Fairytales are part of life. I loved them as a child, especially Rumpelstiltskin because it had three good witches and only one mean one. In the version I had, the girl in the story bested mean old Rumpelstiltskin. I guess that’s what I liked. A girl won. They don’t usually.

There are fairytales for men too. One of the most popular is about the mythical Medusa with snakes in her hair. Reportedly, most women can turn into Medusa on only a moment’s notice. When they do, they’ll accuse a man of rape just for the fun of it. Then the man’s life is RUINED. I’ve heard that one over and over. It’s not true but it’s a very pervasive myth.

I’m thinking of the recent Bill Murdock scandal that rocked the town where I live, Asheville, NC. Bill Murdock is or was the highly respected head of Eblen Charities. It’s an important charity here and people thought a lot of Bill. Even now, many people would go to the mat for him, and it’s been slow going for Asheville to believe that something happened thirty years ago that tarnished his image. Most people don’t do research. They are too busy living their lives. They don’t know the girl, a woman now, who was hurt 30 years ago and Bill put a different cast on the story, one that men could identify with. His friends say that he has admitted what happened all along. Here’s his story. The family was nice. The girl was nice. The girl’s mother developed a crush on him but he was married and it made him uncomfortable so he turned her down. The mother, however, had her revenge. She said he had done something to her daughter. That was a lie but what can you do? She was believed. He lost his job. His wife left him. His life was RUINED. I have no problem envisioning him telling this story. It’s believable. The men on Eblen’s board of directors, the board of UNC, and of the community college forgave him. He had done nothing wrong after all and a man can get caught up that kind of thing. It takes a man down for no fault of his own. They say he admitted what happened all along. It plays into a popular meme with men. Woman as Medusa with snakes in her hair. In this fairytale, in Bill Murdock’s reinterpretation of the myth, the mother was evil and he is innocent. It turns everything on its head and gives Murdock a comfortable story to tell. He may even believe it. Murdock has a little trouble with truth in general. I looked up his books on Amazon and I found a short CV. Let’s take each item on it one at a time. His resume as copied from Amazon is below.

 

About William Murdock

William Murdock is the co-founder and CEO of Eblen Charities and the Eblen Center for Social Enterprise in Asheville, North Carolina. TRUE 1

A graduate of T. C. Roberson High School, Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College and Mars Hill College, TRUE 1 he also is a graduate of the Duke University non-profit management program the Harvard Graduate Business School FALSE 2 and the John F. Kennedy School of Government non-profit management program Stanford University Institute for Social Innovation FALSE 2 and has served as an instructor for the Duke University program MAYBE 3 and has served on and consulted with numerous local, state, and national organizations. MAYBE 3

Bill has authored several books and has had published numerous articles in national magazines. His books include Brisco-The Life and Times of NCAA and World Heavyweight Champion Jack Brisco, Nikita-A Tale of the Ring and Redemption, The Inklings at Christmastide, and In the Final Analysis. TRUE 1

He has been named an outstanding scholar in social enterprise by the International Biographical Centre of Cambridge England, MAYBE 3 and the Eblen Children’s Pharmacy has won national acclaim from the Peter F. Drucker Award for the Eblen Children’s Pharmacy in 2001 for being the most innovative nonprofit program in the country. FALSE 4 Eblen’s work has also been featured nationally in the New York Times and on PBS Newshour. MAYBE 3

He was inducted into the International Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2007 FALSE 5 and in 2014, along with Dr. John Maxwell, was awarded the Mother Teresa Global Peace Prize. FALSE 5

 

 

1. I accepted some of his accomplishments at face value. He probably did go to AB Tech and Mars Hill College. This one’s TRUE.
2. He attended a one-week course at Harvard and Stanford and probably received a certificate of attendance of some sort. He is not a graduate of either Harvard or Stanford. This one is FALSE.  See https://www.cnn.com/2019/03/22/us/bill-murdock-eblen-charities-invs/index.html
3. I couldn’t verify this one way or another so I accept it until someone proves it is wrong. It’s a MAYBE.
4. CNN checked this claim and the non-profit denied giving him an award. They had never heard of him or Eblen. FALSE.  https://www.cnn.com/2019/03/22/us/bill-murdock-eblen-charities-invs/index.html
5. Wrestling Champ? I checked online the members of the Wrestling Hall of Fame and Bill Murdock is not listed. FALSE.
6. CNN checked this and it was given to Maxwell and Murdock. This award stemmed from a company he incorporated out of his home. This was the only award given by the company. You’ve got to admire his chutzpa on this one. The Mother Theresa Global Peace Prize? I’m astounded people went for that. I call this accomplishment FALSE.

 

So here we have a man who padded his background. It’s not unusual. Lots of people do it. What I want to point out is that some of his accomplishments could have been easily checked. He started Eblen. Being the founding member, he would have something to do with who was on the board. Is that why no one checked up. He got away with it.

There’s one more untruth and this one depends on how you define the word, sex. If you mean vaginal intercourse then Murdock is correct. He did not have sex (vaginal intercourse) with Shelley Love Baldwin. They had some sort of oral masturbation. What does that mean? Oral masturbation is a broad category but for me that’s sex. I remember Clinton trying to get away with that one. What Clinton did and what Murdock did may have been different but maybe not. We just don’t know and I don’t care what exactly they did because mutual oral masturbation means they had sex. At least to me it does. Murdock said he did not have sex. He lied. Murdock probably considered that fudging. After all he fudged on his CV. His story went something like this. He said Shelley’s mother was angry with him so she made this up, got him fired and destroyed his marriage. By the way, his marriage was already on the rocks back then. Did his wife at the time know? She’s dead now. We can’t ask her.

Many people have said they feel bad for Murdock, that he is a really nice guy and that he has lived a good life. Maybe, maybe not. I’m not convinced. But I am amazed by how many people defend him, at how many people accept his story at face value. I’ve heard many people criticize the girl. They ask why did she wait 30 years to say something. But, hey, she didn’t wait. She’s been saying it since it happened. She pressed charges back in the 80s. Murdock pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor. He started teaching again at Asheville School. Shelley’s family went to the school. He was fired again. Shelley’s family left town. They couldn’t take the heat but after a number of years they came back. They have family here. How awful for Shelley and her family to watch television and see Murdock receiving awards? How awful to see him successful? Then one day, Shelley ran into him in the supermarket. He smiled at her. He didn’t flinch. He may not even have recognized her. She may have become invisible to him.

Asheville is protective of its heroes and doesn’t like to see them tarnished. Did Shelley RUIN HIS LIFE as many say?  No, not even when she pursued it in court, not even when they told on him at Asheville School, not even when she told her story to CNN. He is still liked. Why is that? Where are Shelley’s defenders? Where are the good people, the people who would go to the mat for her? Shelley has lived an exemplary life even though she has suffered from PTSD. I hope she does well. I, for one, am completely on her side. Let Murdock take his probable retirement from Eblen and go to Florida to live in the sunshine. Age 63 isn’t old. He can easily become a good guy there once more. After all, he has great fabrication skills.

 

Bibliography

In no special order

https://www.cnn.com/2019/03/22/us/bill-murdock-eblen-charities-invs/index.html Charity leader retires days after CNN reveals details of sex crime charge, by Ashley Fantz and Sally Kestin, CNN, March 22, 2019

https://wlos.com/news/local/accuser-speaks-out-about-decades-old-child-sex-crime-involving-eblen-charities-co-founder Accuser speaks out about decades-old child sex crime involving Eblen Charities co-founder, WLOS TV by Sally Kestin and Ashley Fantz of CNN, Wednesday, March 20th 2019

https://www.amazon.com/William-Murdock/e/B00J7AMJJY?ref=dbs_p_pbk_r00_abau_000000 Amazon’s author page for William Murdock. The CV above.

https://wlos.com/news/local/board-of-eblen-charities-responds-to-resurfaced-child-sex-conviction-of-ceo Board of Eblen Charities responds to resurfaced child sex conviction of CEO, by Justin HintonThursday, WLOS TV, March 14th 2019.

https://www.citizen-times.com/story/news/local/2019/04/05/bill-murdock-accuser-shelley-love-baldwin-story-sexual-abuse-eblen-charities-co-founder-asheville/3291528002/ Murdock’s accuser Shelley Baldwin tells her story, by Jennifer Bowman and John Boyle, Asheville Citizen Times, April 5, 2019.

https://www.citizen-times.com/story/news/local/2019/04/05/bill-murdock-accuser-shelley-love-baldwin-story-sexual-abuse-eblen-charities-co-founder-asheville/3291528002/ Now 47, Baldwin says the Eblen Charities co-founder sexually abused her as a teen when Murdock was a high school teacher, by Jennifer Bowman and John Boyle, Asheville Citizen Times, April 5, 2019.

https://www.citizen-times.com/story/news/local/2019/04/04/bill-murdock-eblen-charities-shelley-love-baldwin-asheville-schools-legal-system-failed-sexual-abuse/3227633002/ Asheville’s also not been the friendliest community to speak out against Bill Murdock. So that’s been a difficulty. But when we could, we tried. by John Boyle and Jennifer Bowman of the Citizen Times.