Funeral home director subject to ‘scary, filthy freak show’ complaint surrenders license

A Centralia funeral home director who was subject to a complaint that his embalming room looked like a “scary, filthy freak show” agreed to a permanent revocation of his license late last week.

Moran Queen-Boggs funeral home director Hugh Moran signed a consent order on Friday, March 1, a copy of which was obtained by Capitol News Illinois. In it, he agreed never to reapply for his funeral director or embalmer license in the state.

The agreement with the state’s Department of Financial and Professional Regulation noted Moran maintained the embalming room in “extremely unsanitary conditions.”

IDFPR inspected the building on Monday, Feb. 26, according to the document. The inspection occurred three days after Capitol News Illinois sent questions to the department about its more-than 10-week delay in responding to a complaint about the facility.

“The embalming room was spraying water from pipes overhead with bottles, trash, fluids, sheets, clothes and things unrecognizable all over the room,” the complaint stated. “This place is horrific, looks like something from a scary, filthy freak show.”

Images provided to Capitol News Illinois depict piles of dirty sheets, a dead rodent rotting in a stairway and water running from pipes in what a source identified as the facility’s embalming room. The source of the images requested anonymity due to safety concerns.

IDFPR last week would not confirm an investigation was underway, but by Friday, Moran had signed the consent order.

Video shows leaky pipes, piles of trash and generally filthy conditions in what a source identified as the embalming room of the Moran Queen-Boggs Funeral Home in Centralia. The source who provided the video requested anonymity due to safety concerns. The funeral home’s director, Hugh Moran, would not confirm its authenticity. (Video provided)

Documents to download

2023-11342 Moran_Redacted

Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service covering state government. It is distributed to hundreds of print and broadcast outlets statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation, along with major contributions from the Illinois Broadcasters Foundation and Southern Illinois Editorial Association.

Jerry Nowicki

Jerry began his career in news in 2013 and has covered state government since 2019. He was the editor of the LeRoy Farmer City Press in McLean and DeWitt counties from 2013 until it closed in 2017. During that span, the Press was named the state’s best small weekly newspaper by the Illinois Press Association. He was born and raised in south suburban Evergreen Park and graduated from Illinois State University with a degree in journalism.