A recurring question I get is: How do you know what to write about? The answer, increasingly, is that Rabbit Hole readers are spotting stories in the wild and sending them to me. Back in the day I used to write about stuff that probably only interested me (like punting, punters who were afraid of kicking field goals, etc.). Now you send me all sorts of interesting stuff, Including a political ad in which a candidate’s mom brags about shooting somebody:

This ad has 1.6 million views on YouTube, made it to John Oliver’s show, and got spread around social media. And why not! In it, Jennifer Balkcom, who’s running against Democrat Jamie Ager in North Carolina’s mountainous 11th district (the incumbent, publicly-shamed McDonalds franchisee Chuck Edwards, decided not to see reelection). While Ager is doing ads about down home barn dances, Balkcom’s talking about her no-nonsense momma. And, in a moment that’s worthy of a sitcom-style record scratch, she says that “when someone broke into our house, she shot ‘em.”

“You break into my house, you’re going to get shot,” Momma says.

They just move on after that! This is a 30 second ad, so there’s no time for a deep dive into, like, the police reports or context here. I don’t expect to hear from, in the interest of fairness, the person who got shot. Balkcom’s campaign wanted a viral moment, and they made one, all done in the same whimsical style as this Anchorman scene.

But let’s get to the point. Who did momma shoot?

Folks, I did my best. I contacted the Henderson County Sheriff’s Office, which said they didn’t have any record of a call for a shooting at the family farm near Hendersonville. (The only shooting that happened there: Momma’s son shot a stray dog that had attacked and killed several goats last year). Nothing shooting-related comes up when you search court records for Kathy Ward-King (momma’s actual name). There are no hits in the admittedly-spotty newspaper archives for the Hendersonville Times-News.

Have other reporters tried to look into this? Lawd yes. WLOS reported “a source familiar with the event” as saying that the shooting happened in the 1990s. But nobody got further than John Boyle, the longtime Answer Man who now writes for the AVL Watchdog. He talked to a former sheriff, a former prosecutor, and a former reporter, all of whom didn’t remember it. Balkcom, her campaign, and her momma didn’t respond to him. He even tried to drive out to the Ward family farm before encountering no trespassing signs and turning around. Probably a smart move, given, you know, the premise of the TV ad about how she shoots people.

Hence, as Boyle and other speculate, it’s possible that momma fired some birdshot or rock salt at the guy, and none of the parties wanted to get the law involved. Plus, the farm itself is fairly isolated. Hence, we have a real Appalachian Schrödinger’s cat situation! At this moment, the shooting is both real and not real!

However, toward the end of his story (which you should read), Boyle asks an existential question: Does anyone really care if it’s not accurate?

Allow me to answer. Sure! People care! But “did momma actually shoot someone?” is one of a million data points being blasted at us non-stop. You have to weigh this fact with, I don’t know, every other thing that we’re being told that we should care about. We also have to pay our bills, make sure we’ve got groceries, and figure out who to vote for. We are awash in information! What are we supposed to do with it all?

But in this particular case, I think back to something a researcher told me a decade ago when I was searching for documentation on a story about the flag planted on the moon during the Apollo 11 mission. The people at a textile mill in Rhodhiss were convinced that they’d made the fabric in that flag. But the folks responsible for creating state historical markers wouldn’t acknowledge it, because there was no actual documentation. In the end, there was no proof that the flag fabric wasn’t made in Rhodhiss, but there’s also no proof that it was. Anne Platoff, a researcher, put it to me this way: “Just because you can’t disprove it doesn’t make it true.”

So look. If you were shot by momma, I’d love to hear from you. Email me. We’ll talk. If you were not shot by momma and have to figure out what to do, all I can say is: Good luck.

One of my best friends in high school was a regularly normal guy, and later in life he ended up with a shaved head and a foot-long beard. My guess is: If you saw him, you’d think one thing. And if you got to know him, you’d think of him very differently. It is possible to love Disney World and also be able to sing any Korn song on demand. People contain multitudes.

Hence, when a guy from Charlotte named Tom Hoyle tried to enter a Trump rally in Rock Hill, South Carolina that he’d been invited to, he got into a conversation with a security guy. According to Tom:

The guy let Tom in. And then later, during an interview on Fox News that went viral, Tom said he was happy to be at the rally because he was getting an opportunity to see a Jonestown-type cult up close.

The interview abruptly ended! Tom was kicked out, but not before he was paraded past the guy who let him in:

The Handbasket, a great independent newsletter from Marisa Kabas, ran an entire interview with Tom, which you should read and savor. Where else are you going to get a true admirer of both Primus and Billy Crystal in the same package?

Many of you read last week’s story about a dude in Antarctica who was able to cast a ballot in North Carolina’s general election. Many thanks to NC Local and Lilly Knoepp, who interviewed me about the story. And, if you haven’t had time to read it yet, please enjoy the video and audio versions of last week’s Rabbit Hole, which you can find on YouTube and Apple Podcasts.

Again, I’m trying some new stuff! If you like what I’m doing here, please subscribe or leave a good review, share with friends, and so on. And if you really like it, please consider becoming a paid supporter of the North Carolina Rabbit Hole by upgrading your subscription. Everything helps!