The Eerie Secret of the Lawson Family Photograph

At first glance, this old photo seems quite ordinary. But that's only if you don't know its history. The photo shows the Lawson family of American farmers: father, mother, and seven children. The photo was taken on December 23, 1929, and it holds a terrifying secret. Less than two days after the photo was taken, eight of the nine people in this photo were dead. And the person who caused these deaths is also in the photo.

This chilling story happened in late December 1929 in the small farming village of Germanton, North Carolina. In these parts there was always enough land suitable for farming, and people, on the contrary, were few. Because of this, farmers occupied huge plots, and their houses were at a considerable distance from each other.

The Lawson family settled in Germanton in 1918, renting a large plot of land and growing tobacco. Charles Lawson, born nearby in 1886, came here with his wife Fannie Manring, also a North Carolinian.

Between 1912 and 1929, Charles and Fanny had eight children, four boys and four girls, one after the other. But one son died of pneumonia in 1920. The Lawsons were renowned for their hard work, and by working hard on their rented land, they were soon able to save up for their own farm. In January 1927, they bought a 25-acre plot of land with a house and outbuildings.

The house on the property was in a deplorable state, but Charles, Fanny and their older children quickly took up repairs. Already in March 1927, the family moved to a new place. The land on the new property was very fertile, and growing tobacco began to bring the Lawsons a good income. Nevertheless, they continued to live in poverty, because the thriftiness of the head of the family bordered on outright stinginess.

Charles Lawson was not only stingy, but also an extremely domineering, cruel man. He demanded complete obedience from his family, and severely punished for the slightest offense. True, for the beginning of the 20th century, such orders in conservative farm families in the United States were quite common, and Charles' behavior surprised few people.

Despite his difficult character, Charles was respected in Germanton. He did not drink, worked hard and was not known for anything reprehensible. On Sundays, the family went to church, and the children attended the local school. They were poorly dressed, but thanks to the efforts of Fanny Lawson, they were always neat and clean.

In the summer of 1928, Charles was digging a drainage ditch on his property. The soil there was rocky, and the man had to take a pick. Suddenly, after another blow, the tool bounced off a stone and wounded the farmer with its sharp end right in the head. Charles instantly fell to the ground unconscious, covered in blood.

The eldest son quickly took his father to the hospital. But the doctors just threw up their hands. They said they couldn't help with such an injury, and Charles had only a few hours to live. But contrary to the prognosis, three days later the hopeless patient woke up and quickly recovered. Two weeks later the farmer was working in his field again.

But the injury left its mark. The man began to suffer from severe headaches and insomnia. His behavior also changed. The already hot-tempered and stern Charles became even more irritable and cruel. He found fault with his wife and children for the slightest reason, with or without reason.

The eldest son Arthur suffered the most from his father's wrath. He was 19 years old, he worked with Charles in the field and often listened to his reproaches. Sometimes it even came to blows. But one day Arthur could not stand it and gave a decisive rebuff to the domestic tyrant. After that, Charles left his son alone, but the rest of the family began to suffer even more.

Arthur always protected his mother, brothers and sisters. Sometimes conflicts flared up even at night, because Charles hardly slept and could start a scandal at any time of the day. Gradually, his mental state became worse and worse. Soon obsessive ideas began to appear. Sometimes he suddenly grabbed a gun and ran out into the street - it seemed to him that bandits were approaching the house, wanting to deal with his family.

One autumn evening in 1929, Fanny found her husband kneeling in the field between the vegetable beds. He was praying fervently:

He did not explain his behavior even to his wife, who eventually complained to her mother. Charles was prescribed various medications, but they were useless: every day he became more and more withdrawn and aggressive. But before Christmas 1929, the head of the family suddenly decided to please his wife and children. He put everyone in a car and drove to the nearest city - Winston-Salem.

There Charles unexpectedly bought everyone new clothes at the store, an act that was completely out of character for him. Afterwards he took the family to a photo studio, where that very family photo was taken. The farmer was cheerful all day and showed unusual kindness to his wife and children. Fanny was genuinely happy, deciding that her husband might finally be on the mend.

The next day, Christmas morning, Charles was still in high spirits. On December 25, snow fell in the area around Germanton, a rare occurrence for the area. The children ran outside to play snowballs, and 37-year-old Fanny and her eldest daughter Marie were busy preparing a festive dinner. Relatives were due to arrive that evening. Meanwhile, Charles and Arthur were working in the shed, repairing some equipment.

After dinner, Charles told Arthur to go to the store and buy a few more boxes of shotgun shells. The request seemed strange - he had already bought three packs the day before. But Arthur did not argue, got into the truck and drove off to fulfill his father's request. Meanwhile, 12-year-old Carrie and 7-year-old Maybelle decided to visit an uncle who lived nearby.

As the girls passed the barn, Charles suddenly appeared in the doorway with a gun in his hands. He shot his daughters twice and then dragged their bodies inside the outbuilding. No one took the shooting as suspicious - in Germanton, locals often shot rabbits on their property, and the sounds of gunshots did not surprise anyone.

Having dealt with his daughters, the father of the family headed for the house. At that moment, Fanny came out onto the porch. Without giving her a chance to ask what had happened, Charles shot her. The sound of the shot caused the eldest daughter, 17-year-old Marie, to run out of the house. Seeing her mother's bloody body, she screamed and tried to hide, barricading the door of one of the rooms. But this did not stop Charles, and he shot her too.

Charles then began searching for the other children. He found 4-year-old James hiding under the bed in the bedroom, and then found 2-year-old Raymond huddled in the corner of the kitchen behind a basket. Without hesitation, he killed both boys. The final victim was 4-month-old Mary Lou, lying peacefully in her crib.

After killing everyone, Charles Lawson carried the bodies into the largest room and carefully laid them out in a row on the floor. He then took his gun and headed toward the nearby woods. Along the way, he met three neighbors, whom he greeted calmly, as if nothing had happened. They did not notice anything suspicious in his behavior. One of them later told the police about the meeting:

Two hours later, the first guests arrived at the Lawsons' house - Charles' brother Elijah with his wife and children. Surprised that no one had met them, they entered the house shouting "Merry Christmas!" What they saw horrified them. Elijah immediately decided that the family had fallen victim to a gang of robbers, of which there were many at the time. He called the sheriff, and soon the neighbors arrived at the house. An armed detachment gathered at the Lawsons' house, ready to track down the criminals.

But while the men were discussing their plan, a single shot rang out from the forest. Everyone immediately rushed in that direction and soon found Charles in a clearing. He was sitting with his back against a tree, holding a gun. He had shot himself in the head. The elder Lawson was dead. A short note was found near him:

When 19-year-old Arthur returned, he saw police officers and a crowd of people near the house. Having learned about what happened, he was completely devastated. The guy could not understand what pushed his father to commit this terrible crime and why he left him alive.

More than 5,000 people gathered for the Lawson family funeral. Several coffins of different sizes were lowered into one large grave in a small family cemetery. The tragedy caused a huge resonance, all the newspapers of the state wrote about it. The house where the mass murder took place was closed, and Arthur moved to live with relatives.

But the farm didn't stand abandoned for long. One of Charles' brothers, Marion, turned the house into a kind of attraction. Taking advantage of the general interest in the tragedy, he began letting curious people onto the farm grounds. He charged each visitor 25 cents - about $5 today.

Marion's behavior was condemned by the villagers. He justified himself by saying that Arthur needed the money, as he was left without a livelihood. There were plenty of people willing to take a look at the eerie place, and soon the uncle and nephew became noticeably rich. Arthur bought a house, got married, and became the father of four children. But an evil fate overtook him: at the age of 35, he died in an accident.

Police experts and doctors have long wondered what made Charles kill his family. During the autopsy, the killer's brain was removed and carefully examined. One theory was a mental disorder resulting from a head injury. But the science of the time was limited in its capabilities, and no abnormalities were found in the killer's brain.

The reasons for the bloody drama on the farm remained a mystery to everyone until the 1990s. Journalists John Bruce and Trudy Smith decided to conduct their own investigation and wrote a book, White Christmas, Bloody Christmas. During their work, they discovered a pathologist's report, which showed that Charles' 17-year-old daughter, Marie, was pregnant at the time of her death.

At that time, Stella Lawson, Marion Lawson's daughter, was still alive. She revealed to everyone the terrible secret of her uncle's family:

Marie was pregnant by her father and he most likely decided to hide his heinous crime in such a terrible way.

A family photo frozen between life and death has become a symbol of that terrible drama. Have you ever felt an anxious tension looking at old photos that hide a terrible story?