How Did Robert Johnson Die?

In truth, no living human really knows for sure. And anything you hear about Johnson must be taken with great skepticism due to the time passed and the lack of records.

The best-corroborated narrative we have is that Robert Johnson was given a drink laced with strychnine at a place called the Three Forks Store outside of Greenwood, Mississippi in August of 1938, and that it took him several days to die.

Even those details are difficult to verify. Maybe he was there to play, maybe just to barrelhouse… Maybe Johnson was given a bottle of laced whiskey, maybe it was a jealous husband, maybe not… many details are lost to time.

Blues piano legend Honeyboy Edwards claims to have been with Johnson that fateful night at the Three Forks, and discussed it numerous times in his long life. However, the details are, again, impossible to verify.

By the early 1960s, several researchers interviewed and spoke with family, but already much of the information, and many of those that were there, were lost to time.

The Three Forks Store used to be located just northwest of the intersection of US-82 and US-49E, where the Little Tallahatchie and Yalobusha Rivers meet just west of Greenville. The Delta Blues Museum in Clarksdale, Mississippi features several Three Forks Store artifacts.

There was even confusion around where Robert Johnson was buried, with two grave markers being erected at different cemeteries around Greenwood in the 20th century.

But around the year 2000, researchers did find the wife of the gravedigger who dug Robert Johnson’s grave, a woman by the name of Rosie Eskridge. She was able to give some of the first clear details about the 70 year old mystery around Johnson’s death — including exactly where he was buried.

Unfortunately, she either didn’t know, or it wasn’t discussed exactly how Johnson died. Mostly just the circumstances of his burial.

The crew was supposed to come back in a couple months so Mrs. Eskridge could talk in more detail on camera, but sadly she died before they could meet.

Rosie was able to tell researchers and family that they buried Robert under the pecan tree in the back of the Little Zion Missionary Baptist Church cemetery in Leflore County, Mississippi. And so in 2002, they were finally able to place a proper headstone on bluesman Robert Johnson’s final resting place. It would be the third such headstone in the area, but almost certainly the most likely.

The Little Zion Missionary Baptist Church is located on the west side of Money Rd, just a couple miles across the Yelobusha River outside of Greenwood to the north.

Robert Johnson’s grave is inscribed with the following:

ROBERT JOHNSON

May 8th, 1911 – August 16, 1938

– musician & composer –

he influenced millions beyond his time

[HANDWRITTEN NOTE]

“Jesus of Nazareth King of Jerusalem. I know that my Redeemer liveth and that He will call me from the Grave.”

Handwritten by Robert Johnson, shortly before his death and preserved in family papers by his sister, Carrie H. Thompson