The Six Mile Wayfarer Inn of death

Whether it be for business or pleasure, most of us have stayed in a hotel or motel. Although it's not home, we still expect good accommodations to at least make us feel at home. I have simple tastes and only need a bed and a shower. Today, we usually feel safe when we stay overnight while traveling.

However, if you stayed at the Six Mile Wayfarer House during the 1800s, you had to worry about being killed by highway robbery men. The Six Mile Wayfarer House was an attractive inn just six miles from Charleston, South Carolina. John and Lavinia Fisher owned the inn back in the early 1800s. They were a respected and attractive couple. The problem was John and Lavinia did more than rent rooms to weary travelers. They had a little secret.

The guests who checked in didn’t always leave alive.

The vanishing guests

Of course, when people disappear from your inn, someone will get suspicious. Concerned family members and friends contacted the police and asked them to investigate the inn. The police investigated and found no evidence of anything suspicious. After finding no criminal activity, they closed the case.

But you know how it is with rumors. Once they start, they continue spreading like a plague. Rumors persisted about people who continued disappearing from the inn.

In February 1819, a group of citizens investigated the matter without the police. Like the police, they found nothing. A man named David Ross stayed behind to watch for anything strange. The next morning, two men assaulted Ross, who saw Lavinia Fisher approaching. He assumed she had arrived to help him. He couldn’t have been more wrong. She grabbed Ross by his throat and tried to strangle him. He fought off the attackers and escaped from the inn. He went to the authorities for help.

Another potential victim had also arrived at the inn after Ross’ daring escape. While traveling to Georgia, a man named John Peeples stopped at the inn seeking a room. Lavinia Fisher told Peeples she had no available rooms, but she engaged in a conversation with him and brought him a cup of hot tea.

Although Lavinia seemed friendly, her husband John made Peeples feel uncomfortable with his continuous staring. Peeples also didn’t care for tea so he didn’t drink it, which saved his life. Lavinia left the room for a moment. When she returned, she told Peeples she had a vacant room for him.

While showing Peeples to his room, Lavinia began asking him personal questions, which concerned him. He didn’t understand why this stranger wanted so much information. Peeples had a suspicious feeling about the bed. He slept in a chair by the window until a loud crash woke him. The bed had vanished into a hole underneath the bed. He left immediately and went to the local authorities. Authorities returned to search the inn and found enough evidence to arrest the fishers.

John and Lavinia Fisher are tried for murder

Authorities discovered the Fishers were adding herbs to tea so visitors would pass out before being murdered. Authorities also investigated the disappearing bed and found dead bodies in the basement. While some reports claim authorities found at least 100 bodies, other accounts claim it was only a few bodies. Authorities learned the Fishers were part of highway robbery gang who murdered customers, robbed them and then hid their bodies. It’s unknown how many people the Fishers and their gang murdered. A jury convicted the Fishers of highway robbery—considered a capital offense at the time and punishable by death. The jury sentenced the Fishers to be hanged in February 1820.

Before the execution, John Fisher spoke to a local minister. He wanted to become a Christian before his execution. Lavinia refused to see the minister. She wanted no part of prayer or salvation.

In front of 2,000 people, John was hanged first. He asked the crowd for forgiveness and went peacefully. Lavinia took a different approach. It took several men to carry her to the gallows as she ranted and raved like a lunatic. She told the crowd if they had any messages to send to Hell, she would gladly deliver them.

Before the rope was tightened, she jumped from the scaffold and dangled until she died. Witnesses said she had the most evil facial expression. This ended the reign of terror by one of the earliest serial killer duos in American history.