The Most Bizarre True Crime Book You’ve Ever Read

The Corpsewood Manor Murders in North Georgia was featured on national podcast Sword & Scale. It was mentioned on international sensation My Favorite Murder. It has also been the subject of countless internet shows and interviews. What, then, has captivated the world? Is it the enigmatic, mysterious Dr. Charles Scudder, a Loyola professor who studied psychoactive drugs, corresponded with Anton LaVey of the Church of Satan, and created beautiful and some say Satanic art? Is it instead the castle he and Joey Odom built in the middle of the national forest, with no construction experience? Is it the colorful REAL characters that are stranger than fiction? Or is it the dozens of bizarre and unexplainable things that happened and continue to happen in connection with their murders, including rumors of ghosts and curses? Read and decide for yourself!

Self portrait by Dr. Charles Scudder 2 years before he died. His body was found with the same gag & 5 bullet holes in his forehead that he foresaw.

The Lurid Details of the Case Drew International Attention & Still Bring A Huge Cult Following

Dr. Charles Scudder, a Loyola professor of pharmacology and director of the Institute for the Study of Mind, Drugs & Behavior, relocated to tiny Trion, Georgia from Chicago with his housekeeper/companion Joey Odom in 1977. They brought with them their massive dogs, a houseful of Renaissance furniture, and a couple of little items appropriated from Loyola- two human skulls and 12,000 doses of LSD.

The Corpsewood Manor Murders in North Georgia has received national attention.

Church of Satan, Handbuilt Castle in the Middle of the National Forest, 12,000 Doses of LSD… All True

Disillusioned with the rat race, they built a castle in the woods by hand. They went on to fill it with bizarre art & Satanist symbols. The pair named it Corpsewood after the vista of skeletal trees that greeted their arrival. They entertained personal friends in the manor,. The sketchier side of humanity, though, got the more private invitation to visit the Pink Room of their infamous “Chicken House.” However, the bacchanalia came to an abrupt and bloody end in December 1982, when Tony West and Avery Brock came calling.

This gargoyle guarded the entriance to the handbuilt castle in the woods.

Wary Locals Still Whisper of Ghosts & Curses

The murders, which came amidst a wave of bizarre crimes striking in and around the tiny town, made international news. This set the stage for trials peopled with a host of colorful characters, including a defendant who periodically hollered interruptions mid-trial, a District Attorney who spat tobacco and invective, and eventually a world-renowned lawyer said to be the inspiration for the Matlock television show. Though the case and crimes are long gone, Corpsewood continues to haunt North Georgia to this day.

Corpsewood is available anyplace books are sold, from Amazon to Walmart.com to local bookstores, pharmacies, grocery & hardware stores. Autographed discounted copies available at Chattanooga Ghost Tours, Inc!