The Saturday Night Murderer butchered eight people overnight in the sleepy little town of Villisca in June 1912. The murders happened over 100 years ago! Was the father having relations with Lena? "Jessica, dear," she offered, shaking her head, "it's just a murder-I mean it's just a house. The ax man went back upstairs and systematically reduced the heads of all six Moores to bloody pulp, striking Joe alone an estimated 30 times and leaving the faces of all six members of the family unrecognizable. Perhaps he murdered the parents first. They alerted Joes brother, who arrived to take a look. This episode is about the Villisca axe murder s from 1912. Accommodations are sparein fact, it's recommended that guests pack their own sleeping bag (not that they'll be getting much sleep). After two separate trials, he was acquitted. Its gross but there was often bacon found at the crime scenes. Similarly, the fact that the victims died asleep in their beds was likely a consequence of the choice of weapon; an ax is nearly useless against a mobile target. Thanks, Sarah Rushton! More Details. Im going to put forth my theory, crazy as it may sound. The Stillinger girls knew the people they let into the house that nightthey all recognized their assailants, and would have exposed the unmentionable secret, (child abuse), Much of the evps, pics and testimonials validate this POV. On one hand, the stranger held the lamp, lighting the way through the house. Wilkerson believed that pressure from Jones resulted not only in Mansfield's release but also in the subsequent arrest and trial of Reverend Kelly. That house is small. I really enjoyed reading all of these comments, scenarios, and opinions. Over a century later, the case is still cold and the spirits still linger. Almost dollhouse-like in its simple layout, the home has the ubiquitous look of countless other cozy farmhouses across the country. This may have been some form of ritualistic sacrifice staged at the entire communities expense simply to throw off the scent of the actual perpetrators. The townspeople insist, however, that the Moores and the Joneses harbored a deep hatred for each other, though no one admits it was bad enough to spark murder. The police determined that the Moore parents had been murdered first, and with obvious force. 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. I THINK THAT THE CLUES THAT THE MURDERER LEFT,ARE IMPORTANT.tHE PIECE OF BACON,THE COVERED MIRROR,THE GIRL EXPOSED.mAKE ME THINK OF A SORT OF A RITUAL,OR,WHO KNOWSA PIECE OF BACON,THERE IS A SPECIFIC MEANING TO ALL OF THESE.iTS A TERRIFYING STORY,HAUNTING. I thought covering mirrors was a Jewish tradition as they sit Shivah after a death? | READ MORE. It took time for the case against Kelly to get anywhere, but in 1917 another grand jury finally assembled to hear the evidence linking him with Lenas murder. Women were considered as valuable as livestock and married for the dowry to enhance the position in the community, and would lose title to their joint property when the husband died for any reason. If any one specific person was the victim then it appears they could have easily committed the deed and left but to go after 8 people in 3 different rooms and on 2 different levels tells me that all of them were intended to die. Despite laws, the silent crime continues in families today (as prison inmate statistics support), it is the one secret that explains clearly, why they all had to dieincluding Lena and Ina) who had told their secret to Sarah and Josiah on the walk home, that night. Horton's search of the house revealed that the entire Moore family and the two Stillinger girls had been bludgeoned to death. Glen Wright oli osana Baker & Karpis jengi ja suoritti jengin kanssa useita eri rikoksia. November 21, 2006 | CourtTV. Again, the perverted preacher did so. I believe that anyone capable of commiting a crime like this has to be mentally ill; even psychotic, which means they wouldnt think the same as someone without mental illness. The murders in Colorado Springs were closely related in execution to those in the Moore house. Perhaps most striking of all, two other homes (those of the victims of the Ellsworth and Paola murders) had been lit by lamps in which the chimney had been laid aside and the wick bent down, just as it had been at Villisca. One thing that I found interesting is the senator at the time had taken the ax and left it at a masonic temple and a fake one was in use at the trial. It gets a little gruesome but I do not go into . This has the hallmarks of a serial killer. Chula Vista : Aventine Press, 2003; Omaha World-Herald, June 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 1912; December 27, 1913; June 10, 2012. This perverted preacher is still my prime suspect. Anyone intrigued by the notorious, real-life murders that took place in 1912 Villisca, Iowa, would be best advised to check out the Wikipedia entry on the case.It's far scarier than Tony E . . It was here, in the tiny town of Villisca, Iowa, that two adults and six children were found bludgeoned to death in their. The reverend may have been perverted and mentally ill, but that surely doesnt automatically make him a killer. Same MO he used in other crimes. The killers face was never clear. Such a sad story. The faces of both parents, as well as the children, had been reduced to nothing but a bloody pulp. Kevin Colston: They has no indoor plumbing; its plausible the kids created traffic to the outhouse and back The paranormal reality television series Scariest Places on Earth covered the story of the Villisca axe murders and hosted a paranormal investigation on the property. The killings became known as the Villisca Axe Murders, and are easily the most notorious murders in Iowa history. GONE COLD: EXPLORING IOWAS UNSOLVED MURDERS, Villisca Axe Murder House focus of new movie on Netflix. 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. The axe that had been used to kill them had been swung so high above the murderers head that it gouged the ceiling above the bed. As an adult, he was accused of peeping and several times asking young women and girls to pose nude for him. Still carrying the ax, the stranger walked past one room in which two girls, ages 12 and 9, lay sleeping, and slipped up the narrow wooden stairs that led to two other bedrooms. The killer was more than likely brought up in an unsanitary/unclean environment, and was surrounded by abuse (it doesnt necessarily mean he/she was the one abused. Frank Fernando Jones was a Villisca resident and an Iowa State Senator. Payroll records showed that had been working several hundred miles away in Illinois at the time of the murders, and he was released for lack of evidence. someone they trusted! This happened way before forensic science. Every transient and otherwise unaccounted-for stranger was a suspect in the murders, Andrew Sawyer was one of those people. The Moore house in Villisca, 1912. The interview is shown below. The six members of the Moore family and two guests were found bludgeoned in the Moore residence. Other murders reported as possibly being linked to these crimes include the numerous unsolved axe murders along the Southern Pacific Railroad from 19111912, the unsolved Axeman of New Orleans killings, as well as several other such murders during this time period. At some point the killer also took a two-pound slab of uncooked bacon from the icebox, wrapped it in a towel, and left it on the floor of the downstairs bedroom close to a short piece of key chain that did not, apparently, belong to the Moores. Iowa Cold Cases Ive been studying this case for years & have NEVER read this incest scenario. Muunmuassa asianajan murhan sek varakkaan pankkirin pojan kidnappauksen. They had no indoor plumbing, in the way of a bathroom. He was the senator at a time and he was a mason and he took the murder weapon to a masonic temple at the time of the trial and another one was used while the trial was going on. It prompted me to look it up and I came across this site. I wish I could see the actual legal reports and the evidence so I could look at it! In 1914, living in Winner, South Dakota, he would advertise for a girl stenographer to do confidential work, and that ad, placed in the Omaha World-Herald, would also specify that the successful candidate must be willing to pose as model. When a young woman named Jessamine Hodgson responded, she received in return a letter, described by a judge as so obscene, lewd, lascivious and filthy as to be offensive to this honorable court and improper to be spread upon the record thereof. Amongst his milder instructions, Kelly told Hodgson that she would be required to type in the nude. Meeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!! The Villisca axe murders took place in the American town of Villisca, Iowa, between the evening of June 9, 1912, and the early hours of June 10, 1912. Therefore they never woke during the attacks. This movie shows just how creepy the Villisca Axe Murder House really is. Ignoring the sleeping girls downstairs, the stranger made his way up the stairs, guided by the lamp, and a seemingly unerring knowledge of the homes layout. this along with all of the other midwestern ax murders, Jennifer Edge Taylor Edge Tori Nicole Cooper. Where is this information coming from? Or they were hiding in the attic. He then went through each room in the house, covering all of the mirrors and windows with cloths and towels. "The Suspects in the Villisca Axe House Murders", "Homicides of the Colorado Springs area, 1872 to present", "The 1910s Ax Murders: An overview of the crimes and the McClaughry theory", "Brother-in-Law of Iowa Murder Victim Proves an Alibi", "Villisca Axe Murder House (Season 4, Episode 6)", "Will Continue to Monitor: Villisca Axe Murders", Official website of the Villisca Axe Murder House, "He said he killed eight at God's command: Iowa preacher studying sermon on 'slay utterly' when impulse to slay seized him", "RAGBRAI Riders Visit Villisca Axe Murder House" KCRG-TV (Video), https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Villisca_axe_murders&oldid=1145266820, Unsolved mass murders in the United States, Articles needing additional references from September 2018, All articles needing additional references, All Wikipedia articles written in American English, Articles with unsourced statements from October 2021, Articles with unsourced statements from June 2014, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 18 March 2023, at 04:31. In the weeks that followed, he displayed a fascination with the case and wrote many letters to the police, investigators, and family of the deceased. Once again, there is no evidence that Herman, 11; Katherine, 10; Boyd, 7; or Paul, 5, woke before they died. Where Was 'The Last Thing He Told Me' Filmed? This guy was insane and I believe youd have to be insane to commit this gruesome mass murder. I believe that its Legion that stays in the attic. According the time frame, Kelly left and told people on the train, before anyone went to go check out the family. Creepy and unsettling. Follow ICC on Twitter. Wilkerson stated that he could prove that Mansfield was present in each of the differing crime scenes on the night of the murders. 2. The Axe Murders of Villisca still From seeing silhouettes and moving shadows, to hearing disembodied voices and footsteps, the teens experience paranormal occurrences that would greatly exceed anything they could have imagined they might endure while in that house. As in the murders in Villisca, the murderer in Colorado Springs wiped the blood off his axe and covered the heads of the victims with bed clothes. Like Peckham, Moore received no response when he knocked on the door and shouted. Perhaps it is plausible to imagine that during warmer months, the kids created late night traffic through the house to visit the outhouse in back, and as such, create a routine background noise during sleeping hours, never considered suspicious at all by the sleeping adults. Blog This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. i apologize for possibility the name used in my previous commentit may be incorrect. Afterwards, the murderer returned to the master bedroom to inflict more blows on the elder Moores, knocking over a shoe that had filled with blood, before moving downstairs to the guest bedroom and killing Ina and Lena. No, the culprit(s) wanted everybody dead. For others, though, there was a far strongerand far stranger candidate for the ax man. The next morning, the neighbors became suspicious, noticing that the usually rambunctious home was dead quiet. Soon, reports of similar enough crimes happening throughout the country began to pop up. We may earn commission on some of the items you choose to buy. Might the Ellsworth killer have covered the telephone out of the same desperate desire to ensure that, nowhere in the murder house, was there a pair of eyes still watching him? It dont believe it is the traveling preacher. what that person said in that comment its true you can spell legion, When the people say Legion did the killing, look at the reverends name, LyGeIn, thats Lyn George Jacklin, all in 1 word. In 1917, Kelly was arrested for the Villisca murders. Wish I could find it again. According to Wilkerson's investigation, all of the murders were committed in precisely the same manner, indicating that the same man probably committed them. Then, check out the history of Lizzie Borden and her infamous string of murders. Ive always had my own theory. But what few people realize is that the Villisca crime scene was not unique.. They invited someone they knew over for dinner. So did the cigarettes, though those might have been smoked while the father waited for, you guessed it, the train. Find ICC on Facebook See full article at DailyDead Permalink; Report this; Scream Factory to Release The Axe Murders Of Villisca on Blu-ray & DVD This Summer . Lena's nightgown was pushed up to her waist and she was wearing no undergarments, leading to law enforcement speculation that the killer(s) sexually molested her or attempted to do so. 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. I have visited this house. I've had numerous dreams that I'm in the house alone, sitting in the childrens room in the rocking chair. One of the towns larger and better-appointed properties, it still stands today and has been turned into Villiscas premier tourist attraction. Despite the commonalities, however, no actual connections could be made. The Axe Murders of Villisca: Trailer 1. No facts to prove it except for the ones I would connect from the very depraved experiences I myself have witnessed firsthand. For years, police looked into every possible scenario that could have culminated in the Villisca Axe Murders. The ceiling in his room also had a gouge mark from when the murderer lifted the axe to murder him.[4]. I believe it was someone else in the town that had a vendetta. For a few loose ends, the food and bacon left the impression of an outsider. In June 2017, the new fictional horror film, The Axe Murders of Villisca, was released on the popular streaming site Netflix. He either did it, or the police did, and tried to pin it on him for propaganda. That was the theory of James Wilkerson, an agent of the renowned Burns Detective Agency, who in 1916 announced that Jones had hired a killer by the name of William Mansfield to murder the man who had humiliated him. Nine months before the murders at Villisca, a similar case of axe murder occurred in Colorado Springs, Colorado. I heard that dogs had tracked the murderer to the river and lost the scent! And the land surrounding it is amazing. Reverend Kelly is just standing in the doorway stairing at me with this sinister grin and tells me he did the murders and got away with it. Going to go again this year!! Hearst Magazine Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Me to I want to stay in it with my mom and friends. If you do an overnight there youll have to use the old kerosene lights. Ask about it at your local library; if they dont have it, they can order it or get it through interlibrary loan. Still I cant imagine a killer EXPECTING no one to make a sound as they attempt to kill 8 people. How does a killer navigate a dark house with no light, without waking someone? In 1912, a family of six was murdered by ax in the little town of Villisca, Iowa. Frank Fernando Jones was a far strongerand far stranger candidate for the I... Heard that dogs had tracked the murderer to the river and lost the scent, police looked every... 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