Episode 317 - Reverend Willie Maxwell: Harper Lee & The Killer Voodoo Preacher
RedHanded
Wondery | RedHanded
4.5 • 18.2K Ratings
🗓️ 28 September 2023
⏱️ 60 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In summer 1977, in Alexander City, Alabama, a man stood up in front of 300 mourners at the funeral of a 16-year-old girl – and shot a reverend three times in the head.
When the shooter’s murder trial began, it caught the attention of the renowned author, Harper Lee, who went on to spend years researching the story for her next book.
But it wasn’t the shooting that had piqued her interest.
It was the series of suspicious deaths surrounding the reverend – Willie Maxwell – known in Coosa County, Alabama, as a serial killing voodoo preacher.
Follow us on social media:
Visit our website:
Sources available on redhandedpodcast.com
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Wondru Plus subscribers can listen to Red handed early and ad-free. |
| 0:04.4 | Join Wondru Plus in the Wondru app or on Apple podcasts. |
| 0:08.8 | Whether you're driving to work, cycling to a friend's place, or on the way to your next holiday, |
| 0:14.0 | Amazon Music has your true crime fix covered. |
| 0:17.2 | As an Amazon Prime member, you have access to ad-free top podcasts. |
| 0:22.0 | To start listening, download the Amazon Music app or visit amazon.co.uk forward slash |
| 0:28.4 | on the go true crime. That's amazon.co.uk forward slash on the go true crime and listen to your |
| 0:35.1 | favourite podcasts on the go. Each week on the Mr. Ballon podcast, you'll hear about new, |
| 0:41.5 | inexplicable encounters, shocking disappearances, and other strange dark and mysterious stories. |
| 0:47.3 | Listen to the Mr. Ballon podcast, strange dark and mysterious stories, only on Amazon Music. |
| 0:58.8 | I'm Hannah and Sruti and all welcome to your final edition of September Red handed. |
| 1:12.4 | Before we launch full force into our spooktacular, that is October, |
| 1:18.2 | which you understand how the Gregorian calendar works. It's next week. |
| 1:24.2 | But let us tell you anyway. Just to you know, get the excitement |
| 1:27.7 | juices flowing. Exactly. But before we get there, we do have a very interesting case. |
| 1:33.8 | One that I had not come across before. One that I haven't heard another true crime |
| 1:38.7 | podcast cover, but I may well be wrong. But I'm very excited. I'm excited too. |
| 1:43.2 | And I'm excited because we start off with one of my favourite people ever, Harper Lee. |
| 1:48.9 | In the winter of 1977, novelist Harper Lee found herself sitting in the back of an Alabama |
| 1:54.5 | courtroom taking notes on a murder trial. It had been 17 years since she'd written the wildly |
| 2:00.8 | successful yet at the time divisive to killer mockingbird. And it had been 12 years since she'd |
| 2:06.2 | helped Truman Capotey research and write the true crime sensation in cold blood. And after almost |
... |
Transcript will be available on the free plan in -547 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Wondery | RedHanded, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Wondery | RedHanded and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.