Bedford County

Lady Nancy Astor, for whom Nancy Haysom was named, was a cousin, born in Virginia, who had married into British royalty.

In 1982, Derek and Nancy bought their retirement home in Bedford County, a rural community just a few miles outside of Lynchburg.

In an action more typical of British country estates than middle Virginia brick ranchers, they named their new home Loose Chippings, after a dwelling in an obscure British novel.

But it wasn't just the house that had a British air.

They found a friend who had a key to the house, and fearing that something was wrong, she opened the front door.

Although she only glanced inside, what she saw would haunt her and the town of Lynchburg for years.

When Bedford County Lieutenant Ricky Gardner arrived, he found a grisly scene.

Derek and Nancy Haysom lay dead on the floor.

No offense to our incredible activated, you know, men in our lives.

But, you know, before we go on, paint a picture, please, for those who are tuning in that don't know what Bedford County is like and let them know what it's really like.

Not like maybe what they've heard about or maybe read about, but what it's like to really live in that community.

Yeah, so my home county of Bedford is on the eastern edge of my district, and it's one of the larger communities and counties in Virginia.

But we are very close to Liberty University, so there's a strong Christian nationalism presence here in Bedford County.

And as a lifelong believer, to me, I feel it's my job to call out how that's not biblically accurate, how that's not what our faith ever wanted was to take over the government.

there's a lot of that dynamic and shift going but at the end of the day when you look at the people of southwest virginia from bedford to lee county because you know i have almost you know kind of that whole bottom triangle of virginia it's the size of new jersey our district is it's huge it's real but it's there's these are the salt of the earth like these are the most generous the kindest people um and so i i say you know i've been all over the world i've never found better communities and better people than in southwest virginia

I'm local business, providing pest control from Appomattox all the way to Roanoke.

I don't really advertise a lot in Roanoke, mostly around locally Bedford County and Lynchburg area.

And I've been doing it for about 10 and a half years.

I've worked in pest control since I was six years old, started with my father, going with him during summer break.

She's a, a relative political newcomer.

Um, she's 34 years old and from Bedford County, and she challenged the eight-term congressman to a series of three debates.

Um, I spoke to him in late August, and he was relatively non-committal about whether he would accept the challenge or not.

And then last week, um, he decided that he would not.

Movement that inspires.

Hey everyone, welcome back to Local Ag, your spot for everything Bedford County Ag.

It's September the 10th, 2026.

I'm your host, Melody Divers from the Bedford County Ag Advisory Board, and today's our 25th episode.

And I'm so glad y'all are here today.

So since we last met, our county had its county fair and it was really successful.

If you remember, we were talking about sharing the road safely with farm equipment.

So in my opinion, this was the episode that I was the most proud of because if that podcast causes one person to slow down and be more cautious, it was worth it.

Ray Methvin here, and I'm joined by Pam Armstrong.

Pam is the Director of Economic Development at the Bedford County, Virginia Office of Economic Development.

Pam, welcome to the podcast.

Thank you for having me.

I'm happy you're here.

Now, first, paint a mental map for me.

Tell me about Bedford County and where you are.

So Bedford County, Virginia is located directly between the cities of Roanoke and Lynchburg, Virginia.

Its title was The Beale Papers.

The cover announced that Treasure had been buried in 1819 and 1821 near Buford's in Bedford County, and had never been recovered.

The pamphlet sold for 50 cents.

Its copyright was associated with J.B. Ward, generally identified in bibliographic records as James B.

If the quantities later described were real, the wealth was far too large to be carried casually or entrusted to a single traveller.

The group allegedly decided that a portion should be taken back east and hidden in Virginia, where their families and heirs could eventually benefit.

The first claimed deposit was made in Bedford County in November 1819.

This detail does not come from an authenticated diary or a property record.

Nancy had always dreamt of returning to Virginia.

So, they bought a home in Bedford County.

The property was on Holcomb Rock Road.

And Nancy gave it a name.

They moved to Bath.

They rented a small flat.

Now, Bath is a... town they didn't just move into a bath um if that's what you're wondering you probably weren't you're smarter than me uh but nobody but somebody actually noticed the repeated returns police became involved and on april 30th 1986 more than a year after the hastens were murdered elizabeth and jens were arrested not for murder for fraud but Bedford County wanted them.

And soon American investigators were on their way to London.