For five generations, the Biggum family who lived near the Great P. D. River in Florence County, South Carolina

were known as a powerful and cruel family who took whatever they wanted.

Their name is associated with countless assaults and murders of people we may never

be able to name. But they became victims of their own greed and desired to control one another when one of their own greed and desire to control one another when one of their own

murdered five family members in 1921.

Welcome to Southern Mysteries, exploring history and mysteries of the American South.

I'm your host, Shannon Ballard, and this is the story of the Bigam family murders. In March of 1960, Edmond, the oldest convict in South Carolina's prison at Columbia was freed on parole after murder indictments

against him were dismissed.

The news came 33 years after Bigum had been imprisoned for the murder of five family members.

His death, two years after his release, marked the end of the Biggum clan, who left a legacy of murder and violence in their community of

Pampleco in Marion County which makes up modern day Florence County South

Carolina.

The Biggums were a prominent wealthy family with deep roots in the area of the Great P.D.

River, routes that date back to the revolution.

The Bigum legacy of violence includes countless assaults and murders stacked up

and associated with their name.

The family's wealth and status protected them from consequences and

convictions time and time again. The Biggum Patriarch Leonard Smiley Biggum Sr. had settled the family on the west side of the Pee

D River in the early 19th century. He proved to be a successful farmer whose plantation along Old River Road thrived.

Leonard Smiley Bigam Sr. was a cruel man who shot his slaves when he was in fits of rage and taught his son Smiley Jr. to follow in his footsteps.

Never let anyone get the upper hand or think they were equal.

Smiley Sr. was accused of murdering his own nephew,

...