12/14/2025
THE HUNDLEY MURDERS
There are lots of ways to ruin the holidays -- like encountering the demonic Krampus with his whip -- but there's also murder.
On December 12, 1928, two murders were committed in a historic home in Carbondale, Illinois and those who have lived and worked in the place since that time have come to believe that the spirits of the dead still linger within its walls. The legend of the house claims that “you can bury the bodies in Oakland Cemetery, but you can’t make them rest there.” Such stories are spread about a myriad of allegedly haunted houses in the state of Illinois, but few of them have seen the kind of carnage and violence that occurred in the Hundley House in 1928.
John Charles Hundley was a prominent citizen of Carbondale at the time of his death. He had been the mayor of the city in 1907 and 1908 and enjoyed many friendships and business acquaintances throughout the area. But Hundley’s life had not always been perfect.
In fact, in 1893, he had committed murder. At that time, Hundley had killed a music teacher in town, but was acquitted by a jury after pleading the “unwritten law,” meaning that he had murdered the man who had been sleeping with his wife.
The incident, not surprisingly, led to him divorcing his wife, which caused bitter feelings between him and his son, Victor. Although the problems between them had been supposedly been settled years before the elder Hundley’s death, some witnesses would later claim that the quarrel continued. This led to Victor becoming the chief suspect in the murder of his father.
Hundley remarried a few years after his divorce and in 1915, he and his second wife, Luella, purchased a lot at the corner of Maple and Main Streets and constructed what became their sprawling and luxurious home.
Luella was the daughter of Ruffin Harrison, one of the founders of the nearby town of Herrin and the owner of numerous coalmines in the region. Her brother, George Harrison, was the president of Herrin’s First National Bank. She was said to have been an accomplished musician and very involved in local charity work. Perhaps for these reasons, she was regarded as having no enemies, which made her murder all the more puzzling.
The Hundleys were killed just before midnight on Wednesday, December 12, 1928. Investigators believed that Mr. Hundley was murdered first. His body was found in an upstairs bedroom, dressed only in a nightshirt and socks. He had been shot six times from behind by a .45-caliber revolver.
Mrs. Hundley was killed downstairs. She had been shot twice in the back of the head and once in the heart. She had been killed in a rear stairway, which she had apparently started to climb in order to aid her husband.
Neighbors who heard the shots called the police and officers arrived within minutes. Nothing had been taken from the house, which contained valuable artwork, expensive furnishings, and a large amount of cash, so robbery didn’t seem to be the motive.
On the morning of December 13, police investigators thoroughly searched the Hundley House. Tracking dogs were brought in and placed on the trail of the killer and four times, the dogs led their handlers straight to the home of John Hundley’s son, Victor, who lived a short distance away.
Investigators believed that the killer might have been known to Mrs. Hundley because it appeared that she had opened the door and let him into the house, as she would have done, even at that late hour, for her step-son.
Victor also seemed to have a motive for the murders. It was learned that John Hundley was writing Victor out of his will because, as he told a friend, “he was no good.” The two had a longstanding feud, although according to Victor, it had been patched up.
Apparently not.
If John changed his will, Victor would lose all of his father’s $350,000 estate. Investigators suggested that he had killed his father and step-mother before the will could be changed.
They believed it ---- but could they prove it?
Victor was brought in for questioning and subjected to seven hours of interrogation by Sheriff William Flanigan and his investigators. His house was also searched, and a bloodstained khaki shirt was discovered. Hundley claimed that he had been wearing the shirt when he was told about the crime. Police officers awakened him and told him that his father and stepmother had been murdered and asked him to come to the house. While he was wearing the shirt, Hundley said, he had picked up the body of his stepmother.
According to investigators, though, Victor had never touched the body, so the blood had to have come from somewhere else. Suddenly, Victor recalled that he had been wearing the shirt while quail hunting and that was where the blood had come from.
Victor denied that there was no longer any trouble between him and his father. He told investigators that on Wednesday night, he had been home all evening, reading and playing with his son. He had gone to bed early and was awakened by the police. Hundley also admitted that he owned a .45-caliber revolver, but he claimed that he had recently loaned it to his father. A search of both of the Hundley’s houses failed to turn up the gun. To this day, it has never been found.
Victor was arrested on December 15, immediately after the funeral for his father and step-mother. But no evidence was found that could indict Victor and on December 31, he was released.
The killers of J.C. and Luella Hundley were never found.
There were many who believed that Victor had gotten away with murder, but they could never prove it. Victor never spoke of the crimes again and he continued to live on in the Carbondale area for the rest of his life.
Nine decades later, the murders of Carbondale’s former mayor and his wife still remain unsolved.
And perhaps, for this very reason, many have come to believe that their spirits do not rest in peace.
The Hundley mansion at the corner of Maple and Main streets remained empty for two years after the murders. The only physical reminder of the horrific crimes that occurred there was a bullet hole in a wall near where Luella’s body had been found, but the memories of that night remained in the minds of people in town.
The house stayed vacant until 1930, when it was purchased by Edwin William Vogler, Sr. He bought the house and all its contents from the Hundley estate. It remained in the Vogler family until 1972, when it was sold to a family named Simonds, who converted the huge residence into a gift shop with apartments upstairs. It was later sold twice more, eventually turning it into a bed and breakfast.
Rumors that date back many years claim that the Hundleys still haunt this house. A number of the past owners and tenants in the building have had strange encounters that they are unable to explain. One former resident told of loud knocking sounds that reverberated in her room at night and the faint sound of the downstairs piano playing by itself. Her family also recalled hearing footsteps going up and down the stairs, as if perhaps the killer of the Hundleys was doomed to repeat his walk to J.C. Hundley’s bedroom again and again.
The stories continue today. Guests often hear creaking steps and the sound of boots, or heavy shoes, clomping on the wooden risers – as if someone unseen is still restless in the house.
Is it the ghosts of the Hundleys?
Perhaps, because if the stories of the past decades are to be believed, the Hundleys have not yet departed from the house they called their own – and the place where their lives were taken away too soon.
Want more murderous tales of the holiday season? See Troy Taylor’s book, ONE BLEAK MIDWINTER NIGHT and get a signed copy at https://americanhauntingsink.com/bleak
