Molly interviews Michael Edison Hayden about his new book, Strange People on the Hill: How Extremism Tore Apart a Small Town. The book is an intimate portrait of what happened in Berkeley Springs, West Virginia after a white nationalist group moved into the castle on the hill.
Preorder the book now or buy it anywhere books are sold when it comes out on April 7, 2026

https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/michael-edison-hayden/strange-people-on-the-hill/9781645030607/ 

Molly interviews Michael Edison Hayden about his new book, Strange People on the Hill: How Extremism Tore Apart a Small Town. The book is an intimate portrait of what happened in Berkeley Springs, West Virginia after a white nationalist group moved into the castle on the hill. Preorder the book now or buy it anywhere books are sold when it comes out on April 7, 2026
<a href="https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/michael-edison-hayden/strange-people-on-the-hill/9781645030607/">https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/michael-edison-hayden/strange-people-on-the-hill/9781645030607/</a>&nbsp;

Weird Little Guys is a weekly show about the worst people you’ve never heard of, taking you beyond the headlines to get to know the race warriors and aspiring terrorists trying to unravel the fabric of our society. Weaving together the origin stories of modern American white supremacist groups and the crimes that land their members in court, independent journalist Molly Conger exposes the monsters for what they really are - some weird guy. Whether they’re conspiring to build bombs or serving swastika shaped cookies at a dinner party, the weird little guys trying to destroy America are a little less scary with their masks off. 

Weird Little Guys is a weekly show about the worst people you’ve never heard of, taking you beyond the headlines to get to know the race warriors and aspiring terrorists trying to unravel the fabric of our society. Weaving together the origin stories of modern American white supremacist groups and the crimes that land their members in court, independent journalist Molly Conger exposes the monsters for what they really are - some weird guy. Whether they’re conspiring to build bombs or serving swastika shaped cookies at a dinner party, the weird little guys trying to destroy America are a little less scary with their masks off.

Investigative journalist Molly Conger takes you beyond the headlines to examine some of the worst people on the planet, most of whom you’ve never heard of. These are the weird little guys trying to ruin life as we know it.

Weird Little Guys

Strange People on the Hill feat. Michael Edison Hayden

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/fd32751f-0a7b-4344-a0ac-b4200116e07a/transcript

In the months leading up to the murder of Medgar Evers, the man who killed him was watching his world crumble. Byron de la Beckwith had dedicated his life to the cause of segregation, but it was a losing battle. The governor of Mississippi had backed down, allowing a second black student to enter Ole Miss. Governor George Wallace in Alabama backed down, too. Integration was creeping in all over. That, and his wife left him. 

Sources & Further Reading:

Doyle, William (2001). An American Insurrection: The Battle of Oxford, Mississippi 1962. Doubleday.

Lambert, Frank (2010). The Battle of Ole Miss: Civil Rights vs States’ Rights. Oxford University Press.

Massengill, Reed (2024). Portrait of a racist: Byron De La Beckwith and the Assassination of Medgar Evers. Univ. of Tennessee Press.

Metzl, Jonathan (2009). The Protest Psychosis: How Schizophrenia Became A Black Disease. Beacon Press.

Rolph, Stephanie (2018). Resisting Equality: The Citizens' Council, 1954-1989. Louisiana State University Press

Smith, Frank (1964). Congressman From Mississippi. Capricorn Books.

https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/library/national/race/100262race-ra.html 

https://egrove.olemiss.edu/citizens_news/index.3.html 

https://www.southernfoodways.org/the-greenwood-food-blockade/ 

https://snccdigital.org/events/leflore-county-cuts-off-surplus-commodities/ 

https://snccdigital.org/people/dick-gregory/ 

https://www.nytimes.com/2000/04/22/us/samuel-block-60-civil-rights-battler-dies.html 

https://www.crmvet.org/docs/src/6210_src_ns.pdf 

https://themilitant.com/1962/2633/MIL2633.pdf 

https://snccdigital.org/people/lawrence-guyot/ 

https://snccdigital.org/events/jimmy-travis-shot-greenwood/ 

https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/civil-rights-act/multimedia/medgar-evers-and-jackson-movement.html 

https://www.wlbt.com/video/2026/07/15/medgar-evers-historic-1963-wlbt-speech-missing-over-six-decades/ 

https://da.mdah.ms.gov/vault/projects/OHtranscripts/AU_MP198001_119_098611.pdf 

In the months leading up to the murder of Medgar Evers, the man who killed him was watching his world crumble. Byron de la Beckwith had dedicated his life to the cause of segregation, but it was a losing battle. The governor of Mississippi had backed down, allowing a second black student to enter Ole Miss. Governor George Wallace in Alabama backed down, too. Integration was creeping in all over. That, and his wife left him.&nbsp;
Sources &amp; Further Reading:
Doyle, William (2001). An American Insurrection: The Battle of Oxford, Mississippi 1962. Doubleday.
Lambert, Frank (2010). The Battle of Ole Miss: Civil Rights vs States&rsquo; Rights. Oxford University Press.
Massengill, Reed (2024). Portrait of a racist: Byron De La Beckwith and the Assassination of Medgar Evers. Univ. of Tennessee Press.
Metzl, Jonathan (2009). The Protest Psychosis: How Schizophrenia Became A Black Disease. Beacon Press.
Rolph, Stephanie (2018). Resisting Equality: The Citizens' Council, 1954-1989. Louisiana State University Press
Smith, Frank (1964). Congressman From Mississippi. Capricorn Books.
<a href="https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/library/national/race/100262race-ra.html">https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/library/national/race/100262race-ra.html</a>&nbsp;
<a href="https://egrove.olemiss.edu/citizens_news/index.3.html">https://egrove.olemiss.edu/citizens_news/index.3.html</a>&nbsp;
<a href="https://www.southernfoodways.org/the-greenwood-food-blockade/">https://www.southernfoodways.org/the-greenwood-food-blockade/</a>&nbsp;
<a href="https://snccdigital.org/events/leflore-county-cuts-off-surplus-commodities/">https://snccdigital.org/events/leflore-county-cuts-off-surplus-commodities/</a>&nbsp;
<a href="https://snccdigital.org/people/dick-gregory/">https://snccdigital.org/people/dick-gregory/</a>&nbsp;
<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2000/04/22/us/samuel-block-60-civil-rights-battler-dies.html">https://www.nytimes.com/2000/04/22/us/samuel-block-60-civil-rights-battler-dies.html</a>&nbsp;
<a href="https://www.crmvet.org/docs/src/6210_src_ns.pdf">https://www.crmvet.org/docs/src/6210_src_ns.pdf</a>&nbsp;
<a href="https://themilitant.com/1962/2633/MIL2633.pdf">https://themilitant.com/1962/2633/MIL2633.pdf</a>&nbsp;
<a href="https://snccdigital.org/people/lawrence-guyot/">https://snccdigital.org/people/lawrence-guyot/</a>&nbsp;
<a href="https://snccdigital.org/events/jimmy-travis-shot-greenwood/">https://snccdigital.org/events/jimmy-travis-shot-greenwood/</a>&nbsp;
<a href="https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/civil-rights-act/multimedia/medgar-evers-and-jackson-movement.html">https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/civil-rights-act/multimedia/medgar-evers-and-jackson-movement.html</a>&nbsp;
<a href="https://www.wlbt.com/video/2026/07/15/medgar-evers-historic-1963-wlbt-speech-missing-over-six-decades/">https://www.wlbt.com/video/2026/07/15/medgar-evers-historic-1963-wlbt-speech-missing-over-six-decades/</a>&nbsp;
<a href="https://da.mdah.ms.gov/vault/projects/OHtranscripts/AU_MP198001_119_098611.pdf">https://da.mdah.ms.gov/vault/projects/OHtranscripts/AU_MP198001_119_098611.pdf</a>&nbsp;

Rabid on the Subject of Segregation: Byron de la Beckwith, Pt 4

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/e2f839b1-95d7-496b-8a99-b49700051916/transcript

In 1954, the Supreme Court ruled that racial segregation in public schools was unconstitutional. Segregated schools didn't react right away, but segregationists did. Within months, the Citizens' Councils began to form in counties across Mississippi. And Byron de la Beckwith was one of the group's earliest and most enthusiastic members.

Sources & Further Reading:

Massengill, Reed (2024). Portrait of a racist: Byron De La Beckwith and the Assassination of Medgar Evers. Univ. of Tennessee Press.

Rolph, Stephanie (2018). Resisting Equality: The Citizens' Council, 1954-1989. Louisiana State University Press

Silver, James W (1963). Mississippi: The Closed Society. Harcourt Brace & World Inc.

Vollers, Maryanne (1995). Ghosts of Mississippi. Little Brown & Company.

Williams, Michael Vinson (2011). Medgar Evers: Mississippi Martyr. The University of Arkansas Press

Cook, James Graham (1962). The Segregationists. Appleton Century Crofts

McMillen, Neil (1971). The Citizens’ Council: Organized Resistance to the Second Reconstruction, 1954-1964. University of Illinois Press

Mendelsohn, Jack (1966). The Martyrs. Harper & Row

https://www.mississippifreepress.org/buried-truth-unresolved-disregarded-lamar-smith-murder-haunts-lincoln-county/

Cashion, S. A. (2013). "And So We Moved Quietly": Southern Methodist University and Desegregation, 1950-1970. Graduate Theses and Dissertations 

Delao, Frank Delao, "Containing Communism in Texas: How the Right Interpreted the Cold War, 1945-1965" (2016).Open Access
Theses & Dissertations. 633

Rich, Evelyn (1988). "Ku Klux Klan Ideology, 1954-1988" Graduate Theses and Dissertations 

https://supremecourthistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Volume-37-Number-3-2012.pdf

https://usm.access.preservica.com/uncategorized/SO_eea548ac-a609-4b6f-be15-7ae300c2206b

https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2017/7/27/al-aqsa-one-encroachment-too-many 

In 1954, the Supreme Court ruled that racial segregation in public schools was unconstitutional. Segregated schools didn't react right away, but segregationists did. Within months, the Citizens' Councils began to form in counties across Mississippi. And Byron de la Beckwith was one of the group's earliest and most enthusiastic members. Sources &amp; Further Reading: Massengill, Reed (2024). Portrait of a racist: Byron De La Beckwith and the Assassination of Medgar Evers. Univ. of Tennessee Press. Rolph, Stephanie (2018). Resisting Equality: The Citizens' Council, 1954-1989. Louisiana State University Press Silver, James W (1963). Mississippi: The Closed Society. Harcourt Brace &amp; World Inc. Vollers, Maryanne (1995). Ghosts of Mississippi. Little Brown &amp; Company. Williams, Michael Vinson (2011). Medgar Evers: Mississippi Martyr. The University of Arkansas Press Cook, James Graham (1962). The Segregationists. Appleton Century Crofts McMillen, Neil (1971). The Citizens&rsquo; Council: Organized Resistance to the Second Reconstruction, 1954-1964. University of Illinois Press Mendelsohn, Jack (1966). The Martyrs. Harper &amp; Row <a href="https://www.mississippifreepress.org/buried-truth-unresolved-disregarded-lamar-smith-murder-haunts-lincoln-county/">https://www.mississippifreepress.org/buried-truth-unresolved-disregarded-lamar-smith-murder-haunts-lincoln-county/</a> Cashion, S. A. (2013). "And So We Moved Quietly": Southern Methodist University and Desegregation, 1950-1970. Graduate Theses and Dissertations Delao, Frank Delao, "Containing Communism in Texas: How the Right Interpreted the Cold War, 1945-1965" (2016).Open Access Theses &amp; Dissertations. 633 Rich, Evelyn (1988). "Ku Klux Klan Ideology, 1954-1988" Graduate Theses and Dissertations <a href="https://supremecourthistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Volume-37-Number-3-2012.pdf">https://supremecourthistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Volume-37-Number-3-2012.pdf</a>
<a href="https://usm.access.preservica.com/uncategorized/SO_eea548ac-a609-4b6f-be15-7ae300c2206b">https://usm.access.preservica.com/uncategorized/SO_eea548ac-a609-4b6f-be15-7ae300c2206b</a>
<a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2017/7/27/al-aqsa-one-encroachment-too-many">https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2017/7/27/al-aqsa-one-encroachment-too-many&nbsp;</a>

Black Monday: Byron de la Beckwith, Pt. 3

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/d7bc2d92-80bf-4274-b326-b48f016c42e1/transcript

Byron de la Beckwith and Medgar Evers never met. Evers didn’t even see the man who killed him. But the man and his killer grew up a hundred miles apart, fought in the same war, worked similar jobs, and were both deeply invested in the outcome over the fight for integration.

Sources & Further Reading:

Massengill, Reed (2024). Portrait of a racist: Byron De La Beckwith and the Assassination of Medgar Evers. Univ. of Tennessee Press.

Mendelsohn, Jack. (1966) The martyrs : sixteen who gave their lives for racial justice. Harper & Row 

Vollers, Maryanne (1995). Ghosts of Mississippi. Little Brown & Company.

Rolph, Stephanie (2018). Resisting Equality: The Citizens' Council, 1954-1989. Louisiana State University Press

Williams, Michael Vinson (2011). Medgar Evers: Mississippi Martyr. The University of Arkansas Press

Evers, Charles and Andrew Szanton (1997). Have No Fear: The Charles Evers Story. John Wiley & Sons Inc

Tisale, John (1996). Medgar Evers (1925-1963) and the Mississippi Press. Doctoral Dissertation, University of North Texas

Sheridan, Louis (2021) "Patriotism Betrayed: How the U.S. Military Resegregated From 1913-1939," Historical Perspectives: Santa Clara University Undergraduate Journal of History, Series II : Vol. 26, Article 11.

Donaldson, Le'Trice, "A Legacy All Their Own: African American Soldiers Fight for Citizenship, Race, and
Manhood, 1870-1920" (2015). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 1167.
https://digitalcommons.memphis.edu/etd/1167

Hartgrove, W. B. “The Negro Soldier in the American Revolution.” The Journal of Negro History, vol. 1, no. 2, 1916, pp. 110–31. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/3035634. 

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1963/07/06/where-is-the-voice-coming-from

https://da.mdah.ms.gov/series/welty/welty-manuscripts/weltys08

https://press.bobmizer.org/releases/instant-gratification

https://www.nytimes.com/1994/03/20/books/my-uncle-the-bigot.html

https://www.history.com/articles/battle-of-tarawa

https://dpaa-mil.sites.crmforce.mil/Tarawa/InvasionCasualties

https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/marine-killed-battle-tarawa-laid-rest-80-years-later

https://www.oyez.org/about-audio 

https://www.army.mil/article/97705/black_soldiers_in_the_revolutionary_war

https://diaryofahistorian.com/2013/03/05/for-evers-his-is-a-story-that-must-be-told-and-retold-too-few-young-people-know-his-story-and-that-is-a-tragedy-greater-than-his-untimely-death/

https://rediscovering-black-history.blogs.archives.gov/2021/11/10/african-american-seamen-of-the-antebellum-era/

https://www.armyupress.army.mil/Portals/7/combat-studies-institute/csi-books/CombatMultipliers.pdf

Byron de la Beckwith and Medgar Evers never met. Evers didn&rsquo;t even see the man who killed him. But the man and his killer grew up a hundred miles apart, fought in the same war, worked similar jobs, and were both deeply invested in the outcome over the fight for integration.
Sources &amp; Further Reading:
Massengill, Reed (2024). Portrait of a racist: Byron De La Beckwith and the Assassination of Medgar Evers. Univ. of Tennessee Press.
Mendelsohn, Jack. (1966) The martyrs : sixteen who gave their lives for racial justice. Harper &amp; Row&nbsp;
Vollers, Maryanne (1995). Ghosts of Mississippi. Little Brown &amp; Company.
Rolph, Stephanie (2018). Resisting Equality: The Citizens' Council, 1954-1989. Louisiana State University Press
Williams, Michael Vinson (2011). Medgar Evers: Mississippi Martyr. The University of Arkansas Press
Evers, Charles and Andrew Szanton (1997). Have No Fear: The Charles Evers Story. John Wiley &amp; Sons Inc
Tisale, John (1996). Medgar Evers (1925-1963) and the Mississippi Press. Doctoral Dissertation, University of North Texas
Sheridan, Louis (2021) "Patriotism Betrayed: How the U.S. Military Resegregated From 1913-1939," Historical Perspectives: Santa Clara University Undergraduate Journal of History, Series II : Vol. 26, Article 11.
Donaldson, Le'Trice, "A Legacy All Their Own: African American Soldiers Fight for Citizenship, Race, and Manhood, 1870-1920" (2015). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 1167. <a href="https://digitalcommons.memphis.edu/etd/1167">https://digitalcommons.memphis.edu/etd/1167</a>
Hartgrove, W. B. &ldquo;The Negro Soldier in the American Revolution.&rdquo; The Journal of Negro History, vol. 1, no. 2, 1916, pp. 110&ndash;31. JSTOR, <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/3035634">https://doi.org/10.2307/3035634</a>.&nbsp;
<a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1963/07/06/where-is-the-voice-coming-from">https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1963/07/06/where-is-the-voice-coming-from</a>
<a href="https://da.mdah.ms.gov/series/welty/welty-manuscripts/weltys08">https://da.mdah.ms.gov/series/welty/welty-manuscripts/weltys08</a>
<a href="https://press.bobmizer.org/releases/instant-gratification">https://press.bobmizer.org/releases/instant-gratification</a>
<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1994/03/20/books/my-uncle-the-bigot.html">https://www.nytimes.com/1994/03/20/books/my-uncle-the-bigot.html</a>
<a href="https://www.history.com/articles/battle-of-tarawa">https://www.history.com/articles/battle-of-tarawa</a>
<a href="https://dpaa-mil.sites.crmforce.mil/Tarawa/InvasionCasualties">https://dpaa-mil.sites.crmforce.mil/Tarawa/InvasionCasualties</a>
<a href="https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/marine-killed-battle-tarawa-laid-rest-80-years-later">https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/marine-killed-battle-tarawa-laid-rest-80-years-later</a>
<a href="https://www.oyez.org/about-audio">https://www.oyez.org/about-audio</a>&nbsp;
<a href="https://www.army.mil/article/97705/black_soldiers_in_the_revolutionary_war">https://www.army.mil/article/97705/black_soldiers_in_the_revolutionary_war</a>
<a href="https://diaryofahistorian.com/2013/03/05/for-evers-his-is-a-story-that-must-be-told-and-retold-too-few-young-people-know-his-story-and-that-is-a-tragedy-greater-than-his-untimely-death/">https://diaryofahistorian.com/2013/03/05/for-evers-his-is-a-story-that-must-be-told-and-retold-too-few-young-people-know-his-story-and-that-is-a-tragedy-greater-than-his-untimely-death/</a>
<a href="https://rediscovering-black-history.blogs.archives.gov/2021/11/10/african-american-seamen-of-the-antebellum-era/">https://rediscovering-black-history.blogs.archives.gov/2021/11/10/african-american-seamen-of-the-antebellum-era/</a>
<a href="https://www.armyupress.army.mil/Portals/7/combat-studies-institute/csi-books/CombatMultipliers.pdf">https://www.armyupress.army.mil/Portals/7/combat-studies-institute/csi-books/CombatMultipliers.pdf</a>

Sons of Mississippi: Byron de la Beckwith, Pt. 2

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/173a440f-5115-4650-9f10-b488016a206c/transcript

Strange People on the Hill feat. Michael Edison Hayden

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