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Chanse Simpson
Приєднався 23 кві 2012
All videos produced, directed, shot & edited by Chanse Simpson
The Hanging of Frankie Silver
Today, July 12, marks the 191st anniversary of the hanging of Frankie Silver in 1833. The summer heat was already rising that day when Frankie took her place under the rope. At her trial the previous year, Frankie had not been allowed to speak in her own defense. Her lawyer didn’t put up much a fight during the two-day proceeding, and the jury convicted her of killing her husband Charlie. The trial started on a Thursday, and by Friday afternoon it was all over but the hanging.
(Later, some of those same jurors signed a petition for Frankie’s freedom, and a few expressed regret at their decision to find her guilty. But their actions were too little, too late.)
Fifteen months after the trial, Frankie was hung to death in front of a large crowd of people gathered to see the gruesome end to her life. She declined to say any last words. By most accounts, her father said it all when he shouted, “Die with it in ye, Frankie!” And that’s exactly what she did. “Take it to the grave!” Frankie never said a word. She stood stone silent and offered no explanation, confession or apology. The hangman covered Frankie’s head with a bag, slipped the noose over her neck, and tightened the rope. Seconds later, Frankie dropped to the end of her rope. After an agonizing amount of time twisting and squirmed, she finally died.
Following the hanging, and with Frankie’s body starting to wilt in the afternoon heat, her parents Isaiah and Barbara Stewart buried their daughter a few miles west of Morganton, NC. There is a grave marker in Burke County that was placed in the 1950s. But no one knows for sure the true location where Frankie is buried.
The Hanging of Frankie Silver is a figurative telling of what happened in the last moment’s of her life, and is not intended to be a literal account of the event. The goal of this movie is to humanize Frankie, to show her as a real person - a teenage wife and mother, and also perhaps an axe murderer - who experienced a hellish last two years on earth, all of which came to a terrible ending when she was hung to death in front of a huge gathering of people sprawled across the hillside in Morganton.
In the actual version of Frankie’s hanging, she was hung from a rope stretched over a tree limb. She stood in the back of a horse-drawn wagon, and when the wagon rolled away, Frankie was left to dangle violently until she died, which took a while. The actual hanging was very sadistic and brutal. For this movie, we weren’t able to shoot that version for various reasons.
But we still wanted to show the last moments of Frankie’s life. So, we built a make-shift gallows to portray Frankie dropping when a trapdoor is sprung by the hangman’s command. She falls as the noose tightens, which snaps her neck and kills her. The crowd noise fades out as she dies, and Frankie silently twists in the wind as her soul departs her body.
Legends, even true-life ones, are always open to interpretation and dramatic license, especially a story from 200 years ago. Tell it the way you want to tell it, and invite people into the story and let them decide how they feel about it.
Ultimately, this movie shows Frankie's hanging in a way that people haven't seen before, even if it's not the literal hanging that some folks would like to watch. However, if any viewers come away from this movie curious about factual, historical details of Frankie and Charlie, there are several exhaustive books available.
The point of this movie is to remind people that Frankie and Charlie, and their daughter Nancy, were real human beings, and not just made-up characters in a mountain legend from 200 years ago. In fact, at the end, the movie shows real photos of Nancy Silver Parker, her husband David Parker, and Nancy's grave in Macon County. Nancy passed away in 1901.
So, it is with all due respect, that we enter this movie, The Hanging of Frankie Silver, into the ongoing, timeless legend of Frankie & Charlie.
In the end, Frankie & Charlie both suffered terrible tragedies, and both missed out on the last 50 years of their lives. But there is one bright spot in all the misery. They had a daughter named Nancy, who grew up to be a beautiful young woman, married a man named David Parker, and went on to have six children. Sadly, David died in the Civil War in 1865. Nancy lived another 36 years before passing away in 1901 at the age of 70. Nancy is buried in the cemetery at Mountain Grove Baptist Church in Macon County, NC.
Charlie is buried in three separate graves at Kona Church in Mitchell County, NC. That's a whole other story...
Descendants of Frankie & Charlie still gather together for family reunions.
One of the best contemporary songs about the legend of Frankie and Charlie is "Take It To The Grave" by the band Couldn’t Be Happiers, available on their UA-cam channel. Verse by verse, they tell the entire story.
This movie was produced, directed, and shot in 2012, and edited in 2024, by Chanse Simpson.
Email: KonaGraves@gmail.com
(Later, some of those same jurors signed a petition for Frankie’s freedom, and a few expressed regret at their decision to find her guilty. But their actions were too little, too late.)
Fifteen months after the trial, Frankie was hung to death in front of a large crowd of people gathered to see the gruesome end to her life. She declined to say any last words. By most accounts, her father said it all when he shouted, “Die with it in ye, Frankie!” And that’s exactly what she did. “Take it to the grave!” Frankie never said a word. She stood stone silent and offered no explanation, confession or apology. The hangman covered Frankie’s head with a bag, slipped the noose over her neck, and tightened the rope. Seconds later, Frankie dropped to the end of her rope. After an agonizing amount of time twisting and squirmed, she finally died.
Following the hanging, and with Frankie’s body starting to wilt in the afternoon heat, her parents Isaiah and Barbara Stewart buried their daughter a few miles west of Morganton, NC. There is a grave marker in Burke County that was placed in the 1950s. But no one knows for sure the true location where Frankie is buried.
The Hanging of Frankie Silver is a figurative telling of what happened in the last moment’s of her life, and is not intended to be a literal account of the event. The goal of this movie is to humanize Frankie, to show her as a real person - a teenage wife and mother, and also perhaps an axe murderer - who experienced a hellish last two years on earth, all of which came to a terrible ending when she was hung to death in front of a huge gathering of people sprawled across the hillside in Morganton.
In the actual version of Frankie’s hanging, she was hung from a rope stretched over a tree limb. She stood in the back of a horse-drawn wagon, and when the wagon rolled away, Frankie was left to dangle violently until she died, which took a while. The actual hanging was very sadistic and brutal. For this movie, we weren’t able to shoot that version for various reasons.
But we still wanted to show the last moments of Frankie’s life. So, we built a make-shift gallows to portray Frankie dropping when a trapdoor is sprung by the hangman’s command. She falls as the noose tightens, which snaps her neck and kills her. The crowd noise fades out as she dies, and Frankie silently twists in the wind as her soul departs her body.
Legends, even true-life ones, are always open to interpretation and dramatic license, especially a story from 200 years ago. Tell it the way you want to tell it, and invite people into the story and let them decide how they feel about it.
Ultimately, this movie shows Frankie's hanging in a way that people haven't seen before, even if it's not the literal hanging that some folks would like to watch. However, if any viewers come away from this movie curious about factual, historical details of Frankie and Charlie, there are several exhaustive books available.
The point of this movie is to remind people that Frankie and Charlie, and their daughter Nancy, were real human beings, and not just made-up characters in a mountain legend from 200 years ago. In fact, at the end, the movie shows real photos of Nancy Silver Parker, her husband David Parker, and Nancy's grave in Macon County. Nancy passed away in 1901.
So, it is with all due respect, that we enter this movie, The Hanging of Frankie Silver, into the ongoing, timeless legend of Frankie & Charlie.
In the end, Frankie & Charlie both suffered terrible tragedies, and both missed out on the last 50 years of their lives. But there is one bright spot in all the misery. They had a daughter named Nancy, who grew up to be a beautiful young woman, married a man named David Parker, and went on to have six children. Sadly, David died in the Civil War in 1865. Nancy lived another 36 years before passing away in 1901 at the age of 70. Nancy is buried in the cemetery at Mountain Grove Baptist Church in Macon County, NC.
Charlie is buried in three separate graves at Kona Church in Mitchell County, NC. That's a whole other story...
Descendants of Frankie & Charlie still gather together for family reunions.
One of the best contemporary songs about the legend of Frankie and Charlie is "Take It To The Grave" by the band Couldn’t Be Happiers, available on their UA-cam channel. Verse by verse, they tell the entire story.
This movie was produced, directed, and shot in 2012, and edited in 2024, by Chanse Simpson.
Email: KonaGraves@gmail.com
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Відео
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Legend
Beautiful ❤
I believe this is your.....zen! Proud of you...❤🎉🎉🎉🎉
If I had a barn as purdy as that , I could make a chair too. Aways amazed to see and learn from a craftsman like this. That barn was purdy too.....
Thankya ware co., awesome jam content !
Lovely story, and video....Very well done. Mr Buchanan is saying imortant things about work, industry, choices; Happiness in life which need repeating. It is classical, and stands up to the flow of time, history; But our society has turned its back on the healthy lifestyle and embraced the path of ease; To our demise. Beautiful chair, I've accomplished making one and hope to have several more . Thank you!
👌
Philosophies and sentiments are excellent you're a guy who actually loves what you do.
life and love the real way
Awesome!
I met Dave Sawyer in the early 1980S while I was a rural economic development consultant in the White Mts of NH. I paid him to travel around Maine and NH with me giving presentations in communities showing how micro manufacturing high value wood products was an effective strategy for Northern Appalachian towns. 45 years later it is gratifying to see his son continuing his dads work. I retired 4 years ago. At 74 I am doing green woodworking in Northern NY. I am finally following my own advice.
Love it❤
Beautiful work, I really like your simplicity and craftsmanship.
Wonderful video! always great to hear more about Red's life. That tune at the end was one of Red's compositions called "Grassy Creek" for anyone who was wondering.
I enjoyed this, Elizabeth. I like yer story and your style 👌.
Yep.There are things you need around the house and farm that you cant go and buy!
Rip popcorn Sutton you were a legend, thank you for teaching mark and digger they carry your torch to this dad, your legacy will live on through them.
So wonderful
I worked for David Sawyer Sr. in the early 1970s as an apprentis making laderbacks. He was a terrific natural teacher. These Windsors ARE beautiful.
I built one of your chairs and it turned out great, I loved every minute. I enjoy your vids and believe you are a true craftsman.
It's one thing to devote your life to a craft, it's quite another to teach others that craft to give them the same life.
Every time I hear this song I cry for popcorn an for his wife 😭 R.I.P. popcorn. Fuck you is right to say
Great!
Sure glad I found this video. Clearly incorporating glass and clay invigorates the metal in a way that I cannot achieve with patinas, so just as clearly I have a lot of learning to do. Thanks!
This man was(and is) a legend.Wonderful job with this song,your pretty & very talented.Popcorn lived and died his way,I respect the hell outta that!And I love the headstone,"Popcorn say"s" When I'm told something I don"t like ,I alway"s use that line.
"I don't do too many things on purpose" perfectly describes the sculpture I forged yesterday! Thanks for giving me the words, and for the inspiration.
It’s interesting to see plows on Mt Mitchell and the parkway down to NC-80. Maybe this is how things used to be. These days, the slightest gust of wind or rain even when the temps are in the 40s up there - as soon as the tourists have gone in early November - everything shuts (especially Asheville to Blowing Rock), so no need to plow. Same for pretty much the whole BRP. It’s a shame too for us locals (am in AVL) as we prefer it when it’s not touristy. To be fair, I presume budgets are far less now than they were when this was filmed, and it’s dangerous work. Maybe if we start charging tourists to use the Mt Mitchell park roads (and the parkway), more $ will be around for maintenance and things like this. For snow in winter, I tend to go up to Carver’s Gap near Roan Mountain. Regular state roads up there, but note the NC side is usually cleared well if there’s snow. The TN side - not so much.
Thanks for putting up your Red Wilson material. I was fortunate enough to visit Red on a number of occasions and made some audio tracks of him at impromptu sessions at his house. I didn't own a video camera at the time buy fortunately my wife was a photographer so we do have stills. There are several of the audio tracks here on You Tube. If you have more please keep them coming.
I can attest that popcorn likker was second to none. Allie sure does look like her mom
We miss you “Popcorn”
I like that Curtis came up totally away from the Dunbar branch of the tree. I spoke at length ...( I was a Windsor chairmaker for a long time)....for about an hour on the phone . Very nice guy. I live near David Sawyer , and had the pleasure of sitting in one of Curtis's chairs.
I can’t speak for all the folk in Alabama, but as for me he was a legend.
Brought tears to my eyes thanks for this
This was great! Thank you.
Love the fact you want to keep it still alive.
Awesom video!
Popcorn Sutton was a very good moonshine maker in the hole wide world everyone
I like that you do not need the wheel...or a kilim
" damn if I wouldn't do it bigger and better " 🥃 I'd say his still Elvis was pretty damn big . 😎
One of my favorite fiddlers there is. Red, Lester mccumbers, tommy jarrell, Kenny baker, and other old timers. The real old stuff. Thanks for recording this video for those likeminded like me who hope to keep sharing and playing old time Appalachian music like this for a real long time to come. From a fellow North carolinian born and raised in the good ole south. Good work
WowWonderful
love from the cook familiy
Terrible what happened but he won, much love 🤠🤘✌️♥️🪵🪨🎸🏞️
BEAUTIFUL... Makes my heart smile. Glad I ran into your channel today.
RIP POPCORN 🙏💯🤘
You're awesome 💯🤘 should have a deal. Then again you'd have to deal with the industry and I can tell your soul is intact 💯🤘🙏
Great and honor man
You have become an artist
molto brava una vera donna.
Thanks, Red!