Official Villisca Axe Murder House/ My Space: General Info
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10/3/2008
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Almost 97 years ago, long before serial killers and mass murders had become a way of life, two adults and 6 children were found brutally murdered in their beds in the small mid-western town of Villisca, Iowa.
During the weeks that followed, life in this small town changed drastically.
As residents of this small town reinforced locks, openly carried weapons and huddled together while sleeping, newspaper reporters and private detectives flooded the streets. Accusations, rumors and suspicion ran rampant among friends and families. Bloodhounds were brought in. Law enforcement agencies from neighboring counties and states joined forces. Hundreds of interviews filled thousands of pages.
And yet, the murders remained unsolved, the murderer unpunished.
Mary Peckham - the first witness
The Moore's next-door neighbor and the first one to notice anything amiss at the house.
The first person called was Mary Peckham. Mrs. Peckham testified that she lived directly next-door to the Moore's and had seen them before they left for church on Sunday evening. She had, however, gone to bed at approximately 8 p.m. and did not see the family return. According to her testimony, Mrs. Peckham heard absolutely no noises from the house during the night. She went on to say that she was out in her yard hanging wash between 5 and 6 a.m. and noticed close to 7 a.m. that the house was unusually still.
After attempting to wake the Moore's, she let the their chickens out and checked on the other livestock. Seeing that they were still tied, she called the home of Ross Moore to ascertain whether or not anything had happened in the family that may have given a reason for the Moore's to be gone from their home. After speaking with Jesse, Ross's wife, she then saw Ed Selley, one of Josiah's employee's enter the barn to feed the horses. Shortly after, Ross arrived and found a key to open the door.
According to Peckham, although she entered the house with Ross, she stayed in the parlor while he looked in the kitchen and then opened the door to the downstairs bedroom. When Ross announced that something awful had happened and there was "blood in the beds," both he and Peckham returned outside and waited there until the Marshal arrived.
Peckham also testified that the doors had been locked with a key and no key was in the lock on the inside.
Reverend George Kelly, the son of a minister, was born in England in 1878 and moved with his wife Laura to the United States in 1904. Known as the "little minister" because of his small frame (5' 2", 119 lbs), Reverend Kelly was considered a confident, well-versed, and articulate speaker. Beyond the pulpit, however, he had a nervous demeanor, shifty eyes, and often spoke so quickly that saliva would dribble down his chin. Between 1904 and 1912 he preached throughout the Midwest and in May 1912 the couple relocated to Macedonia, Iowa. On the night of June 9th of that same year, he attended Childrens Day excercises in Villisca, Iowa's Presbyterian church as a guest. Kelly spent the night with the Reverend Ewing family and left the next morning on the 5:19 a.m. train bound for his home. In 1917 he was indicted and charged with the June 10, 1912 murder of one of the eight victims: Lena Stillinger. By this time it was known that Kelly had been convicted of sending obscene letters asking young girls to type in the nude for him, that he was a window peeper, that he had sent a bloody shirt to an Omaha laundry anonymously, and that he was obsessed with the brutal murders. An elderly couple who met him on the train in 1912 also claimed he told them of the murders before the crime had been discovered. Lena Stillinger's body had been moved and her near naked body viewed by the killer. Authorities suspected the crime had a sexual motive. Kelly confessed twice to the killings while in custody, but recanted before the trial began. The first jury was hung and a second acquitted him. He later moved to Kansas City, Connecticut, and New York City. The remaining years of his life and his final resting place remain a mystery.
William Mansfield, of Blue Island, Illinois, was identified as a suspect in the 1912 Villisca axe murders by Burns Detective Agency operative James Newton Wilkerson. A Kansas City Post newspaperman named Jack Boyle broke the story in June of 1916 and dubbed the blonde-haired, blue-eyed Army deserter: "Blackie". Detective Wilkerson claimed "Blackie"--a man whose wife, daughter, and in-laws had been murdered with an axe in Blue Island, Illinois on July 5, 1914--had been hired by State Senator Frank Jones to murder a former Jones Store employee and then-business-competitor, Joe Moore. Wilkerson said Mansfield "went crazy" and killed the rest of the Moore family, too. Mansfield was arrested while working in a Kansas City slaughter house in 1916, brought to Montgomery County, and investigated by a Grand Jury. Mansfield's attorney produced payroll records and sworn testimony from payroll clerks to show that Mansfield was working in Illinois when the Villisca axe murders occurred. Grand Jurors returned a "no true bill" verdict and released him for lack of evidence. Mansfield later sued the Burns Detective Agency and detective Wilkerson and won a financial award of $2250.00 for battery. He was a labor union organizer most of his life.
Frank Jones was born in New York State in 1855. His family moved to the midwest and settled in The Forks, Iowa in 1875. A few years later the town was renamed Villisca. In 1880 he married his wife Maude. She bore him two children: Albert and Letha. He began work life as a school teacher, but his interest in business led him to a partnership and then ownership in a hardware and farm implement company. His success with The Jones Store led him to form the Villisca National Bank with several partners. In 1898 Jones built the largest house in town on stylish 5th Avenue. It was only a matter of time before he heard the siren call of politics. He began with Villisca's City Council and within seven years he was elected to the State Legislature. He ran successfully for the State Senate in 1912, but lost his bid for reelection in 1916. By then he was considered a suspect in the June 10, 1912 axe murder slayings of the Moore family and two visiting children. Joe Moore was a nine-year former employee of Jones. When they disagreed over wages, Moore left the Jones Store and opened a competing hardware store across the street. John Deere also pulled its product from Jones and gave the line to Moore. They were bitter business rivals and Jones would cross the street to avoid meeting his nemesis. In addition, in the fall of 1911, Moore had engaged in an embarassing affair with the Senator's daughter-in-law. In 1916 F.F. and his son, Albert, were openly accused of having hired William "Blackie" Mansfield to kill Joe Moore and his family. Jones fired back with a slander suit against Detective James Newton Wilkerson, but lost. The community was split for many years over the guilt or innocence of the former State Senator. F.F. Jones was never brought to trial, but many in Villisca still believe he was behind the infamous crime.
There existed a strong possibility that a serial killer was actually at work and Wilkerson's case against Mansfield actually suggested the same. M.W. McClaughry, a federal officer assigned to the Villisca case actually announced in May of 1913 that he had solved not only the Villisca murders but 22 others that had been committed in the Midwest around the same timeframe. McClaughry's theory was that Henry Moore, no relation to Joe Moore, was the serial killer responsible for all of the crimes.Henry Moore was actually convicted of the murders of his mother and maternal grandmother in Columbia, Missouri just months after the murders in Villisca. Moore's family members were killed just as brutally as the victims in Villisca and his weapon of choice was an axe.
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Discover and uncover the mystery behind one of the nations most grizzly and unsolved murders and the haunting that remains. On June 10th 1912, 8 people were found murdered in their beds by an unknown axeman. The investigation and suspects hold a story as strange and macabre as the paranormal activity that remains today! Hosted by Paranormal adviser/sensitive, historian and tour guide for the house Johnny Houser. Come hear the story and brave a night in the home for yourself to truly experience what lies in the shadows of a house that sits forever in time known as the Moore home.
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This is my wish for you: peace of mind, prosperity through the year, happiness that multiplies, health for you and yours, fun around every corner, energy to chase your dreams, joy to fill your holidays! Much Love & Hugs, Serenity
hey thanks for the add! i just watched this on travel channel and i think thats it was the most interesting out of all of them. im jealous you get to live so close to the house!
Watch The Preview: http://www.blogstar.com/shows/595/episodes/21365 '~' AS SEEN ON GHOST ADVENTURES: The Constantino's Amazing Evp Sessions! http://www.blogstar.com/shows/355/episodes/21346
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