The Carroll County Accident

The Carroll County Accident is a country song by Porter Wagoner, one of his most popular hits.

The song tells of a rural county so quiet, that the most notable incident in recent memory was a single-vehicle accident involving two of the county's most upstanding residents: Walter Browning (the passenger, who died) and Mary Ellen Jones (the driver, who was seriously injured but survived).

Notwithstanding that Browning and Jones were not married to each other, nor otherwise related, Jones explains that Browning had asked her to take him into town because of illness. The explanation is quickly accepted as fact (the county even going so far as to purchase Browning's tombstone), even though suspiciously Browning was found without his wedding ring on his finger (people believing it to have been lost from the accident).

However, the singer investigates the wreckage and discovers the truth: Browning had hidden his wedding ring in a box behind the dash (implying that he and Jones had been having an affair). The singer discards the ring in a well and swears himself to secrecy -- before revealing himself as Browning's son.