That's the night that they hung an innocent man.
By AmberLynn
@ScribbledAdNauseum (104615)
United States
July 3, 2018 8:20pm CST
I bet a lot of you have clicked onto this thinking I was going to talk about the song "The night the lights went out in Georgia." If you haven't heard the song then google it.
No, I am not going to be talking about that song but I am going to be talking about how they "hung an innocent man."
This is a story that I have been told a lot through the years. My great grandfather would sometimes drive the back way home from visiting with family. He would take this way to see if he could still see the silhouette of an innocent man that was hung some years prior.
There was no real story behind this that they knew of. The only thing they did know was that no amount of paint or whitewash would rid them of this shadow that would come across the bricks of the jail.
So that I don't make this discussion any longer I will link you to the actual "supposed" facts of who the man was and why he was innocent.
https://remembercliffside.com/the-county/the-legend-of-daniel-keith/
11 people like this
12 responses
@ScribbledAdNauseum (104615)
• United States
4 Jul 18
I hope you do open it later but I can paraphrase it here. The man was a bad man (he was a con artist) but he was accused of a crime he didn't commit so that the people of the county could be rid of him.
He was hung for the crime though there was another man in another county being tried for the same exact crime .
2 people like this
@JustBhem (70555)
• Davao, Philippines
4 Jul 18
@ScribbledAdNauseum
This is what someone gets when they know you did something in the past.
He can't say he did not do it because he was known for that.
If there is someone who could testify he didn't do it maybe there is a chance he will not be accused.
@ScribbledAdNauseum (104615)
• United States
4 Jul 18
@JustBhem It seems that there were too many people who were wanting to be rid of him. Yes, I agree with you that it was his karma that caused this. Had he not been so bad he might have lived.
1 person likes this
@ScribbledAdNauseum (104615)
• United States
4 Jul 18
It is sort of sad. If everything is true and accurate than he was also a bad man just innocent of the crime that they said he committed.
I have a few other stories that I can tell like this but I'm not sure if or when I'll post them.
2 people like this
@ScribbledAdNauseum (104615)
• United States
4 Jul 18
@rakski According to the story he was a con artist and he married women and then deserted them. He may not have been as bad as he was perceived but he must have done something to someone to make them want to accuse him of a crime he didn't commit.
1 person likes this
@rakski (156506)
• Philippines
4 Jul 18
@ScribbledAdNauseum aw. maybe he is bad and perceived as bad because of his stature. But not all has bad nature.
1 person likes this
@marguicha (230350)
• Chile
4 Jul 18
Those are the sort of things that have no reasonable explanation. Yet...
1 person likes this
@ScribbledAdNauseum (104615)
• United States
4 Jul 18
I read the blurb at the bottom. The storyteller claims he did some research in our state capital. Of course you can't always believe everything.
1 person likes this
@ScribbledAdNauseum (104615)
• United States
4 Jul 18
I think it is even sadder in today's world. There are forensics that can keep innocent people out of jail but sometimes forensics lie. It destroys a persons soul when they are put in a cage, and especially when they are put there for a crime they didn't commit.
Atleast in the case that I refer to above, forensics just weren't really there. I think at this time forensics were being developed but it was really no more than the ability for fingerprinting. If the story is to be believed, the man may have been innocent of this crime but he was a bad man all the same. Perhaps not deserving of a hanging though.
1 person likes this
@velvet53 (24417)
• Palisade, Colorado
4 Jul 18
@ScribbledAdNauseum I am with you on this. Things are so different now compared to years ago but still there are some innocent people spending years in prison for something they didn't do.
@ScribbledAdNauseum (104615)
• United States
4 Jul 18
@velvet53 All we can do is hope that there will be advancements that will make forensics fail safe. In the meantime, we can hope that the innocent people are cleared and BEFORE anything tragic happens.
1 person likes this
@ScribbledAdNauseum (104615)
• United States
4 Jul 18
I had not heard about that but I just looked it up. That is really terrible! Those poor men.
1 person likes this
@ScribbledAdNauseum (104615)
• United States
4 Jul 18
@LadyDuck Souls like that do not get the rest they need.
1 person likes this
@LadyDuck (502565)
• Italy
4 Jul 18
@ScribbledAdNauseum Yes, it was not a nice page of history.
1 person likes this
@andriaperry (118793)
• Anniston, Alabama
4 Jul 18
Now I got that song stuck on my head." I heard my mama cry......."
@ScribbledAdNauseum (104615)
• United States
4 Jul 18
I actually haven't heard the song you were quoting. I had to look it up.
1 person likes this
@ScribbledAdNauseum (104615)
• United States
4 Jul 18
@andriaperry Ah okay. Well then now do you have two songs stuck in your head?
@andriaperry (118793)
• Anniston, Alabama
4 Jul 18
@ScribbledAdNauseum HAha, I got my songs mixed up.
@GardenGerty (169479)
• United States
4 Jul 18
So many communities have these legends and mysteries. Thanks for sticking that song in my brain for the evening.
@ScribbledAdNauseum (104615)
• United States
4 Jul 18
You are quite welcome. It would be in mine but I am trying to find the song that the author of the story (in the link) has supposedly written about it.
I was reading urban legends in my State because of a discussion from earlier. I was asking my grandfather about some of the stories as they supposedly happened near where he grew up. He reminded me of this story and I went to look it up.
@nonersays (3344)
• United States
4 Jul 18
I totally sung that in my head just as soon as I read the title. lol That song used to make me sad as a kid.
Now, gonna go wander and read of your legend.
@ScribbledAdNauseum (104615)
• United States
4 Jul 18
I remember singing it when I was younger but I don't actually remember how it made me feel. The version by Reba Mcyntire (however that is spelled) with the video is really sad though.
1 person likes this
@neelia_lyn (2003)
• Philippines
4 Jul 18
This person was a bad man and did many bad things, but murder was not one of them. So sad that he has to die for a crime he has not committed. He was not able to trick his way out of the execution.
@ScribbledAdNauseum (104615)
• United States
4 Jul 18
Yes, exactly. He may have done many bad things in his life but he wasn't guilty of the crime he hung for and that is very sad.
1 person likes this
@Telynor (1763)
• United States
4 Jul 18
Tonight I was watching the series The Great War on PBS, and the number of lynchings and misery that was visited on african americans is downright disgusting.
@ScribbledAdNauseum (104615)
• United States
4 Jul 18
I just finished a book (a reread) a few days ago and there was a part of it that described a lynching of an African American man.
I don't think the guy from this story was African American.
1 person likes this
@ScribbledAdNauseum (104615)
• United States
4 Jul 18
It isn't fair that he was accused of a crime he didn't commit but according to this he was a bad man anyway. Still, no one should die for something they did not do.
1 person likes this
@ScribbledAdNauseum (104615)
• United States
4 Jul 18
@responsiveme This was also a different time and forensics were just being developed. They would not have had the means to discover the true culprit.
@simplfred (20641)
• Philippines
4 Jul 18
Thank you for sharing this story. I've read the link and definitely it is very interesting. I hope science can explain everything, I will do some research if I have a time.
@ScribbledAdNauseum (104615)
• United States
4 Jul 18
I think if science could explain it then it would have already been debunked. From what I understand, there wasn't anything around that could cast a shadow like the one that was cast across the bricks.
1 person likes this
