Address: 508 E. Second Street, Villisca, Iowa 50864
June 9, 1912 is often referred to as the darkest night in Villisca’s history. While the murderer’s identity remains a mystery, so do the paranormal entities that continue to haunt the scene of this gruesome tragedy.
Villisca is a city in Montgomery County, Iowa, United States. It is a small, rural community nestled in the hills of southwest Iowa, boasting approximately 1,300 people today. In the early 1900’s, the town boasted about 2,500 people.
In the early 1900’s, more than two dozen passenger and freight trains stopped at the depot each day. Villisca boasted several hotels, restaurants, stores, theaters, and manufacturers. Josiah B. Moore was a prominent businessman in the Villisca community. The owner and operator of the Moore Implement Company (a John Deere Company franchise), Moore was a solid competitor with other area businesses. Josiah Moore married Sarah Montgomery at the home of her parents. Josiah and Sarah had four children: Herman, Katherine, Boyd, and Paul.
Both Josiah and Sarah were well known and well-liked in Villisca. On June 9, 1912, Katherine Moore (10) invited Ina (8) and Lena (12) Stillinger to spend the night at the Moore residence. That evening, the visiting girls and the Moore family attended the Presbyterian Church where they participated in the Children’s Day Program. The Moore’s were active members of the Presbyterian Church, and, in fact, Sarah Moore had coordinated the Children’s Day Program. After the program, the Moores and Stillinger sisters walked to the Moore’s home, arriving between 9:45 and 10:00 p.m.
The next morning, the Moore’s neighbor, Mary Peckham, noticed that the Moores hadn’t begun their usual morning chores outside the home. Further, she noticed that their house was unusually still. Between 7:00 and 8:00 a.m., she knocked on the door, but received no answer. Peckham let the Moore’s chickens out and then called Ross Moore, Josiah Moore’s brother. Like Peckham, Moore attempted to raise someone inside the home, knocking loudly and shouting. He tried to look through the windows, but found that the curtains were drawn. He withdrew his keys and entered the home. While Peckham stood on the porche, Moore went into the parlor and opened the guest bedroom door. There, he found Ina and Len Stillinger’s bodies on the bed. Moore immediately told Peckham to call Hank Horton, Villisca’s primary peace officer, who arrived shortly thereafter.
The entire Josiah Moore family had been murdered – all bludgeoned with an axe while they slept. In the upstairs master bedroom lay 43 year-old Josiah Moore, who had received more blows from the axe than any other victim, his face so cut that his eyes were missing, and 39 year-old Sarah Moore, both bludgeoned in the head, their bed linens stained heavily with blood. In the adjacent upstairs bedrooms were the Moore children, 11 year-old Herman, 10 year-old Katherine, 7 year-old Boyd, and 5 year-old Paul, who had also been bludgeoned in the head while they slept. The Stillinger sisters were also found dead, killed in the same manner as the family.
Investigators believe that little Lena Stillinger tried to fight back. She was found with lying crosswise on the bed, and a defensive wound was discovered on her arm. Furthermore and sickeningly, Lena was found with her nightgown pushed up to her waist and no undergarments on, leading to speculation that the killer(s) sexually molested her or attempted to do so. For the other victims, the attacks were so vicious and brutal that the ceilings of the parents’ and children’s’ bedrooms showed gouge marks apparently made by the upswing of the axe.
News of the gruesome event spread like wildfire. Hank Horton arrived quickly, soon followed by other officers. Law enforcement officials soon lost control of the crime scene. Prior to the Villisca National Guard cordoning off the home, it is believed that as many as a hundred morbidly interested gawkers traipsed through the home.
The murder weapon – an axe owned by Josiah Moore – was found in the guest bedroom, indicating that the Stillinger girls were the last to be killed. Though it was bloody, there were signs than an attempt had been made to wipe it off. All of the curtains in the home had been drawn, and two windows of the home that were without curtains had been covered with clothing.
All of the victims faces were covered with linens or clothing after they were killed. A pan of bloody water and a plate of uneaten food was also discovered on the kitchen table of the home.
Several investigative teams were immediately disbanded on horseback and by automobile, expecting to find the killer lurking in an alley, or barn, or shed, or outhouse in the vicinity. Each party returned empty handed, and no one in Villisca could imagine who would commit such a heinous act.
Over time, many possible suspects emerged, including Reverend George Kelly. Kelly was a traveling minister who happened to be teaching the Children’s Day services at the Presbyterian Church, organized by the late Katherine Moore and attended by the Moores on June 9, 2012. The small-framed, bird-like preacher had a reputation as being unbalanced and perhaps a pedophile. He left Villisca in the early morning hours of June 10 with his wife. Despite these oddities, these character traits were not what drew him to the investigation.
Rather, it was his obsession with the murders that caught the eye of law enforcement officials. In his obsession, Kelly penned a series of long, rambling letters to state and local government officials, private detectives and relatives of the victims.
Two weeks after the crime, Kelly returned to Villisca for another preaching visit. Kelly also paid a visit to the murder house. Within a month, officials began investigating claims that Kelly was seen peeking into a woman’s bedroom just days before the murder. Kelly had also been observed prowling the streets at night, and had made requests of women to pose nude for him on at least three occasions. Finally and likely most damningly, the week after the murder, he sent a bloody shirt to be laundered.
Kelly was taken into custody in April, 1917. After a long evening of interrogation, Kelly dictated a confession on August 31, 1917. In his confession, Kelly dictated that he had had trouble sleeping on the night of the murder and so went for a walk. He spied the Stillinger girls getting ready for bed through the window of the Moore’s home. He then went on to write that he heard the Lord’s voice commanding him to “suffer the children come unto me.”
At the time of the trial, a majority of Montgomery County citizens believed Kelly was being framed as part of a conspiracy by Frank Jones; it is believed that Jones tried to use his money and influence to pack the jury. During his life, Josiah Moore had taken away business from Frank Jones, resulting in this vendetta. As a result, Kelly was acquitted of all charges in November, 1917 after being deadlocked and dismissed on September 28, 1917.
Another murder suspect was Henry Lee Moore, no relation to the slain family. Henry Lee Moore was convicted of the murder of his mother and grandmother several months prior to the murders in Villisca, his weapon of choice being an axe. The similarities in Henry Lee Moore’s committed murders and the fashion in which the Moore family and the Stillinger girls were murdered were striking. However, none of these similarities lead to proven facts.
Another theory was that Senator Frank Jones hired William “Blackie” Mansfield to murder the Moore family. Mansfield was believed to be a serial killer; he murdered his wife, his infant child, his father- and mother-in-law with an axe two years after the Villisca murders. He was also suspected of committing axe murders in Paola, Kansas, four days before the Villisca crimes; and committed the double homicide of Jennie Peterson and Jennie Miller in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The locale for these murders was accessible by train; Villisca is a known railroad town. However, his alibi checked out and Mansfield was released after a special Grand Jury of Montgomery County.
According to an investigation by Detective James Newton Wilkerson, all of the murders were committed in precisely the same manner indicating that the same man committed the murders. In each murder, the victims were hacked to death with an axe and the mirrors in the homes were covered. A burning lamp with the chimney off was left at the foot of the bed and a basin in which the murderer washed was found in the kitchen. In all instances, the murderer avoided leaving fingerprints by wearing gloves, which Wilkerson believed was strong evidence that the man was Mansfield – his fingerprints were on file at the federal military prison at Leavenworth, Kansas.
A Grand Jury was opened to investigate Mansfield in 1916; Mansfield was arrested and brought to Montgomery County from Kansas City. Payroll records provided an alibi that placed Mansfield in Illinois at the time of the Villisca murders. He was release for lack of evidence.
In the end, the police and investigators ceased their search in 1917. The murders remain unsolved and the killer unpunished. The remains of those murdered lie in the Villisca Cemetery, and the “Murder House” continues to stand.
The “Murder House” was originally built in 1868. The Moore family purchased the home in 1903. After their deaths, the home went through a series of eight owners, before it was purchase by Mr. and Mrs. Darwin Linn in 1994.
The Linns restored the home to its original glory. In 1998, the “Murder House” was added to the National Register of Historic Places. Today, it is open for tours and overnight sleepovers. It has consistently rated as one of the top ten most haunted places in America.
Since the Villisca Axe Murders, the home has had a formidable reputation of paranormal happenings within. Previous tenants said they have spied a shadowy man with an axe standing at the food of their bed, images of bloody shoes, closet doors that open of their own accord, the sounds of children crying, and clothing taken from dressers and closets strewn about the room.
A man once reported that, while sharpening a knife, it suddenly turned around and stabbed him in the thumb. He went on to explain that it felt as though someone had gripped his wrist. One family reportedly ran screaming from the home in the middle of the night, never to return.
Other who have toured the “Murder House” report hearing the sound of phantom children’s voices when there are no children, whispers, banging sounds, falling lamps, and objects moving on their own. An evil presence is felt lingering in the attic, where it is thought the murderer hid while waiting for the family to fall asleep. One story alleges that an individual tried to enter the attic, but an unknown force prevented her from doing so.
A number of paranormal investigations have been hosted at the “Murder House.” These investigations have allegedly produced audio, video, and photographic proof of lingering spirits. When the house was investigated by Ghost Adventures, a recording of a man was captured saying, “I killed six kids.”
Past tenants and owners of the home argue that the home is not haunted; having lived there and not experienced any mysterious or strange occurrences. However, once again the home is open for tours and any overnight guests who wish to quell their curiosity.
