Death in Briar Bottom: The True Story of Hippies, Mountain Lawmen, and the Search for Justice in the Early 1970s

by Timothy Silver

On July 3, 1972, twenty-four hippies from Clearwater, Florida, set up tents and settled in for the night at Briar Bottom, a public US Forest Service campground in western North Carolina. The impromptu campout was a pit stop for the group on their way to a Rolling Stones concert in Charlotte. Early that evening, they drank beer, smoked marijuana, and listened to rock music as they anticipated the good times that lay ahead. Near midnight, the county sheriff showed up with six deputies, allegedly responding to a noise complaint. They were armed with pistols and five sawed-off 12-gauge shotguns, one of which discharged, killing a young man named Stanley Altland. To this day, no one has been held responsible for the tragic incident, though it happened in front of over a dozen eyewitnesses.Tim Silver writes the true story of Altland's death and its aftermath, using archival research, interviews with surviving Clearwater campers, and newly unearthed FBI files. A mix of true crime, southern history, and personal storytelling, this book shows how, in the dark of night at a remote mountain campsite, the killing of an innocent man epitomized the suspicion of and violence toward the counterculture that gripped the nation in the early 1970s.

Genres: True Crime, Nonfiction

208 pages, Hardcover

Published November 12, 2024

Reviews

[Bill reilly · Rating 2 out of 5]

A group of young people from Clearwater, Florida stopped at a rural campground in North Carolina on their way to a Rolling Stones concert. A lawman with a rifle insisted that they leave the first park. He was not going to allow a bunch of "longhair hippies" to corrupt his jurisdiction.
They crashed at another site, Briar Bottom, and set up tents for an overnight stay. What followed was a typical sex, drugs and rock and roll story, until someone complained about the loud music. A sheriff showed up with a crew of men with shotguns. One of the lawmen struck a man with the butt of his shotgun. It discharged and it resulted in the young man's death.
The good old boys insisted that they were assaulted by some of the hippies and they were charged with disorderly conduct. The death was ruled as accidental and life went on for the survivors.
Silver picked up on the story after fifty years and interviewed witnesses who insisted that they were not confrontational with the cops. A civil suit was filed in 1975.
The author is a fan of the Rolling Stones and I was only distracted from the meat of the story by his fawning over the rock band with more than I needed to know about their tour of America. To my fellow true crime fans, do not bother with this book.

[Annie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Originally posted on my blog Nonstop Reader.

Death in Briar Bottom is a fact based true crime history by historian Dr. Timothy Silver. Released 12th Nov 2024 by the UNC Press, it's 208 pages and is available in hardcover, audio, and ebook formats.

This is a straight unvarnished retelling of the events of one night in the July 1972 at a US forest service campground in western North Carolina which resulted in the shooting death of one young man and the resultant trauma and search for justice by his friends and family in the aftermath.

Although written in entirely layman accessible "everyday" language, the author is a historian, and the book is meticulously annotated throughout. Facsimile records and black and white archival photos accompany the text. Interspersed throughout are the first hand accounts and records of what happened (widely conflicting stories from eyewitnesses) as well as modern interviews with people who still live in the area of the shooting as well as the surviving witnesses.

Much of the story is infuriating: the author relates shocking racism and aggressive abuses by law enforcement with unvarnished dispassionate neutrality. It was quite difficult to read in places.

The unabridged audiobook version has a run time of 6 hours and 7 minutes and is capably read by Andre Bellido. He has a young, neutral tenor voice and a very faintly discernable coastal accent (but absolutely no "twang"). He does a good job of reading the dispassionate facts and recollections and adds a lot of warmth and humanity to the sometimes difficult read. Sound and production quality are high throughout the recording.

Four stars. It would be a good choice for public or university library acquisition, home library (especially for readers who are interested in modern rural political/cultural history), or possibly as a support text for allied classroom subjects (American rural history, culture studies, anthropology, etc).

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

[Molly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well researched, well documented, well written - a solid piece of narrative non-fiction. I appreciated the balance between subjective and objective reportage. I also appreciate that the book was not plumped up: it's relatively short, and it's tight.

This book's impact on me has lasted longer than the usual length of time. So many (unpleasant) surprises. Truth is indeed often stranger than fiction.

This is a book for those of us interested in individual rights *and* safety - and justice - which should be each of us and all of us.

[Betty Bennett · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another book that reminds us that we do not live in a “Shining City on a Hill”. Political violence has been a recurring theme in our history. This book details an event in the 1970’s. When people, in this case “hippies” were despised and devalued by the police and the culture that supported them. The result was the death of a young man. The attorneys who tried to hold the perpetrators accountable were viciously attacked as well.

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not my favorite read.
Too too much adulation and information on The Rolling Stones, and even on the social climate of the '70's. While it's important to set the stage for those who weren't around to experience ' hippies ' and the culture of the 70's I grew tired the many, many pages of background on the times 30-40 years ago.
Sometimes less is more...
Thank you netGalley for the ARC

[Bob Reed · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a Babyboomer, and nearby resident and frequent visitor to the area the incident addressed in this book took place, I thoroughly enjoyed this read. The path and "walk through the memories" of being a teenager in the 1970s this author led me down was much appreciated.