The medical examiner estimated the deceased, measured at five feet, eleven inches, weighing 175 pounds, and in his mid-twenties, to have recently died. The police initially thought the open grave near the victim was dug to bury and hide the body.
On Christmas Eve 1977, the body of a headless young man was found near an open grave dressed in a tuxedo with a ruffled shirt. One particularly interesting man was a doctor in his early sixties who told the story of Franklin’s headless corpse. Some of the locals had taken the class several times and functioned as assistant instructors, adding stories of their own about their families’ experiences living in the area. We were pleased to learn the enrollment for the class included locals as well as newcomers like us, making it more of a discussion group than a class. (He had already written a book tracing the genealogy of Elvis Presley.) At the time of the class he was working on a book to be called “The Counterfeit Confederacy” which was to provide truth where there was myth. He deemed his role, in terms of history, to debunk what is called in the South “Moonlight and Magnolias” – the romantic view of its history to the point of mythology. He prided himself on being a contrarian – hence “Civil War” and not “War Between the States” in the title for his class. Shortly after moving into our home in the shadow of Roper’s Knob, Elaine and I enrolled in a class at the Franklin Recreation Center entitled, “The Civil War In Williamson County.” A local historian –a professional genealogist who grew up in the area – taught this class.
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