Broken Pearl: The 1896 Beheading of Pearl Bryan

A boy’s shortcut through a Kentucky fruit farm in 1896 uncovered the headless body of a woman, later identified as Pearl Bryan. How did she get there? Who killed her? And where is her head? 

Sources:

Gold, Rachel Benson. “Lessons from Before Roe: Will Past Be Prologue?”Vol. 6. Issue 1. Guttmacher Institute. https://www.guttmacher.org/gpr/2003/03/lessons-roe-will-past-be-prologue

The Mysterious Murder of Pearl Bryan, or: The Headless Horror. (Barclay & Co., 1896).

Wilhelm, Robert. So Far From Home: The Pearl Bryan Murder (Schroon Lake: Night Stick Press, 2021). And https://www.murderbygaslight.com/2012/01/mysteries-of-pearl-bryan.html

Young, Andrew. Unwanted: A Murder Mystery of the Gilded Age (Yardley: Westholme, 2016). And “Our Rich History: Shoe dealer solves ghastly murder of Pearl Bryan, found missing her head, in 1893.” Northern Kentucky Tribune. 17 August, 2020. https://nkytribune.com/2020/08/our-rich-history-shoe-dealer-solves-ghastly-murder-of-pearl-bryan-found-missing-her-head-in-1893/

The Most Notorious! Podcast Episode 248: The Murder of Pearl Bryan w/ Robert Wilhelm https://www.mostnotorious.com/2022/06/18/the-murder-of-pearl-bryan-w-robert-wilhelm/

As well as articles from the Dayton Daily News, the Evening Bulletin (Kentucky), the Indianapolis Journal, 

Music: Credits to Holizna, Fesilyan Studios & Virginia Liston

Check out my girl Lizzie's podcast, Historical True Crime here: https://open.spotify.com/show/5EoajP8947TJKmjEsCy5o8?si=64dbe3a2bc9b42f7

For more information, visit www.oldbloodpodcast.com