The murder of Laura Foster in 1866 has been the source of many legends and both in fiction and non-fiction it has inspired many authors.<br/><br/>The murder, which in the end led to the conviction and execution of Thomas C. Dula, also inspired the famous song, The Ballad of Tom Dooley. <br/><br/>In this book I go through the surviving records from the time and tell the story based on these facts, before I try to give my own explanation of what actually happened in Western North Carolina in the difficult times following the American Civil War.