Ep. 15 - Corpsewood Manor Murders

The true crime this episode features is a recent event dating back to just the 1980s. It is a crime that shook the small town of Summerville, Georgia. A gay couple lost their lives during the robbery of their home, Corpsewood Manor, which was located in an isolated area of the woods. The manor is just a ruin today due to a fire, but it attracts visitors of all kinds from teenagers looking for a party hangout to paranormal investigators. Stories of curses, Satanic worship and hauntings have been spawned by the Corpsewood Manor Murders.

Charles Lee Scudder was born in Wisconsin in 1926 to Charles and Eleanor Scudder. He studied at Oberlin College in the 1940s and married Helen Hayslette. That marriage dissolved quickly because Charles was struggling with his sexual orientation. He tried marriage again in the 1950s with Bourtai Bunting and they had four sons. The couple eventually separated. Charles began studies at Loyola University in Chicago and became an Associate Professor in pharmacology and was Associate Director of the Mind, Drugs and Behavior Institute. He was an eccentric guy who decorated his Chicago home with baroque furniture he bought from a theater sell-off and he regularly dyed his hair bold colors like purple. In 1959, Charles hired Joseph Odom to help out with his kids and housekeeping.

Joseph Odom was born in Cook County in Chicago in 1938 to Conrad and Mary Odom. Joey, as everyone called him, had trouble in school and got in trouble with law on a few occasions. He quit school after the fifth grade. He was a good cook and enjoyed a simpler life, free from technology. He rarely used electrical appliances and usually stored them with their cords wound tightly around them. He preferred to cook over a woodstove. Joey was gay and moved in with Charles in 1959, under the pretense of a cook and housekeeper, but the reality was that the two men were lovers.

The two men shared a desire to get away from the city and live a rustic life. They found that opportunity in Georgia. On 17 December 1975, Charles bought the south-east quarter of lot 248 in Chattooga County, Georgia for $10,500. The two men built their dream home there brick by brick over a period of two years. They fashioned it in the simplistic way they dreamed about. They described it as a castle and named it Corpsewood Manor because of the way the trees looked in winter. There was no running water and a generator supplied the electricity. There was a chemical toilet in an outhouse separate from the main house. They had a vast garden and used the $200 in monthly interest they received from Scudder's savings account to buy supplies.

The home was decorated with bizarre items that many claim reflected both men's affinity for the occult. This decor included occult artwork and human skulls. Charles was a practicing Wiccan and there are rumors that he had some kind of connection to Satanic Church leader Anton Lavey. There are many rumors about the men, more than likely sparked by the fact that they were lovers in a time when that was not acceptable, especially in a small southern town. These claims included illicit drug use and a chicken coop with a secret room full of sexual devices and porn. In 1977, Joey was involved in a devastating car accident that left him an invalid for several months. He never fully recovered from the accident and used a wheelchair much of the time. Charles stepped out several times on Joey, engaging in sexual acts with other men, including a man named Kenneth Avery Brock.

What had been a dream way of life for the two men would soon come crashing down in a horrifying way. On December 12, 1982, Kenneth Brock recruited Sam West, West's nephew Joey Wells and a woman named Teresa Hudgins to help him rob Corpsewood Manor. The four joined Charles Scudder on the third floor of the chicken house that had been dubbed "The Pink Room" to drink wine and huff a mixer of varnish and paint thinner. The party soon turned dark when Brock and West bound and gagged Charles and started to demand money. Brock believed that Charles and Joey had lots of money hidden on the property. Charles told them that there was no money.

Brock was outraged and decided to show Charles that he was serious. Charles had thought perhaps Brock was playing some kind of game. Brock entered the house and found Joey in the kitchen. He shot him four times and shot the couple's two Mastiffs. He then went back to the chicken house and dragged Charles into the house and showed him the devastating scene. Brock demanded money again, but Charles only repeated that he had no money. Brock pointed the gun at Charles and apparently he uttered his last words, "I asked for this," before Brock shot him six times. The gang looted the house before setting it on fire to conceal their crime. They stole Charles' Jeep as they left.

Joey Wells and Teresa Hudgins had not wanted to take part in the crime and they were soon talking to police after a neighbor found the house smoldering with bullet holes in the front door. A nationwide manhunt ensued. Brock eventually turned himself in and West was arrested shortly thereafter. Brock claimed he was tired of running and confessed everything. During the trial, Brock defended his actions by saying he was involuntarily intoxicated because Charles had spiked the wine with LSD. There was never any LSD found in the wine bottle. Brock pleaded guilty and was sentenced to three life terms to be served consecutively. West was sentenced to death. After an appeal, West was sentenced to three consecutive life terms. They are both in a prison in Georgia to this day.

Joey and Charles were cremated and Joey's ashes were spread in the rose garden at Corpsewood Manor. The haunting of the property began almost immediately. This had been a violent crime and the two men had dearly loved their dream castle. People who visit the property both for paranormal investigation and partying, claim to hear the disembodied barks of unseen dogs and the soft sounds of a harp playing. Charles had owned a harp and been an accomplished player. There is also the sound of breaking glass and gunshots.

The whole area seems to exude an unhappiness and there is an oppressive feeling as though the victims are still angry for what happened to them. It is rumored that the land is cursed here and that if anyone takes anything from the property. that curse will follow them home. A string of bad luck will befall someone for even taking something as inconsequential as a brick. A bizarre twist to the story is that the sheriff who investigated claimed to have found a painting that Charles had done of himself featuring a self-portrait of himself bound with a gag in his mouth and blood dripping from five bullet wounds. Is this why Charles had cryptically said, "I asked for this?" Had he conjured some kind of act here with an occult ritual?

The author of a blog on the infamous crime had an experience he described as such: "Once we arrived at the castle ruins we looked around for a minute, in absolute awe at the fact we were all standing somewhere that a murder had taken place. Finally we proceeded to the open area between their shower and out house. In that area, we heard something that blew each of our minds, the distinct howling and growls of the two dogs that were murdered along with Scudder and Odom."

People still wander the woods in search of the ruined Corpsewood Manor and still claim to hear and see odd things. Is Corpsewood Manor haunted? That is for you to decide!