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Murdaugh Family Heirlooms Fetch Huge Prices at Bustling Estate Auction

On Thursday morning, a crowd of curious spectators formed outside Liberty Auction in Pembroke, Georgia. They gathered hoping to see items from the Murdaugh family’s South Carolina Lowcountry hunting estate, where Alex Murdaugh killed his wife and son in 2021. Oh, and maybe buy a thing or two, as well.

“We came out of curiosity just to look at the Murdaugh items,” one auction attendee told Fox News Digital, a sentiment echoed by many, according to reporters.

Doors didn’t even officially open until noon; and the auction didn’t sell its first item until 4 p.m., and yet the crowd only ballooned as the day progressed. Some attendees even admitted to buying items as gifts for others to commemorate the murder trial.

“We’re here to buy Christmas presents for the rest of the family. Trying to get them something from the Murdaugh trial. Everybody found it very interesting, so we’d like to get them a little…something to remember the Lowcountry events,” one buyer said.

The modern fascination with murder and mystery almost certainly fueled the feeding frenzy, which saw relatively average items selling for way above market value. The family’s couch, for example, sold for $14,000. The buyer, Phillip Jennings, is the owner of a hunting and lodging company in Georgia.

The Murdaugh estate auction was as much a true crime fanfare as a financial recuperation

“We think these are very novel pieces. They came from a very nice plantation lodge in South Carolina, and we want them to live on. … We try to specialize at our lodge…very unique things that are conversation pieces for people and they can sit around and talk,” Jennings said.

A crusty old dartboard reportedly sold for $425, a pair of monogrammed plastic tumblers (worth about a 50 cents at any garage sale) sold for $225, and two lamps with turtle shells as bases also sold for a whopping $2,000.

Interestingly, the auction house never mentioned the Murdaugh family by name. All of the family’s belongings came with a serial number, however, and officials said the collection originated from a “prominent South Carolina estate.”

A buyer who purchased Maggie Murdaugh’s bicycle and tumblers with Alex Murdaugh’s initials said he has plans to start a local museum and would also add the items to his collection. The same day, the Murdaugh’s luxurious 1,700-acre Islandton property sold for just under $4 million to buyers, according to Fox News.

Funds from the sale of the home will go to multiple people involved in multiple lawsuits and claims against the estate. One such suit stems from the 2018 death of Paul Murdaugh’s friend, Mallory Beach, who died aboard the Murdaugh family’s boat after Paul allegedly got drunk and crashed the family boat into a bridge.

Alex Murdaugh has since been sentenced to serve life in prison for the murders of his wife and son.