Ghosts of Crook County

An Oil Fortune, a Phantom Child, and the Fight for Indigenous Land

By: Russell Cobb

Narrated by: Chris Baetens

DAVID J. WEBER BOOK PRIZE FINALIST: The true—and unsolved—story of unabashedly greedy men, their exploitation of Muscogee land, and the hunt for the ghost of a boy who may never have existed

For readers of David Grann’s award-winning Killers of the Flower Moon

In the early 1900s, at the dawn of the “American Century,” few knew the intoxicating power of greed better than white men on the forefront of the black gold rush. When oil was discovered in Oklahoma, these counterfeit tycoons impersonated, defrauded, and murdered Native property owners to snatch up hundreds of acres of oil-rich land.

Writer and fourth-generation Oklahoman Russell Cobb sets the stage for one such oilman’s chicanery: Tulsa entrepreneur Charles Page’s campaign for a young Muscogee boy’s land in Creek County. Problem was, “Tommy Atkins,” the boy in question, had died years prior—if he ever lived at all.

Ghosts of Crook County traces Tommy’s mythologized life through Page’s relentless pursuit of his land. We meet Minnie Atkins and the two other women who claimed to be Tommy’s “real” mother. Minnie would testify a story of her son’s life and death that fulfilled the legal requirements for his land to be transferred to Page. And we meet Tommy himself—or the men who proclaimed themselves to be him, alive and well in court.

Through evocative storytelling, Cobb chronicles with unflinching precision the lasting effects of land-grabbing white men on Indigenous peoples. What emerges are the interconnected stories of unabashedly greedy men, the exploitation of Indigenous land, and the legacy of a boy who may never have existed.

Critic reviews

“[A] riveting legal thriller . . . superb historical sleuthing . . . It’s an astonishing exposé.”
—Publishers Weekly, Starred Review

“True-crime and social science readers will find this tangled tale fascinating . . . This well-researched and vividly told account of Oklahoma’s oil boom highlights the corruption, opportunism, and racism that birthed the modern oil and gas industry.”
—Shelf Awarness, Starred Review

“The great-grandson of an Oklahoma oilman interrogates a legal conundrum that lays bare the corruption beneath the creation of his home state.”
—Kirkus Reviews

“This powerful work is equal parts history and true crime. The result is a historical record illuminating a failure of law and policy.”
—Booklist

“Russell Cobb is a master storyteller. . . . Ghosts of Crook County is his best yet.”
—Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, American Book Award–winning author of An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States

“Russell Cobb has delivered a bombshell of a book. Ghosts of Crook County isn’t just a deeply researched, gripping historical detective story. It is also a compelling meditation on wealth and power.”
—Scott Ellsworth, author of The Ground Breaking: The Tulsa Race Massacre and an American City’s Search for Justice

“If you’ve read Killers of the Flower Moon and were enraged but engrossed in the story, Ghosts of Crook County is also the book for you—and you’ll likely enjoy it more!”
—Kyle T. Mays (Saginaw Chippewa), author of An Afro-Indigenous History of the United States

“An enthralling must-read story of Oklahoma oil . . . This is a masterful book that reveals Oklahoma’s past (hidden) encounters with crude with an eye to its enduring potential for violence and injustice today.”
—Darren Dochuk, author of Anointed with Oil: How Christianity and Crude Made Modern America

“Like some bastard son of Angie Debo and David Grann, in Ghosts of Crook County Russell Cobb blends the archival acuity of the former with the reliable readability of the latter.”
—Jeff Martin, owner, Magic City Books

“A suspenseful story of corruption, power, and malice that you will never forget!”
—Donald L. Fixico (Muscogee, Seminole, Shawnee, and Sac and Fox), author of The State of Sequoyah: Indigenous Sovereignty and the Quest for an Indian State

Mispronounced names of Oklahoma towns and people was really annoying.

The story was interesting and would have been better without the political commentary added in. What happened to "only the facts" journalism?

If you read Killers of the Flower Moon, then you will want to read this

This should be required reading in every Oklahoma history classroom. Russell Cobb’s work on Oklahoma’s shameful history should be required reading of every person on Congress and state legislature. Cobb has exposed a small part of thr the true corruption of some of Oklahoma’s the “sacred cows” who enriched themselves off of the Native Americans. Any Oklahoman should feel shame in the history of their state and may feel that the reason the state is ranked near the bottom of every social and iconic category is due to it being cursed.