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December 1, 2021 15 mins

Lindsay Byron

 

The story in Hookergate is fascinating in its own right, but host Lindsay’s charisma and enthusiasm draws you in from the start. And because of her family ties to the town in question, the storytelling feels raw and personal rather than random. This show is perfect for true crime lovers who are tired of murder and death but are still addicted to hearing real-life scandals unfold.

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Episode Transcript

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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Welcome to season two of the Next Great Podcast. I
Heart Radio and Tongle have once again teamed up to
bring you another round of amazing and unique voices. We're
excited to share these ten incredible podcasts with you and
need your help growning the winner. Check out the pilots
and be sure to vote for your favorite at Next

(00:23):
Great podcast dot com. Today's entry is Hooker Gate, Criminals
and Libertines in the South by Lindsay Byron. The story
is fascinating its own right, but host Lindsay's charisma and
enthusiasm draws you in from the start, and because of
her family ties to the town in question, the storytelling
feels raw and personal rather than random. This show is

(00:47):
perfect for true crime lovers who are tired of all
the murder and death but still love hearing real life
scandals on fold. I'm Lindsay by Her in from Atlanta, Georgia,
and you're listening to the pilot of Hooker Gate, Criminals
and Libertines in the South as part of the Next

(01:09):
Great Podcast competition from I Heart Radio and Tongle. There

(01:34):
was a certain thrill and a fear to be favored
by a man of his power. Her a woman barely grown,
just nobody, with a millman for a daddy and a
mama who mostly cried. Soon she'd have to report back
to Thomas Barker with his cut of her earnings. But

(01:54):
right now she was in a Cadillac with Commonwealth Attorney
Whitehead and one of his business associates, two big men,
just a hooting and hollering up front, while she bounced
like a pinball in the backseat. Whitehead steered from the

(02:14):
city into the country, bumping and grinding into gravel, deeper
and deeper into the blackness of this wild night. Where
are we going, the young woman asked. Whitehead took a
swig of whiskey and swung the car dangerously close to
a magnoia. He grinned, pleased as punch with himself as

(02:38):
he looked over his shoulder at the girl. He had
so many nice things. Elvis might be the king, but
Whitehead imagined himself not too far behind. We're going to
see my pet bool, he answered, going to see his

(03:00):
pet bull. Was there no end to the absurdity? I'm
the head loll dog round knees parts, white Head often bragged. Yet,
when he was between her thighs, he want nothing more
than a puppy panting her thoughts wandered to her secret lover,

(03:22):
a pretty young man, so unlike the Commonwealth attorney. Perhaps
the next day Whitehead would send his bag man to
pick up the payments. The pimps owed him two hundred
a week from Barker, three hundred from the boys down
at Hillcrest, another two hundred from Dowdy at fifty eight
truck stop. But not tonight. Tonight was for forgetting his

(03:48):
family name and his genteel wife, and all the rules
God or man ever made. Tonight, like many nights before
and many to follow, Attorney Whitehead would have his way,
but not for much longer. Trucks brothels run by a

(04:10):
web of x cons, a Commonwealth attorney wasted on whiskey
and power protection exchanged for cash and flesh. A brash
local reporter exposing it all. This is Hooker Gate, criminals
and libertines in the South. And I am your hosts.
Dr Lindsey Byron, author, historian and lifelong wayward woman. This

(04:36):
forgotten scandal happened in my hometown. Join me as I
use crumbling news clippings, interviews and dramatic reenactments to bring
to life for the first time in nearly fifty years,
this wild ride of hedonistic corruption that thrilled scared day

(05:09):
dreaming woman in the back seat. I don't know her name,
her thoughts, I can only imagine. I also imagine that
she and I share certain commonalities. I too, am someone
who didn't come from much but wanted to become a lot.

(05:29):
I too used my body to pave the way like
this woman. I'm from Danville, Virginia, a dying milltown where
not much good ever happens. Rearrange the letters and Danville
spells evil land. I grew up in the nineties. Tobacco
had once rained king in my hometown, but now oxy

(05:52):
Conton's had taken the throne, and the city's finest sons
snorted pills and broke their mama's hearts. These sins weren't discussed,
and we kids of my generation thought we had invented depravity.
Yet for years, my elders had insinuated that weak kids

(06:15):
didn't know half the story of this town. The seventies,
my aunt Beverly told me, were a wild time. This summer,
Beverly presented me with an armful of news articles. These articles,
now nearly fifty years old, her mother had carefully clipped

(06:38):
and secreted away in a trunk, discovered only after her death.
They told a tale of prostitution, political corruption, and ruined
lives that captured my imagination. Local reporters would colorfully name
this tangled web of crime hooker Gate, coming as it

(06:59):
did on the eels of Nixon's famous scandal. And why
did Beverly's mama clip and collect every article ever published
about Hooker Gate? Well, because her family was involved. I
would spend the next several months pouring over these collected articles,

(07:20):
pencil flying and imagination reeling. From these puzzle pieces of
official reportage, I put together the bald facts of this case,
adding to that equation the whispered secrets and memories of
those personally involved. I began to imagine the scenes, the hearts,

(07:41):
the love, and the loss of the human beings chronicled
in the official documents that remain. My aunt Beverly provides
the entry point into this tale. But don't be confused.
Her connection to Hooker Gate is about one hallway in
a labyrinth. Let's enter that labyrinth, shall we? Then, lindsay,

(08:02):
you know I'm gonna be saying some words wrong, but
I'm fine with it, Okay. My name is Beverly Shelton
and Lindsay Byron is my favorite niece on my husband's
side of the family. I asked Beverly if she could
remember her earliest encounters with this case. I mean, I

(08:26):
was a teenager, so I'm gonna tell it to you,
and the truth that I remember that it comes to me.
You know, we just grew up always hearing about a
lot of illegal activities involving some of their king folk.
But you know it was it was that hush hush stuff.
It was what you could hear kind of like through

(08:47):
the walls. It was like prostitution, house of ill repute.
I think it was called like the Red hen as
I remember, but it was a truck stop. They were
always gambling. There were drugs from what I hear, and
hell even possible homicides. But all of this came to
life when the newspaper articles came out that it was

(09:09):
involved in judges and a prosecuting attorneys and how I
was my uncle. It was a huge embarrassment to the family.
I mean, the secrets were out. You see, my aunt
Beverly had an uncle on her daddy's side, a man
with a taste for crime, drugs, and women. And this

(09:31):
uncle was a man her family had tried to forget,
but with such flamboyance, how could he be forgotten? He
and Janets stopped by the house on their way they
were handed out dancing for the night, and and we
kind of knew, you know, she was the madam of
the truck stops, and she was all decked out and
the clothes from the seventies and the fashion and lindsay

(09:55):
they had on meat coats, both of them. Then I
guess after they it around, kind of had a few
drinks something that said to Thomas. Now I don't know
what that was or what I remember his reply, He said, well,
I know what my wife is doing. Do you know
what your wife is doing? I thought that was funny.

(10:18):
Would it be fair to say that Thomas Barker was
a pimp? Oh? Absolutely, absolutely, Beverly's uncle Thomas Barker was
a pimp. Indeed, he was the co operator, along with
his wife Janet, of one of many truck stop brothels
that made up Danville's underground sex trade. That young woman

(10:39):
in the back of the Cadillac, daydreaming of her lover.
Perhaps she was one of Barker's girls. Rumors, after all,
have reported that Barker's girls were among the best in town.
Thomas Barker, however, was only one of many cogs in
this machine chronicled in the dusty ages found in a

(11:01):
dead woman's trunk. I asked my aunt Beverly how she
found these news clippings. My mother had passed away, and
my daddy called the children over and wanted us to
help him clean the garage out. And there was this
trunk in the garage, and Daddy said, oh, just throw
it away. So my brother carried the truck to my

(11:24):
sister's house, and when she opened it, it was full
of newspaper clippings, oh GUIDs, car accidents, obituaries, and then
there was a slew articles on Thomas Bardiker, Joseph Whitehead,
and Harold Downy, And so my sister and I we

(11:46):
put him in order by the year, and then we
put him in order by the mom and I I said,
this is a story here. Someone needs to write a book.
This is an Oscar winning movie. As that young woman
might have wondered as she bounced against the plush interior
of Whitehead's Cadillac. Is this entanglement worth it? Will I

(12:10):
get in trouble? Just how long can one man get
away with such flagrancy? If his blood is blue and
his political grips strong, Will lives be ruined? Will one
of those lives be mine? To calm her racing heart,

(12:32):
she thought again of her lover, that beautiful young man
so much like her, tangled and forces more powerful than
either of them, risking their lives in different ways for
some dreamed for come up. She sold her company, That's

(12:53):
the way she liked to phrase it, and he he
sold pills. And it was of him, she thought now,
as Whitehead skidded the Cadillac into a muddy embankment. She
hated to be awakened from this dream. She'd see her

(13:15):
lover again. He'd come by Janets for a re up,
and soon they would find themselves falling into back rooms
to make love, love love. That was what they made
until police found him dead in Thomas Barker's closet. Thank

(13:45):
you so much for listening to our pilot episode of
Hooker Gate, Criminals and Libertines in the South, and don't
forget to vote for us. We've got a real tangled
web to unwind for y'all this season. By the time
this scandal is over, six people would end up in

(14:06):
prison and innumerable other lives damaged. But before it was over,
there would be brawls, bribes, betrayal, death threats, dead bodies,
and a slice of life insight into the corruption and
desire hidden just below the surface in this the final

(14:28):
capital of the Confederacy and my hometown, Danville, Virginia. Welcome
to hooker Gate. You're in for a bumpy ride. Please
subscribe to hooker Gate wherever podcasts are available and leave
us a rating and review. This episode was researched and

(14:51):
written by yours truly, Lindsey Byron. Shout out to my
boy Guy Kelly, the man behind the music, sounds, gape apes,
and visual art for this podcast. I got. Let me
tell you one more crazy thing. When you were talking
about shocking and now, Lindsay, man, you just can't wrap

(15:14):
your hair around this. Hi. This is Sienna and Leanna
from Tossed Popcorn, last year's winner of the Next Great Podcast.
Thank you so much for listening to this episode and
be sure to go vote for your favorite at next
Great podcast dot com.
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