Corpsewood Manor

Surrounded by the Chattahoochee National Forest is the former site of a brick mansion, now lying in partial ruin. Hand-built in 1977 by Dr. Charles L. Scudder, a retired professor at Loyola University in Chicago, and his partner Joseph “Joey” Odom, the mansion served as the couple’s dream home until their deaths. 

In December of 1982, the pair were gruesomely murdered, along with their two bullmastiffs, as a result of an attempted robbery by two acquaintances, Avery Brock and Tony West. During the ensuing investigation and trial – fueled partially by a local media circus – a mythos evolved in which the victims were vilified as “evil devil worshippers,” drawing from Dr. Scudder’s interest in the occult and the pair’s open homosexuality. Despite having been very well-liked in the community by those who knew them, the horrendous mythos continues to this day, and many locals still refer to the area as, “Devil Worshippers’ Mountain,” and claim that taking a brick from the property will lead to being cursed for life.

A narrow gravel drive, unmarked after all these years, leads to this site of forgotten history in the woods. Following a turn marked by a large stone with a cross and bearing the initials “CW” in spray paint, pilgrims to the site pass through the forest via trail before arriving at the ruined remains of the couple’s mansion. Though a fire destroyed much of the manor’s non-brick elements in the mid-1980s, much still remains intact apart from the main house; the homestead’s original outhouse, well room, and gazebo, still rising from the middle of the north Georgia mountains, suggesting the squandered potential not of devil worshippers, but two people who simply received no peace in death.

Update: The ruins are mostly overgrown as of May 2019, and the twin pillars have both been knocked down. This is private property and you must seek permission before visiting the property.