Born February 3, 1929
Died June 12, 2000
Occupation: Alabama Ax Murderer.
Viola was Calhoun County, Alabama’s most infamous resident.
Virginia Viola Hyatt know by Viola was from the White Plains, Alabama area more commonly known as Rabbittown. Her mother died when she was a young child and she was raised alone by her father, Martin Hyatt until he married her stepmother, Jessie Wheeler. Jessie terrifed of Viola. She died the day Viola was scheduled to be released from prison.
June 28,1959 Emmett and Lee Harper met their maker.
The death certificates states June 28th, 1959 as their death date. Other records state the 27th.
Emmett and Lee were tenants at the Hyatt home living in a small trailer in the back of the property. The story goes that they were sexually abusing her and physical abusing her father and argued over the use of their car.
She confessed to the authorities that she shot the men in the face with a double barreled shotgun as they stood in the doorway of their trailer. Then she stated that she hung the bodies up on the door of the shed and dismembered them with a double bladed ax. It was also told by Hyatt that she then took the parts of the bodies, loaded them up in the family car and headed to different counties in Alabama and threw the body parts out of the car windows as she drove.
Viola spent several months, possibly 5 or 6, at Bryce Hospital in Tuscaloosa, Alabama under mental observation. Then she pled guilty and served 10 years of a life sentence.
In prison she was a model prisoner. Gave them no trouble and was the seamstress for either the Warden’s wife or Governor of Alabama wife. I will have to dig out my many boxes of information.
Question has always been on the minds of others as maybe she was a victim of sexual abuse as a child, if she had produced children and they died or were killed and fed to the hogs and if she actually committed the murders alone or had help by a family member and she took the blame. Whatever the reason or reasons this was a horrific crime and it still is alive and well in the minds of everyone that is still alive from that time.
I mentioned about the hogs on purpose. When I was a child the talk was she had a baby and it was fed to the hogs. I was fortunate enough to spend a good long time with the now owner of the Hyatt home in White Plains, Alabama. I told her the story I had always heard about Viola feeding a baby to the hogs. She told me that the story was very interesting to her that Viola had visited the home quite often before she died and she always talked a lot about the hog pen and they found that very interesting that she would be so interested in the hog pen area. You see Viola never talked about committing the murders after she was released and when she wanted to tell you something she talked “in circles.” She never would come out and say “I did this” and ” I did that,” but she would talk about things that would lead you to know the story.
I have a lot of newspaper articles, house pictures inside and out, pictures of her as a child and just boxes full of information that I am going to be posting here.
The day after this happened my grandfather took me to the scene. I do remember a lot of people there and the shed door where they were hung up and butchered up was bloody and had hair on it. I never will forget that scene. Forever etched in my mind.
Oh Viola why did you take your secret to the grave?
I hope to keep this story alive for many years to come.
Top photo, Viola’s purse and her shoes. The shoe was used to keep the storage building door closed.
Middle, photo, Outside picture of the Hyatt Home.
Viola’s bedroom. This is how it looks today. But this is where she slept as an adult.
Top photo, a barn on the Hyatt property.
Middle photo is inside her bible.
Bottom photo is a picture of Viola as a child. This was taken on the side of the house that is the same side as in the picture above. Look at those haunting troubled eyes.
Top photo, this was the tin that she was allowed to have in prison with her supplies. Notice she had a china cup and saucer. In this box also there was a dictionary that she had colored the page illustrations, pencils, horse figurine and a small bible I believe also was there.
Middle photo is her bible. Notice she always had an obsession with death. Wrote down everyone she knew death date.
Bottom photo, Her shoe. She was known for her “fashion.” Even in her jail cell she was allowed her robes and nice clothes. She was quite a celebrity and played it for what it was worth.
The front of the Hyatt House. Now I want you to click the photo and enlarge it. Look at the orbs that show up in the photo on the porch area. They look like smiling faces. Do you think this is the spirit of Emmett and Lee Harper still lingering around until the truth is discovered. It is strange that it shows up like this. We will never know I guess. Just click on the photo.
Check back.. I am going to post all the newspaper articles, official records and who knows maybe a diary will be found. The information I have tells the story.
Very interesting material. It would be nice to see a picture of Viola as an adult.
I knew Viola in her last 4 years and celebrated her last 4 birthdays with her. We never talked about her case but I was a cop and very interested. I’ve collected a few things over the years and would be interested in seeing what other people have of the most famous murders in Calhoun County.
Having done my family’s family tree, I am interested to find out if Viola also shared my family tree? Most likely, she is in my tree at some point. Would like to hear from others who have the family name of Hyatt in their tree.
Hey Patrinka,
Best wishes on researching your family tree. It can be fun to find an occasional notorious person roosting there. I can’t help you with the ancestry since my story about Viola Hyatt is meant only to keep the tale alive and to be an interesting read for those who like such things. There is a tremendous amount of interest in Viola. I posted the story on Scribd.com and it has gotten hundreds of reads–far more than anything else I have written.
Elton Camp
Elton4562@Yahoo.com
Shes like my aunts aunt now im scared i have a murderer in my family
That’s interesting to be able to claim such a notorious person among kinfolk. All families have their share of questionable kin.
Elton Camp
Viola’s father married my great-aunt Jessie to have someone to watch after Viola, although he would not support nor allow Aunt Jessie to discipline Viola.
We visited the Hyatt home between the time she killed the men and her arrest. I was four years old, and hyper, so she took me outside for a walk, and to the “trailer,” where she told me that she would be right back. She went inside and brought out a teddy bear. She gave the bear to me, stating that her boyfriend gave it to her, but they broke up, so she didn’t want it any longer.
I liked Viola, and remembered her wearing red lipstick. Red lipstick and such drew my attention, because I wanted to be fashionable when I grew up. I believe she was wearing dark blue overalls and a white shirt, but also red lipstick.
By the way, when we found out about the murders, my dad threw my Teddy Bear out of the car window. I don’t know why…the Teddy Bear was as innocent as I.
The Cynic Online Magzine has picked “The Scattering,” my story about Viola Hyatt and it is scheduled to appear in the October 16th issue. At Scribd.com the story has well over 1,500 reads so there is still a good bit of interest in the famous case. I thought some of you might be interested.
Elton4562@Yahoo.com
Thank you, Elton.
Hello, Elton,
Is the writing you published on Scribd.com titled “The Scattering”? I have searched for it, and saw many of your writings, but was not able to find the writing about Viola. Any ideas or hints on locating it would be appreciated. Thank you.
Elton, I was able to find your story on Viola, on Scribd.com. I read it, and find it fascinating. Most of what I have heard over the years came from family members, and I have been able to recall some details of the day we visited Aunt Jessie, and Viola was there, between the murders and the arrest.
Two things that I remember…the bright red lipstick (too much), was just as you wrote it. And the the places on the “trailer” where the shotgun marred the surface. She very quickly slipped inside, telling me to wait outside, because it was a “big mess” in the “trailer.” The structure, as I recall it, looked more like a shed than a trailer.
I wish you multiples times multiples of readers. Not only are older folks interested in Viola, but so are the younger ones who have heard parents and friends talk about her.
Virginia Viola Hyatt is related to me somewhere in the family tree to my great grandfather.
know one in my famil claims to know anything about her.
If anyone has any info please post it i want to know more!
Viola is my 1st cousin 1x removed by her mother, Virgie Laura Robertson. The “Aunt Gertrude” in the gift bible is the wife of my grand uncle, Grover Cleveland Robertson (We say “great uncle”). Our family research hits a dead end with him and his grandfather, Silas F Robertson. If anyone knows about him and his ancestors, please let me know.
Thanks,
cp
These two men were my dads uncles , My grandfathers brothers, he told me of having to help identify the bodies and how they were chopped into pieces. Both these men were veterans of foreign wars and I think one of them had been in the Battan death march. I wish I had gotten interested in this story alot sooner, as I assumed Viola had died a long time ago
Hey Rod,
It’s interesting to hear from relatives of the two men who were murdered. I avoided using their real names in my story in the event that they had living children or grandchildren, but of course the names are readily available on the Internet. It’s too bad that we can’t hear their version of events leading up to their deaths. I imagine there was plenty of “blame” on both sides.
Elton
Hello.
My mom and dad used to visit with Viola on Thanksgivings before she died. I met her when I was 2 years old. I didn’t know the story of what happened when I was that young but I found out when I was delivering food to her one Thanksgiving. She was such a sweet lady when I met her.
I was there at the farm a couple of days after the murders. I was 7 at the time. My Grandmother lived nearby.
Hey Blake,
Wow, rather gory place for a kid to be visiting, but there was a lot of interest in the horrible crime and the interest continues down to the present. How sad that Viola didn’t supply us with details after her release from prison.
Elton
http://www.scribd.com/doc/26589926/The-Scattering-Viola-Hyatt-Axe-Murderess
my dad took me over there the day it happened! his name was Travis Cheatwood and i was 9 years old…my name is Dennis Cheatwood from White Plains! had a brother named Butch…thats all i remember is pulling up in the drive way in our black ford truck..
I remember the murders and all the tales that were spun from this event. Many years later, I work for the telephone company. The phone lines were behind their farm house in the woods. Often we had to get access to the woods by driving thru a farm road next to the house. Phones line problems were often in that area, and the Hyatts had phone troubles as well. I got to know Viola through working on their phone line. Viola was a sweet lady. Often offering me a coke on hot summer days. No one has mentioned that Viola was mentally a simple person. I am not sure how to describe it, but her mental capacity was not up to full scale. She did not exhibit the ability to commit the gruesome murders. Perhaps if she were defending her Father, she could have done the murders. But someone else did the butchering and scattering of the bodies. She could have helped, I don’t know. But from by observations –she did not know how to drive. Didn’t have a drivers license. I don’t have any proof of any of this, but I dislike all the sensationalized accusations about Viola, whom from what I have known was a victim of circumstances. She was a nice lady and I think authorities at the Tutwiller prison could also vouch for that statement as well.