Two men rode into the frontier of Kentucky and Tennessee in the 1790s calling themselves brothers, and for years the roads they traveled swallowed travelers who were never seen again. This is the untold story of Micajah and Wiley Harpe.

Beginning in 1797, the Harpes moved west out of North Carolina into a country with no police, no telegraph, and long silent miles where a missing traveler was simply written off as gone. This video traces their build-up on the Tennessee frontier, the three women who followed them, the crimes that finally broke the frontier's silence, a Christmas capture and jailbreak, a governor's proclamation, and the posse that ended Big Harpe at the crossroads now called Harpe's Head. It follows Little Harpe's years on the run under a false name, his fate at Old Greenville in 1804, and the quiet ordinary lives the three women returned to afterward.

Researched from court records, contemporary newspapers, and historical archives. Archival images are public domain or used for historical commentary; where no photograph survives, imagery is illustrative.

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