By the 1790s, the United States was a new nation full of firsts. And at the end of the 1790s, the young country even experienced its first serial killers: the Harpe brothers.Appalachian HistoryA depiction of the Harpe brothers.Between 1797 and 1799, Micajah Harpe Big Harpe and Wiley Harpe Little Harpe killed at least 39 people along the edge of the western frontier. If a body was found with its chest cut open and filled with stones, it was a telltale sign that the Harpe brothers committed the murder. But they used a variety of methods to kill, and targeted men, women, and even children.This is the grisly story of the Harpe brothers, the first documented serial killers in American history.The Early Years Of Micajah And Wiley HarpeMany facts about the Harpe brothers have become obscured over the years, including their origins. For starters, the Harpe brothers were not brothers, but cousins. Micajah Big Harpe was born Joshua Harper around 1748, and Wiley Little Harpe was born William Harper around 1750. Their fathers were Scottish immigrants, and the Harpe brothers may have been born in Scotland before their families immigrated to the American colonies. Public DomainA map from the 1750s, showing North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia.After settling in North Carolina, the Harper family threw its support to the British crown. This caused tensions with their Patriot neighbors as revolutionary feeling began to spread and, in the 1770s, Micajah and Wileys families were purportedly killed by a group of murderous Patriots.The two boys escaped into the woods, and legend claims that they were adopted by a band of Chickamauga Cherokees. The Native Americans allegedly taught the boys how to survive, hunt, steal and kill. Then, in the 1790s, the Harpe brothers (they had dropped the r in their names) appeared in Tennessee with three women that they treated as wives as well as several children. As James Hall, one of the first chroniclers of the Harpe brothers wrote in 1828, Micajah and Wiley Harpe soon embarked on a killing spree, spreading death and terror wherever they wentThe Bloody Crimes Of The Harpe BrothersThe crimes of the Harpe brothers seemingly began in 1797, when they murdered a man named Johnson. Johnson, who may have told the Harpe brothers neighbors that Micajah and Wiley were stealing their horses, was found floating in the Holston River. He had been viciously disemboweled, with rocks and gravel placed inside his chest cavity. No one suspected the Harpe brothers suspicion fell instead on the owner of the tavern where Johnson had last been seen and so Micajah and Wiley were able to slip away to Kentucky. On their way, they killed a pair of travelers. Later that year, in December, they also killed a young man named Langford after noticing the thick billfold he carried.Huw Williams/Wikimedia CommonsThe site of one of the Harpe brothers many murders, where they killed a young Black man by slamming his head into a tree.After Langfords murder, the Harpe brothers were briefly jailed in Stanford, Kentucky. According to the Winchester Sun, many even flocked to see Micajah, a devil of a man, as well as his brother and their wives. However, the Harpe brothers were able to escape they left their wives behind and continued on their killing spree. In the spring of 1799, they committed several more murders, even as the governor of Kentucky announced a reward of $300 for their capture. They were vicious killers. The Harpe brothers shot, beat, and cut their victims throats. After joining up with a local outlaw gang lead by criminal Samuel Mason, they even tied a naked traveler to his horse, blindfolded the horse, and sent them both careening over a cliff. This act of cruelty was even too much for the outlaws, who ordered the Harpe brothers to leave. This was too much for their companions, Wallace Edwards wrote in Americas First Serial Killers: A Biography of the Harpe Brothers. Rather than being suitably impressed by the murder, the pirates were stunned by the cruelty which was, even by their standards, shocking. One can assume it was fear of having what we today would call psychopaths in their midst that caused the outlaws to expel the Harpe brothers.Daniel Schwen/Wikimedia CommonsCave-in-Rock on the Ohio River, where the Harpe brothers briefly stayed with a group of outlaws.But the Harpe brothers depravity knew no bounds. Shortly afterward, in the summer of 1799, Micajah even murdered his own daughter after she would not stop crying by smashing her head against a tree. It was the only one of his murders he expressed remorse over.Then, after killing a mother and child, the Harpe brothers were finally caught.The Law Catches Up With Americas First Serial KillersOn August 24, 1799, Micajah and Wiley Harpe were tracked down by a posse lead by John Leiper and Moses Stegall the husband and father of the woman and baby the Harpe brothers had killed. Though Wiley was able to escape, Micajah was shot and fell to the earth. Badly injured, Micajah began to confess to the many crimes he committed. He was slowly beheaded by Stegall, who took Micajahs butcher knife and used it to cut off his head. Once he was decapitated, Big Harpes head was then placed in a tree, at an intersection long known as Harpes Head. Kentucky TourismA sign describing the fates of Micajah and Wiley Harpe.Wiley Harpe, however, had slipped through the posses fingers. He rejoined Masons gang, and lived quietly for a number of years with the other outlaws. After Masons death its unclear if Harpe killed him Harpe tried to turn in his head to the Kentucky authorities in order to claim the bounty money. However, he was swiftly recognized. Arrested, recaptured, and arrested again, Wiley Harpe was put on trial and sentenced to death by hanging. He was executed in January 1804. His head was then cut off and placed on a stake at Natchez Road as a warning to other outlaws. His death marked the end of the Harpe brothers reign of terror. By then, they had killed at least 39 people and perhaps as many as 50. Though perhaps driven by a thirst for revenge born in their boyhood, the Harpe brothers seemed to simply relish murder and violence. They killed whenever they wanted to, until their bloody crimes caught up with them.After learning about the Harpe brothers, the first documented serial killers in United States history, discover the identity of the deadliest serial killer ever. Or, read about some of historys most chilling serial killer couples.The post The Bloody Story Of The Harpe Brothers, The First Documented Serial Killers In American History appeared first on All That's Interesting.