The Villisca Axe Murders

We all have that one story we learned. The story that changed our worldview. That one story that burned itself into our brains and will never leave us. The story that changed us. I was a preteen when I learned this story and I remember my fear of going to bed at night. Everytime I left my house, I had to check every room when I returned home to make sure that there wasn’t a hidden ax man hiding behind the corner. I feared leaving my windows open or unlocked at night, and this fear still holds true to this day. Today we are learning the story that haunted my childhood and follows me to this day…

Welcome to Macabre Matters where all Matters of the Macabre are discussed. From hauntings to legends, plagues to disasters, we have it ALL right here. Afterwards, we will discuss why our story matters. Welcome to the first episode of our Grisly Crime month. As the theme suggests, this month is going to have graphic content. This month we will be peering into crimes in history that were not only gruesome, but full of mystery and obscured by rumors. On today’s episode we are discussing one of the worst unsolved true crime cases in America. This Midwestern slaughter was so shocking, it pushed the sinking of the Titanic out of the American newspapers. Lock your doors and windows, today we are covering the Villisca Ax Murders.

Before we begin I would like to tell everyone that this will be a simplified covering of the case of Villisca. The subsequent investigation and trial took over 7 years with some of the after effects still being felt in Villisca today. While I will be going over the crime, its victims, and those suspected of the crime, I want my focus to be on two theories that interest me the most regarding the crime and its place in early 20th century history. For an extremely in depth breakdown of Villisca and the political and social aftermath of the crime I suggest listening to Season 3 of American Hauntings as they devoted their entire third season to being about Villisca and Billy the Axeman. The podcast and book it is based on are two of my primary sources for the episode we are about to discuss. Let’s begin with a timeline of events.

June 10, 1912 began as any other day. Mary Peckham woke up at sunrise to begin her daily chores, including hanging up the laundry. She noticed something strange happening at her neighbor’s, the Moore family, home. The strange occurrence being the silence. JB and Sarah Moore had 4 young children and Mary saw that their daughter had two friends spend the night before. How can a house with 6 young children inside be silent? Villisca was and still is a farming community. It was common for families, children included, to wake up at dawn to begin the day. Immediately Mary Peckham became worried. Her first thought was that the family came down with illness. She tried to open their door to check on the family, but found the door locked, completely out of the Moore’s character. Peckham continues with her morning chores, even completing some for the Moores. Still she had yet to hear any movement from the home. Finally, she called up JB’s brother, Ross, to come over.

Ross arrived to find the doors locked. Concern grew as Ross knocked on the door and called out for his brother and sister in law. When the house remained silent, Ross used his copy of the house key to let himself in. The house was dark. All windows were covered with curtains or random fabrics found throughout the house. The parlor room he entered was as neat as it usually is, but filled with an “unusual stillness”. Off the parlor were two doors, one leading to the kitchen and another was a downstairs room used as the Moore’s daughter, Katherine’s, bedroom as well as Sarah’s sewing room.

Ross began to walk towards the kitchen to go to the backstairs that lead up to JB’s bedroom but he decided to check Katherine’s room. He opened the door and found the room dark and filled with the scent of death and blood. On the bed, he could make out the forms of two small bodies underneath the covers. The covers had a dark stain and near the edge of the bed Ross could see a small, limp hand dangling off it. Ross sprinted out of the house and told Peckham to call for the authorities because “there are dead people in the house”.

City Marshall, Hank Horton, arrived at the scene with Ed Seely, one of JB’s employees. Another employee, Carl, arrived prior to Horton and Seely to care for the Moore’s livestock but Ross stopped him stating, “Something terrible has happened here”. Seely tried to enter Kathrine’s bedroom but ran out terrified upon seeing the bed. Horton entered the house alone while everyone else waited outside. He entered the bedroom and opened the curtain to allow more light in. The first thing Horton noticed was the black cloth covering the mirror and the next, the blood. Leaning against the wall was a rusty ax.

Horton leaves the room to head upstairs. The upstairs of the Moore home was separated into 2 rooms, the larger room for the Moore’s sons, Herman, Boyd, and Paul, with the smaller room for JB and Sarah. Horton entered JB and Sarah’s room first. Upon opening the curtains Horton saw the terrible massacre before him. JB and Sarah were sprawled in their bed, their skulls completely bashed in. Blood completely covered the entirety of the bedroom and there were cuts to the ceiling from an ax backswing. Horton quickly checked the final room and found four bodies in the 3 beds. These were all four of the Moore children, their skulls bashed in just like their parents. The ceiling of the room had hack marks where the ax hit the ceiling in the upswing of the attacker. All bodies found were hit with the blunt side of the ax head.

So you might be wondering, if Katherine was found dead upstairs beside her brothers, who were the bodies in her bedroom? As stated before, Katherine had two friends spend the night, these being Lena and Ina Stillinger. The girls spent the night in Katherine’s room while she slept upstairs with her brothers. When the bodies of the girls were finally looked at they found that Ina was laying down on her back when she was killed. Lena was more on her side and her legs had been spread and her nightgown raised to expose her genitals. Autopsies found that neither Lena, nor any of the other victims, were raped.

Now this is a very quick rundown of the events of the morning of June 10, 1912. After Horton found all 8 bodies, he called for backup. This was Horton’s first ever murder case and he did not know how to proceed. Many people ended up being involved in the case, including the Burns Agency, the Pinkertons, as well as the Iowa National Guard.

References:

Axelson, B. (2014, November 10). ‘Ghost Hunter’ stabs himself at ‘Ax Murder House’ during paranormal investigation. Syracuse.

Beck, C. & T. Taylor (Hosts). (2019, February-October). American Hauntings [Audio Podcast]. American Hauntings Ink.

Berry, A. & A. Bruni (Hosts). (2019, March 21). The Villisca Axe Murders (Season 3, Episode 9) [TV series episode]. In A. Berry & A. Bruni (executive producers), Kindred Spirits. MarVista Entertainment & Cranium Entertainment.

Brueski, T. (2018, February 26). The Malvern Manor. The Grave Talks. http://www.thegravetalks.com/the-malvern-manor/

Groff, N. (Writer & Director). (2010, December 10). Villisca Axe Murder House (Season 4, Episode 13) [TV series episode]. In Z. Bagans, N. Groff, &J. Townley (executive producers), Ghost Adventures. MY Entertainment.

Laden, D. (Writer & Director). (2021, September 11). Villisca Ax Murder House and Malvern Manor (Season 3, Episode 8) [TV series episode]. In Z. Bagans, J. Grosskopf, D. Laden, C. Schuler, J. Townley, & M. Yudin (executive producers), Destination Fear. MY Entertainment.

Malvern Manor. (2016, September 6). Manor History 101. Malvern Manor. https://malvernmanor.weebly.com/blog/manor-history-101

Morgans, J. (2021, March 2). The time a ghost hunter stabbed himself at my axe murder museum. Vice.

Taylor, T.(2016) Murdered in Their Beds: History and Hauntings of Villisca and the Midwest Ax Murders. Whitechapel Press.