Popcorn Sutton   

 

 

 By JR Hafer

 

 

Marvin “Popcorn” Sutton

Oct. 5, 1946 – March 16, 2009

 

 

Author’s note: When I first wrote this article for Grubstreet Magazine in January, 2007 I had no idea between that time and his death in March 2009, this article would be read by over two and a half million people. As I work on a book entitled The Legend of Popcorn Sutton and the website of the same name, I must include this first article. Perhaps this will give you, the reader, background for your understanding of the man himself. Enjoy reading it and your comments and suggestions are welcome. Email to: JRHafer@yahoo.com  

 

The Great Smoky Mountains border western North Carolina, southwestern Virginia and the Blue Ridge peaks, of eastern Tennessee. I hold the Appalachians dear to my heart. I will forever.

 

I get a little homesick imagining the cool crisp morning air, the aroma of burning oak and pine, wafting through the air. I get homesick thinking of the log cabins, along the trails that I once walked. Each cabin, with a stone chimney belching wisps of smoke. I remember the scent of flapjacks and pan bread cooking in an iron skillet and coffee boiling over a wood fire, Mix these memories, with the sounds of the forest and the wildlife wakening, and it is as good as life gets.

 

I have been most fortunate to meet many different people. Each touched me, adding seasoning to my life. None made a deeper impression on me than Marvin “Popcorn” Sutton. He’s a storied mountain man, from Maggie Valley, North Carolina. Perhaps Popcorn is the single biggest draw of tourists to the hamlet.

 

The “old time” mountain people and their way of life is rapidly disappearing. There are still secluded mountain folk deep in the bowels of Appalachia, but they don’t make much contact, with the outside world. They are getting harder to find, every day. They are very protective of their own and suspicious of all outsiders. Mountain folk often become hostile and certainly unsociable with those who intrude and bring thoughts of change with them.

 

 

Popcorn Sutton and his Moonshine are different. Popcorn’s been the topic of television documentaries and news coverage, for years. He’s the mountain man of Maggie Valley: the one you can find.

 

A mountain man, in the lore, lives a simple life. Popcorn, for example, uses little modern technology, drives a model “T” Ford, with a still in the back. He lives in a one room shanty, with a wood-burning stove, for cooking and heat.

 

I laugh, heartily, when I see or hear some of the reports about Popcorn. I know the story of Popcorn Sutton. He’s told me some of the stories himself. He’s especially proud of his skill with the women and moonshine.

 

Tourists pay $3 to have their picture taken, with Popcorn. Often, a tourist buys a jug of his home-made Moonshine. They swallow all the stories told about him, too, but the stories don’t come back up.

 

I must tell you, Popcorn Sutton is good as a marketer and self-promoter as I have ever seen. He could teach Madison Avenue a lesson or two. His autobiography, “Me and My Likker,” is a testament to that fact. You can buy a copy, of his autobiography, when you stop to have your picture taken with Popcorn.

 

I am getting ahead of myself. Let me back up, a bit. Certain parts of Southeastern Tennessee, Western North Carolina and Southwestern Virginia, historically, are famous for people, events and places other than the beautiful and colorful fall foliage colors or breathtaking mountain views.

 

Race car drivers, Moonshine and mountain folks were the pop culture stars of mountain lifestyle, in movies and distance memories. I am glad I was able to sample that time before it faded away and became just a memory. Junior Johnson, the race car owner and driver was hauling moonshine liquor at the age of 14. He lived in North Wilkesboro, North Carolina (NC), when I lived a few miles, up the road, in Catawba County.

 

Wendell Scott was the first Black to race in NASCAR. He ran moonshine on the back roads of Pittsylvania County. When I went to military school, in Chatham, Virginia, during the late 1950s, Scott was our version of the Headless Horseman.

 

Not far from my military school is Climax, Virginia. Climax is home to the annual Moonshiners Jamboree. When Popcorn Sutton attends the Jamboree, he is the centre of attention. He’s the centre of attention wherever he goes.

 

For those who don’t know about moonshine, here’s a brief primer. The word moonshine comes from a phrase, common, at one time, in the United Kingdom. Moonshining, of course, meant working at night, usually out-of-doors; working while the mood shines.

 

The early morning edition, of a newspaper, is the lobster edition, for much the same reason. Typesetters and printers worked through the night, in poor and stark light, to get the early edition published. When they stumbled, out of the press room, around dawn, their eyes were dry and bright red, from rubbing. Passers-by called them lobsters.

 

Makers, of illegal whisky, worked covertly and usually at night. They were moonshiners. Therefore the term for their product, moonshine.

 

One summer, my brother Andy rented a house trailer from Popcorn. Sometimes, Andy and Popcorn, would sit on the porch drinking and talking. Andy introduced me to the old moonshiner.

 

 

 

 

Popcorn Sutton is an artisan. There’s no doubt about it, and he’s known all over the USA for making of the finest Moonshine. Andy and I visited him a couple years ago. Popcorn, Andy and I spent some time reminiscing. Afterward we decided to buy a jar to take home with us. When Andy drank some of it he turned red and said “Whoowa” in a husky hoarse voice. I didn’t have the courage. I’m older and wiser than my brother.

 

Popcorn has a volatile temper, too. He always carries a pistol and a couple wads of bills in his bib overalls. He showed us his .38 caliber pistol, so we knew not to pull anything rash. Then he pulled out a thick roll of bills from his overalls. Andy didn’t have any money and of course I had to pay for Moonshine. Did I say I was the wiser sibling? Well, maybe no? I never did get my money back.

 

Popcorn has a scraggily, rat’s nest beard. His thin stature gives him the look of an old mountain man. He’s 61, according to police records.

 

Once, years ago, Popcorn was in a saloon, in Western North Carolina. He was telling his tall tales and downing rotgut. The saloon had a new popcorn machine. Sutton staggered over and put his money in the new contraption. The machine ate his money, but did not yield any popped corn. He lost his temper, pulled out his 38 caliber gun, and shot the machine. He had to pay for the damages, to the popcorn machine, and since then has been known as “Popcorn” Sutton.

 

Moonshine hauling race car drivers have given way to the slick young NASCAR drivers. Most mountain folk have moved to the city. Some bought a condominium in Florida.

Summers, tourists flood the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains. State Tourism tells visitors to go to Cherokee, for see the Indian crafts Visit Grandfather Mountain and experience the famous swinging bridge. Linville has a gorge worth the side trip. Oh, yes, go to Maggie Valley and meet Popcorn Sutton. Popcorn is a tourist attraction as sure as is the Blue Ridge Parkway.

Popcorn Sutton is renowned for custom-made stills and Moonshine. He lectures anyone about his stainless steel “stills” and his “top shelf” Moonshine. Expect your lecture anytime and anywhere.

 

The recognized senior spokesperson for all the moonshiners in Western North Carolina, Popcorn Sutton is not shy when talking about his work and giving demonstrations of his working still in the bed of his model “T” pick-up truck.

 

Not long ago, while sitting in his model “T,” waiting for a parade to start, Popcorn fired up his still and sold Moonshine, from the curb. Yep, did good business, on the street, in front of God and County. Popcorn is not a man to miss an opportunity.

 

As you travel, through Maggie Valley, on state highway 74, when you start up the mountain there is an old, oblong shed. It was once was a roadside market. The rusted tin roof sits atop unsound walls. Some boards, of the weather-worn walls, are falling away. The grass is long, growing around the old, rusted metal objects, which are lying around. There is an old two horse wagon, an abandoned car, discarded ploughs and rusted metal barrels filled with trash. There is an old wooden sign nailed to the side of the building that says, “Have yur pitcher taken with a real moonshiner $5.00.” The news media calls Popcorn Sutton’s junky old building an “antique store.” There are no antiques there and no store.

 

Popcorn told Andy and me, straight out, that he had to find a large tanker truck to fill an order of moonshine. A large tanker truck can haul 7 or 8 thousand gallons. Now, that’s a lotta hooch!

 

Every community has its characters and clowns. Some character are public facades, others are naturally weird. Popcorn Sutton is the “real deal.” Being a mountain man carries a philosophy and a lifestyle as well as the public persona.

Popcorn’s philosophy, to hear him tell it, is to make the best whiskey and live the life of a true mountain man; dedicated to that task puts it mildly. He’s also dedicated to promoting himself, his book and his documentary film. Oh yes, he has made a good living at it, too.

 

The local law understands Popcorn Sutton. His ability to attract many tourists, who spend money in town, which helps to pay municipal bills is an unspoken blessing. When the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) comes calling, as in 1974, 1981 and 1985, it makes an example of old Popcorn. The ATF charge him with, you guessed it, moonshining. The ATF likes to visit around election time.

 

Popcorn Sutton is smarter than he looks and knows the old mountain saying “Even an animal don’t (defecate) where he eats.” People take for granted that Popcorn lives in Maggie Valley. Other than the fact he has a post office box and sells his goods in Maggie Valley, that’s only an assumption. He lives 65 miles away, in one of the oldest towns in Tennessee.

 

Parrottsville, Jonesboro and Dandridge are the oldest towns in Tennessee. Popcorn lives in Parrottsville settled, in 1769, by John Parrott, who a tavern. Andrew Jackson supposedly stopped for a drink on his way to his inauguration.

Recently, the local volunteer fire department raced to 324 Upper Road, close to Parrottsville, The fire service responded to an anonymous caller, reporting a blaze in a building, on the property owned by Marvin “Popcorn” Sutton.

 

When the fire department responds, so does the sheriff’s department. Popcorn arrived shortly after the police did. Someone said he was asking them, nicely, not to report what they found in the building.

 

For years, the Sheriff of Cocke County, which includes Parrottsville, turned a blind eye to many illegal acts. Any trucker, who passed Newport Tennessee on I-40, in the 1960s and 1970s, can tell you about blind justice. Brothels, lining both sides of the road, flourished, immune, it seems, from the law.

 

The criminal climate changed in Cocke County, in 2008. There’s a continuing undercover investigation, by federal law enforcement. The brothels closed. An undercover agent bought 800 gallons of the clear liquid firewater. Seemingly harmless events are no longer ignored.

 

I think Jason Sandford, of the “Mountain Xpress News,” summed up the circumstances best: “So the news of Popcorn’s arrest brought with it a tinge of nostalgia and a bit of regret another mountain tradition is coming to an end. Perhaps no other enduring image the mountain moonshiner better embodies these traits: stubborn independence, dogged persistence and a little ingenuity.”

 

Although Popcorn Sutton looks much older from a distance or a passing car, he’s 61; not especially old these days. I’ve heard some talk that he was in his nineties. The rumors feed his myth, well. Where he will spend the balance of his life is now in question.

After the fire, and subsequent search of the property owned by Marvin Popcorn Sutton turned up many interesting goodies. Federal agents found three working stills, a 1000 gallon tank, 800 gallons of finished moonshine and a hundred gallons of corn mash. This was according to a news release by the U. S. Attorney’s office. Popcorn Sutton faces possession of firearms charges, which is a violation of his probation for past felony convictions.

 

I might be one of the first to encourage the Great States, of Tennessee and North Carolina, to name Marvin Popcorn Sutton a “Historical Figure” or Tourist Attraction as he has surely contributed to the tourist trade of Maggie Valley and the Great Smoky Mountains.

 

Local, self-proclaimed moonshine expert busted
Posted: March 14, 2008 05:52 PM EDT

By ANN KEIL
6 News Reporter

 

PARROTTSVILLE (WATE) –Self-proclaimed moonshine expert and Cocke County native Marvin “Popcorn” Sutton was arrested Thursday night. He is facing federal charges.

State and local agents raided three of Sutton’s properties, including his home on Upper Road in Parrottsville.

Offficers say they found all the ingredients and tools needed to make moonshine, including three stills and more than 800 gallons of moonshine that was being stored in a shed.

“He’s well-respected among us moonshiners,” says Jimmie Frank Hill, a Cocke County resident.

Sutton has written a book and starred in several instructional videos to teach others how to make moonshine.

Julie Johnson, a friend of Sutton, says, “All over the U.S. you can go out of town with him and people come up to him and say, ‘Didn’t I see you on the History Channel?”

Perhaps his celebrity caught up with him.

Sutton has been in trouble for moonshining in the past, and authorities say this undercover investigation proved he was still at it.

Meanwhile, some residents say moonshine shouldn’t be illegal and Sutton shouldn’t be targeted by authorities.

“They should be out getting these killers and all the drug dealers and kidnappers instead of worrying about his moonshine,” says Johnson.

Hill adds, “It’s a custom, a tradition, and it’ll take a hundred years for it to go away. I think it’ll never go away though, because moonshine is more popular than the regular stuff.”

Sutton now faces several charges, include transporting, possessing and selling moonshine, not paying taxes on his moonshine, running an unlawful distillery, and illegal possession of a firearm.

If convicted he faces up to 10 years in prison on the firearms count and up to 5 years for each of the moonshining counts.

He also faces up to a $250,000 fine for each count.

Sutton will be held without bond until a court hearing on March 28, because he was on probation for a previous conviction on similar charges last summer.

The Internet was buzzing about Popcorn Sutton Arrest

(The following is a post on a blog with public responses)

 

A raid on Sutton’s property turned up guns, bullets, three 1,000-gallon stills, copper line, more than 800 gallons of moonshine and hundreds of gallons of sour mash and other ingredients, federal court records show. He kept some of the mountain dew in a shed and some in a junk school bus.

Sutton was convicted in 1975 of federal moonshining charges and of felony assault with a deadly weapon in North Carolina in 1985, court records show. He remains on probation for state charges of possession of untaxed liquor in Cocke County that came after a still exploded.

Sutton agreed as part of the plea deal to forfeit the liquor, guns and other materials seized during the raid. He could face up to 15 years in prison and fines of up to half a million dollars.

Posted by atlkevin on April 3, 2008 at 3:59 p.m. Now I understand why my East Tennessee ancestors had such disdain for “revenuers”. Their hatred, in my opinion, is completely valid. A great example of the government sticking its nose into a situation since they’re not getting tax revenue. I hope someone offers Popcorn a book deal worth 5x the amount of the fine.

 

 

Posted by FishTacos on April 3, 2008 at 4:27 p.m. This is ridiculous. Go bust a drug dealer, or concentrate on gang violence. Go arrest a terrorist or rapist. But don’t spend tax payers money chasing a guy that doesn’t need to be bothered. I can almost guarentee you that the “confiscated liqour” will end up in some politician, judge, or cops liqour cabinet (many influential people drink the stuff). Moonshiners are not harming anyone, but potentially themselves. Anybody seen a still blow up?? You don’t want to be around.

 

Posted by CAVolunteer on April 3, 2008 at 4:27 p.m. This man is a legend that practices a disappearing art (except in Cocke County). The feds should hire him to re-enact his talents for tourists. It would be a win-win.

 

Posted by bustervols on April 3, 2008 at 4:38 p.m. Damn’d Revenuers.

 

Posted by DoWhatNow on April 3, 2008 at 4:55 p.m. You see? This is why the strangers never came down from Rocky Top…

 

Posted by truthseeker on April 3, 2008 at 6:10 p.m. We have child molesters getting a year in jail, rapist getting 3 or 4 years, politicians that steal thousands of dollars being let off because they “reimburse” what they stole from and now here we have a man who makes likker and sells it facing 15 years and a half million dollar fine? There is something wrong with this picture!

This is a perfect example of the dual justice system in this country. All of Rags to Riches main staff members and Rags himself have stolen taxpayer’s money (depriving the government of the use of that money) through misuse of the p-cards for personal use. You can call it anything that you want but diverting and converting are both forms of thievery. So far the only punishment has been that the guilty ones have been allowed to pay back what they stole. A few jobs have been given up by the thieves but no jail time has been allotted.

Popcorn, on the other hand, is just doing the same thing using a different method. He is stealing from the taxpayers by not paying his fair share to the government in likker taxes and thereby is depriving the government of the use of that tax revenue that would otherwise be available.

True equality in administering justice in this case would be that he be allowed to pay the taxes to the feds on the 300 gallons he sold and on the 500 gallons he had in his possession, make a promise to give up his occupation of making likker and be let off without a jail sentence or a fine or any record of his arrest.
IMO if we let Rags and his cohorts off without jail time, we should also let Popcorn off without jail time.

Posted by iron56 on April 3, 2008 at 6:51 p.m. We can’t have wine in grocery stores and they arrest the guys who make the really good whiskey. This place is overrun with fun police. By the way, I agree if they aren’t throwing Ragsdale and his band in jail, they shouldn’t throw Popcorn in.

 

Posted by pmiller on April 3, 2008 at 7:58 p.m. Popcorn should get a permit to make the “GOOD STUFF” and sell it like all the rest of the “BOOT LICKERS” You can’t buy “THE GOOD STUFF” at the store
We are being deprived of some of the best S… just because ?????????

“FUN POLICE” Is that term owen to them having fun busting anyone who breakes the law or is it our fun that they want to put down ??????

I think it’s like fighting chickens……!

At the very least a fighting rooster has a fighting chance to live Over at chicken city they just hang them up by their leg and cut their neck ! Then wrap them in plastic and off to Kroger

 

Posted by Magpie on April 3, 2008 at 9:05 p.m. I’m not quite ready to throw out all the laws, but it does seem ridiculous to lock up someone at his age. No doubt most of what’s driving the laws is pulling in tax dollars, but like it or not that’s what pays for the services we take for granted. And the idea that these are just benevolent good ol’ boys is naive. Wander into the area where they have a still, and you’ll find out just how friendly they really are. I’ve been reading comments on this site for a while now, and it seems there’s a selective application about what’s right and wrong depending on the news story.

The man has already gotten a few walks on what he’s doing, given the size of the operation he’s not just producing for his own consumption and a few friends, and I have to ask why when he’s already on probation for the last go round he’s still mass producing. I’m betting he’s about to take the fall for the next generation following behind him, but I could be wrong.

The right answer is that he gets sentenced as recommended, the Governor issues a pardon based on his age, and it’s all done with the understanding it won’t happen again.

Posted by Magpie on April 3, 2008 at 9:47 p.m. Feel free to buy the recipe book and make your own. So far I’m not reading much about people who make their own or just make for themselves and their neighbors.

 

Posted by Dbee1952 on April 3, 2008 at 11:02 p.m. in response to Magpie.

What dam services you mean the fleet of police cars and the Fleet of county vehicles that are out there or you mean the helicopters or the horses.

Give me a break we get nothing for our taxes but more taxes.

These asses fine this guy 500k and the drug dealers get off Scott free.

You call that justice.

As for the Governor he is not going to pardon this guy.

 

Posted by Cowboyphan on April 3, 2008 at 11:59 p.m. in response to Dbee1952.

Popcorn is a cultural icon, who has been making moonshine since he was a kid. How smart an agent do you have to be to figure out, that he is going to continue making the stuff. Leave him alone!! Government worrying about the Patriots, or baseballs steroids…or the Lady Vols shot clock issue with Rutgers. As any of them figured out that we are in the midst of a recession. That corporate CEOs are being let go, with ridiculous pensions and salaries, amidst corporate fallouts. Yet we are hauling in a man who has not bothered anyone? Who is the real threat. This man is an artisan who should be given a place in the library of congress and a part time job at Dollywood. CMT did a special on Moonshine and the Feds got their feelings hurt and had to flex their muscles against an 80 year old man. This whole case and process makes me sick and makes me realize how out of touch our goverment is…Marion Jones lied to investigators…big damn deal…what politician has not lied or govermental person abused power? I say leave him and his damn likker alone.

 

Posted by Cowboyphan on April 4, 2008 at 12:01 a.m. Ragsdale and his band of merry folks are guilty of embezzlement. Whether they pay it back or not, the fact the act occurred and has been occuring is the issue. This makes me sick.

 

Posted by Cowboyphan on April 4, 2008 at 12:08 a.m. If the government would have been able to tax Popcorn’s operations…would that have reduced anyone else’s tax burden. The millions of dollars spent on campaigns…or wasted government excess…does not reduce their insatiable desire for more. Services? Lottery was suppossed to help college, taxes were to help schools, and on and on… Whatever happended to the money from RJ Reynolds for the tobacco suits. I would say it went to the Greg Issacs of the world…or goverment lawyers. Popcorns only been running his operation 50 years….how long has the government been running theirs. If the govt has gotten along without his tax money from booze…then they did not need it in the first place.

 

“Marvin Popcorn Sutton Pleads Guilty”

 

GREENEVILLE, TN – Nationally renowned moonshiner Marvin “Popcorn” Sutton pleaded guilty in federal court today to carrying on the business that’s made him famous.

Sutton, 61, of Parrottsville, waived indictment by a federal grand jury and admitted to charges of moonshining and possession of a gun by a convicted felon. He could return to U.S. District Court for sentencing Aug. 4.

 

Sutton has spent more than three decades building a reputation as one of the South’s top makers of white lightning. He’s starred in various documentaries about the tradition and penned an autobiography, “Me and My Likker.”

 

Agents with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives put a cork in Sutton’s operation March 13 after he sold an undercover agent about 300 gallons of untaxed whiskey and agreed to sell another 500 gallons, ATF Agent Gregory Moore wrote in an affidavit.

A raid on Sutton’s property turned up guns, bullets, three 1,000-gallon stills, copper line, more than 800 gallons of moonshine and hundreds of gallons of sour mash and other ingredients, federal court records show. He kept some of the mountain dew in a shed and some in a junk school bus.

 

Sutton was convicted in 1975 of federal moonshining charges and of felony assault with a deadly weapon in North Carolina in 1985, court records show. He remains on probation for state charges of possession of untaxed liquor in Cocke County that came after a still exploded.

Sutton agreed as part of the plea deal to forfeit the liquor, guns and other materials seized during the raid. He could face up to 15 years in prison and fines of up to half a million dollars.

GREENEVILLE (WATE) — A Parrottsville moonshiner was sentenced Monday to 18 months each for a felony possession of a firearms count and an unlawful production of distilled spirits count. However, the sentences will be served concurrently. Sutton will also serve three years of supervised release. He pleaded guilty to the charges in April 2008.

In a raid of three of Sutton’s properties in March 2008, officers found three stills and more than 800 gallons of moonshine being stored in an old school bus. Four days later, investigators raided a facility at a self storage company in Haywood County, North Carolina that was rented by Sutton since February 2006. They found 796 gallons of moonshine and one gallon of cherries. The goods are worth more than $22,000. ATF Special Agent Terry Hill told 6 News in a previous report that he couldn’t comment on the specifics of Sutton’s case but did say his alleged operation is the largest he’s ever seen.

 

Convicted moonshiner “Popcorn” Sutton dead of apparent suicide

 March 16, 2009

PARROTSVILLE (WATE) — Marvin “Popcorn” Sutton, who gained fame and notoriety as a moonshiner, died Monday in Cocke County, sheriff’s deputies said.

According to a Cocke County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson, it appeared that Sutton, 61, took his own life in his Parrotsville home.

A Cocke County constable told 6 News his body was discovered by his wife.

Sutton was scheduled to begin serving soon an 18-month sentence in federal prison Friday.

He pleaded guilty in March 2008 to one count of felony possession of a firearm and one count of unlawful production of distilled spirits.

In a raid of three of Sutton’s properties, officers found three stills and more than 800 gallons of moonshine being stored in an old school bus.

A later investigation turned up nearly 800 more gallons of moonshine.

Federal agents said it was the largest moonshine operation they had seen.

Sutton built a reputation as an unrepentant moonshiner, even appearing in documentaries on the subject. He also wrote an autobiography called “Me and my Likker.”

At Sagebrush Restaurant in Newport, 6 News spoke to friends and acquaintances of Sutton.

“He was a pretty good old guy. He was just a little old short man with a long beard and wears a hat like Jed Clampett,” said Jared Freeman.

“The culture of the Smoky Mountains, the culture and heritage, I felt like he embodied that,” said Jason Smith.

“He was a great guy. A great individual to know,” said Shannon Parks.

“He believed in what he did. He thought what he did was right. A lot of people felt it was a waste of the federal government’s money to go after him because he didn’t hurt nobody,” said Lynn Human.

“He was a legend of Cocke County, North Carolina and East Tennessee. As far as the future goes, I don’t think there will be another Popcorn,” Smith said.

“He was the best. It’s the end of an era,” Human said.

“Oh, he’s in heaven right now making moonshine for eternity,” Parks said.

JR Hafer recounts “The Legend of Popcorn Sutton”

 

Over the past several days there have been a lot of tributes to Marvin “Popcorn” Sutton, the incorrigible moonshiner whose rascally and entrenched ways endeared himself to a devoted following not just in Appalachia but across the Internet. As has been reported here and elsewhere in the media, Popcorn took his own life this past Monday, rather than report to federal prison later in the week to begin serving an 18-month sentence for “illegally” making likker.

 

(If you’d like to read more about Popcorn Sutton and his illustrious career, and you can find lots of material that this blog has linked to over the course of the last year.)

Earlier today JR Hafer, a longtime friend of Popcorn’s, forwarded along an essay that he had written. I personally think it’s one of the finest that has been written about Popcorn Sutton: a man whose life story sounds like the kind of movie that Tim Burton or Terry Gilliam would probably make. You’ll understand why I say that when you read JR Hafer’s “The Legend of Popcorn Sutton”. Brace yourself y’all: this is one wild tale. Some stuff here, I didn’t even know about until now posted by Chris Knight at 3/21/2009

 

Getting to know “Popcorn” Sutton 

part two of the series “The Legend of Popcorn Sutton”

 

By JR Hafer

 

 

 

Author’s note: No one other than his immediate Family ever really got to know the real man under the public persona. “Popcorn” wanted it that way. He would always divert the conversation when someone would ask a personal question. If asked again “Popcorn” would say, “It ain’t nobody’s Damn business about that!”

 

 

The first time I met Marvin Popcorn Sutton, I realized right away he was a character I would never forget. He smoked non-filtered camel cigarettes one right after the other. Popcorn was one of those country people who let the smoldering ash burn down to his fingers leaving a yellow nicotine residue. When one would burn down to his fingers he would take another out and light it from the burned one. Some call it “chain smoking”. Popcorn always had a smoke cloud haze around his head and a cigarette in his hand. He cupped the smoking appendage to protect the burning ember from the wind, even when there was no breeze, it was habitual like many other characteristics of Popcorn Sutton’s. Probably Neil Hutcheson is the only one outside of the family to see him without a cigarette, unless it was in court anyway.

 

At first meeting “Popcorn” Sutton, I thought he was quite elderly, by his looks, actions and demeanor, with his old gray “Birds-nest” beard. The life of a genuine Appalachian mountain man has traditionally been one of hardship and physical labor such as agricultural (Farming) trapping, hunting or building and attending his “corn mash still. The stress of the latter was marked on every inch of his face with wrinkles that made him appear older than he actually was.

 

Popcorn and I were about the same height, about 5’ 6” and he was very thin and poorly nourished, I think. He looked as though he had been in the Appalachian forest, there was a grass and dirt stain on one of the knees of his baggy overalls. He was very thin and looked malnourished. His eyes were surrounded by wrinkles and slightly sunken, but clear and steely blue or hazel, depending upon the light and the colors around him.

 

It was obvious to me that “popcorn” was lacking in an extended, formal education, however, it was just as obvious that his wisdom, in the ways of a mountain man, was much more important in his world, putting my extensive education to shame.

 

The mountain man standing in front of me gave mixed signals. His small beady hazel eyes could stare a hole in you. If it is true that one’s eyes are “the window to the soul” then this man was mean and fearless and wasn’t scared of anything or anyone. There was a depth to them that could send shivers down your spine. The personification of the word mean!

However, I was later to learn that Marvin Sutton was a kind, compassionate man and separated his public persona from his private life. He wouldn’t let many folks into that side of his life and heart though.

Andy and I stood there and “Popcorn” stood there proud and challenging, concerned that someone was going to take advantage of him. Right before his death he looked like a defeated, stoop shouldered and worried old man. His ulcers and the court system were sucking the life right out of him, it was sad to see.

 

We talked to him about the old trailer home that my brother once rented from him for a time. Between puffs of his Pall Mall, he spit out small pieces of tobacco, coughed, cleared his throat and said, “Mister, those were the good ole times” and Andy agreed.

 

The stories Andy told to me about the old Moonshiner were definitely worth repeating but not in mixed company. “Old Popcorn” was mostly proud of two things in his life; his prowess with the women and his “Likker”.

 

When Andy first told me about “Old Popcorn” I had never heard of him. I must have been the only person indigenous to western North Carolina that had not. Therefore, being a writer, of sorts, I wanted to get to know him better. Later we even became friends. He always called me “Mister” and it bothered me. I thought he didn’t remember my name. That wasn’t the case, “Mister” turned out to be the personal moniker he tagged me with.

I remember after we met “popcorn” the first time, at the “roadside stand”, which was nothing more than a dilapidated old market where souvenirs and mountain crafts were once sold to tourists passing through Maggie Valley, North Carolina, on their way to Cherokee.

 

Upon request from us Popcorn walked down the front of the building along the road, glancing from time to time over his shoulder to make sure we stayed where he told us, “Right Thare”. Each time he looked at us over his shoulder, those beady little eyes aware of what was in his pocket. He made it clear to us upon arrival that he had two things in his pockets, one was a gun. That convinced us to “stay put.”

 

When he returned he gave Andy a Mason jar full of clear liquid. It was so clear I thought it was water. Andy unscrewed the top and took a whiff and he jerked his head backwards and said “that’s the real McCoy, for sure.”

 

Popcorn Sutton’s gray beard looked shabby, like a birds nest, his old sweat stained felt fedora had a finger crease in at the in front and a slight hole was worn where he took the hat off to wipe his sweaty forehead on his shirt sleeve from time to time.

 

His over-alls were dirty and I could catch the aroma of sweaty mildew when a car passed causing a stirring of the air. His hands were the color of rust where he had been moving rusted metal and tin cans. But he took the time to tell us about his famous “Likker” and how it was the best ever made. He always said; there are three kinds of moonshine, “the Fightin’ kind,” the second was “the Cryin’ kind” and “the Banjo Pickin’ Kind.” Then he told me about his friend J. B. Raider who could play a “mean” banjo. Then his face softened a little and a slight smile made its way around the cigarette, and I knew right then that Marvin Sutton could be an “Ole Softy” sometimes.

At the time, Popcorn Sutton reminded me of a movie I saw being made near the very spot I was standing. In 1956 I watched Robert Mitchum and Gene Barry, directed by Arthur Ripley making a Hollywood movie called Thunder Road. I was a ten year old kid who thought Robert Mitchum was the best movie star ever.

 

The movie was about transporting illegal moonshine. “A man has a right to do anything he wants, including making whisky, as long as he makes it on his own land” I still can feel the excitement watching those chase scenes. When the movie was released in 1958 I saw it a dozen times. I have a copy on DVD, I still watch from time to time.

 

The actor that played Lucas Doolin’s (Mitchum’s character), Father, was a slight man like Marvin Sutton, with a simple and independent mindset, just like “Popcorn”.

 

Once “Popcorn” and I were discussing the way he got his name. He started laughing and slapped his knee and cackled and said, “Every time them damn guys write about me and my name it’s different, I laugh my dam ass off”… He lights another Camel from the burnt down one and says, “Mister” (He always called me mister), “Mister if’n ya want to know the dam truth about it, I’ll tell ya”… “I was drunker’n hell one afternoon in bar in Haywood county, near the bottom of old Balsam Bald Mountain” He continued as he chuckled, “There was a brand new popcorn machine there… I weren’t but about eighteen, oh maybe seventeen, but one dam thing ‘bout it, I was sure enough drunk”. “I decided I wanted some of that popcorn, they had just popped a batch and it flung a hankerin’ on me”. “When I put my money in that contraption it wouldn’t give me a God-Dam thing. I pulled out my pistol and shot the hell outta that dam machine. The barman came running over and told me he was goin’ to call the law, I figured I better pay for the damn machine, so I did. I started telling everybody my name was Popcorn Sutton. I didn’t much like Marvin anyhow. Well, the name stuck. But they would let me have the machine. I figured I could tear it down and take the money taker out and have me a popcorn machine for my old cabin.”

I liked to hear stories from Ole Popcorn, he could really tell them. One never knew when he was kidding or telling the truth. I imagine all the stories he told me had a little truth in them, and a little exaggeration too. But that’s “Popcorn”.

To Order Popcorn’s Sutton’s book  “Me and My Likker”  Write to Pam Sutton, PO Box 38, Parrottsville, TN 37843

(Include a Money Order for $50. with your request for the book).

Make sure you tell her JR Hafer sent you. Thanks…

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