OAK HILL, WV (LOOTPRESS) – On New Year’s Day 70 years ago in 1953, one of the most famous country singers in America would take their last breath in West Virginia.
Hank Williams Sr. who was one of the most popular artists at the time was on his way to a New Year’s concert in Canton, Ohio. He was scheduled to perform in Charleston, WV the day before but had to cancel due to an ice storm.
While on his way to Canton, Williams and his driver Charles Carr stopped at the Andrew Johnson Hotel in Knoxville. Carr then requested a doctor for Williams who was feeling the effects of the chloral hydrate and alcohol consumed on the way from Montgomery, AL.
A doctor treated Williams and injected him with two shots of vitamin B12 that contained morphine.
The last time Carr or anyone would speak with Williams was at a restaurant in Bristol, VA. Williams told Carr that he did not want to eat.
After they left Bristol, Carr drove until he made it to the Skyline Drive-In restaurant in Oak Hill, WV where Williams was found unresponsive in the back seat.
Carr realized that Williams was dead and asked the owner of a nearby gas station for help who then called the police. An autopsy done at the nearby Tyree Funeral Home revealed that Williams died due to “insufficiency of the right ventricle of the heart.”
There are many speculations about Hank Williams Sr.’s death and what role others played. The road on which Williams traveled in Oak Hill was named after him and the Skyline Drive-In, Hank’s last stop, is still in operation today.