June 10, 1912. It’s a date that basically changed Iowa forever. Before that humid morning, Villisca was just another quiet coal and rail town where people left their doors unlocked and knew their neighbors' business. After that morning? It became the site of one of the most gruesome, baffling, and high-profile cold cases in American history. We are talking about the Villisca Axe Murder House Iowa, a place that has shifted from a crime scene to a historical landmark, and honestly, a bit of a macabre tourist trap.
Eight people died. Six of them were children.
If you walk up to the house today, it looks almost jarringly normal. It's a white frame house with a sharp roofline, tucked away on a residential street. But the air around it feels heavy. You can feel the weight of the unsolved. Josiah Moore, his wife Sarah, their four children, and two neighborhood girls who were just there for a sleepover were all bludgeoned to death in their beds. No one was ever convicted. The local police were outmatched, the private investigators were often corrupt, and the town eventually tore itself apart trying to find a scapegoat.
The Night Everything Went Wrong
The Moores were a successful family. Josiah was a prominent businessman who ran a flourishing farm implement store. They were well-liked, active in the Presbyterian church, and by all accounts, living the Edwardian era’s version of the American Dream. On the evening of June 9, the family attended a Children's Day program at the church. It ended late, around 9:30 PM. They walked home with Lena and Ina Stillinger, two sisters who had been invited to stay the night.
They probably walked through the front door, blew out the kerosene lamps, and fell into a deep sleep. They had no idea someone was already in the house. Or maybe they slipped in later through an unlocked door. Either way, the killer waited.
The weapon was Josiah's own axe. It was found in the guest room where the Stillinger sisters were sleeping. The brutality was absolute. Each victim was struck with the blunt end of the axe, not the blade, except for maybe a few instances of overkill. The killer then took the time to cover the victims' faces with cloths and draped mirrors and glass surfaces throughout the house with clothing. Why? Some say it was a ritual. Others think the killer just couldn't stand the sight of what they’d done.
📖 Related: Finding the Right Words: Quotes About Sons That Actually Mean Something
Who Did It? The Suspects That Still Haunt the Case
The investigation was a total mess. People were trampling through the crime scene before the coroner even arrived. It was 1912; DNA didn't exist, and fingerprinting was in its infancy. Because the killer left no obvious motive—no money was stolen, and the "sexual" nature of the crime was debated for decades—the town looked for anyone who seemed "off."
Reverend George Kelly
This guy is the favorite for many true crime buffs. Kelly was a traveling minister who was at the church program that night. He was, to put it lightly, a deeply strange man. He had a history of mental instability and a weird obsession with young girls. He actually left town on an early morning train just hours after the murders. Later, he allegedly confessed to the crimes while on a train, claiming "God told him to do it." He was tried twice. The first ended in a hung jury, and the second ended in an acquittal. Was he a serial killer or just a convenient eccentric for a town desperate for an answer?
Frank Jones and William Mansfield
This is where the story gets "Small Town Noir." Frank Jones was a powerful state senator and a former employer of Josiah Moore. They had a falling out after Josiah left to start his own business, taking a lucrative John Deere franchise with him. The theory? Jones hired a hitman named William Mansfield to wipe out the Moore family as revenge.
The lead investigator from the Burns Detective Agency, James Wilkerson, was convinced of this. He spent years trying to ruin Jones. Mansfield was a scary dude—he was linked to similar axe murders in Illinois and Kansas. However, a grand jury eventually cleared Jones, and Mansfield had an alibi that placed him in another town.
The Serial Killer Theory
Some historians, like Bill James and Rachel McCarthy James in their book The Man from the Train, argue that the Villisca Axe Murder House Iowa was just one stop on a cross-country killing spree. Between 1898 and 1912, dozens of families were murdered in their beds with axes near railroad tracks. The "Man from the Train" theory suggests a single person was responsible for hundreds of deaths, using the rail system to vanish into the night. It makes sense. It explains the lack of a local motive and the professional, cold-blooded efficiency of the crime.
👉 See also: Williams Sonoma Deer Park IL: What Most People Get Wrong About This Kitchen Icon
What Most People Get Wrong About the House
If you watch "ghost hunting" shows, you’ve seen this place. It’s been featured on Ghost Adventures and Most Terrifying Places on Earth. People claim to hear children laughing or see the "Tall Man" in the shadows. But the paranormal fame often overshadows the actual tragedy.
One big misconception? That the house is "cursed" or that everyone who lived there afterward died. Honestly, people lived in the house for decades after the murders. It didn't become a "haunted attraction" until the 1990s when Darwin and Martha Linn bought it and restored it to its 1912 condition. They removed the electricity and indoor plumbing to make it look exactly like it did on the night of the murders.
Another myth is that the killer stayed in the house for days. There’s no evidence for that. Most investigators believe the killer was gone by 4:00 AM. The fact that the bodies weren't discovered until late the next morning gave the perpetrator a massive head start.
Visiting Villisca Today: Is It Worth the Trip?
You can actually book an overnight stay at the Villisca Axe Murder House Iowa. It’s not for the faint of heart. There’s no air conditioning, no running water, and you’re basically sleeping in a museum dedicated to a mass murder.
If you're into history, it’s fascinating. The restoration is meticulous. You can see the steep stairs the killer climbed. You can stand in the room where the Stillinger sisters were found. It’s a somber experience, not a "fun" one. The town itself is still very much a functioning rural community. They have a complicated relationship with the house. It brings in tourists and money, but it also keeps their darkest hour on a permanent loop.
✨ Don't miss: Finding the most affordable way to live when everything feels too expensive
The Evidence That Remains
The axe is currently at the State Historical Museum of Iowa in Des Moines. It’s a chilling artifact. When you see it, you realize how heavy and clumsy a weapon it would be in a dark house. It required strength and a terrifying amount of resolve.
There were also strange clues left behind:
- A slab of bacon was found wrapped in a towel near the axe.
- A bowl of bloody water was discovered on the kitchen table, where the killer likely washed their hands.
- All the doors were locked from the inside, except one.
These details don't point to a random act of rage. They point to someone who was methodical. Someone who felt "at home" in the chaos they created.
How to Dig Deeper into the Villisca Mystery
If you really want to understand the layers of this case, don't just watch a 10-minute YouTube video. The nuance is in the court transcripts and the local archives.
- Read "The Man from the Train" by Bill James. It provides the best context for how this crime fits into a broader pattern of American violence.
- Visit the Villisca Public Library. They have extensive records and newspaper clippings from 1912 that show how the town's psyche shifted from shock to suspicion.
- Listen to the "10-10-1912" Podcast. It’s a deep dive into the legal battles and the characters involved in the grand jury investigations.
- Examine the floor plans. Understanding the layout of the house is crucial to realizing how the killer moved between the upstairs and downstairs bedrooms without waking anyone up.
The Villisca Axe Murder House Iowa remains one of those rare cases where the "who" is almost less interesting than the "why" and the "how." It's a snapshot of a moment when the Midwest lost its innocence. Whether it was a crazed preacher, a hired hitman, or a drifting serial killer, the person who walked out of that house into the Iowa mist on June 10, 1912, took the secrets of the Moore family with them to the grave.
To truly respect the history, approach the story with a focus on the victims rather than just the "ghosts." The Moores and the Stillingers were real people whose lives were cut short in a way that defied logic. Understanding the timeline and the botched investigation helps keep their memory alive far better than a flickering flashlight in a dark basement ever could.