Episode 691: Hall and Mills: Murder Most Foul

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we talk about one of the most sensationalized murders of the 1920s, the Hall-Mills murder. In September of 1922, Dude Passerby and his girlfriend stumbled upon the bodies of Edward Hall and Eleanor Mills. Hall was the local pastor, and Mills was in the church choir. But the details got crazy. First, the entire congregation knew of the affair. Second, Hall was married to an older heiress of the Johnson & Johnson company and thought to be a gold digger. One of Hearst’s newspapers whipped the nation into a frenzy over this murder, and the trial was one of legend. There was the Pig Woman who testified from her hospital bed. There were steamy love letters read to the crowd. But who did authorities think did the murder? Why did some people think it was the KKK? What made police rethink the case forty years later? Listen, laugh, learn.

Visit Our Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hall%E2%80%93Mills_murder_case

https://www.northjersey.com/story/entertainment/books/2022/09/14/hall-mills-murders-case-location-nj-100-years/66060247007/

Audio Clip: https://www.nbfpl.org/local-history/hall-mills-murder-radio-broadcast

https://www.nytimes.com/1964/02/02/archives/was-the-murderer-in-the-jury-box-the-minister-and-the-choir-singer.html

https://www.grunge.com/853673/the-tragic-details-of-the-hall-mills-murders/

https://www.communitynews.org/princetoninfo/artsandentertainment/off-the-presses-blood-and-ink/article_e5c245ae-4f0c-11ed-addf-73e1c5335d3b.html