Madison Dry Goods | Lawson Family Murder Museum

Posted: 01.13.2025 | Updated: 01.13.2025

While families gathered around, sharing the joy of Christmas Day, something sinister was brewing in Madison, North Carolina. Charlie Lawson, an otherwise well-mannered tobacco farmer, had a shotgun in hand and a malicious urge. In the silence of that peaceful holiday, as presents were being wrapped elsewhere, Lawson unraveled his life. The mass murder became a North Carolina legend. Its roots snake not just through the Lawson farm but also Madison Dry Goods and Country Store and the Browder Cemetery.

By nightfall on December 25, 1929, all but one of the close-knit Lawson family was dead.

Within two days, they were buried in a mass grave at the private Browder Cemetery, where one plot was donated. In between their deaths and burial, the Lawsons were tended to where the story of Charlie’s moment of insanity is told day after day. 

The lore of the Lawson family murders circulates within Madison Dry Goods and Country Store. It’s not just the related artifacts that relay details about that ill-fated day. The spirits of the restless dead have returned, bound to the country store.

Though Asheville sits over 150 miles from the site of the grizzly murders, the shock of that Christmas Day became widespread. It’s a piece of North Carolina history and likely a story you’ll hear after booking an Asheville ghost tour. 

What Happened at Madison Dry Goods?

Madison Dry Goods and Country Store is a unique haunted location. It’s not where the Lawson murders took place, yet still remains of one the most iconic haunted places in North Carolina. 

The bodies of Charlie, his children, and his wife were embalmed in the funeral home that once took up the second floor. It’s also where visitors to Madison, NC, will find the Lawson Family Murder Museum. Perchance, while exploring the history of that deadly day, guests may also have a run-in with one of the family’s forlorn spirits.

The Lawson Family History

Charles Davis “Charlie” Lawson was not the type anyone expected to commit such a heinous act. A modest sharecropper, Lawson brought his family to Germanton in 1918, following his younger brothers. 

At the time, Charlie and his wife, Fannie, had four children: Arthur, Marie, William, and Carrie. For two years, they lived without known incident. Then, on November 14, 1920, William passed away from pneumonia. 

Within two years of Wiliam’s death, the Lawson family expanded. In 1922, they welcomed Maybell, followed three years later by James. By 1927, around the same time Charlie purchased his own tobacco farm on Brook Cove Road in Madison, Raymond was born. The last member of the family, baby Mary Lou, was welcomed into the world in August 1929.

Come December 26, 1929, all but one of the family of nine was dead.

The Christmas Massacre of 1929

For over 90 years, curious minds have tried to decipher what happened to Charlie Lawson on the morning of Christmas 1929.

 Just days before, he had brought his family into Winston-Salem and treated them to new clothing. They all gathered for a photo to commemorate the occasion.

However, some believe it was a way to preserve the memory of a family he knew would be dead by the year’s end. After all, despite purchasing his own farm, Charlie wasn’t known for his wealth or being a spendthrift.

While the rest of the family enjoyed their Christmas morning, Charlie grabbed his shotgun and waited for the opportune moment. As the afternoon rolled around, Carrie and Maybell set off to visit their aunt and uncle. 

Instead, they found their father waiting by the barn, shotgun aimed directly at them. The first shots of that bloody day rang out across the farm. To ensure his daughters were dead, Charlie turned the shotgun in his hands and brought the butt down on them. 

Before moving to the house, Charlie placed Carrie and Maybell in the barn. He placed rocks beneath their head in what appeared to be an act of compassion or ritual. Then, he set out for the rest of the Lawson brood. 

Charlie found Fannie on the porch and fired. Inside, Marie heard the shotgun but didn’t run to hide like her brothers, James and Raymond. Charlie next killed Marie. Then, two more gunshots filled the air as the two young boys succumbed to their father’s madness.  

Even little Mary Lou couldn’t escape Charlie’s wrath and was tragically bludgeoned to death. 

The Final Christmas Day Death

As the blood of his wife and children seeped into the farm’s grounds and the grains of the home’s wood floors, Charlie ran from his home. A crowd started to form on the Lawson property, possibly drawn by the gunshots. While onlookers, including Charlie’s brother, surveyed the horrors before them, one last gunshot filled the air. 

Turning the gun on himself, Charlie pulled the trigger. The bullet pierced his heart, marking the last victim of his inexplicable killer spree.

 Why he ever turned on his family is a matter of debate. Some say madness. Others suggest he suffered a head injury.

The most nefarious claim, though, suggests he had an incestuous relationship with Marie. With his daughter pregnant with his baby, Charlie sought to prevent his dark secret from becoming public. 

Unfortunately for Charlie and the Lawson legacy, family members like niece Stella Lawson were told the truth by either Fannie or Marie. Stella kept the secret for decades but eventually spoke about it to Trudy J. Smith, who authored two books about the murders.

Arthur Preserves the Lawson Legacy

Though much of the Lawson family was home that Christmas afternoon, one was absent. Why Arthur was out changes from story to story, but it spared him his sibling’s fate. 

Having gone hunting that morning, it’s said that Arthur’s gun ran dry, and he decided to go to town for ammunition. Other versions claim Charlie sent him off, though there seems to be no known reason why he’d want his middle son to survive. 

After the murders, Arthur was on his own. His uncle Marion feared that the teen would not survive without his father’s income, so he got creative. Shortly after the murder became public, the Lawson property attracted vultures who mined relics and artifacts from the home. 

People were desperate for a piece of Lawson’s history. Some even picked away at the Christmas cake Fannie made, taking raisins as souvenirs. 

Seeing an opportunity for a moneymaker, Marion helped support young Arthur with tours of the home. For $.25, guests could visit the property and see where the Lawsons were gunned down. 

It may have been a morbid venture, but even Arthur joined the sensationalism. Taking pieces of furniture from the home, like Mary Lou’s crib, Arthur and Marion put the family’s life on display at local fairs.  

Arthur died in 1945 in a car wreck, but the Lawson Family Murders remained a well-known piece of North Carolina history. Even after Arthur’s passing, Lawson’s story continued to be told. This time, though, it was the dead that did the talking.

The Haunts of Madison Dry Goods and Country Store

The three-story building on the corner of North Market and West Murphy houses a country store on its first floor. Up one flight of stairs, though, visitors are transported back to 1929, to the day of the Lawson murders. 

Once the site of the T.B. Knight Funeral Home that embalmed the entire family, the second story now houses a free museum dedicated to that Christmas Day. It’s a small collection of artifacts and photos, including an image of Charlie laid to rest in his casket. 

The museum is more than just a collection of physical items. Through the years, visitors have claimed to catch glimpses of some of the deceased family. 

A common sighting is a young girl in white, known to present herself to other children specifically. Objects have also been spotted moving about on their own. 

The ghosts at Madison Dry Goods even attracted Netflix’s attention. In an episode of the network’s “28 Days Haunted,” psychic Brandy Marie Miller and demonologist Jerome Leonard spent 28 days in the museum. 

When the pair emerged, they did so with experiences of disembodied voices and another staple of active spirits: unstable electricity.

Legends of Haunted North Carolina

Tourists looking for things to do in Asheville have the opportunity to immerse themselves in North Carolina’s ghostly legends. On an Asheville ghost tour, tales of visitors from the other side showcase the best-haunted locations throughout North Carolina. Among them, Madison Dry Goods and Country Store. 

The tragic killings of the Lawson family may have occurred so long ago, but the ghosts that have manifested to make their story known bridge the gap between 1929 and today. 

Book your tour today, and be sure to follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok for more North Carolina haunts. Want to be kept up at night with frightful real tales of specters and apparitions? Then check out our blog and read more tales of murder and death, like the Lawson murder.

Sources:

• https://myfox8.com/miniseries/deadly-secrets
• https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/24143866/william-sanders-lawson
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5GYJhj3EAc
• https://www.nydailynews.com/2015/12/26/north-carolina-tobacco-farmer-murdered-his-wife-and-six-children-including-infant-daughter-in-1929-christmas-day-massacre/
• https://myfox8.com/miniseries/deadly-secrets
• https://www.dncr.nc.gov/blog/2016/12/25/story-lawson-family
• https://www.newsweek.com/28-days-haunted-madison-funeral-parlor-lawson-family-murders-1754536