The Sweet Sixteen of Samarcand Reformatory

Episode 91

Sixteen girls. Multiple fires. A system built to control them — and a desperate act that forced the nation to look closer.

In this episode, we step inside the walls of the Samarcand Reform School for Girls in North Carolina, where young women lived under harsh discipline, forced labor, and relentless institutional oversight. On the night they began setting fires, they weren’t just striking a match — they were striking back.

This is a story of defiance, injustice, and the blurred line between rebellion and survival. Were these girls arsonists — or victims fighting for autonomy the only way they could?

Listen as we follow the smoke through history and confront the uncomfortable truth about who society punishes, who it protects, and what incendiary acts are born from desperation.

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Inner Sanctum Acknowledgments:
Eternal gratitude to our Inner Sanctum patrons, Jenny Mercer and Laura Pisciotta, for helping us bring light to the stories others would rather leave in the ashes.

Listener discretion is advised.

Background music by Not Notoriously Coordinated 

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Sources: 

Bennett, Barbara. Smoke Signals from Samarcand: The 1931 Reform School Fire and Its Aftermath.
University of South Carolina Press, 2018.
ISBN 978-1-61117-860-9 (cloth) • ISBN 978-1-61117-861-6 (ebook).

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data: http://catalog.loc.gov/
Publisher website: https://www.sc.edu/uscpress/

Mentioned in Episode (not used as a research source):

Zipf, Karin L. Bad Girls at Samarcand: Sexuality and Sterilization in a Southern Juvenile Reformatory.
University of North Carolina Press, April 4, 2016.
ISBN 978-1-4696-2791-9 (hardcover).

Note: This book was referenced by title during the episode but was not used as a source or basis for research for this show.