Welcome to Ghost Hunt: the Hall-Mills Double Homicide. This series brings you to sites tied to the unsolved murders of the choir singer Eleanor Mills and the Reverend Edward Hall.
In 1922 this small episcopal church fell into the center of the Hall-Mills double homicide, an awful crime which remains unsolved to this day. For years, the church refused to discuss the crime, or the congregation's historical complicity in the murders. But back then the vestry was mostly men. Now it's mostly women. So they aren't just talking about it--they're making a geocache.
Founded in 1861, the Church of Saint John the Evangelist was established as a mission on the eastern edge of New Brunswick. Eleanor Reinhardt Mills, the daughter of German immigrants, began attending the church at a young age. She was just 14 years old when she began singing in the choir--a practice that would continue throughout her adult life. Edward Hall was appointed as the rector of St. John’s in 1909. Around 1918 or 1919, St. John’s served as the prominent backdrop to an affair between Eleanor and Edward. Eleanor continued to participate in the choir (an activity Edward became very involved in) as well as in the Women’s Auxiliary, and personally assisting Edward in managerial duties at the church. Their proximity to each other in working and worshipping at St. John’s allowed their acquaintanceship, friendship, and romance a place to flourish, despite his marriage to fellow parishoner and wealthy heiress Frances Noel Stevens Hall. They also used the church as a vehicle to send letters back and forth: they would hide love notes and other letters to each other in books and hymnals around the church for each other to find under the noses of their spouses. That being said, St. John’s was not without its conflict. Edward had to step in to keep the peace in the choir between Eleanor and another member from getting into a fight, likely over jealousy of Edward and Eleanor’s close relationship. Eleanor's work and time spent at the church was also a major point of contention in Eleanor’s relationship with her husband, James Mills, and they had been heard to fight about it on more than one occasion. In a strange twist, the affair between Eleanor and Edward seems to have 'ramped up' after Edward hired Eleanor's husband to serve as the church's sexton (groundskeeper).
This mini-cache contains a key and a QR code. When used together, they will unlock the next step in our exploration of the Hall-Mills tragedy. Please use the key in order to log the cache. Good luck, and keep an eye out for our other Ghost Hunt geocaches.
Rainbow_Fairy, FTF! at 10:37am, 12 Sept 2020.