Beyond the Veil
Case Book Files

  

The Slaughter of Innocence 

 

********************WARNING******************

I don’t think I have been touched so hard by a location before. This is a horrible tragic story that must be told. The story you are about to read is a true story. In order to understand what had happened during our investigation you must know the history of the location.

This part of the story may be too much for you to read. If you would like to pass the gruesomeness of this story, then pass the warning section to the Haunting.

The History

On Sunday June 10^th 1912 in a small Iowa town called Villisca, the Moore Family, parents Josiah and Sarah, their children, Herman, age 11, Katherine, age 10, Boyd age 7 and Paul age 5 left their church around 9:30 that evening to return home after a Children’s Day activities which the children were part of. They invited the Stillinger sisters, Lena age 12 and Ina age 8 to sleep over night at their house. Josiah had called the Stillinger family before they left, to let them know that Lena and Ina would be spending the night at their home. Even though Villisca had street lights, at that time, there was an argument between the city and the power company so the street lights were turned off until the matter was settled. After they said their good bys to friends by the lighted church entrance, the family walked into the darkness……never to be seen alive again. What had happened to them is a gruesome mystery that people still talk about it even though it’s been almost a hundred years from that fateful day……  

I can envision the children merrily walking home with their friends chatting of the pageant they participated in and of the adventures they were planning for tomorrow. We know that they reached home about 10pm. Once again I can envision Mrs. Moore settling the children down to go to bed; Mr. Moore may have carried young Paul to his crib on the second floor. All the Moore children slept upstairs while Lena and Ina slept on the first floor together. The parents loving tucked the children in bed and then they themselves went to bed. They had a wonderful day and were most likely exhausted from the day’s activities. Tomorrow was a work day for Mr. Moore and Mrs. Moore also needed to arise early the next day for the activities of the day.

As they peacefully slept, sometime later……evil entered into the house… and changed the town of Villisca forever….

**************************WARNING******************************

Sometime in the middle of the night, someone entered into the home of the Moore family. Using an axe he found outside by the wood pile, he entered into the kitchen. He removed the glass part of the oil lamp and lit it. Doing this resulted in a faint candle like glow giving off enough light for the killer to see his way around, but not bright enough to awaken his victims. Carrying the axe and the lamp he slowly crept upstairs. The adults were killed first. The killer hacked both Mr. and Mrs. Moore. Then he went into the children’s room, using his left hand he hacked each child one at a time. Then he crept down stairs and killed the Stillenger children.

When he was done, he returned up stairs, and bludgeoned the parents more. He then covered every mirror and window in the house and he covered the heads of all the victims and locked all the doors to the house. Once the house was sealed, the killer continued to commit more evil acts. The oldest Stillenger child, Lena, had clothing removed and was posed. Though no rape was committed, the lamp, axe and a slab of bacon was found in that bedroom. When the killer left the downstairs bedroom, he closed the door. He may have attempted to wash himself in the kitchen as a basin of water was found on the kitchen table. He left through the front door locking it and taking the key with him.

Mary Peckham lived next door, about 25 feet from the Moore house. Between 5 and 6 am she was hanging clothes outside. At 7 am she noticed that there was no activity at the Moore house. She noticed that no one had attended to the animals. After she let the chickens out she tried to knock on the door to check on them, there was no answer, she then tried to peak in the windows but could not see anything, so she then called Mr. Moore’s brother to notify him that something may be wrong at the house.

Ross Moore entered into the house, then came out and said “My God…There were people dead in every bed………..”

The Haunting

Even though some people in Villisca will say that the house has never been haunted until the ghost hunters started coming to the house, this is not true. There have been several reports through time of ghostly activity in the house.

In the 30’s a young couple from another city, had rented the home. Soon after moving in, the wife, who was expecting at the time, kept hearing noises in the house, one time she awoke and saw a man standing by the bed with an axe. She of course was hysterical. The Dr warned that she may be in danger of loosing her baby if she continued to become so distraught. So her husband would stay awake sitting at the foot of the bed while she slept at night. One night he heard the noises his wife complained about and heard someone walking up the stairs, but saw no one. Upset, the next day the husband went to the bar to calm himself. He was told the bartender what had happened. That is when he found out about the murders. He quickly hurried home and packed their belongings and left the house.

Some time later, the house was purchased by an elderly couple. After a while the man refused to sleep in the house and had set up a bed in the barn. No one knew why, the neighbors thought that they may have had problems in their marriage. One time his grandson and his wife visited them. They told their children how the front door would open during the night. After they closed it, it would swing open a few minutes later. According to the neighbors, one night they had witnesses the guests running down the street in their night cloths at 3 am. What had frightened them to the point of running out of the house, no one knows.

Between the years of 1963 to 71 the house was rented to a couple with 2 little girls. The husband was a truck driver, and on days when he was away the girls reported hearing children crying. At times when they entered their room they would find their dresser drawers open and cloths flung all over the bedroom. They complained to their parents but were met with disbelief until one night when the husband was sharpening his pocket knife and it flew from his hand and stabbed him. He packed up his family and left the house.

The longest known resident of the house (20 years) had claimed that nothing ever happened in there while she lived in it, but refused to spend a night in the house when it was offered to her. 

  

The investigation

 On June 12, 2009, 7 members of Minnesota’s Beyond the Veil traveled of Villisca Iowa to investigate The Axe Murder house, Jack, Cliff, Kathy A., Barb, Rosey, Todd and me, Kathy M. Each of us had heard of the house as it has been on TV several times in various shows. We looked into their web site and saw some of the various other ghost hunting groups had captured and hoped we too would capture some of the evidence they had. We were a different energy force, so we wondered what would happen to us.

The trip took us about 8 hours as we stopped a few times along the way for lunch and a walk break. Though it made the trip more enjoyable it did make the trip longer. We arrived at our hotel and I, exhausted from lack of sleep from the night before, took a short nap before going to the Moore house. After touring the town and visiting the grave site of the Moore family, we arrived at the house about 8pm.

We were excited to get started and as we toured the house, we set up tape recorders around the house as well as cameras. The house was very clean and it had many pieces of future from the turn of the century that would have been in the house at the time of the murders. It made the house feel as though it was lived in. When I entered into the house I did not feel the “get out” that I sometimes feel. I told the group that it would be ok to go into the house alone if they wanted to. Even though we usually pair off I did know that some of the members wanted to try their hand at being alone. As the night progressed I would regret that decision.

As I was setting up my recorder down stairs, Kathy and Barb had explored the upstairs and as they came down stairs, they told me that in the parent’s bedroom she had the creepy feeling. Kathy, though not physic, gets what she calls “Creepy feelings.” I have learned from experience, to trust her feelings as I do mine. I knew I would need to keep an eye on the parent’s bedroom.

After we toured the house we went to the barn area to set up our equipment that we would need through the long night ahead of us. We set up our laptops to down load photos and tapes, chargers to charge the various equipment. In Back of the barn was a theater area with a large screen TV where you can view what you had picked up on the video cameras. I have to admit a lot of thought was put into the needs of the ghost hunters visiting the area. Upstairs were sleeping cots where any one could sleep if they needed to. Even though we all ready tired from our long trip, none of us thought of sleeping at that time.

It would seem that right from the beginning, the voices started on our tapes. As Todd was laying out the electrical cords a man said to him. “Thanks for coming.”

I was talking to Todd about where to set up the equipment, a man’s voice can be heard saying “Help me” in the children’s bedroom.

Once we set up everything, we went to the barn area to allow the house to calm down from the activity.

Now we were ready to enter into the house.

The first group to enter the house was the men. Jack, Cliff and Todd. As they walked up the ramp to the house, we got a strange voice on the tape recorder that sounded like someone speaking German. It seemed garbled, but when I pulled the evp apart I found there were 2 men talking. One was speaking German, the other English. As I pulled out the English words, I found an interesting statement was made.

Their dieing……I’m the only one….

Was this the voice of the killer?

As the men entered into the house; Jack announced who was entering into the house and once again on the recorder a man spoke German to them.

You hear entere das haus  which means Enter the house.

Through out the night small groups of us took turns going into the house. Each had thier own experiences.

Barb had said every time she was on the 3^rd step from the top of the stairs, she felt dizzy and a bit quezy. I didn’t know this at the time. I was upstairs after I set up my tapes and I asked some questions I started to take photos. I have a digital camera and I just aim and shoot; most of the time I do not look where I am taking the photo, but look for my next shot. One time I did this I had my head turned to the stairs and I saw a tall shadowy figure standing on the 3^rd step. I was startled but I quickly turned to take a photo in that area. I could not pick anything up. I tried to duplicate what I saw and could not. Many of us had a in your face feeling; as though someone was staring us down. In the upstairs children’s bedroom, there were a number of toys there. We have heard that the ball would roll on its own. The 3 ladies, Kathy, Rosie and Barb would roll the ball to each other and ask the kids to roll to Grandma Kathy or Grandma Barb etc. and the ball would slowly roll to each person mentioned. One time Kathy left the room to get something and when she returned you can hear a man’s voice say welcome back, then you hear Rosey and Barb say Kathy’s back, then the man’s voice said sit down.

One time as the ladies were talking among themselves in a normal voice you can hear a kid yelling out  Stop Screaming…I had assumed that not many people speak in a normal voice in the house, but in whispers.

One time I just finished changing the recorder and camera and started to head down the stairs. My hands were full and I had a small flash light. As I slowly walked down the stairs I noticed a small glowing rob on the steps. As I stepped down it also stepped down. I stopped and I wondered what I had in my hand that was reflecting a small bright orb. I shut off my flash light and it was still there. I moved my hands and the little orb was still there. Nothing I had was causing that. Then I thought that maybe someone in the other room had a pointer or maybe a temp gun and was aiming it on the stair way to light my way. I called out and no one had anything like that. Barb came to the doorway to see what was the matter and as I saw her legs appearing in the door way the small shinny orb shot out of the stairway and turned to the left leaving me in the dark. After I came down the steps, Barb walked into the pantry that was to the left of the stairs and she reported a cold spot there about the height of a small child.

I brought some toys for the kids. Seeing that the kid’s room upstairs had a lot of toys I left the toys for the kids that died down stairs. When I told them I brought some toys for them, I got an evp of a child saying   I…..thank…..you…

The men had their share of experiences too. When Todd and Jack were in the attic, Todd suddenly started to get high steady readings. You can hear Todd say look how steady that is, but then you hear a child say Daddy…

        

When Jack and Cliff went into the children’s bedroom upstairs you can hear a child on the recorder saying My Grandpa

Cliff tried to be with the ladies upstairs, but nothing happened. He came down stairs and headed for the children’s bedroom down stairs, as he walked in a cranky voice yelled out get out.

One time Jack went in to the house by himself. In the parent’s room, he laid flat cross wise on the bed with his legs dangling off the bed. He raised his arms and took 2 photos of the dresser. The first one showed nothing strange, however the second one showed some one’s head in the mirror. This face is not Jack. The eyes and hair is not the same. Jack has very very short hair and wears glasses. Todd has his head shaved. Cliff has grey hair and wears glasses. I compared this photo with Mr Moore, who was murdered in that room and it is very similar. Is this the face of Mr Moore?

We have many more evps. If any one would like to hear more please e mail me.     

 

“hump! That house isn’t haunted”… some of the residence of Villisca will say. Some of the residence of this small town dose not like having their city labeled as the home of the Axe murder house.  If the truth be known, the city profits from the influx of visitors coming to the town every day. We’re not talking about hundreds of people a day, but a trickle of 5 to 10 people every day. They have to sleep somewhere, they have to eat somewhere, they buy souvenirs, and they buy gas. These people have come to see the axe murder house, but they also take the time to see the town and see how lovely it is. 5 to 10 people a day doesn’t seem like a lot, but if you add it up, in a years time that is 2,000 people. Any businessman will tell you that 2,000 extra people a year has got to be helpful to their business.

What about the Moore house? First and foremost, it is a museum. In 1994 Darwin Lynn has restored the house to the time of the murder. Such a horrendous crime has gone unpunished. Losing 8 people in one small community leaves a ghastly hole in it. It affected only for the present, but also the towns future. The 6 children were not the only victims that could have changed the course of the town’s future. Mrs. Stillinger was pregnant at the time of the murders. With the shock and grief of loosing her children and the strain of the days following the murder, Mrs. Stillinger had lost her baby boy.

 Darwin Lynn had dedicated this house to the memory of the Moore family and the Stillinger girls who would have otherwise been forgotten in the pages to time. But even in their deaths they are still helping their town that they loved so much.