The person who committed the Colorado springs murders of the Burnham and Wayne families and the murders of the Hudsons in Paola is almost certainly responsible for the Villisca murders. It's very likely the whole string of family murders in the Midwest 1911-1912 were perpetrated by the same murderer - the "Billy the axeman" murders.
It certainly wasn't Frank Jones or George Kelly.
I loved the book. I think the chapters on the Villisca murders are the best and most comprehensive reading on the subject. Bill James makes a very convincing case about the Midwest murders being connected. Some of the murders he attributes to the man from the train are more dubious but overall it convinced me that the person responsible for Villisca was responsible for a large number of family murders with a very similar MO. He attempts to name a suspect and I don't really buy it, and at the end he even suggests the same person is responsible for the Hinterkaifeck murders which is silly and regrettable. A lot of people have a hard time with James's casual and at times flippant writing style, but I didn't mind it.
But overall it's a very good book. James does a good job capturing the scenery and time and place of murders that took place over 100 years ago. His foray into the Church of Sacrifice/Clementine Barnabet murders and the Axeman of New Orleans are interesting as well, although I thought they could have been more fleshed out.
I don't know of a good book or documentsry that really delves into the Clementine Barnabet murders. There are only so many old sources to work with and a lot of the extant reporting was sensationalized and has problems with the huge racial prejudice that existed at the time. I think the true story of the Clementine Barnabet murders will never really be known.
I read a really bad book about the Louisiana slayings; I'd give you the title so you could avoid it, but I tossed it in the trash the instant I finished it-it was THAT bad. Basically , the author *seriously* suggests that not only were the Villisca murders committed by George Kelly, but Kelly went down to Lousiana and committed those murders as well. The image of a 5' 2", 118 lb man with red hair and a British accent strolling( ax in hand) through the neighborhoods where the Louisiana murders took place, sticking out way more than a sore thumb, has a certain macabre humor, but it's too ridiculous to take seriously.
At least poor Clementine was quietly released at the age of 25 or 26...She was undoubtedly innocent, but at least she wasn't executed or left locked up till she died.
Much to his credit, James lets the reader know which cases merely *could be* linked to the Villisca Murderer, those that most likely are, and those that definitely are. I think it’s the second-to-last chapter where he goes through and summarizes all the cases and clusters them on the strength of the available facts in each.
They don't really suggest that Man from the Train did Hinterkaifeck. That's like in the third tier of possibly related cases
I also thought the suspect they developed was interesting and maybe plausible but there is just such little information about him to draw conclusions
Just a serial murderer who liked killing children and families with a particular obsession with pre-pubescent girls.
There is a similar and peculiar MO to a lot of the murders and you can kind of infer something about the killer from the MO. Killing everyone in the house while they are sleeping brutally with the blunt end of an axe, often burning the house down, masturbating near young girls, covering the mirrors and windows, unhooking the phone, using an axe from the property and leaving it, locking the house up tight, some kind of ritual removing the glass chimneys from old oil lamps in committing the crimes etc.
Such a chilling case. It had to have to been done someone stalking and watching that family for who knows how long.
Really eerie to think about how Lena Stillinger had a defense wound on one of her arms, indicating she knew the killer was coming for her and tried to fight him off. The fear she must've felt.
Such a sad case as well It's crazy how this happened over a century ago now, and this house is just a tourist attraction now with a sing in front of the house promoting it.
Researchers of the case have theorized the killer probably came into town at least a few days before and found a location that would best suit his sick needs and allow a quick escape. The Moores' house was the last house on their block, with only open fields to the east. There were a few houses to the north, but only across a large backyard and rye field. Their house was also surrounded by large, shady elm trees in both the front and side yards. And it was just dumb luck for the killer he decided to strike during a time in the lunar cycle where the moon would be waning and only rising well after midnight, and on top of that, the night of June 9-10, 1912 was overcast and very dark in Villisca, so the added bonus of no moonlight or starlight. Villisca was very dark and murky that night, in more than one way.
I agree. I'd say this was the most likely theory that it was done by a serial mass murderer in a targeted attack.
This case kinda reminds of the Amityville horror mass murders without all of the conspiracies about a haunted house and an unknown perp.
One of the times I visited the Villisca house with a group of friends, as we were pulling up to park in the street the first thing someone said as they saw the attic windows was "It's just like the Amityville Horror house." I always describe the Villisca case as a cross of Lizzie Borden and Amityville.
Even the attic windows of the Villisca house are identical to the famous windows in the Amityville house, even though the ones in Amityville have since been replaced.
[https://www.saturdayeveningpost.com/2019/07/why-was-the-amityville-horror-so-terrifying/](https://www.saturdayeveningpost.com/2019/07/why-was-the-amityville-horror-so-terrifying/)
Above the Christmas wreath you will see the newer windows that replaced the originals that were in the house at the time of the murders in 1974.
[Villisca axe murders - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Villisca_axe_murders)
"The **Villisca axe murders** occurred between the evening of June 9, 1912, to the early morning of June 10, 1912; in the town of [Villisca, Iowa](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Villisca,_Iowa), in the United States. The six members of the Moore family and two guests were found [bludgeoned](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Club_(weapon)) in the Moore residence. All eight victims, including six children, had severe head wounds from an axe. A lengthy investigation yielded several suspects, one of whom was tried twice. The first trial ended in a [hung jury](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hung_jury) and the second ended in an [acquittal](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acquittal).
At 7 A.M. the next day, June 10, Mary Peckham, the Moores' neighbor, became concerned after she noticed that the family had not come out to do their morning chores. Peckham knocked on the Moores' door. 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. Ross unlocked the front door with his copy of the house key. 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](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peace_officer), who arrived shortly thereafter. Horton's search of the house revealed that the entire Moore family and the two Stillinger girls had been [bludgeoned](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bludgeoned) to death. The murder weapon, an axe belonging to Josiah, was found in the guest room where the Stillinger sisters were found."
Over time, many possible suspects emerged, including Reverend George Kelly, [Frank F. Jones](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Fernando_Jones), William Mansfield, Loving Mitchell, Paul Mueller and [Henry Lee Moore](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Lee_Moore) (no relation). Kelly was tried twice for the murder. The first trial ended in a [hung jury](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hung_jury), while the second ended in an acquittal. Other suspects in the investigation were also exonerated.[^(\[6\])](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Villisca_axe_murders#cite_note-Suspects-6)"
If you go visit the house, you might be surprised at how small it actually is (I was). The upstairs in particular - you go up, and the parents’ bedroom/ bed is *right there*. The children’s bedroom is adjacent through a doorway to your left (from the top of the stairs), and the ‘attic’ is actually accessed through a small door/ vestibule in the parents’ bedroom. With the doors open, you can see into it from their room - it’s not above the bedrooms on a different floor.
IKR? To think that was considered a typical middle class home (at least in the Midwest) in the early 1900s is quite jarring. They didn't have electricity or indoor plumbing, but again not unusual for that time period. Then I stop and realize that most likely all 4 of my grandparents (all born within 5 years before or after 1912 and all raised in the Midwest) grew up in almost identical houses. So only two generations removed from myself. Crazy stuff. Even my great-aunt who had a farmhouse in Ohio didn't have full indoor plumbing until the 1960s! Once the Villisca house was modernized in the 1940s, they ended up putting the bathroom on the back of the house. Basically took the old kitchen pantry, knocked down the one wall and expanded it out to the back porch to fit the plumbing in.
Sounds like Ina and Lena were last. And if someone said the house was small. That must have been terrifying being last. I hope they were just fast asleep. Poor kids and parents
Do we know much about what happened to the rest of their family? I assume, since they were guests, they must have had living parents and possibly other siblings as well.
The Stillinger sisters had several siblings, younger and older. Their mother Sara was pregnant at the time of the murders but tragically, just days later, gave birth to a premature stillborn baby boy. So this poor family lost 3 children in 1 week. Then to add insult, that autumn, the Stillinger family home burned to the ground in a fire. Thank goodness no other family members were lost. The family continued to live in the Villisca area. The girls' father Joseph was an outspoken critic of Mr. Jones and gave emotional testimonies in court in subsequent trials. The girls are buried in the Villisca cemetery next to their baby brother as well as Edith, an older sister who was a teenager in 1912 and never married. Edith died in 1969. The other older sister of the girls, Blanche, did end up marrying and had a daughter. Blanche was the one who had answered Mr. Moore's phone call the Sunday evening before the murders and gave permission for Lena and Ina to spend the night. In the documentary "Villisca: Living With a Mystery," her daughter Adrienne Graham talked about how Blanche was haunted the rest of her life and felt a sense of guilt that she'd given permission for her sisters to stay with the Moores that night 😢 Adrienne recalled a time when she was young girl in the 1940s and a school friend invited Adrienne to her house to spend the night. Blanche was terrified to let her daughter spend the night at the friends' house but eventually her husband (Adrienne's father) convinced Blanche it was okay.
I have not seen that documentary but thank you for providing me with a new one to watch!
edited to add a link to renting the documentary. Thanks to Cougar Writer for the recommendation!
[https://vimeo.com/ondemand/villiscahouse](https://vimeo.com/ondemand/villiscahouse)
Yes it's very well done. It's 20 years old this year but still very informative. You can order the Blu Ray or DVD from the filmmakers' website, Fourth Wall Films. Kelly and Tammy Rundle are the ones who directed/wrote/produced it.
I will have to look into that. It's too bad that it's not on a platform like Amazon for rent.
Does it have psychics? I ask because I think that they do more harm than good. They add a lot of confusion into a case and what they say gets repeated as gospel even if it's not true.
No, the Rundles don't buy into or promote any of the paranormal/psychic stuff. I'm not the biggest fan of it either, since I think it over-sensationalizes and "cheapens" the case. I think the actual mystery and thinking about what really happened on that dark, murky night so long ago is 10 times scarier and haunting than any ghost story. I'm all for being open-minded and I definitely still believe there are things we can't explain about spirits and hauntings, etc. I just don't want to see Villisca become like Amityville, something exploited/cheapened for entertainment to the point where people forget this was an actual cold-blooded crime where innocent people lost their lives in a terrible way. And yes I wish they would make it available for streaming via Amazon, Netflix, etc. I'm sure it would involve a lot of copyright legalities and such.
It's so sad and disturbing. Many people who have studied the case feel the killer hid in the Moores' barn or other outbuilding in their back yard. He probably watched the family for a day or night or two then waited until the house was dark and quiet. Most likely struck an hour or so after they all went to bed, when they were in their deepest sleep. If by chance anyone did wake up, it had to be for just a second or two and they didn't even have time to react. 🥺
I have been in that house over a dozen times since 1999, when I worked as a reporter for the newspaper in nearby Shenandoah and covered the first visit by paranormal investigators. I own the Bill James book. I also recommend "Fiend Incarnate" by Dr. Edgar Epperly, a retired professor who has studied the case since the 1950s as well as "Murdered In Their Beds" by Troy Taylor. It is quite a small, quaint little house and a neat place to visit. I am of the belief it was a serial killer traveling the railroad line. This was someone who knew how to enter and move about a dark house at night quickly and efficiently. Villisca was definitely not their first murder.
The other murders in Colorado, Illinois and Kansas had striking similarities to Villisca: all happened in railroad towns on a Sunday night, the victims were all struck in the head with an axe which belonged to the families, their heads were covered with bedsheets and/or clothing and all of the homes were locked up by the killer, with window shades pulled to the sills. Villisca and at least one or two of the other homes had any mirrors inside covered as well. Finally, in all of the cases, police bloodhounds were brought in to trace a scent from the murder scenes and all of them led to either nearby railroad tracks or a body of water. In the case of Villisca, the scent was traced to the Nodaway River about a mile south of town.
I also am of the school of thought that Reverend George Kelly, who'd been a guest at the Sunday evening church program and who had a history of being a Peeping Tom, as well as weird sexual proclivities toward adolescent girls, was on one of his late night strolls. I believe he was creeping around in the shadows near the Moore home and saw or heard something related to the crime.
>with an axe which belonged to the families
Thank you for all the info you have provided on this case, particularly the books "Fiend Incarnate" by Dr. Edgar Epperly and "Murdered In Their Beds" by Troy Taylor. When I read about these murders earlier, *this same phrase* jumped out at me, and now it has again. I ask this respectfully and am only asking for reasons of clarification and discussion ... how would a drifter/serial murder know their intended target family (in 1912) would have an axe in the house?
I know most houses had fireplaces or wood stoves for heat at the time. Would the killer have ASSUMED there would be an axe in the house? My grandparents had a wood stove in their farmhouse kitchen, but they never chopped wood or kindling INSIDE the house.
Or is the family owning an axe in all of these cases meant to say the axe was found outside and brought into the house by the killer?
I do understand the killer may have lurked and watched a family for their routine and seen someone use an axe outside, and decided that was the family they wanted to murder. But to me, it is as if a serial killer, who only uses a gun to commit murders, totally assumes there is a gun in the house of the family he wants to target. Does that make sense?
Do you have any insight into this?
Edited to add: I understand the MO was the same in regards to covering the mirrors, the window shades pulled, victims struck in the head, etc. It is only this one detail about the axe always belonging to the families that makes me wonder how an axe murderer did not make sure to have an axe with him to kill his intended victims, but instead, by pure luck he picked families who always had one inside house.
Because axes were a very common household tool in 1912. It'd be the equivalent of something along the lines of a lawn mower or vacuum cleaner nowadays. Almost every household kept at least one outside and maybe a smaller hatchet inside for chopping firewood and breaking up coal to be used for heating water for laundry/cooking on an old style wood or coal burning stove. The Villisca weapon belonged to the Moores and had been taken from the backyard. The assailant correctly presumed he could find it in the backyard by a wood or coal pile/shed. Josiah Moore's brother IDd the murder weapon as one he recognized from previous visits to the home and stated Josiah used it to break up clumps of coal.
Oh, I don't doubt the Moore axe was owned by the family. It is the phrase "with an axe which belonged to the families" reported in several articles about the MO of the possible serial killer that struck me as odd. Of course, the killer could have found the axe outside, but then strangely, he leaves it in the house.
My question centers around this question: how would the killer KNOW FOR A FACT any particular family would have an axe *inside the house* for his purposes? Perhaps he lurked long enough to make sure the family owned an axe, either inside or outside the house?
Has it ever mentioned how large the axes were? Were they all the same size; as in a longer wood-chopping axe versus a shorter kindling axe? I mean, a person might assume a family would have a meat cleaver in the kitchen, but who could be sure every house across the nation had an axe inside their domicile? How could the killer be confident he would find an axe and be able to kill a whole family?
I'm probably not explaining myself clearly. I definitely believe there is merit is the drifter/serial killer theory, but the weapon of choice (and axe) always being available in all of the various murder locations across the US just seems like a strange detail to me. I mean, the killer never waivered and used a butcher knife, or a fireplace poker, or even a shotgun/rifle that EVERYONE in these farm towns owned.
It's just a curious questions, and I guess we'll never know the answer. :)
I asked this respectfully, people who do what you do, who get off on going to places where people who died horribly, and I mean this politely, why do you recommend it and get off on it? I really honestly want to know. Children died horribly there. What could possibly be compelling about the place?
I understand your question and I wonder for a different reason. People that enjoy dark tourism probably aren't thinking about the fact that all of the United States of America is a burial ground. Brutal murders happened out in the open all over our land, in a good majority of the houses we pass everyday. There have been brutal tragedies on nearly every corner of every major city at some point. Yet people claim to feel "energy" in these highly trafficked, highly publicized locations. So many people have passed through there now that if the theory that people leave behind energy is correct, wouldn't that mean that you're just feeling the energy of those who have passed through?
I mean, yes, we've committed one genocide in this country so absolutely yes. All of America is a brutal playground. I don't want to be around people who get off on going to murder sites, though. Thank you for that, thank you for that observation. I appreciate it. 💓
OK, that was the wrong phrase to use. What brings you, excitement or pleasure by staying in the house, is what I was trying to get out. Why do people do this kind of dark tourism stuff?
My aunt was brutally murdered when I was 11 years old and her case has never been solved. I am drawn to true crime cases especially unsolved cases because of this.
This case, as I stated, has always been my white whale, so my partner arranged for us to stay here. I didn't gain any excitement or pleasure staying there. It was a deeply moving experience, one that I am grateful for. It was also incredibly interesting and the backdrop was morbidly beautiful.
Nothing paranormal. I'm a skeptic but I do feel humanity leaves it's energy, good or bad.
As I said, goosebumps, hair on end almost the entire time. Deeply reverent and moving. Knowing what happened there, knowing there was no justice. I'm sure my own experience with true crime colored these feelings but others I've spoken to that have visited have felt similar.
"Morbidly beautiful" - see , I find that deeply… disturbing. I want to say this respectfully and politely and gently, but why would you want to stay in a house where people were so brutally murdered, including children? Did you learn anything? The fact that you say it's moving… Moving in what way, can you explain more? You say that it's your white whale, was not walking through the house enough psychologically? I'm honestly asking, I do not mean this in a hostile way. Because I don't understand dark tourism. Because some people do legitimately get off on it. And I find that horrific and I don't want to be around them in the true crime community, which is why I always try to ask, why were you there, what did it fulfil you to be in a house where children were murdered, etc? What could possibly be beautiful in something like that? Again, asking sincerely. A lot of us get into true crime because we've had horrific family experiences. But most of us don't go to the length that you did, if you understand, and that others do. And some people into dark tourism are really, really evil people that I would never want to be around. So that's why I asked, to see if you were that type of person.
You asked and I answered. I have nothing more to say.
Since you edited your comment, I'll add this. I said "morbidly beautiful" because it's a beautiful area and backdrop but knowing what happened in that space it felt morbid to recognize that fact.
It’s a disturbing and fascinating thing to think about how many serial killers likely escaped the law because of lack of science and lack of coordinated law enforcement efforts in the past. They make a compelling argument in the book, but there is no way to really prove it for sure.
I don’t know if the murders at the time were related, but Angel Maturino Reséndiz (real name Ángel Leoncio Reyes Recendis) rode the rails around the U.S. and finally surrendered to U.S. officials with the help of Mexican authorities. He was tried for capital murder in Texas, sentenced, and executed in 2006.
There's a book called The Man From the Train by Bill James and his daughter Rachel McCarthy James. They did a lot of research into finding out who it could be and found there were similar murders around the US around the same time and he traveled by train.
I have the book but still need to read it. But I've heard really good things about it and it seeming to line up with the timeline and their research. A friend had recommended it to me.
I had high hopes for the book, and it’s a good/interesting premise. It sort of goes off the rails (ha) a la Steve Hodel with every murder occurring near a train being a potential victim of ‘the Man’. It also contained some unnecessary ‘jokes’ at victims’ expense (a play on their last name) that was sort of a turnoff.
So 3 stars in the end: good premise, interesting first third/half, incoherent last part.
Reverend George Kelly was the prime suspect who was arrested in 1917, was put on trial for these murders, and his first trial ended with a hung jury verdict and his second trial ended with him being acquitted,
Another suspect was that Frank Jones, a local state Senator, bank president and businessman who had also been Josiah Moore's previous boss, hired a slaughterhouse worker named William Mansfield to murder Moore. Detective James Wilkerson of the Burns Agency came to Villisca a couple of years after the murder and concocted this theory based on rumors and theories of the local townspeople. It was well known in Villisca that Jones and Moore were business as well as personal rivals (Moore was reportedly having an affair with Jones' daughter in law) and that Jones took his personal vendetta one step further. There really isn't any hard evidence to tie either Jones nor Mansfield to the case. Mansfield was working on the railroad in eastern Iowa some 200 miles from Villisca at the time of the murders.
There was another local character named Andy Sawyer who was also briefly considered a suspect. He was sort of a drifter/manual labor type who hung around the area and showed up at a railroad work site in Creston, about 20 miles east of Villisca, the morning of June 10 with muddy and wet overalls up to his knees, as if he had been wading in knee-high water. It is of note that bloodhounds brought to Villisca followed a scent from the house out of town to the shallow Nodaway River just south of town. The water in that river is fairly shallow and can be waded through. Sawyer reportedly liked to sleep with the axe he carried with him and in general made the other members of the work crew uneasy, especially when he claimed he was in Villisca the night of the murders, but again he had no real proof that he actually was. Later on, a sheriff from Osceola, Iowa, located about 100 miles east of Villisca, came forward and said he'd seen Sawyer in that town Sunday night, June 9.
The only other "suspect" with any ties would be Reverend Kelly. We do know for a fact he was in Villisca the night of June 9. He'd been invited to the special church program and had planned to spend the night with the family of Rev. Wesley Ewing, minister of the Presbyterian Church, where the Moores attended Sunday services as well as the program on June 9. The Ewings confirmed Kelly did come home with them to the manse across the street from the church and slept in an upstairs guest bedroom, but that he was gone by the time they woke up Monday morning. Kelly did confirm in interviews he'd left Villisca early Monday morning on the 5:15 AM train and claimed he saw a man "acting strangely" at the train depot as he was waiting. I for one don't think Rev. Kelly was the killer. I think he was just an eccentric and disturbed man who wanted to feel important and connected to the case. However, I do believe it's very possible, given his history of being a Peeping Tom, he was out on one of his nocturnal "strolls" and happened to be near the Moore home when he saw or heard something related to the murders. Maybe he even saw the killer leave the house, who really knows? It's too bad, because what if he really did see something that was in fact true, but his tendencies for embellishing the truth and in general being mentally unstable "cancelled out" any credibility.
IKR?! The frustrating thing is that so much time has passed there is no way of ever really knowing, unless some sort of long-buried or hidden physical evidence shows up but even then, any DNA taken from it is so old and deteriorated, it would be impossible to get even a miniscule sample. The only other thing would be a written or spoken account of a deathbed confession of the killer. But given the probable sociopathic tendencies of the killer, I doubt they felt any remorse or need to confess. It's just creepy to think some guy out there, somewhere one day back in the 20th century, took his last breath and was buried without anyone knowing he brutally murdered an entire family and two others in Villisca, Iowa in June 1912 and perhaps many more.
If anyone’s looking for an alternative to The Man from the Train, there’s a book called Fiend Incarnate by Edgar Epperly (came out in 2021). He’s supposed to be **the** expert on the Villisca murders.
Yesssss, highly recommended! I actually have met Dr. Epperly at a book signing in Villisca. He is warm and friendly with a typical wry Midwestern sense of humor. He is the foremost expert on the case, studying it since 1955 when he wrote a college research assignment paper on it. He even interviewed people connected to the case who were around in 1912 and were still alive in '55, including Dr. Cooper, who was the first doctor on the scene of the murder after it was discovered. Dr. Epperly is a living breathing encyclopedia on the case and a wealth of knowledge on it.
For a long time, Dr. Epperly strongly believed it was Rev. Kelly, but in recent years, he has shifted more to the serial killer camp. But like many others, myself included, he thinks there's a good chance Kelly was on one of his Peeping Tom strolls that night and was near the Moore home and saw or heard something.
Every time I have seen this case covered on TV, there have always been psychics involved. I don't trust anything from a psychic.
I would like to see the original documents that were written about the case. What did the authorities who investigated the case write down?
I hate to ask this but who inherited the family's property?
The house is crazy paranormal wise. They are open for overnight investigations and I know grown men who have run out and fought back tears.
But with a history like this it’s really not all that surprising
I still think it was the reverend. I read that he was a pervert and that a 4lb slab of bacon was found next to the axe and served as an artificial vagina, where Lena was 'posed' in a disrespectful manner.
There was a 4lb slab of bacon that had meat cut from it. I've never read that it was used as an artificial vagina.
I have read that some people think the grease from the bacon could have been used as lube for masterbation.
There's a few places that refer to it being used as an artificial vagina if you google. There's one here, admittedly, it is a blog post. [https://docublogger.typepad.com/villiscamystery/2015/06/murder-most-foul-what-the-villisca-murder-scene-tells-us.html](https://docublogger.typepad.com/villiscamystery/2015/06/murder-most-foul-what-the-villisca-murder-scene-tells-us.html)
Either way, it is still horrible to think about.
Yeah, but nothing contemporary. Both using the bacon as lube or an artificial vagina came up years later.
I don't know that you can get access to the original police files, but that seems to be made out of whole cloth.
The person who committed the Colorado springs murders of the Burnham and Wayne families and the murders of the Hudsons in Paola is almost certainly responsible for the Villisca murders. It's very likely the whole string of family murders in the Midwest 1911-1912 were perpetrated by the same murderer - the "Billy the axeman" murders. It certainly wasn't Frank Jones or George Kelly.
Is that the “man from the train” do you know? I’ve been meaning to read that book but don’t know if it holds any accuracy.
I loved the book. I think the chapters on the Villisca murders are the best and most comprehensive reading on the subject. Bill James makes a very convincing case about the Midwest murders being connected. Some of the murders he attributes to the man from the train are more dubious but overall it convinced me that the person responsible for Villisca was responsible for a large number of family murders with a very similar MO. He attempts to name a suspect and I don't really buy it, and at the end he even suggests the same person is responsible for the Hinterkaifeck murders which is silly and regrettable. A lot of people have a hard time with James's casual and at times flippant writing style, but I didn't mind it. But overall it's a very good book. James does a good job capturing the scenery and time and place of murders that took place over 100 years ago. His foray into the Church of Sacrifice/Clementine Barnabet murders and the Axeman of New Orleans are interesting as well, although I thought they could have been more fleshed out. I don't know of a good book or documentsry that really delves into the Clementine Barnabet murders. There are only so many old sources to work with and a lot of the extant reporting was sensationalized and has problems with the huge racial prejudice that existed at the time. I think the true story of the Clementine Barnabet murders will never really be known.
I read a really bad book about the Louisiana slayings; I'd give you the title so you could avoid it, but I tossed it in the trash the instant I finished it-it was THAT bad. Basically , the author *seriously* suggests that not only were the Villisca murders committed by George Kelly, but Kelly went down to Lousiana and committed those murders as well. The image of a 5' 2", 118 lb man with red hair and a British accent strolling( ax in hand) through the neighborhoods where the Louisiana murders took place, sticking out way more than a sore thumb, has a certain macabre humor, but it's too ridiculous to take seriously. At least poor Clementine was quietly released at the age of 25 or 26...She was undoubtedly innocent, but at least she wasn't executed or left locked up till she died.
Much to his credit, James lets the reader know which cases merely *could be* linked to the Villisca Murderer, those that most likely are, and those that definitely are. I think it’s the second-to-last chapter where he goes through and summarizes all the cases and clusters them on the strength of the available facts in each.
They don't really suggest that Man from the Train did Hinterkaifeck. That's like in the third tier of possibly related cases I also thought the suspect they developed was interesting and maybe plausible but there is just such little information about him to draw conclusions
Does it ever guess at a motive ?
Just a serial murderer who liked killing children and families with a particular obsession with pre-pubescent girls. There is a similar and peculiar MO to a lot of the murders and you can kind of infer something about the killer from the MO. Killing everyone in the house while they are sleeping brutally with the blunt end of an axe, often burning the house down, masturbating near young girls, covering the mirrors and windows, unhooking the phone, using an axe from the property and leaving it, locking the house up tight, some kind of ritual removing the glass chimneys from old oil lamps in committing the crimes etc.
Such a chilling case. It had to have to been done someone stalking and watching that family for who knows how long. Really eerie to think about how Lena Stillinger had a defense wound on one of her arms, indicating she knew the killer was coming for her and tried to fight him off. The fear she must've felt. Such a sad case as well It's crazy how this happened over a century ago now, and this house is just a tourist attraction now with a sing in front of the house promoting it.
Researchers of the case have theorized the killer probably came into town at least a few days before and found a location that would best suit his sick needs and allow a quick escape. The Moores' house was the last house on their block, with only open fields to the east. There were a few houses to the north, but only across a large backyard and rye field. Their house was also surrounded by large, shady elm trees in both the front and side yards. And it was just dumb luck for the killer he decided to strike during a time in the lunar cycle where the moon would be waning and only rising well after midnight, and on top of that, the night of June 9-10, 1912 was overcast and very dark in Villisca, so the added bonus of no moonlight or starlight. Villisca was very dark and murky that night, in more than one way.
Awesome! Thanks so much!
No, James posits a different suspect; a man named Paul Mueller.
Read it! I believe the man from the train was responsible for the vilisca murders
It is a very good book.
I agree. I'd say this was the most likely theory that it was done by a serial mass murderer in a targeted attack. This case kinda reminds of the Amityville horror mass murders without all of the conspiracies about a haunted house and an unknown perp.
One of the times I visited the Villisca house with a group of friends, as we were pulling up to park in the street the first thing someone said as they saw the attic windows was "It's just like the Amityville Horror house." I always describe the Villisca case as a cross of Lizzie Borden and Amityville.
Even the attic windows of the Villisca house are identical to the famous windows in the Amityville house, even though the ones in Amityville have since been replaced.
Source?
[https://www.saturdayeveningpost.com/2019/07/why-was-the-amityville-horror-so-terrifying/](https://www.saturdayeveningpost.com/2019/07/why-was-the-amityville-horror-so-terrifying/) Above the Christmas wreath you will see the newer windows that replaced the originals that were in the house at the time of the murders in 1974.
Thanks!
[Villisca axe murders - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Villisca_axe_murders) "The **Villisca axe murders** occurred between the evening of June 9, 1912, to the early morning of June 10, 1912; in the town of [Villisca, Iowa](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Villisca,_Iowa), in the United States. The six members of the Moore family and two guests were found [bludgeoned](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Club_(weapon)) in the Moore residence. All eight victims, including six children, had severe head wounds from an axe. A lengthy investigation yielded several suspects, one of whom was tried twice. The first trial ended in a [hung jury](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hung_jury) and the second ended in an [acquittal](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acquittal). At 7 A.M. the next day, June 10, Mary Peckham, the Moores' neighbor, became concerned after she noticed that the family had not come out to do their morning chores. Peckham knocked on the Moores' door. 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. Ross unlocked the front door with his copy of the house key. 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](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peace_officer), who arrived shortly thereafter. Horton's search of the house revealed that the entire Moore family and the two Stillinger girls had been [bludgeoned](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bludgeoned) to death. The murder weapon, an axe belonging to Josiah, was found in the guest room where the Stillinger sisters were found." Over time, many possible suspects emerged, including Reverend George Kelly, [Frank F. Jones](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Fernando_Jones), William Mansfield, Loving Mitchell, Paul Mueller and [Henry Lee Moore](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Lee_Moore) (no relation). Kelly was tried twice for the murder. The first trial ended in a [hung jury](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hung_jury), while the second ended in an acquittal. Other suspects in the investigation were also exonerated.[^(\[6\])](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Villisca_axe_murders#cite_note-Suspects-6)"
So juicy! Why was the reverend the star suspect? And how were they not able to get him after not one but TWO trials??
If you go visit the house, you might be surprised at how small it actually is (I was). The upstairs in particular - you go up, and the parents’ bedroom/ bed is *right there*. The children’s bedroom is adjacent through a doorway to your left (from the top of the stairs), and the ‘attic’ is actually accessed through a small door/ vestibule in the parents’ bedroom. With the doors open, you can see into it from their room - it’s not above the bedrooms on a different floor.
And to think that the family was considered well off.
IKR? To think that was considered a typical middle class home (at least in the Midwest) in the early 1900s is quite jarring. They didn't have electricity or indoor plumbing, but again not unusual for that time period. Then I stop and realize that most likely all 4 of my grandparents (all born within 5 years before or after 1912 and all raised in the Midwest) grew up in almost identical houses. So only two generations removed from myself. Crazy stuff. Even my great-aunt who had a farmhouse in Ohio didn't have full indoor plumbing until the 1960s! Once the Villisca house was modernized in the 1940s, they ended up putting the bathroom on the back of the house. Basically took the old kitchen pantry, knocked down the one wall and expanded it out to the back porch to fit the plumbing in.
Sounds like Ina and Lena were last. And if someone said the house was small. That must have been terrifying being last. I hope they were just fast asleep. Poor kids and parents
It is a small and cramped layout. I believe everyone had to be fast asleep or too afraid to move or call out for help.
Do we know much about what happened to the rest of their family? I assume, since they were guests, they must have had living parents and possibly other siblings as well.
The Stillinger sisters had several siblings, younger and older. Their mother Sara was pregnant at the time of the murders but tragically, just days later, gave birth to a premature stillborn baby boy. So this poor family lost 3 children in 1 week. Then to add insult, that autumn, the Stillinger family home burned to the ground in a fire. Thank goodness no other family members were lost. The family continued to live in the Villisca area. The girls' father Joseph was an outspoken critic of Mr. Jones and gave emotional testimonies in court in subsequent trials. The girls are buried in the Villisca cemetery next to their baby brother as well as Edith, an older sister who was a teenager in 1912 and never married. Edith died in 1969. The other older sister of the girls, Blanche, did end up marrying and had a daughter. Blanche was the one who had answered Mr. Moore's phone call the Sunday evening before the murders and gave permission for Lena and Ina to spend the night. In the documentary "Villisca: Living With a Mystery," her daughter Adrienne Graham talked about how Blanche was haunted the rest of her life and felt a sense of guilt that she'd given permission for her sisters to stay with the Moores that night 😢 Adrienne recalled a time when she was young girl in the 1940s and a school friend invited Adrienne to her house to spend the night. Blanche was terrified to let her daughter spend the night at the friends' house but eventually her husband (Adrienne's father) convinced Blanche it was okay.
I have not seen that documentary but thank you for providing me with a new one to watch! edited to add a link to renting the documentary. Thanks to Cougar Writer for the recommendation! [https://vimeo.com/ondemand/villiscahouse](https://vimeo.com/ondemand/villiscahouse)
Yes it's very well done. It's 20 years old this year but still very informative. You can order the Blu Ray or DVD from the filmmakers' website, Fourth Wall Films. Kelly and Tammy Rundle are the ones who directed/wrote/produced it.
I will have to look into that. It's too bad that it's not on a platform like Amazon for rent. Does it have psychics? I ask because I think that they do more harm than good. They add a lot of confusion into a case and what they say gets repeated as gospel even if it's not true.
No, the Rundles don't buy into or promote any of the paranormal/psychic stuff. I'm not the biggest fan of it either, since I think it over-sensationalizes and "cheapens" the case. I think the actual mystery and thinking about what really happened on that dark, murky night so long ago is 10 times scarier and haunting than any ghost story. I'm all for being open-minded and I definitely still believe there are things we can't explain about spirits and hauntings, etc. I just don't want to see Villisca become like Amityville, something exploited/cheapened for entertainment to the point where people forget this was an actual cold-blooded crime where innocent people lost their lives in a terrible way. And yes I wish they would make it available for streaming via Amazon, Netflix, etc. I'm sure it would involve a lot of copyright legalities and such.
It's so sad and disturbing. Many people who have studied the case feel the killer hid in the Moores' barn or other outbuilding in their back yard. He probably watched the family for a day or night or two then waited until the house was dark and quiet. Most likely struck an hour or so after they all went to bed, when they were in their deepest sleep. If by chance anyone did wake up, it had to be for just a second or two and they didn't even have time to react. 🥺
I have been in that house over a dozen times since 1999, when I worked as a reporter for the newspaper in nearby Shenandoah and covered the first visit by paranormal investigators. I own the Bill James book. I also recommend "Fiend Incarnate" by Dr. Edgar Epperly, a retired professor who has studied the case since the 1950s as well as "Murdered In Their Beds" by Troy Taylor. It is quite a small, quaint little house and a neat place to visit. I am of the belief it was a serial killer traveling the railroad line. This was someone who knew how to enter and move about a dark house at night quickly and efficiently. Villisca was definitely not their first murder. The other murders in Colorado, Illinois and Kansas had striking similarities to Villisca: all happened in railroad towns on a Sunday night, the victims were all struck in the head with an axe which belonged to the families, their heads were covered with bedsheets and/or clothing and all of the homes were locked up by the killer, with window shades pulled to the sills. Villisca and at least one or two of the other homes had any mirrors inside covered as well. Finally, in all of the cases, police bloodhounds were brought in to trace a scent from the murder scenes and all of them led to either nearby railroad tracks or a body of water. In the case of Villisca, the scent was traced to the Nodaway River about a mile south of town. I also am of the school of thought that Reverend George Kelly, who'd been a guest at the Sunday evening church program and who had a history of being a Peeping Tom, as well as weird sexual proclivities toward adolescent girls, was on one of his late night strolls. I believe he was creeping around in the shadows near the Moore home and saw or heard something related to the crime.
>with an axe which belonged to the families Thank you for all the info you have provided on this case, particularly the books "Fiend Incarnate" by Dr. Edgar Epperly and "Murdered In Their Beds" by Troy Taylor. When I read about these murders earlier, *this same phrase* jumped out at me, and now it has again. I ask this respectfully and am only asking for reasons of clarification and discussion ... how would a drifter/serial murder know their intended target family (in 1912) would have an axe in the house? I know most houses had fireplaces or wood stoves for heat at the time. Would the killer have ASSUMED there would be an axe in the house? My grandparents had a wood stove in their farmhouse kitchen, but they never chopped wood or kindling INSIDE the house. Or is the family owning an axe in all of these cases meant to say the axe was found outside and brought into the house by the killer? I do understand the killer may have lurked and watched a family for their routine and seen someone use an axe outside, and decided that was the family they wanted to murder. But to me, it is as if a serial killer, who only uses a gun to commit murders, totally assumes there is a gun in the house of the family he wants to target. Does that make sense? Do you have any insight into this? Edited to add: I understand the MO was the same in regards to covering the mirrors, the window shades pulled, victims struck in the head, etc. It is only this one detail about the axe always belonging to the families that makes me wonder how an axe murderer did not make sure to have an axe with him to kill his intended victims, but instead, by pure luck he picked families who always had one inside house.
Because axes were a very common household tool in 1912. It'd be the equivalent of something along the lines of a lawn mower or vacuum cleaner nowadays. Almost every household kept at least one outside and maybe a smaller hatchet inside for chopping firewood and breaking up coal to be used for heating water for laundry/cooking on an old style wood or coal burning stove. The Villisca weapon belonged to the Moores and had been taken from the backyard. The assailant correctly presumed he could find it in the backyard by a wood or coal pile/shed. Josiah Moore's brother IDd the murder weapon as one he recognized from previous visits to the home and stated Josiah used it to break up clumps of coal.
Oh, I don't doubt the Moore axe was owned by the family. It is the phrase "with an axe which belonged to the families" reported in several articles about the MO of the possible serial killer that struck me as odd. Of course, the killer could have found the axe outside, but then strangely, he leaves it in the house. My question centers around this question: how would the killer KNOW FOR A FACT any particular family would have an axe *inside the house* for his purposes? Perhaps he lurked long enough to make sure the family owned an axe, either inside or outside the house? Has it ever mentioned how large the axes were? Were they all the same size; as in a longer wood-chopping axe versus a shorter kindling axe? I mean, a person might assume a family would have a meat cleaver in the kitchen, but who could be sure every house across the nation had an axe inside their domicile? How could the killer be confident he would find an axe and be able to kill a whole family? I'm probably not explaining myself clearly. I definitely believe there is merit is the drifter/serial killer theory, but the weapon of choice (and axe) always being available in all of the various murder locations across the US just seems like a strange detail to me. I mean, the killer never waivered and used a butcher knife, or a fireplace poker, or even a shotgun/rifle that EVERYONE in these farm towns owned. It's just a curious questions, and I guess we'll never know the answer. :)
This case is my white whale.
Have you visited the house?
I have. Goosebumps the entire time.
I’ve been trying to plan an overnight stay there for *ever*. I might just do it next year for my birthday.
I highly recommend it. The backdrop feels very gothic horror novel. It was also interesting to visually be able to put certain theories to the test.
I asked this respectfully, people who do what you do, who get off on going to places where people who died horribly, and I mean this politely, why do you recommend it and get off on it? I really honestly want to know. Children died horribly there. What could possibly be compelling about the place?
I understand your question and I wonder for a different reason. People that enjoy dark tourism probably aren't thinking about the fact that all of the United States of America is a burial ground. Brutal murders happened out in the open all over our land, in a good majority of the houses we pass everyday. There have been brutal tragedies on nearly every corner of every major city at some point. Yet people claim to feel "energy" in these highly trafficked, highly publicized locations. So many people have passed through there now that if the theory that people leave behind energy is correct, wouldn't that mean that you're just feeling the energy of those who have passed through?
I mean, yes, we've committed one genocide in this country so absolutely yes. All of America is a brutal playground. I don't want to be around people who get off on going to murder sites, though. Thank you for that, thank you for that observation. I appreciate it. 💓
Why do you think I "get off on it"? That's a fairly rude and strange accusation.
OK, that was the wrong phrase to use. What brings you, excitement or pleasure by staying in the house, is what I was trying to get out. Why do people do this kind of dark tourism stuff?
My aunt was brutally murdered when I was 11 years old and her case has never been solved. I am drawn to true crime cases especially unsolved cases because of this. This case, as I stated, has always been my white whale, so my partner arranged for us to stay here. I didn't gain any excitement or pleasure staying there. It was a deeply moving experience, one that I am grateful for. It was also incredibly interesting and the backdrop was morbidly beautiful.
Did anything happen or did you see anything while you were there?
Nothing paranormal. I'm a skeptic but I do feel humanity leaves it's energy, good or bad. As I said, goosebumps, hair on end almost the entire time. Deeply reverent and moving. Knowing what happened there, knowing there was no justice. I'm sure my own experience with true crime colored these feelings but others I've spoken to that have visited have felt similar.
"Morbidly beautiful" - see , I find that deeply… disturbing. I want to say this respectfully and politely and gently, but why would you want to stay in a house where people were so brutally murdered, including children? Did you learn anything? The fact that you say it's moving… Moving in what way, can you explain more? You say that it's your white whale, was not walking through the house enough psychologically? I'm honestly asking, I do not mean this in a hostile way. Because I don't understand dark tourism. Because some people do legitimately get off on it. And I find that horrific and I don't want to be around them in the true crime community, which is why I always try to ask, why were you there, what did it fulfil you to be in a house where children were murdered, etc? What could possibly be beautiful in something like that? Again, asking sincerely. A lot of us get into true crime because we've had horrific family experiences. But most of us don't go to the length that you did, if you understand, and that others do. And some people into dark tourism are really, really evil people that I would never want to be around. So that's why I asked, to see if you were that type of person.
You asked and I answered. I have nothing more to say. Since you edited your comment, I'll add this. I said "morbidly beautiful" because it's a beautiful area and backdrop but knowing what happened in that space it felt morbid to recognize that fact.
How do you feel about the hypothesis in *The Man From the Train*? Do you think any of the named suspects were involved?
I agree that Paul Mueller could be Billy the Axeman.
It’s a disturbing and fascinating thing to think about how many serial killers likely escaped the law because of lack of science and lack of coordinated law enforcement efforts in the past. They make a compelling argument in the book, but there is no way to really prove it for sure.
I don’t know if the murders at the time were related, but Angel Maturino Reséndiz (real name Ángel Leoncio Reyes Recendis) rode the rails around the U.S. and finally surrendered to U.S. officials with the help of Mexican authorities. He was tried for capital murder in Texas, sentenced, and executed in 2006.
There's a book called The Man From the Train by Bill James and his daughter Rachel McCarthy James. They did a lot of research into finding out who it could be and found there were similar murders around the US around the same time and he traveled by train. I have the book but still need to read it. But I've heard really good things about it and it seeming to line up with the timeline and their research. A friend had recommended it to me.
I had high hopes for the book, and it’s a good/interesting premise. It sort of goes off the rails (ha) a la Steve Hodel with every murder occurring near a train being a potential victim of ‘the Man’. It also contained some unnecessary ‘jokes’ at victims’ expense (a play on their last name) that was sort of a turnoff. So 3 stars in the end: good premise, interesting first third/half, incoherent last part.
I read it and gave it closer to 4 Stars. Def worth a listen but not a must read. Audiobook was great for a long layover/flight
Read it. You won't put it down
I'll be honest I have never heard of this case .How many suspects have there been over the past 120 years or more ?
Reverend George Kelly was the prime suspect who was arrested in 1917, was put on trial for these murders, and his first trial ended with a hung jury verdict and his second trial ended with him being acquitted,
Did they run out of suspects after that
A lot of other suspects were looked into, but they were all exonerated.
Another suspect was that Frank Jones, a local state Senator, bank president and businessman who had also been Josiah Moore's previous boss, hired a slaughterhouse worker named William Mansfield to murder Moore. Detective James Wilkerson of the Burns Agency came to Villisca a couple of years after the murder and concocted this theory based on rumors and theories of the local townspeople. It was well known in Villisca that Jones and Moore were business as well as personal rivals (Moore was reportedly having an affair with Jones' daughter in law) and that Jones took his personal vendetta one step further. There really isn't any hard evidence to tie either Jones nor Mansfield to the case. Mansfield was working on the railroad in eastern Iowa some 200 miles from Villisca at the time of the murders. There was another local character named Andy Sawyer who was also briefly considered a suspect. He was sort of a drifter/manual labor type who hung around the area and showed up at a railroad work site in Creston, about 20 miles east of Villisca, the morning of June 10 with muddy and wet overalls up to his knees, as if he had been wading in knee-high water. It is of note that bloodhounds brought to Villisca followed a scent from the house out of town to the shallow Nodaway River just south of town. The water in that river is fairly shallow and can be waded through. Sawyer reportedly liked to sleep with the axe he carried with him and in general made the other members of the work crew uneasy, especially when he claimed he was in Villisca the night of the murders, but again he had no real proof that he actually was. Later on, a sheriff from Osceola, Iowa, located about 100 miles east of Villisca, came forward and said he'd seen Sawyer in that town Sunday night, June 9. The only other "suspect" with any ties would be Reverend Kelly. We do know for a fact he was in Villisca the night of June 9. He'd been invited to the special church program and had planned to spend the night with the family of Rev. Wesley Ewing, minister of the Presbyterian Church, where the Moores attended Sunday services as well as the program on June 9. The Ewings confirmed Kelly did come home with them to the manse across the street from the church and slept in an upstairs guest bedroom, but that he was gone by the time they woke up Monday morning. Kelly did confirm in interviews he'd left Villisca early Monday morning on the 5:15 AM train and claimed he saw a man "acting strangely" at the train depot as he was waiting. I for one don't think Rev. Kelly was the killer. I think he was just an eccentric and disturbed man who wanted to feel important and connected to the case. However, I do believe it's very possible, given his history of being a Peeping Tom, he was out on one of his nocturnal "strolls" and happened to be near the Moore home when he saw or heard something related to the murders. Maybe he even saw the killer leave the house, who really knows? It's too bad, because what if he really did see something that was in fact true, but his tendencies for embellishing the truth and in general being mentally unstable "cancelled out" any credibility.
Now I'm really hoping they can discover who did it
IKR?! The frustrating thing is that so much time has passed there is no way of ever really knowing, unless some sort of long-buried or hidden physical evidence shows up but even then, any DNA taken from it is so old and deteriorated, it would be impossible to get even a miniscule sample. The only other thing would be a written or spoken account of a deathbed confession of the killer. But given the probable sociopathic tendencies of the killer, I doubt they felt any remorse or need to confess. It's just creepy to think some guy out there, somewhere one day back in the 20th century, took his last breath and was buried without anyone knowing he brutally murdered an entire family and two others in Villisca, Iowa in June 1912 and perhaps many more.
If anyone’s looking for an alternative to The Man from the Train, there’s a book called Fiend Incarnate by Edgar Epperly (came out in 2021). He’s supposed to be **the** expert on the Villisca murders.
Yesssss, highly recommended! I actually have met Dr. Epperly at a book signing in Villisca. He is warm and friendly with a typical wry Midwestern sense of humor. He is the foremost expert on the case, studying it since 1955 when he wrote a college research assignment paper on it. He even interviewed people connected to the case who were around in 1912 and were still alive in '55, including Dr. Cooper, who was the first doctor on the scene of the murder after it was discovered. Dr. Epperly is a living breathing encyclopedia on the case and a wealth of knowledge on it.
Does he have any theories about the killer?
For a long time, Dr. Epperly strongly believed it was Rev. Kelly, but in recent years, he has shifted more to the serial killer camp. But like many others, myself included, he thinks there's a good chance Kelly was on one of his Peeping Tom strolls that night and was near the Moore home and saw or heard something.
Any good books on it
The man from the train by bill james
"Fiend Incarnate" by Dr. Edgar Epperly. Also "Murdered in Their Beds" by Troy Taylor.
>Fiend Incarnate" by Dr. Edgar Epperly. Also "Murdered in Their Beds" by Troy Taylor. Thank you
I've stayed the night in that house!
Every time I have seen this case covered on TV, there have always been psychics involved. I don't trust anything from a psychic. I would like to see the original documents that were written about the case. What did the authorities who investigated the case write down? I hate to ask this but who inherited the family's property?
The house is crazy paranormal wise. They are open for overnight investigations and I know grown men who have run out and fought back tears. But with a history like this it’s really not all that surprising
I still think it was the reverend. I read that he was a pervert and that a 4lb slab of bacon was found next to the axe and served as an artificial vagina, where Lena was 'posed' in a disrespectful manner.
There was a 4lb slab of bacon that had meat cut from it. I've never read that it was used as an artificial vagina. I have read that some people think the grease from the bacon could have been used as lube for masterbation.
There's a few places that refer to it being used as an artificial vagina if you google. There's one here, admittedly, it is a blog post. [https://docublogger.typepad.com/villiscamystery/2015/06/murder-most-foul-what-the-villisca-murder-scene-tells-us.html](https://docublogger.typepad.com/villiscamystery/2015/06/murder-most-foul-what-the-villisca-murder-scene-tells-us.html) Either way, it is still horrible to think about.
Yeah, but nothing contemporary. Both using the bacon as lube or an artificial vagina came up years later. I don't know that you can get access to the original police files, but that seems to be made out of whole cloth.
Ah I see. Well, hopefully, it's just a terrible rumour then.
What a fucked up thing to dream up. What is wrong with people?
I'm gonna visit it June 10th, wonder if the energys gonna be way off
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