Address: 508 E 2nd St, Villisca, IA 50864
Admission: $10
Website: http://www.villiscaiowa.com/ "I Survived The Ax Murder House" T-Shirt: $15
At the end of a quiet street in a small town just off of Highway 71 sits a little white house with a big secret. Up the street? A handful of churches. Down the road? Farms and parks. It appears to be your typical old house in a community of close neighbors, children playing, and small-town hospitality.
But this house sits empty.
It's $10 to go inside the small structure.
There's a warning on a panel of the barn that says "DO NOT GO IN CELLAR".
Here, on June 9, 1912 or early on July 10, 1912, eight people were brutally murdered in their beds with an ax and the killer has never been found. The Moore Family (Josiah (43), Sarah (39), Herman (11), Mary Katherine (10), Arthur (7) and Paul (5)) and their house guests Lena and Ina Stillinger headed home from a church children's program on a summer evening and theorists believe that the killer was lying in wait for his victims in the attic. It is also suggested that all the victims save for Lena were sleeping when they had been killed.
The murderer was never identified, though several suspects were investigated.
Beyond this, I encourage your own research. There are honestly too many details and investigative faux pas to include here.
Featured On (Taken from Wikipedia):
Ghost Adventures episode "Villisca Ax Murder House"
Dead Files covered the house on Season 5 episode 4.
Scariest Places on Earth investigated the property
Profiled on Most Terrifying Places in America
The murders and resulting paranormal activity was described in Episode 21 of the podcast “And That’s Why We Drink”.
In their 2017 book The Man From The Train, Bill James and Rachel McCarthy James discuss the Villisca murders as part of a much larger series of murders which they believe were all committed by a single serial killer. They conclude the murderer was Paul Mueller, and that the crime was part of a killing spree that lasted over 10 years.
After our short and sweet trip to Omaha, Kelsey and I found ourselves on the doorstep of this white two-story home in Iowa. As fans of the paranormal and true crime, it's been on our list for a while and when opportunity presents itself you should never decline an offer.
A GPS will take you right to the house, parking is incredibly easy (but limited), and the "welcome center" is in the barn to the right. You'll be greeted by a small museum, pictures from paranormal investigations showing scratch marks and distorted figures tacked to the wall, warnings from visitors before you, and a brief history of the property.
Featured on six different "Most Haunted in the US" lists, the house is much smaller than you'd think. The rooms downstairs are as they were in 1912, the small bedroom where the Stillinger girls were murdered still has mirrors covered with bed sheets and toys, trinkets, and pennies left for the spirits still lingering.
Upstairs, it's hot. There are marks on the ceiling from the back swing of the murder's ax. The mirrors are still covered, cards are left on the dresser for the parents. A Father's Day card stands out among the change and the pictures of the family. In the Moore children bedroom, toys, stuffed animals, pennies, and balls are left for the spirits still left in the house. The attic, where cigarette butts were found and the theorized location where the murderer waited for the family is open to step inside. We didn't.
We didn't take many pictures inside. I didn't feel comfortable with having that many images of a murder house on my phone. We didn't feel much of anything (I was uneasy but that might have been my anxiety), we didn't see anything, we didn't experience anything. But that doesn't mean something isn't there. That doesn't mean there aren't ghosts, demons, and lingering spirits that are lost or believe that they are still at home.
We recommend going, I think. At least I do anyway and I'm sure Kelsey does based on our conversations. If you give it a quick Goog, you'll find mountains of information. If you look up the Villisca Ax Murder house on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, you'll find hours and hours of content.
Happy travels and let yourself get scared every once in a while. It's exhilarating.
Ciao,
Courtney
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