‘The Devil in Appalachia’: Bloodthirsty outlaws, river pirates killed over 40 people

Editor’s note: Details of the story may be disturbing to some readers.

KENTUCKY ( FOX 56 ) — A pair of outlaws and river bandits that terrorized Kentucky in the late 1700s became known as the first documented serial killers in the United States.

Joshua Harper (aka Micajah “Big Harpe”) and William Harper (Wiley “Little” Harpe) were both born between 1768 and 1770 . According to Delonda Anderson of “Appalachia Bare,” some say the Harpes were brothers; others claim they were just cousins.

Regardless, Anderson regards the Harpes as “the Devil in Appalachia” for their bloodlust after the American Revolution.

The early years of the Harpes

Anderson claimed the Harpes were born into a British Loyalist family, and by the time the war ended, the two were teenage boys who joined Loyalist gangs that raped, killed, and destroyed. At the same time, their parents left, leaving the two boys to fend for themselves.

By 1795, Anderson noted that the boys settled in Knox County, Tennessee, alongside Beaver Creek, near the banks of the Holston River. Both boys married and slaughtered hogs to make a living. History says the two boys’ violent ways followed them to Knox County. The town’s livestock frequently went missing, and barns were mysteriously burned.

A posse was formed after a man named Edward Tiel ‘s horses were stolen from the stable. Both Harpes were captured, but they managed to escape while the posse tried to take them to jail in Knoxville.

The carnage begins — 1798

In 1798, the Harpes killing spree began and would be remembered as one of the most violent in the history of the U.S., according to Legends of America. After killing two men in Tennessee, the Harpes traveled north to Kentucky through the Cumberland Gap, where they killed two men traveling from Maryland. Anderson said Big Harpe used his tomahawk to split open the head of one of the men.

It has been said that the Harpes were driven more by bloodlust than monetary gain. Legends of America said the two would often disembowel their victims, fill their stomachs with rocks, and sink them in a river.

According to Anderson, their wives said their rampage was “the turning point when their men ‘declared war on all mankind.’”

While traveling, the Harpes stopped at what was known as the Phariss’ Inn . A man named Stephen Langford offered to pay for their room and board. It was there that Anderson said the Harpes saw the man’s “abundant coinage” in his purse and planned to slay and loot Langford at a later time.

Langford’s body was found over a week later at the bottom of a ravine.

Word spread about the actions of the Harpes, and another posse was formed to track them down, according to Anderson. On Christmas Day, they were captured “near the Crab Orchard” and taken to Stanford Jail in Lincoln County. The brothers and their pregnant wives were then transported to Danville Jail in January 1799, where they were expected to stand trial.

Anderson wrote that the brothers escaped on March 16 and left their pregnant wives behind to stand trial. Both women were acquitted of their charges and gave birth in jail.

1799: The Harpes ‘most unrestrained and bloodthirsty’ year

The Harpes were heading to Cave-in-Rock in Illinois, per Andreson. While there, the pair met Samuel Mason and his band of river pirates. Meanwhile, one posse attempted to persuade Col. Daniel Trabue to join their search after an “unprecedented manhunt” to find the Harpes failed miserably.

Meanwhile, Anderson noted that the Harpes killed Traube’s 13-year-old son, Johnny, for flour and beans. His body was said to have been “macerated by their blows, almost dismembered by their knives.”

Johnny’s body was later found when his blood-covered dog approached whining and led them to a sinkhole covered by the brush, according to the Claiborne Progress .

Eventually, the Harpes were kicked out of Mason’s gang of river pirates due to their horror at the Harpes’ “sadism, driven by psychopathic lack of empathy for other human beings,” Anderson noted.

During the last half of the year , the Harpes were credited with killings in Logan County, Russellville, and Webster County. On Aug. 24, 1799, the posse finally tracked the Harpes down. Big Harpe was shot in the spine and the leg while trying to escape. As he suffered on the ground, Harpe confessed to 20 killings.

Legends of America notes that Mason Stegall, the man whose family the Harpes had killed earlier that month, decapitated Big Harpe while he was still conscious near Henderson County. His head was placed on a pole at a place that would later become known as Harpe’s Head.

In February 1804, Little Harpe was tried and hanged after being captured earlier, Anderson noted.

At the end of their bloodthirsty crime spree, the Harpes were believed to have killed more than 40 men, women, and children.

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