing done by Yokai Audio, Kalamazoo, Michigan.