Here's an episode from a podcast that you may enjoy. Presenting Gone South. This episode looks at the life and legacy of Buford Pusser, an iconic American law enforcement figure. The film "Walking Tall," starring Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, is based on Pusser's life as a cop. But recent revelations are turning Pusser's legacy on its head. Gone South, an Audacy original podcast, is available now on the free Audacy app and wherever you get your podcasts.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Chapter 1: Who is Buford Pusser?
Often told from the perspective of the perpetrator, the investigator, or both, Gone South explores not only the criminal mind, but also the distinctive culture and rich characters of the South. This episode is called The Real Buford Pusser Part One.
It chronicles the life of the iconic Tennessee sheriff who inspired several books, songs, and a half a dozen movies, including the 2004 remake Walking Tall, starring Dwayne The Rock Johnson. But recent findings suggesting Pusser played a role in his wife Pauline's death have called his legacy into question. Here's the episode.
Earlier this year, a listener sent us a link to an article in the Tennessean newspaper. The article was about the decision to exhume the body of a woman named Pauline Pusser.
New information tonight. Nearly 60 years after a sheriff's wife was shot and killed, the TBI exhumed her body and a deeper investigation into her death begins.
Pauline was the wife of Buford Pusser, the legendary Tennessee sheriff whose life story became the basis for a best-selling book and a handful of Hollywood movies, most notably, Walking Tall. In August 1967, Pauline was fatally shot in an ambush that left Buford seriously injured. She was 33 years old and a mother of three. Authorities never figured out who was behind the ambush.
Her death has remained unsolved for over 56 years. But according to the article, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, or TBI, had recently gotten a tip that caused them to reopen the case. To their surprise, they discovered that an autopsy had never been performed on Pauline.
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Chapter 2: What happened to Pauline Pusser?
Chapter 3: Why was Buford Pusser a controversial figure?
Chapter 4: What led to the investigation into Pauline's death?
Chapter 5: How did Buford Pusser's legacy begin?
Chapter 6: What role did the Dixie Mafia play in Buford's story?
Chapter 7: How did Buford Pusser become a folk hero?
Chapter 8: What were the circumstances of Buford's ambush?
By exhuming her body, the TBI said in a statement, they intended to answer, quote, critical questions and provide crucial information that could help them identify who was behind Pauline's death. I was familiar with the story of Buford Pusser and the ambush that killed his wife. We'd mentioned it in season two about the Dixie Mafia.
Buford had publicly blamed Kirksey Nix, the Dixie Mafia's supposed leader, for orchestrating the attack. When I asked Kirksey about it, he'd vehemently denied being involved. In fact, he said, officials had brought Buford to an Oklahoma prison to try and identify him, but Buford couldn't do it.
I have the Oklahoma Bureau of Investigation reports. where they brought him out to Oklahoma and he couldn't pick me out. They arranged for him to hear my voice and he couldn't pick me out.
As Kirksey put it, Buford was a criminal himself. He said the sheriff had taken bribes from a gangster associate of his in Mississippi.
Carl gave him $12,000 when he ran for office. He gave him $3,000 for every month he was in office. He was on the take. He was a dirty cop and he was a killer cop. Let them sue me for that.
Kirksey was never charged with Pauline's murder, and neither was anyone else. It was a 56-year-old mystery, one of the most famous cold cases in Tennessee history, and it looked like the TBI was on the verge of a breakthrough. But they weren't talking, and the article left a lot of questions unanswered. Like, why had an autopsy never been performed on Pauline Pusser?
And why had the TBI only just discovered this fact? Also, what was the tip that caused them to reopen the case? And who was the tipster? As I looked deeper into the story, though, I realized that this wasn't really an investigation into the death of Pauline Pusser. It was an investigation into the life of Buford Pusser.
Buford was a hero to a generation of Americans, a larger-than-life figure who inspired people to stand up to injustice. But now, the TBI was raising questions that would threaten that legacy. I'm Jed Lipinski. This is Gone South. The story of Buford Pusser reads a bit like a fable from the American South.
To tell it, we're going to start with Dwayne Johnson, otherwise known as The Rock, the star of the Fast and Furious franchise, the voice of Maui in Moana, one of the highest paid actors in Hollywood. But in the early 2000s, The Rock's film career was still uncertain. He was already a global wrestling sensation, but Hollywood had a long-standing stigma against pro wrestlers who tried to cross over.
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