Every Town - The Corpsewood Manor Murders: Satan, Secrets, and a Savage End

Episode Date: July 25, 2025

Today we’re checking out a strange case that has a bit of a paranormal edge to it, and perhaps more specifically, that edge is directly related to Satan Himself. So, let’s head on over to Georgia and check out the Corpsewood Manor Murders. Visit MintMobile.com/everytown and get 3 months of unlimited wireless for just $15 a month at mintmobile.com/everytown. 👀 Watch This Episode On Youtube: https://youtu.be/G4JInObtcjc 👁 Check out our movie AN ANGRY BOY for FREE! ⁠https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BvtlOlODQ8g&t=5238s⁠ ⁠https://tubitv.com/movies/100029672/an-angry-boy⁠ International & Other Ways To Watch: ⁠https://www.anangryboy.com/⁠ 💀 MERCH: ⁠https://scary-mysteries.teemill.com/⁠ 💀 Free 7 Day Trail on Exclusive Episodes, Podcasts & Perks! ⁠https://www.patreon.com/scarymysteries⁠   🎧 Our Other Podcast Scary Mysteries: ⁠https://open.spotify.com/show/3ZooEZMoZ421WdsOVJhVkT⁠ 👁 X: ⁠https://x.com/ScaryMysteries1⁠ 👁Instagram: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/andrew.fitzg⁠ 👁 TikTok: ⁠https://www.tiktok.com/@andrewfitzgerald⁠ 👁Facebook: ⁠https://www.facebook.com/scarymysteriesofficial⁠ 👁 X: ⁠https://x.com/ScaryMysteries1⁠   🗣 Business Inquiries, questions and comments hit us up at ⁠[e-mail]⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Are you ready to dive into the unknown? Join me, Peyton Moreland, on Into the Dark, the true crime podcast from Ono Media with a hint of horror and mystery. Each week, I dive into a different case, breaking down the facts, and pondering the age-old question, why do people do what they do? Now, sometimes the answer isn't so clear, and that's why I'll also explore conspiracy theories, hauntings, and all things spooky. From the Green River Killer to the Mothman incident, we will unravel all of the questions that keep us up at night. So don't miss out. Subscribe now on your favorite podcast platform.

New episodes drop every Wednesday. Into the dark, where true crime meets the eerie unknown. Every town has a dark side. On the morning of December 12th of 1982, Dr. Charles Scudder sat with his golden harp and recorded himself reciting a poem by William Blum. lake. And come midnight, he'd be lying dead on his kitchen floor, five bullets in his body. And months earlier, he had painted this very scene, his own murder. And that portrait still hung on the wall as his killers tore through his Gothic castle deep in the Georgia woods. And they were searching for treasure that didn't exist. And in the end, they executed two people, driven by

nothing more than fear, paranoia, and twisted rumors. Hey guys, it's Andrew. Welcome to every town. What today? We're checking out a strange case that has a bit of a paranormal edge to it. And perhaps more specifically, that edge is directly related to Satan himself. So together, let's head on over to Georgia and check out the Corpsewood Manor Murders. The early 1980s were a time when across the board America as a whole seemed convinced that Satan

and himself had moved on into the suburbs. A wave of troubling accusations swept across North America. New and intense scrutiny on the activities of satanic cults. Stories of devil worship and satanic cults corrupting young minds. Unbelievable crime at the hands of satanic cult. There were terrifying tales of secret satanic cults bent on tormenting and corrupting the young. Sounds a bit ridiculous now, but it's a common thing we've seen throughout history, it's just part of human nature.

In the present, something takes a hold of the culture, an idea of a danger lurking behind every corner. Your friends, neighbors, even loved ones, might be infected with the mind virus. And once it takes hold, it just sweeps the entire nation. Now, for the life of me, I can't really think of any recent examples, but maybe you can. Anyway, back then, the fear of Satan consuming our communities was very real.

parents were digging under schools looking for secret tunnels where children were supposedly being tortured. Allegations of physical and abuse of children at a babysitting service. The dark world of ritualistic child abuse. There's a widely held opinion that what happened at the daycare was the devil's handiwork. Underground networks of Satanists were infiltrating daycares and preschools to physically and sexually abuse children in occult rituals. Police departments were trading tips on how to identify pagan symbols. Even Procter and Gamble had to repeatedly deny that their company logo was secretly promoting devil worship.

This terrifying wave seeped its way into every nook and cranny across the nation, reaching the highest levels of law enforcement. The FBI found itself investigating hundreds of allegations of satanic ritual abuse. Talk shows and news programs were fanning the flames of fear almost daily. In 1988, for example, nearly 20 million Americans tuned in to watch Geraldo Rivera's NBC special on Satanism, where he interviewed everyone from alleged cult survivors to Ozzy Osbourne. And so then, how does something like this really get started? You know it doesn't belong in your epic summer plans?

Getting burned by your old wireless bill. While you're planning, backyard bill. barbecues and long weekends on the beach, your cell phone bill shouldn't be the thing holding you back. That's why I made the switch to Mint Mobile, and honestly, I wish I'd done it sooner. With Mint, I'm getting the same reliable coverage and fast speeds I have with my old provider, but for a fraction of the price. And right now, I got a summer promo that's kind of wild. You can get three months of unlimited premium wireless service for just $15 a month.

That means while your friends are sweating over data overage. and surprise charges, you'll be chilling, literally and financially. Mint Mobile runs in the nation's largest 5G network, so the service is solid. And you keep your phone, your number, and all your contacts, while you're ditching is the bloated bill. And I use Mint Mobile, and you should too. And this year, skip breaking a sweat and breaking the bank. Get this new customer offer and your three-month unlimited wireless plan for just 15 bucks a month at mintmobile.com slash every town. That's mintmobile.com slash every time.

Up front payment of $45 required, equivalent to $15 a month. Limited time new customer offer for first three months only. The speeds may slow above 35 gigabytes on unlimited plan. Taxes and fees extra. See MintMobile for details. When asked about the spark that set off the hellfire, many experts point to this book. Michelle remembers.

published in 1980, written by Canadian psychiatrist Lawrence Pazder and his former patient, Michelle Smith. It claimed to be the true story of a woman who had been tortured by Satanist as a child. That book went on to become a bestseller, and suddenly, devil worship was a normal part of everyday conversations. It wasn't full-blown yet, of course, but it opened the gates for discussions on the topic to become more normal. Simultaneously, music and movies with a dark edge were becoming mainstream. Heavy metal music had hidden satanic messages. Possibly satanic messages on some rock music recording. ACDC's popular song, Highway to Hell, hit the charts in 1979.

In early 1982, that was the year Ozzy Osbourne bit the head off that live bat on stage. And Kiss, with all their crazy makeup and wardrobes, were demons recruiting children in some people's eyes. And it was spread that Kiss actually stood for nights in Satan's service. Even though that was totally false, it didn't matter. And people believed it. Go into any video rental store and hit up the horror section, and parents were actually horrified with what they were seeing. If you were around back then, you know what I'm talking about. wall to wall you had the covers of movies like Halloween, Dawn of the Dead, Fantasem, Friday the 13th, Evil Dead, The Thing, Creep Show, Poltergeist, and I could go on and on.

So all this converged into the perfect storm of apparent chaos happening. It was chaos at the bookstore, where you rented movies, which bled into it being at the schools and then at your neighbor's house. Most of it was made up in the minds of many, of course, but others experienced it firsthand, and a very select few might have actually been inspired by all this to commit violent acts. And perhaps nowhere is this more evident than in the setting for today's story in the remote mountains of North Georgia where two men built their dream home,

only to become victims of the very panic they never saw coming. Dr. Charles Scudder was everything you'd expect from a 1970s academic rebel. Born to a wealthy Milwaukee family in 1926, he had climbed the ranks of academia to become an associate professor of pharmacology at Loyola University in Chicago. But Charles wasn't your typical boring professor. He dyed his hair bright purple at a pet monkey and conducted government-funded experiments with LSD. And yes, those are the same, government LSD experiments that would later become part of the MK Ultra program. Charles was also a member of the Church of Satan, though he kept this secret from his colleagues.

And before you start thinking Charles was some devil-worshipping lunatic, understand what the church of Satan actually was. And founded by Anton LeVay in San Francisco, it wasn't actually about worshipping the devil, at least not at first. Most members were apiast who used Satan as a symbol of rebellion against traditional religious constraints. They believed in indulgence over abstinence, in living for earthly pleasures rather than heavenly promises. Yes, they took the name to the extreme, but it was more to make their point. As far as we know, they weren't actually sacrificing people to horn goats.

And by the mid-70s, Charles was tired of academic life and the politics. within it. And he complained constantly about unruly students and backstabbing colleagues. His neighborhood in Chicago was deteriorating. The property values were dropping and his second marriage had fallen apart, so he was ready for a sea change. That's where Joseph Odom comes in. And Joey, as he was known, was 12 years younger than Charles and came from a completely different world. And he dropped out of school in fifth grade and had spent some time in prison before Charles hired him as a housekeeper. Despite their different backgrounds, the two men formed a deep bond. And Joey wasn't just Charles's employee, he was his companion, his friend,

and eventually his lover. Together they dreamed of escaping the urban decay of Shytown for something simpler, something real. They wanted to live off the land away from prying eyes and just be themselves without any fear of judgment. So in 1975, they found finally found what they've been searching for. Forty acres of untouched wilderness in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains up in North Georgia. And Charles bought the land for just over 10 grand. Then on his 50th birthday, October 6th, 1976, as a way to celebrate, he walked away from that prestigious job at Loyola once and for good, along with about 12,000 doses of government-grade LSD.

After that, he gave away most of his belongings, hit the row with Joey and their two massive English mastiffs, Beaselbub and Arsenaat, heading stray for their new life in the middle of the woods. These two guys, only armed with determination and a chainsaw, started building their dream home from the ground up, literally. They dug the foundation by hand, laid every single brick, and installed every window themselves. They named this place Corpsewood Manor, after all the dead and dying trees scattered around the property. And this place was unique to say the least exactly what they wanted. The house was oval-shaped, with no sharp corners at all. According to occult beliefs, evil spirits tend to hide in corners, so by keeping everything curved, they could keep the bad stuff out.

At least, that was the thought. A pink concrete gargoyle watched over the entrance. The stained glass windows showed human skulls and Baphomet, the goat-headed symbol of the church of Satan. Inside, it was just as wild. The walls were covered in satanic art, a statue of Mephistopolis, which is a demon from German folklore. They also had two sculptures of a baby, one just being born, the other already dead in skeletal. Out here they lived completely off the grid. There was no electricity, no running water,

just what they could get from their hand-dug well. They grew their own food for the most part, kept bees for honey, made their own wine and crafted candles from beeswax. And Charles would play his golden harp, while Joey, who had become an exceptional cook during his time in prison, prepared elaborate meals. Just two wild men in love, living their authentic lives away from a world,

world that wouldn't accept them. But there was another side to Corpsewood Manor, and it was the one that would ultimately seal their fate. Next to the manor, Charles and Joey built what they called the chicken house. The first floor actually housed chickens, the second floor is where they stored canned goods in their extensive collection of adult content. But then it was the third floor, the pink room, as it was known. It was painted and tired. entirely pink and furnished with nothing but mattresses, gas lamps, whips, chains, and a whole bunch of other items. And this was the couple's personal pleasure chamber, and they weren't shy about sharing it with others. Most evenings over at the Manor ended in the pink room, and Charles and Joey

would invite guests, locals, hunters, curious visitors to join them for wine and whatever followed after that. Those who participated described the encounters. as consensual and free of judgment, fueled by heavy pores of that homemade vina. And there was even a guest book where people could record their experiences and personal preferences for any future visits. Now, you have to remember that this was rural Georgia, we're talking about. In the late 70s and early 80s, most people here were deeply conservative and deeply religious, people who believed in the satanic panic.

From their own perspectives, Joey and Charles were going to open the eyes and minds of those who have been restrained for so long. But really, that's wishful thinking. It's not so easy to change generational beliefs as they would come to find. Word spread quickly about the two men living in a castle on a mountaintop, and the rumors took off fast. People started calling them the gay devil-worshippers. And the place became known as Devil Worshippers Mountain, or just D. De-Devil-Worshippers. for short. The timing really couldn't have been worse. And by 1982, the satanic panic was in full swing, and in that kind of atmosphere, one full of fear and paranoia, D.W. became the perfect

target. Local gossip claimed they'd summoned demons to protect their land, and people swore they'd seen robed figures holding seances in the woods. Even the wooden sign at their gate that said, beware of the thing, which was probably just a fun Adam's family reference, was twisted into more evidence that something dark was going on. The tragic irony of it all was that, well, everyone was busy being terrified of the men in the mansion. The truth is, they weren't dangerous at all. Yeah, they were eccentric. Weird for sure, but they weren't hurting anyone. And people who actually went up to corpsewood Manor almost always said the same thing. and Charles and Joey were kind, generous hosts.

They offered food, drink, and good company to anyone who came with an open mind. The reality was that the real danger was coming from somewhere else entirely. In the fall of 82, 17-year-old Kenneth Brock started hunting on the corpsewood property. The boy had come from a troubled background, and his father had kicked him out of the house at a young age. That sent him into crossing paths with 30-year-old, Samuel West and the two would become roommates. As to why a 30-year-old would live with a 17-year-old, well, Samuel had some issues himself. At 13, he had accidentally shot and killed his two-year-old

nephew while playing with a gun. That sort of sent him off on a path filled with mental institutions and jail time. He wasn't exactly a well-adjusted adult and in 1982 he was unemployed and by all accounts unstable and deeply troubled. Kenneth eventually crossed paths with the men at Corpsewood Manor, and eventually he told West about the two guys in the castle. According to later testimonies, Brock claimed he'd had sexual encounters with Charles in the pink room. Encounters, he said, left him feeling embarrassed and angry. Now, whether those encounters actually happened or if West played a role in making Brock feel like a victim,

we'll probably never know for sure. But what we do know is that the two of them talked about the castle often. It was, after all, an anomaly out there in Georgia. With all their talks going on, at some point the two of them became convinced that Charles and Joey were sitting on a pile of hidden wealth, riches they believe were stashed somewhere inside the manor. This assumption made a twisted kind of sense. After all, here were two men living in a hand-built,

castle in the middle of nowhere, apparently with no visible means of income. I mean, they had to be rich, right? On December 12th, Brock and West decided to find out for themselves, and they were going to rob Corpsewood Manor. They invited two teens to help out, 19-year-old Joey Wells, and his day Teresa Hudgens to come along, apparently without telling them the real plan. and Brock borrowed his mom's 22-caliber rifle, saying he was just going rabbit hunting. Before heading up the mountain, the four stopped over at Tony's sister's trailer to watch some football and get high on something called Tudaloo, a nasty homemade mix of paint-thinner, glue, and alcohol, that they'd huff for a cheap high.

And then as the sun went down, and with night closing in, they piled on into the car and drove up the winding road. towards corpsewood. When they arrived that December evening, Charles greeted them with genuine warmth and hospitality, as he always did. Despite having never met Teresa and Joey Wells before, he invited all four visitors up to the pink room for wine and conversation. And for about 20 minutes, everything seemed cool.

They drank, shared stories, even passed around the can of Tooteloo. When it was gone, Brock said he'd go grab some more from the car. He climbed down the ladder and then went to the ground floor. Only, instead of some party favors, Brock grabbed his rifle. When he returned to the pink room with the weapon, Charles actually laughed and said, Bang Bang, apparently thinking it was some kind of joke, but Brock wasn't kidding around. He grabbed Charles by the hair, pulled his head back, and pressed a knife against his throat, and suddenly it all became real.

What happened next, moved in a blur, but Brock tore sheets into strips and used them to tie Charles' hands behind his back, and then demanded to know where the money was hidden. Still trying to keep things calm, Charles explained that there was no cash. Whatever little money they had was safely tucked away in a bank nearby, so he couldn't help them. That, of course, wasn't the answer Brock wanted. It wasn't so much that he didn't believe him.

It was more that he felt stupid for thinking it was all under a mattress or something. Frustrated, he headed downstairs, calling out for Joey to come outside with the dogs. He wanted to let Charles know just how serious he was. When Joey took too long to get out there, where Brock headed inside the home. And from up in the pink room, they heard the muffled gunshots ring out. Brock opened fire, killing Joey and both of the dogs at point-blank range. Charles was then dragged, kicking and screaming into the manner, but the problem with living out in the woods like that is nobody can hear you.

Inside, they now all saw the bodies lying in the kitchen. Teresa and Joey were terrified, and they hadn't signed up for this. But at this point, they had to go along with it, fearing if they did anything, they too might be murdered. According to them, when Charles looked at the carnage, he said something that would haunt everyone who heard it. I asked for this. It was in that moment that he reached.

realized how stupid of an idea was to try and open people's minds that were locked shut. His ideology of a world where people could be themselves was shattered, and he felt like he only had himself to blame. The boys had gone too far, and what's the point in leaving a witness alive, especially when he wasn't going to give them any money because that money didn't exist. As Charles tried to move toward Joey's body, West asked for the gun and Brock handed it over. And as the man cried over the body of his dead lover, West opened fire, shooting Charles four times dropping him to his knees. But even then, Charles wasn't finished. Brock took the gun back, finished him off with a single shot right between his eyes. The killers then tore through the place,

desperate to find the fortune they hoped was hidden inside. They got a few coins and some jewelry, a leather jacket, a gold-plated dagger, and some wine. The real treasures, the 16th century furniture, priceless artwork, and three bottles of pure LSD, those were overlooked and left behind. And Charles had been telling the truth. There was no fortune hidden, no cash. And here's a detail that's beyond weird. Years before the murders, Joey had gotten into a car accident, and after that, he was never really the same.

brain injury left him suffering from hallucinations, and one day he told Charles about a really disturbing vision he'd had. He saw Charles tied up, gagged with a bullet wound to the head. Instead of brushing it off as just another hallucination, Charles was so shaken by it that he actually painted a picture of himself exactly like Joey described, bound, gagged, with a bullet hole right in between his eyes. And that painting hung on the wall. wall of corpsewood Manor for months before the tragedy. On the night Brock and West were leaving after the murders they saw it. There was hanging right in front of them, an exact image of what they had just done to Charles.

Is that some kind of premonition or just a wild coincidence? After the murders, the killers panicked. They let the two teens go, but warned that if they said a word about what had happened, they'd end up just like Charles and Joey. Brock and West, then took Charles's Jeep and headed south towards Mexico. At a rest stop in Laurel, Mississippi, and they saw an opportunity to get a fresh set of wheels. They spotted Navy Lieutenant Kirby Phelps asleep in his Toyota, and in a brutal, senseless act, they robbed him, and then brought him by gunpoint into the woods nearby,

where West executed him. And they took his car then and kept going. Four days after the murder, as a friend of Charles and Joey's, stopped. by Corpsewood Manor. And he found those blood-stained walls, overturned furniture, and the two bodies. So he rushed back to town to tell police. The 56-year-old former college professor and his younger male companion,

the two men who lived in their handmade castle, were found dead in their home this week. Their bullet-ridden bodies were found on Thursday. And police say they were probably killed last Sunday. When the crime scene investigators arrived, they saw something. They never encountered. before. The walls

covered in satanic statues and paintings, whips, chains, vials of LSD, all scattered around. In the middle of the satanic panic hysteria, this seemed like all the proof they needed of dark occult activity. And naturally, the

media frenzy that followed was explosive. The Atlanta Constitution ran headlines about devil worshippers and their bizarre killing. Articles described the victims as homosexuals sexual devil worshippers, living in a dank castle-like home cluttered with statues of Satan. It is believed these two killings are connected with the death of a man whose body was found near Vicksburg, Mississippi.

A Jeep found near the body belonged to the two men on the hill. While the media fed on sensationalism, the police move fast. They link Charles' abandoned Jeep to the Mississippi murder. A nationwide search has been launched for the suspected killers. two men who police believe killed for the money, and also for the scorn they felt for the lifestyle the professor and his colleague lived. And Teresa, well, she was so scared by everything that was unfolding

she eventually told her family everything that happened. So the police knew exactly who they were after. Brock and West ended up having a falling out in Texas, and they went there separate ways. Brock, overwhelmed with guilt, hitchhiked back to Georgia. and Marietta he called his mother and confessed to everything, saying he was sorry. He then walked into a gas station and told the attendant he was wanted for murder and surrendered when the police showed up. West, figuring Brock might crack and tell about the plan to get to Mexico, had to regroup.

And he made it as far as Chattanooga before running out of gas on Christmas Eve. I'm tired and broke, he walked through the rain to a highway lounge, found a cop, and just let it all out and confessed. In keeping with how crazy everything got in terms of satanic panic, West's lawyers actually argued that the murders were justified revenge for Brock, who they claimed was a minor victim of SA. They also said West had been under some kind of supernatural spell, pointing to Charles's golden harp, which they insisted glowed with evil power and controlled West's mind. They even claimed the wine they drank that night was laced with LSD. but forensic tests found no drugs at all.

And they tried to play this game of hysteria, but in the end, Wes was found guilty and sentenced to death. He later appealed and took a plea deal for life in prison. And Brock got three back-to-back-life sentences, and both men are still behind bars today. Now, I'm not saying Joey and Charles were saints, but they certainly didn't deserve what happened to them. And it's interesting that while all the townsfolk were freaking out about them up on that hill,

Out in those woods doing Satan knows what, the real demons were actually walking among them the whole time. As the saying from one of the coolest villains in cinematic history, Kaiser Sose goes, the greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist. And that's something, satanic panic or not, we all need to be aware of. So that's going to do it for this week's episode of Everytown. I hope you all enjoyed it. Appreciate you all very much for tuning in.

Stay safe out there. If you want more content from us, just dip on down to the description box, and we've got links galore. Remember to come back next week for another episode filled with scary, strange, and mysterious stories because you never know. Maybe your town will be next.