Serial Killer. Mass Murder. These terms were not so common phrases in the early 1900's.
Villisca, meaning "Pretty Place", was a small town that was growing with small business, mom & pop shops, and citizens lining the streets. A quiet place to raise a family. A train depot brought new people, supplies and mail. It had a population of 2500 people.
In 1912, the town built the only publicly funded Armory in the state of Iowa. The Company housed there participated in the 1916 Mexican Expedition, WWI and WWII, as well as the Korean and Vietnam Wars. During World War II, Montgomery County lost more men per capita than any other county in the United States. Villisca surely contributed several of her own to that number.
On June 10th 1912, everything changed the safe feeling of the people that called Villisca home. The quiet had been broken.
Josiah and Sarah (Montgomery) Moore were married on December 6th 1899 at the home of Sarah's parents. They were blessed to be living a decent life, with their 4 young children, Herman (11), Katherine (10), Boyd (7), and Paul (5). Josiah being a prominent business man in the small town of Villisca, he was well known by everyone. Sarah was very involved with their local church and taught the Sunday lessons to the kids.
On June 9th 1912, after lesson were done with the kids at church, Katherine Moore asked permission for The Stillinger sisters, Lena (12) and Ina (8), that were close friends of Katherine's, to spend the night at the Moores home. The girls parents all agreed to the sleepover.
Lena and Ina, the daughters of Joseph and Sarah Stillinger, had plans after church to have dinner with their grandma and then go over to the Moore house for their sleepover.
After an evening of children's laughter and play, the house eventually grew quiet of children's footsteps and banter as the Moore's and all 6 children went to sleep for the night.
Mary Peckham lived next door to the Moores. The two families often converses with one another and became familiar with each others routines of the day. They were friends and watched out for each others families.
June 10th, 1912, at about 5am, Mary had stepped outside to hang laundry to dry. She noted that the Moore's house was still quiet in the early morning. Perhaps Sarah and all the kids had slept in. By 7am, Mary had once again noticed that she hadn't seen any activity from her next door neighbors. Sometime between 7am - 8am Mary grew concerned enough to place a phone call to Josiah's brother, Ross Moore. She requested that he may check on his family.
This phone call set off one of the most infamous hunts for a killer or killers.
When Ross Moore used his key to entered the home of his brother on the morning of June 10th, he wasn't prepared for what he found. He slowly walked to a room just off the front parlor. Squeeking the door open, he saw 2 bodies on the beds. Blood stains covered the blankets of Lena and her sister Ina Stillinger. The two girls that had come for a sleepover.
During the night of the 9th - 10th of June, 1912, authorities say between 12am and 5am, someone had broken into the Moore's home and committed the unspeakable crime.
The bodies of Josiah and Sarah, plus their 4 children were found in the upstairs bedrooms. All 6 had been hacked viciously with an ax while they slept in their beds.
The children, one by one were killed brutally while they slept. Their skulls crushed. Their small bodies battered. I think it is believed that Lena had been sexually assaulted as her nightgown was found pushed up and she had no underwear on.
The murder weapon, bloody and wiped off, was found in the downstairs bedroom where Lena and Ina had gone to sleep. The axe belonged to Josiah Moore. The doors were locked with a key to the home. A pan of bloody water was discovered on the kitchen table as well as a plate of uneaten food.
Although there have been many whispers sent out and plenty of speculation about who, what and why around the small, tight knit town, the Ax Murders of Villisca Iowa have never been solved. The perpetrators of this horror story are most likely dead now.
Today, The Ax Murders, and the house it happened in, have become very famous. You can take a tour of the Ax Murder House which holds its secrets, if you ever happen to be In Villisca Iowa. Keep in mind there have been many whispers of paranormal activity in the home. Enter cautiously!
Look up Villisca on the net to read plenty more about the Ax Murder House.
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