Michael Williams, writer/reporter

Michael Williams, editor for the Sevier County News and part-time writer for the Knoxville Journal Newspaper, was well-received as the guest speaker for the Northside Kiwanis Club’s noon meeting at the Foundry on September 12. William told the club members about his book, Stranger Than Fiction: the Lincoln Curse, a collection of 50 interesting, historical events that Williams says are “…the weird and bizarre twists of history.”.




Williams said that, “Studying the strange and unusual aspects of history is like taking a road less traveled and discovering facts seldom chronicled and often overlooked in the grand scheme of historical research.” He said that he had been interested in history since he was a young boy.



Williams said that he spent nine years of freelance writing for more than 30 magazines and newspapers, before he went to work for the Citizen Tribune newspaper in Morristown, Tennessee where his knowledge of history paid off well.



One of the aspects of his job that Williams enjoys is interviewing people who have experienced historical events first hand. One interview he conducted was with Frank Buckles, who, at the age of 107, was the last veteran of World War I. Williams said that he also interviewed Dutch Van Kirk, the navigator of the Enola Gay which dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. He interviewed veterans of Pearl Harbor, Iwo Jima, and D-Day as well as a survivor of the U.S.S. Indianapolis tragedy. He has interviewed numerous politicians, actors, country music stars, athletes, authors and comedians.



In 2008 he covered a funeral that would prove pivotal in his career as a writer. It was the funeral of a sailor killed in World War II whose body was discovered in 2007 and returned home in 2008, 65 years after he was killed. The funeral was in Sneedville, Tennessee, and Williams’ story was picked up by the Associated Press and ran in newspapers across the nation. He soon began stringing for the AP.



Williams said that his fascination with strange historical facts prompted him to write “Stranger than Fiction: The Lincoln Curse,” a collection of 50 stories that have to be true because no one could make them up.



Michael Williams lives in Sevierville, Tennessee with his wife of 29 years. He also works as a contributing writer for the Associated Press and the Civil War Courier. He can be contacted at www.seviercountynews.com.