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The blows were delivered so forcefully that gouges were left in the ceiling. Some of the most unsettling details about the crime scene, aside from the sheer brutality and tragedy of it, include a hidden attic, a door locked from the inside, and linens covering every window and mirror in the house. Kelly was left-handed, which police determined from blood spatters that the killer must be.
Daytime Tour
Though Detective Wilkerson of the Burns Detective Agency in Kansas City accused Jones of the crime, no formal charges were ever brought against the senator. Eerier still is the fact that after the murders were over, the killer or killers moved through the house, carefully covering the faces of the deceased—and the mirrors in every room—with cloth. One of these men might have committed one of the grisliest murders in American history. The memory of the eight victims lives on in Villisca, where the Moore home has been returned to its original condition at the time of the murders. "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." VILLISCA, Iowa — It's been 111 years since the tragic murders of eight people at a home in Villisca.
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Since this is a living museum, guests are asked not to sleep on the beds; sleeping bags will be provided. Also, to be true to the home as it stood that night in June 1912, there’s no running water, indoor plumbing or electrical outlets. As a convenience for guests, a modern bathroom is provided in the restored barn next to the house where you’ll also find multiple plug-ins and a mini fridge as well. 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. "The first paranormal investigators visited the house in 1999; they declared the house was haunted, and that they would identify who the killer was," he tells me.
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Due to their dedication, the Josiah B. Moore House is now on theNational Registry of Historic Places. 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. No one else has ever been tried for the murders, and the crime remains one of the most horrific, unsolved mass murders in American history. On Sunday evening, June 9, 1912, Josiah (Joe) Moore and his wife Sarah took their four children, Herman, 11, Katherine, 10, Boyd, 7, and 5-year-old Paul to the Children’s Day service at the Presbyterian Church. Accompanying them were Lena (12) and Ina Stillinger (8), neighbors who had asked their parents’ permission to stay overnight with the Moore children. In the 1990s, the home was painstakingly restored by historians Martha and Gavin Linn into a sort of living museum, recreating the home as it was on the night of the crime, right down to the lack of electricity and plumbing.
Though Lena Stillinger’s nightgown had been pushed up and she’d been left exposed, doctors concluded she had not been sexually abused. Lena also had a bloodstain on her knee and an alleged defensive wound on her arm. Legislation was written in response to the murder, including the establishment of the current State Bureau of Criminal Investigation’s predecessor.
One-of-a-Kind Living Museum
Then he made his way to the children’s room, and finally back down to the bedroom downstairs. In each room, he committed some of the grisliest murders in American history. 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. In the wake of the brutal killings, suspicion was cast upon transients and strangers who might have been passing through town at the time. One such individual was Andy Sawyer, who was reported to the sheriff by his employer as a result of his odd behavior.
Earlier this month, Robert Steven Laursen Jr., 37, of Rhinelander, Wisconsin, was one such visitor. He arrived with a group of friends for a "recreational paranormal investigation," according to Montgomery County Sheriff Joe Sampson. "From my understanding he was alone in the northwest bedroom, and the rest of the party was outside, and he called for help on their mobile, two-way radios," Sampson told me. His companions found him stabbed in the chest—an apparently self-inflicted wound—called 9-1-1, and Laursen was brought to a nearby hospital before being helicoptered to Creighton University Medical Center in Omaha. In the 1990s, the home was painstakingly restored by historians Martha and Gavin Linn at greatexpense and effort to appears exactly like the night of the crime, right down to the lack ofelectricity or running water.
5NEWS: Villisca axe murders from over 111 years 5newsonline.com - KFSM 5Newsonline
5NEWS: Villisca axe murders from over 111 years 5newsonline.com.
Posted: Mon, 04 Sep 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]
Daytime House Tour
On the night of June 9, 1912, Josiah Moore and his wife, three sons and daughter attended an evening church service before returning home, accompanied by two friends of his daughter's who were invited to spend the night at the house. Around 7 AM the following morning, a neighbor noticed the house was unusually quiet, and when she found the doors locked and all of the windows covered, she called Moore's brother, who unlocked the house and found his relatives bloodied and lifeless in their beds. Today, the Villisca Axe Murder house is open to the public for both daytime tours and overnight stays. Visitors can now explore the scene of the crime, and experience first-hand the enduring mystery at the heart of the slayings.
Reverend George Kelly
Bloodhounds were brought in, but with no success, as the crime scene had been fully demolished by the townspeople. The police determined that the Moore parents had been murdered first, and with obvious force. The axe that had been used to kill them had been swung so high above the murderer’s head that it gouged the ceiling above the bed.
Before this, those who visited were interested in the place merely as a well-preserved document of the past (the house is on the National Registry of Historic Places). "It's unfortunate that more people aren't interested in the true story of the house, because like any historical story there's something to be learned," Rundle says. "If people are just going in there to get scared at something they thought they heard or saw, I don't know what they learn from that." A brutal, unsolved murder case from last century still attracts morbid visitors to the crime scene that is now unabashedly named the Villisca Axe Murder House. After the Linns opened the house to the public, visitors reported all manner of unexplainable phenomena, from feelings of dread, to sounds such as footprints and children’s laughter.
According to reporting from the Tribune, the victims were killed with an ax the killer, or killers, found in the family's backyard, while they slept sometime around or after midnight. The family had spent the evening at a program at the local Presbyterian Church and returned home around 10 p.m. Wilkerson managed to convince a grand jury to open an investigation in 1916, and Mansfield was arrested and brought to Montgomery County from Kansas City. Payroll records, however, provided an alibi that placed Mansfield in Illinois at the time of the Villisca murders. He was released for a lack of evidence, and later won a lawsuit he brought against Wilkerson, and was awarded $2,225. Wilkerson believed that pressure from Jones resulted not only in Mansfield's release but also in the subsequent arrest and trial of Reverend Kelly.
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. The full story of the Villisca Axe Murder House is featured in episode 2 of House Beautiful’s new haunted house podcast, Dark House. 2nd Street was built in 1868 on lot 310 for local resident George Loomis.
Groups can book the house for $500 for up to five people, and $100 for each additional person. This month marks 110 years since a family of six and their two visitors were bludgeoned to death in their sleep at a home in the small southwest Iowa town of Villisca. 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. Soon, reports of similar enough crimes happening throughout the country began to pop up. Though the crimes were not quite as gruesome, there were two common threads – the use of an axe as the murder weapon, and the presence of an oil lamp, set to burn extremely low, at the scene.
Like the murders themselves, the riddle of the house and why these things occur will likely never be solved. Lyn George Jacklin Kelly was an English immigrant, who had a history of sexual deviancy and mental problems. He even admitted to being in town the night of the Villisca Axe Murders and admitted that he had left early in the morning. Though his small stature and meek personality led some to doubt his involvement, there were certain factors police believed made him the perfect candidate. As for the perpetrator of the Villisca Axe Murders, the police had shockingly few leads. A few half-hearted efforts to search the town and surrounding countryside were made, though most officials believed that with the roughly five-hour head start that the killer had had, he would be long gone.
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