Murder and Mountain Justice in the Moonshine Capital of the World

by Phillip A. Gibbs

A Story of Hard Spirits and Defiant Souls Franklin County, Virginia has long been known as the Moonshine Capital of the World. That history can seem romantic, but the county has a dark and violent past. The descendants of the Scots-Irish who settled its rugged mountains openly defied the law and employed their own notions of justice to defend their traditions and livelihood. During Prohibition, the production of moonshine skyrocketed, but the liquor didn't stop flowing from the mountains when the Eighteenth Amendment was repealed. County and state officials struggled to maintain order in a region where unsolved murders, strange disappearances, and senseless killings were a way of life. The peak came in 1978, with nine murders linked to moonshine and drugs in the county. Historian and Virginia native Phillip Andrew Gibbs tells story of that horrific year and the history behind it.

160 pages, Paperback

Published July 17, 2023

Reviews

[Becky · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lots of great research and reads like fiction but scary truth about my home county. Really good. I wish, though, that he had used a proofreader.

[Olivia Edwards]

Not very well organized so it feels a little disjointed. About halfway through it loses the thread of crimes caused by the moonshine industry and pivots into a list of murders in the county, finally coming back around to the discussion of the 1978 murders in the last few chapters. Had it been organized differently, I think I would have enjoyed it more.

[Jarred Marlowe · Rating 2 out of 5]

A decent history of the history of moonshining in Franklin County but many of the stories involved are highly embellished, coming from someone who knows many people mentioned and currently lives near where many of this occurred.

[Brian White · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. My wife’s sister moved to Franklin County and I didn’t realize how much moonshine there was there!! The book was great and read very easily