In most cases, there are warning signs when tragedy is about to strike. In others, those signs are so subtle, they’re barely even noticeable until it’s far too late.
In 1918, Charlie Lawson, along with his wife, Fannie, and their growing family, moved to Germanton, North Carolina. The family followed Charlie’s brothers, Marion and Elijah, where they settled as tenant tobacco farmers. Two years later, tragedy struck the family when William, the Lawson’s third son, died of illness.
In 1927, the family had saved enough money to buy their own farmland on Brook Cove Road. Charlie and Fannie worked on the farmhouse continuously, along with their two oldest children Marie and Arthur. One evening, the family were removing rotten timbers. Charlie was weilding an axe, when, in an accident, the blunt end came back around to hit Charlie on the forehead. Following the incident, family, friends, and neighbours noticed that Charlie’s personality had changed.
In early December of 1929, Charlie, who was 43 years old at the time, took his 37-year-old wife Fannie and their seven children into town. He wanted to buy them new clothes, as a treat for a successful farming year, as well as have a family portrait taken. In the portrait, Charlie and Fannie are seen with their children, Marie (17), Arthur (16), Carrie (12), Maybell (7), James (4), Raymond (2), and the baby, Mary Lou (4 months) was tucked up in her mother’s arms.
To any outsider, it appeared as a family outing, as well as some Christmas present shopping. But this behaviour was highly out of character for the Lawsons. And while the family knew this, they could not anticipate what would be to come.
On Christmas Day, Marie woke up early, and set about making her signature dessert for Christmas dinner – a raisin cake. As the cake was coming out of the oven, Arthur, Charlie, the family’s two beagles, and Arthur’s cousin, Sanderson, who had spent Christmas Eve with the family, went out rabbit hunting. It was a passtime that killed two birds with one stone – it entertained the teenage boys, and also provided sustenance for the family during the cold, frigid winter months. As they ran out ot ammunition, Arthur asked his father for more. Charlie indicated that he had none left, and sent Arthur and Sanderson into town to purchase more.
As the two teenage boys left, Charlie took up his 12-gauge shotgun, and began looking for his children. Carrie and Maybell were on their way out of the house, intending to go visit their aunt and uncle to wish them well. Charlie waited them out. As they came around the corner of the tobacco barn, Charlie shot them. Unsure if they were really dead, he then bludgeoned his daughters, and placed them in the tobacco barn, rocks under their heads, arms crossed over their chests.
Having heard the shots so close to the farm, Fannie evidently came out to the porch to investigate. Charlie, upon seeing his wife, shot her through the torso, and then dragged her back into the farmhouse. Marie, having heard the shot, screamed for her brothers, who were with her, to go hide.
Charlie shot Marie through the back, as she was turning to grab a fire poker with which to fight her father off. The force of the shot threw her against the mantle, before she crumpled to the ground. Charlie then found his sons, James and Raymond, and shot them. The sound was so loud, it stopped the clock that was in the room. The attack took place around 1:25 PM on Christmas Day. Lastly, Charlie bludgeoned his baby daughter to death in her crib. He then laid out the bodies of his family in the living room. He went upstairs to the bedrooms, found pillows, and displayed them in a similar manner to Carrie and Maybell in the tobacco barn.
Having massacred his family, Charlie then fled to the woods with his shotgun, and his dogs.
Claude Lawson, Charlie’s nephew, and his father missed him by minutes. They approached the farmhouse and knocked, wanting to wish the family a Merry Christmas. When no one answered the door, they opened it and walked in. What greeted them was a bloodbath.
Right around the same time, Arthur and Sanderson were returning from their errand. When they saw what had transpired in their absence, they were shocked. Somehow, the alarm was raised, and neighbours and law enforcement descended on the Lawson farmhouse.
For hours, no one knew what had happened to the Lawsons, ofr where Charlie even was. No one was sure if Charlie had been taken by the killer, or had been killed elsewhere. What was most anxiety inducing was the uncertainty – the killer could still be lurking around. No one knew just how correct that notion was.
Around dusk, a roaring fire had been lit in front of the Lawson farmhouse in order to keep onlookers and law enforcement warm. Then, a gunshot from the woods rang out, the only sounds amidst the crackling firewood. An officer, who’d been talking with Arthur, heard the shot and went running in its direction. There, he saw Charlie Lawson, slumped on the ground, from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Examining the scene, law enforcement noticed footprints circling around the tree where Charlie’s body had been found. It appeared as though he had been pacing prior to taking his own life. He was also found with two notes, scribbled on tobacco auction receipts. One read the words: “Trouble can cause”, while the other read: “Nobody to blame”. To law enforcement, this cleared up the events of that Christmas Day. Charlie Lawson had massacred his whole family, and then taken his own life. It was heavily speculated that he planned to send Arthur and Sanderson away, as the two boys would have been likely to fight him off.
As the bodies were taken to a funeral home, and the funeral arrangements prepared, the community was left wondering: Why did Charlie Lawson murder his family?
One theory was that Charlie had been affected by the head injury he’d sustained during renovations of the farmhouse. For months before the murders, he’d been known to behave erratically. He also complained of severe headaches, and insomnia. It was clear that Charlie was in mental distress – but no one really knew what that looked like at the time.
For years, author Trudy J. Smith researched the Lawson family massacre. In 1990, she published White Christmas, Bloody Christmas, which alluded to potential other unsubstantiated reasons behind the murders. However, 16 years later, the publishing of a followup book about the murders, The Meaning of our Tears, does not shy away from this theory.
In interviews with descendants and surviving family members of the Lawson family, they alluded to a long-held family secret.
Stella Lawson had been a child at the time of the murders. But she had overheard her mother, Jettie Lawson, discuss the tragedy with relatives. They confided in each other that it was possible that Charlie had committed the murders in order to keep his secret safe – Marie was pregnant, and he was the father.
Other relatives and individuals who had overheard this rumour confirmed, in interviews with Trudy, that Fannie herself had confided about this to Jettie, and Marie had confided to her best friend Ella May during a sleepover.
No autopsy, or other official report has been able to substantiate these claims, nor have they ever publicly detailed whether or nor Marie had been pregnant at the time of her murder.
The funeral for the Lawson family drew thousands – mourners and onlookers alike. Shortly after, Marion Lawson opened the home up for macabre tours, charging a 25 cent entry fee. The cake was still laid out on the counter. Marion soon had to put it in a sealed, glass cake stand to avoid souvenir takers from picking all of the raisins clean off the cake.
When questioned, Marion defended his actions. Arthur needed taking care of, and the farm still had a mortgage. Marion needed the extra cash to take care of both his nephew, and his brother’s farm. Arthur was still too young, yet, to take over the family farm.
In 1945, Arthur Lawson was tragically killed in a motor accident at the age of 32. He left behind a wife, and four children.
Some say that the family outing prior to Christmas in 1929 was a sign of what Charlie had planned. Others say it was just a family outing. But all can agree that the tragedy that followed could not have been foreseen, or stopped, by anyone.
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Sources:
Lawson Family Murders: A look back after 90 years – Susie C. Spear – Rockingham Now
The Lawson Family Tragedy – Alice Adams – Southern Calls
Secret behind photo in Lawson family Christmas Day massacre when seven people died – Candace Sutton – news.com.au
A Fox8 Original Podcast – Deadly Secrets: The Lawson Family Murder
Most Notorious podcast – The Lawson Family Christmas Murders in 1929 North Carolina w/ Trudy J. Smith
Murder of the Lawson Family Wikipedia page