Most Haunted Places in America: Villisca Ax Murder House
Villisca, Iowa was an agricultural town in 1912. A population of about 2000 didn’t make it the smallest town in Iowa but its remote location in the corner of the state kept it isolated from the more popular towns. Villisca translates to “pleasant view” and this once booming town fit the description until one tragic Sunday evening on June 9, 1912. That is the day that evil snuck into this tranquil place and killed 8 people, 6 of whom where children, with an ax. Now this house has a name, the Villisca Ax Murder House and is known all over as one of the most haunted places in America.
Even today, this is considered to be a gruesome act. The Moore family came home Sunday night from the Children’s Day Program around 10pm. With them were the Stillinger sisters that have came home to stay the night at the Moore’s home. They say that the murderer was hiding in the attic when they returned. The next morning a neighbor noticed no one was up for morning chores and the house seemed still of activity. The neighbor called another family member to come check on the family.
It was then that the remains of the 8 people were found, each in their beds, having been decapitated with an ax. The victims were businessman Josiah Moore (43), his wife Sarah Moore (44), their kids; Herman (11), Catherine (10), Boyd (7) and Paul (5) along with the Stillinger sisters, Lena (12) and Ina (8). Unfortunately, even after death there was one more moment that the victims had to endure. The coroner ruled they had died around midnight Sunday and do to bureaucratic red tape, none of the bodies were released for burial, staying right where they were found, until around 11pm Monday evening.
During the time after there have been many owners and renters in the home until 1994. In disrepair and close to being destroyed, Darwin and Martha Linn bought the old home in hopes of restoring it. Already rooted in the town’s history, they own the Olson-Linn Museum located in the town square, the Linn’s thought they would be preserving the area’s history. They set out, using old pictures, renovating the home back to the original condition at the time of the murders in 1912.
It was the renovations that must have awaken the spirits there. The paranormal activity of the home has been reported to be very high. Many paranormal investigators have come to the home hoping to identify who might be haunting the location. Most that have come have not been disappointed. Reports of floating orbs, children playing, whispers, children laughing and giggling, falling lamps, banging sounds and objects moving around have all been described.
There is also an eerie, evil presence among the spirits in the home. This has been especially present in the attic where it is though the murderer hide waiting for the family to fall asleep. This spirit is thought by many to be the actual person who committed this ghastly act of violence. A reported told the story that when she opened the door to the attic, an unknown force kept her from entering the attic. She said it was almost like a force field at the door that would not let her cross.
Here are some EVP’s (electronic voice phenomena ) captured during an investigation in 2005 along with a ghost video of a ball in 2008.
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im sorry but just to tell u thr is no reel proof this place is haunted. to proove it to me you shuld call taps and have them look the place over if they get something then i will beleve untill then thr is no proof on my side
Joshua,
I too am a big fan of TAPS and the show but there are many paranormal investigators out there doing great work trying to find strong evidence to support ghost activity. I think it isn’t fair to say that if TAPS doesn’t investigate it, it isn’t true.
We visited Villisca March 7th and stayed the night. We had an AMAZING time here and it is full or activity. The evidence we captured is on our website http://www.pprkc.org
This is a “Must Investigate” for all paranormal and mass murder followers
YYAAAYY!!!
hahaha
“A special thank you to Demi Morton for showing us this AMAZING ghost story and haunted place…… ”
Yes
– This story was pointed out to us from another ghost enthusiast!
Thanks DEMI!
it was astounding. u really must believe but this u must see
I have a pic of me in the attic at villisca and there is clearly an ORB behind me. Freaked me out when I zoomed in on the pic. Definitely haunted and I am a skeptic. I can email JPG if u’d like….
Sure – email it to ghostwriterATghosteyes.com – If you want also send name (if you want me to add it) and a brief description of what was happening and we will put it up!
sorry but to tell you the truth i must say that ghost are real but that house isn’t haunted. i’ve been to that house a bunch of times and i still have not encountered any dead ghost’s just broken floors and spiders along with the occasional dust bunnie. i live in caddo mills texas and me and my friends go to Villisca, Iowa every year at halloween to prove that it isn’t haunted.
How can you say this place isn’t haunted 8 people were brutally murdered..its haunted.
yah you know this place is haunted iv been in it its freaking crazy we were all upstairs and the pianno started playing and we had the doors loked and chairs in the way so no one could get in! then i went to go upstairs by myself at 11 and i looked at the mirror and saw a figure in the mirror behind me and i looked back and nothing was their and then looked back at the mirror and it was gone so i checked the wall for any hidden divice and their was none i almost shit my pants!!!
I think TAPS investigations are a total joke. They spend more time making jokes than investing. Jason is not really intuned to anything. He can wait to get out of a site, I guess he is scared
I’ve seen a couple of reports on this particular house. Terrible tragedy. But I watched something on it yesterday that troubled me. The current owner of the house was retelling the tale of how the family went to church, came home with two guests in tow, etc. But then this guy goes on to tell what happened during the period of the actual killing, as if that could be known! As I’m listening, I’m thinking to myself that somebody must have survived and was an eyewitness. But, no, all eight were killed. So, why is this guy standing there talking about what order they were killed in, and who ran, or tried to hide, or protected somebody? He even said the wife saw her husband being killed, and her last words right before she was hacked herself were, “NO! Oh, No!!” to be sure, she probably did utter such a thing, but he wasn’t there! I do believe in spirits and hauntings, have had a lot of personal experiences, but I hate it when people go and embellish on things unnecessarily, and just for the sake of making the tale more salacious. That’s one of the main things that gets in the way of skeptics seeing what really IS there.