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The centerpiece of the celebration was the display of the axe used to kill 8 people. The murders panicked the little town of Villisca, which was torn apart by worry and rumors. There has never been a more famous or infamous crime in the history of Iowa. Brutal, sadistic, methodical, and horrifying, the Villisca Axe Murders have fascinated the state for a century.
The Villisca Axe Murders
In Josiah and Sarah’s bedroom, the ceiling showed gashes from the axe’s upswing. While Villisca still possesses the same small-town charm and appeal it did over a hundred years ago, its legacy is forever tainted by the events of June 1912. To this day, the Villisca Axe Murders continue to haunt the small town. Its effects are sewn into the fabric of its history and never seem to fade even with the passage of time. Dyer testified that later when the crew hit Fontenelle, Iowa, Sawyer purchased a newspaper which he went off by himself to read.
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The newspaper carried a front-page account of the Villisca murders and according to Dyer, Sawyer “was much interested in it.” Dyers crew complained that Sawyer slept with his clothes on and was anxious to be by himself. They were also uneasy about the fact that Sawyer slept with his ax and often talked of the Villisca murders and whether or not a killer had been apprehended. Many researchers on the Villisca murders have done deep dives Kelly. While intelligent and articulate, he suffered from mental issues and was diagnosed with schizophrenia. He had a penchant for peeping in windows, and was known as a “fire bug,” and confessed to a series of arson crimes. Others adamantly insist that the crazed Reverend George Kelly was the culprit.
US Ghost Adventures to Acquire the Villisca Axe Murder House - PR Newswire
US Ghost Adventures to Acquire the Villisca Axe Murder House.
Posted: Tue, 17 Oct 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]
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His hitman’s name was Blackie Mansfield, whose relatives were also conveniently axed to death. In the boom that followed the railroad opening, the house at 508 E. 2nd Street was built in 1868 on lot 310 for local resident George Loomis. The home would have echoed most others in the area in size and features, at about 600 square feet, with two bedrooms, a parlor, a downstairs sewing room and a kitchen and an outhouse. Since this is a living museum, guests are asked not to sleep on the beds; sleeping bags will be provided.
Suspects
By the time the police, the coroner, a minister, and several doctors had thoroughly perused the crime scene, word of the vicious crime had spread, and the crowd outside the home had grown. Officials cautioned the townspeople against going inside, but as soon as the premises was clear at least 100 townspeople gave in to their gross fascinations and traipsed through the blood-spattered home. Ignoring the sleeping girls downstairs, the stranger made his way up the stairs, guided by the lamp, and a seemingly unerring knowledge of the home’s layout. He crept past the room with the children, and into Mr. and Mrs. Moore’s bedroom.
"He sent a bloody shirt to a laundry the week after the murder. It's a viable possibility that he was the killer. It can't be proven today, at least to my satisfaction." According to the Villisca Ax Murder House's website, it is believed that an unknown person entered the Moore's home sometime after midnight on June 10 and murdered all eight occupants. The murderer came upon the axe in the Moore backyard and brought it with him into the house. Although it now resides at the Villisca Historical Society, for years it was passed from one person to another and was once even traded for a box of chocolate-covered cherries. After grand jury hearings, confessions, trials, and acquittals, there were no answers.
He spent days in state archives, cracking open old attorney generals’ files untouched for so long the rubber bands holding them together burst into dust. But with earning his doctorate and eventually becoming a Luther College professor in teacher education, and having a wife and child, the research went in fits and starts. Along came a charming southerner named James Wilkerson, a detective who convinces the surviving family members and eventually many in town that he has found one. Jones, who had a running business feud with Moore, and claimed that Joe was sleeping with the pretty and loose wife of the senator’s son, Albert.
When nobody answered, she tried to open the door and discovered that it was locked. Peckham let the Moores' chickens out and called Ross Moore, Josiah's brother. Like Peckham, Moore received no response when he knocked on the door and shouted. While Peckham stood on the porch, Ross went into the parlor and opened the guest bedroom door, where he found Ina and Lena Stillinger's bodies on the bed. Moore immediately told Peckham to call Henry "Hank" Horton, Villisca's primary peace officer, who arrived shortly thereafter.
He then left Villisca at 5 am the next morning on the train heading westbound out of the town. In 2017, in the book, The Man on the Train, journalist Bill James theorized the murders could have been the work of Paul Mueller, a German immigrant drifter and logger. James even tied Mueller to the infamous Hinterkaifeck ax murders in Germany, stating his belief Mueller returned to Germany after running into trouble with the law a few times in the U.S. They went to see if Miss Van Gilder could identify the man under arrest there as a man with whom she talked on the Saturday morning preceding the murders.
Researchers today believe a serial killer traveling by train is a plausible explanation for not only the murders in Villisca, but other seemingly random ax murders ranging from 1910 to 1919. They point to the pattern of crimes McClaughry identified in 1913. As early as May 1913, investigators speculated the Moore family’s murder might be part of a string perpetrated by a serial killer.
He remembered sitting on the porch of his boyhood home after Sunday dinner in Leon, listening to older family members discuss the unsolved crime. His lifelong determination to find every detail in the unsolved case is nearly as puzzling a mystery as who slaughtered the eight people in their sleep. Find information on tours, including overnight stays, at villiscaiowa.com. Curious to learn all the details of the Villisca Axe Murder House and why it's one of the most haunted places in the world? Listen to this week's episode of our haunted house podcast series, Dark House, for exclusive ghost stories and insights into the notorious home's haunted reputation.
After reading about the Villisca Axe Murders, read about another unsolved murder, the Hinterkaifeck murders. Then, check out the history of Lizzie Borden and her infamous string of murders. After murdering the Moores, the killer had apparently set up some kind of ritual. He had covered the Moore parent’s heads with sheets, and the Moore children’s faces with clothing. He then went through each room in the house, covering all of the mirrors and windows with cloths and towels. At some point, he took a two-pound piece of uncooked bacon from the fridge and placed it in the living room, along with a keychain.
In the third group are those who believe the Moore murders were the work of someone totally unrelated to the town of Villisca, a possible traveler, hobo, or serial killer. Other suspects, such as William Mansfield and Henry Moore, were also considered. However, due to the lack of evidence, most of what historians know today is based on legend. VILLISCA, Iowa — It's been 111 years since the tragic murders of eight people at a home in Villisca.
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