On a cold December morning in 1929, the Lawson family gathered on their farm outside Germanton, North Carolina, surrounded by the familiar rhythms of rural life. Christmas had arrived with the promise of family, faith, and a brief respite from the hardships of farm work. Only weeks earlier, Charlie Lawson had done something few families in the area could afford—he purchased new clothes, bought Christmas gifts, and arranged for a professional family portrait. It was a picture that captured an ordinary American family at what appeared to be the happiest moment of their lives. Within hours on Christmas Day, however, that photograph would become one of the most haunting images in American history, and the quiet Lawson farm would become the center of a mystery that has endured for nearly a century.

*correction: James is identified as being 16 years old, when he was really only 4. Apologies for the error.

SOURCES: 
1) Website of author, Trudy J. Smith
2) "The Meaning of Our Tears" by Trudy J. Smith
3) "White Christmas, Bloody Christmas" by Trudy J. Smith and M. Bruce Jones