Spooky Saturday #2: The Villisca Ax Murder House
So, the Villisca Ax Murder House is located in…you guessed it…Villisca, Iowa and was owned by the Moore family. The family consisted of Josiah and Sarah Moore, along with their four children; Herman, Mary Katherine, Arthur, and Paul. The Moores' were very well liked in the community, they helped where they could, the kids were well behaved, and they had had a decent amount of money (I don't know why this was noted a million times but apparently it was important). On June 10th 1912, Mary Katherine invited Ina Mae and Lena Gertrude Stillinger to spend the night at the Moore house with her, and that evening, the visiting girls and the Moore family attended the Presbyterian church where they participated in the Children's Day Program, which Sarah Moore had put together. After the program ended at 9:30 p.m., the Moores' and the Stillinger sisters walked to the Moores' house, arriving somewhere between 9:45 and 10 p.m. At 7 a.m. the next day, Mary Peckham, the Moores' neighbor, became concerned after she had been out hanging laundry at 5 a.m. and it was now past 7 a.m. and noticed that she had not seen the Moore family and they had not come out to do their morning chores as they did every day at the same time, so Peckham knocked on the Moores' door. When nobody answered, she tried to open the door and discovered that it was locked. Peckham then let the Moores' chickens out (what a nice neighbor) and called Ross Moore, Josiah Moore's brother. Just like Peckham, Moore received no response when he knocked on the door, he even tried looking into the bedroom window and shouted for the family so, being a concerned brother, he unlocked the front door with his copy of the house key. While Peckham stood on the porch, Moore 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 Hank Horton, Villisca's primary "peace officer", who arrived shortly afterwards. Horton's search of the house revealed that the entire Moore family and the two Stillinger girls had been bludgeoned to death. The murder weapon, an ax belonging to Josiah, was found in the guest room where the Stillinger sisters were found. Doctors decided that the murders had taken place between midnight and 5 a.m. and two cigarette butts in the attic suggested that the killer or killers patiently waited in the attic until the Moore family and the Stillinger girls were asleep. The killer(s) began in the master bedroom, where Josiah and Sarah Moore were sleeping. Josiah received more blows from the ax than any other victim and his face had been cut to such an extent that his eyes were missing. They used the blade of the ax on Josiah while using the blunt end on the rest of the victims. They then proceeded into the children's rooms and bludgeoned Herman, Mary Katherine, Arthur, and Paul in the head in the same manner as their parents. They returned to the master bedroom to inflict more damage to Josiah and Sarah Moore, knocking over a shoe that had filled with blood, before moving downstairs to the guest bedroom and killing Ina and Lena. Investigators believed that all of the victims except for Lena Stillinger had been asleep when murdered. They thought that she was awake and tried to fight back, because she was found lying horizontally on the bed, and with a defensive wound on her arm. Lena's nightgown was pushed up to her waist and she was wearing no undergarments, leading law enforcement to speculate that she was assaulted or at least there was an attempt to do so. The killer or killers left the ax in the guest room next to a slab of bacon(?) and at some point, they had covered all the mirrors in the house with blankets and clothes. Assuming to avoid seeing their reflections and the reflections of those that they murdered so that they didn't have to face the reality of their actions. They also cooked themselves a plate of food which was left untouched. Over time, many possible suspects emerged, including Reverend George Kelly, Frank F. Jones, William Mansfield, Loving Mitchell and Henry Lee Moore (who apparently wasn't related). George Kelly was tried twice for the murder. The first ended in a hung jury, while the second trial ended in an acquittal. Other suspects in the investigation were also exonerated.
Okay, so NATURALLY a house with such a dark and mysterious past quickly attracted rumors of a haunting. The house was lived in for years after the murder, but families never stayed for long. From what I can tell, there's not a ghostly phenomena that HASN'T been reported at the house….disembodied footsteps, things moving, voices, apparitions, shadows, bad vibes….you name it. Today the home is filled with untold amounts of paranormal activity. Lamps fall for no reason, ladders move across the house, and objects fly across the room as if thrown by invisible hands. Apparitions of both the children and Josiah and Sarah Moore can be seen throughout the home. Strange sounds, screaming, and more can be heard, thought to be Lena Stillinger. Some guests have claimed to see random pools of blood on the floor, however when they go to wipe it up, the blood mysteriously disappears. Ghost groups and psychics both confirm that the house is haunted by the family and that they remain restless until their killer is finally known. The Villisca Ax Murder House has been on every ghost hunting show known to man I think. And if you want to look into it, in 2014 a ghost hunter randomly stabbed himself in the home for no reason….seriously it made national news. It's creepy whether you believe in the paranormal or not.
I wish I had sooooo much more to report on this house as far as the paranormal goes, but I don't. I just like the eerie vibe it gives off and the fact that it's a never been solved case. No one knows who did it but two people (Lena and the murderer himself) and that in itself gives me chills. Like, did this person ever kill again? What was the motive? Nothing was reported missing, they had no known enemies, and the adults…okay, but six innocent kids? Who does that? It's just so far out of the "norm" for 1912. I don't know, murders from“back in the day" just hit different. These days something like this is , dare I say….expected? Back then, not so much. Its intriguing to a certain extent, and Just think, this person was never caught and they probably were either married, got married and/or had kids….someone's husband/father/in-laws a murderer, hope they know that.
Anyway, I hope this story was as eerie to you as it was to me, let me know what you think in the comments, and since I couldn't find any super juicy info on the ghosts and anything that will make you jump out of your skin (I'll find one soon…bet on it) just enjoy these links to EVP's I found from the Villisca Ax Murder House and I'll let you decide what you think….see you next week!!
Xx,
Autumn
Great read! Thank you
ReplyDeleteThank you! You're the best! You seem to be one of my biggest supporters i no matter what i do! :)
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