The prostitute that is, or was there a Molly Hatchet? I know I’m a little late for this party but I just fell in like with the band Molly Hatchet. Curious about the band name I started searching around the internet. The only thing I could find out was they were, “named after a legendary Southern prostitute who allegedly beheaded and mutilated her clients”. But I can’t find anything about MH the hooker. Even this site The 8 Most Infamous Killer Prostitutes of All Time list the others by their real name.
Plus killing your wealthy clients doesn’t make much sense business-wise. So was there an historical Molly Hatchet or urban legend?
Supposedly she was a prostitute from Salem named Abigail (Molly was a nickname) who murdered her clients with a hatchet in the 17th century. I’ve been poking around on the internet and google books though and only find references to this that are related to the band.
Haven’t thought about that band in a while. I worked security at Oregon Jam in 1980. Molly Hatchet, Blue Oyster Cult and Black Sabbath. Wild and crazy.
After more internet searching I have uncovered another story.
Molly Hatchet wasn’t a murderer. Instead, she was a pro-prohibition zealot who went around attacking saloons (not people) with a hatchet.
I wasn’t able to trace this back to anything real either.
I’m starting to think that this was something that was completely made up. None of the different versions (Molly/Abigail/prostitute/prohibitionist) seems to go back to anything real. I keep finding references that say she was a famous murderer or that history books or newspapers nicknamed her Molly Hatchet. If she’s so darn famous why can’t I find a single record of her existence?
I always assumed it was the band’s invention, derived from Molly Pitcher. Change three letters for a tougher-sounding name, and then make up a meaner-still story to go with it.
Six feet tall, 175 lbs. A “somewhat stern countenance” (read “a face that could stop clocks”). A mother that thought she was Queen Victoria. Volcanic temper. Prone to running amok with an axe in beer parlors. Hated alcohol because her husband took to drink; she thought demon rum ruined her marriage.
Igh…howinheck could someone be married to that and NOT take to drink??:eek:
Had it been me, I’d have probably skirted the niceties of demon rum and gone directly to a bullet in the brain.
p.s. sorry for the hijack, but I just HAD to get that off my chest
Continuing the hijack, and struck funny by the name “SeldomSeen”: I can’t find a copy on the web of my favorite Carrie Nation photographs, which I originally saw in a book on college pranks. Apparently, a Harvard drinking club with an ironic, sober name, once wrote to Ms. Nation about their club, and whadaya know, she turned up for a photo op. After an initial freak-out, they decided to have fun with it, and asked her to pose with them for some photos in their meeting room.
Well, the photographic process they employed required a black room for exposure, so when the lights went down, the props came out. The students outfitted themselves with bottles, mugs, cigars, and drunken expressions. The result: two pictures of a proud, stern Nation, surrounded by young men partaking in the vices she despised. They’re hilarious.
BTW, it was my understanding that Carrie Nation avoided civil suit for damages and more serious criminal penalties than she often got because Kansas was technically dry at the time, and the bars operating in plain view were actually illegal. The police were simply refusing to enforce a law unpopular with many people. So they charged her with things like “disturbing the peace”, rather than charges which would call attention to illegal businesses operating in broad daylight, with law enforcement ignoring them.
Ha! what a coup! those yalies had every right to be proud. It’s a wonder Ms. Nation didn’t go after them with her hatchet.
In re. the SeldomSeen thing, the name was taken from the character in the Edward Abbey novel The Monkey Wrench Gang, the polygamous jack-mormon river runner, Seldom Seen Smith. It was only after the fact that I discovered the name was also that of a famous show horse. Since I am often accused of dispensing …err…equine feces it’s probably appropriate.
