The exact birthplace of John A. Murrell is in question. Some believe he was born in Williamson County, Tennessee, others think Jackson, Tennessee or Lunenburg County, Virginia at about 1806. However, it is obvious that he grew up in Williamson County, Tennessee near Franklin.

He was the third child born to Jeffrey and Zilpha Murrell. His father was a circuit-riding Methodist preacher who was seldom home. While Jeffrey Murrell had the reputation of being honest and respectable, his wife encouraged her children to steal when their father was away and she would hide the stolen objects and when caught, try to justify its theft.

John had a look more befitting a member of aristocracy. He was very polite, soft-spoken and had an engaging personality, all characteristics of his preacher father. Contradicting that was his ability to recognize a money making venture, legal or otherwise. This appears to have been due to his mother’s teaching.

Of the known serious crimes he engaged in were horse theft and the theft of slaves. He would capture a slave or a free black man and sell him to a slave owner for profit. He sold some slaves several times, always promising the slave that he would split the profit with him. As a slave became too well known for being sold, he would be taken to a remote location and killed. His body them be disemboweled and the cavity filled with stones. The body was then sunk in the nearest river. It was a most thorough manner of getting rid of witnesses.

He posed as a traveling preacher from time to time. As his congregation grew louder in their praises of the Lord, their horses were being stolen by John's friends! Following the sermon, the worshipers would learn of their missing horses. Reverend John would appear shocked and disbelieving. Nobody is known to have mentioned the fact that the preacher's horse, a fine piece of horse flesh, was not stolen!

John conducted most of his illegal activities along the Natchez Trace and engaged in various crimes. They robbed merchants who had just sold their goods after sailing them down the Mississippi River. They still participated in stealing and reselling slaves. If the gang had a slave that had become too well known due to wanted posters, the gang simply murdered the slave. Almost any kind of theft or robbery was not beyond them. In time, the gang grew to include, according to some accounts, as many as 2,500 members or more and covering eight states. It became known as the Mystic Clan! The Clan dealt largely in slave trading, robbery and murder. Some reports indicate that a person robbed by the Clan would surely be killed by the Clan to make sure there were no witnesses. The name John Murrell struck fear in the hearts of honest, peace-loving people. Rumors were spread on a large scale, depicting him as a bloodthirsty murderer, robber, slave thief, horse thief and a person of low morals who would commit any crime for money or otherwise. The full truth of John Murrell and the Mystic Clan may never be known.

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