The Horrors of Villisca Ax Murder House

[Music] well we've been wanting to come here a long time yeah bit of a bucket list place huh yeah it's just when i actually crossed the items off this bucket list i'm not very excited i am when i'm at home imagining it but now that i'm standing here looking at it now you got to be brave yeah do you remember how to do that the blitzka axe murder house look it's kind enough to remind us when the horrible event happens yeah grab a picture send the postcard to your parents this week on buzzfeed unsolved we investigate the valisqa axe murder house as part of our ongoing investigation into the question are ghosts real oh it's back a location voted one of the most terrifying places in america this unassuming family home in valisca iowa was the setting for one of the most grisly infamous unsolved murders in american history so the ghoul boy is going to show up and do that little dance knowing absolutely nothing about this and having driven through iowa i'm terrified because i don't believe in ghosts but i do believe that iowa is haunted just as a whole just as soon as you cross the state lines you could have a hitchhiking ghost yeah and look i'm sure there's plenty of nice people in iowa but i'm from illinois so they can all go [ __ ] guys let's not bring up yeah we got beef there's no reason to bring up the ice state turf war there's a lot of turf out there in the midwest turf wars yeah we don't like each other how many skulls have you claimed in this turf for countless oh [ __ ] okay let's get into it built in 1868 this three-bedroom house was purchased by local business owner josiah b moore in 1903 josiah his wife sarah and their four children herman catherine boyd and paul lived in the small frame home located on 2nd street and were the very picture of a perfect family on june 9 1912 around 9 30 p.m the moore family made their way back home after attending a special service for children at the local church the moore family was joined by lena and aina stillinger who were friends of their eldest daughter and were sleeping over that night early the next morning mary peckham the moore's neighbor was up at 5am hanging laundry by 7am she noticed that no one in the more home was awake in doing their usual daily chores mary recalled that something just felt off the moore's untended horses began nay so mary walked over to the moore home and knocked on their door there was no answer she attempted to open the door but found it to be locked growing increasingly distressed mary called josiah's brother ross and at 8 30 a.m on the morning of june 10 1912 ross moore stepped inside his brother's family home to find the unthinkable this might be the door that the killer entered through or at least some suspect that and here we are hello hi there well this is the kitchen and as you can see everything is pretty much set as it would have been in 1912. oh the furniture is almost the same this for the most part is what it looked like that night every footstep in here shakes his ass yeah just as a quick example because it seems to really if i just give a little which makes it kind of hard for me to believe that this guy could have snuck around but he did somehow do you get bad vibes from this place ryan i mean i don't love it i don't love any of the places that we go through but i will say that this place in particular because it's so small and such horrible things happen in such a small area the concentrated dread here is unlike most places we've been to ross opened the door to the downstairs bedroom to find the lifeless and bloodied bodies of lena and eina stillinger in bed the local paper paints a gruesome picture of what ross moore beheld that fateful morning quote their heads chopped open with an axe a spectacle so repulsive that it was almost beyond comprehension that six more victims murdered in identically the same fashion lay in the two bedrooms upstairs end quote in just one night eight people had been systematically murdered with an axe and not one person heard or saw a thing upon investigation all eight victims appear to have been killed in their sleep with one exception the only sign of struggle apparent was with lena stillinger her arm was arranged in a way that appeared she had tried to stop the attacker she also had a small cut on that same arm to suggest that she may have been nicked by the axe strangely investigators also discovered a two pound slab of raw bacon carefully wrapped in a dish towel in the same room in which the stillinger girls were found obviously the fact that someone could commit heinous crimes like this is baffling to me but the bacon just kind of tips it over the edge for me i just don't understand it my thoughts are it is someone who knows the family and they have some weird personal gripe that has to do with like the hall oh so this is kind of like the equivalent of like the horse head in the bed exactly or he missed breakfast this is the room that the still undergirls were killed in and this is actually the first two bodies that were found by mr moore's brother well they've sure got this place stocked up with spooky toys that is true they definitely cornered the market on creepy dolls well it's said that people feel very oppressive feelings in here it's said to have split groups up they'll start arguing with each other and stuff like that i dare them to try and split us up can't be done it can't be the brothers that's a bond that lasts forever they also found the two pounds of bacon right there i'm gonna turn on a device here that may help you speak with us you could use the energy from this device to communicate it's everyone's favorite tool say it with me here comes this the spirit box okay my name is brian i'm shane can you say our names back to us if there's something here with us right now can you say ryan or shane right now i'm reaching out to whoever murdered in this house why did you do it hey what'd he say i'm gonna ask you again prove to me that it was you who did this because i don't believe you hey you sick little weirdo huh i'm reaching out to lena and i know right now i'm really sorry what happened to you happened to you can you tell me your names if you're here oh i'll hold it you want to talk to me here oh i've never held this thing before i don't enjoy it talk to me i don't respect you that should rally you up i think you suck ryan loves you big fan of your work that's not true yeah he's a sicko just like you that's not true i think you're a loser [Music] jesus that thing sucks almost 100 years later in june 2009 one visitor visited the newly renovated home now owned by darwin and martha lynn and attempted to make contact with the stillinger girls in the very room in which their lives were shockingly cut short the visitor called out to the girls asking them to turn his flashlight off and on they obliged every time causing him to proclaim quote i believe the spirits of all eight victims still dwell within that house end quote the maglite is hui why because it's not but there's oh god i think he blacked out there's no correlation even if the flashlight was turning on and off you hear okay calm down calm down you there's nothing to back it up there's no science behind it you could say nothing at all they will turn on and off here's the best i can use here we're sleeping in a tent we hear hoof noises outside we wake up in the morning and see hoof prints outside and i say there were horses here last night and you say yes it was a unicorn and i say what that's what's happening unicorns aren't real and ghosts are real now for me to really think there's something here i'm gonna need to see some intelligent responses on the actual flashlight i tell you to turn on we're not just focusing on one flashlight we're looking for morse code if there's something in here right now please turn off the black one while turning on the blue one so we want to see them switch exactly not good enough you gotta turn the black one off if you remember the instructions that's what we were asking for let's turn off that black flashlight huh that's good come on you were the commanded let's just turn off that sexy little black flashlight oh wrong one boy you're not good at following instructions huh oh oh oh switching them now you're gonna switch it switch from the black to the blue right now no no you're teasing us tonight come on look we've heard lots of reports that whatever is in here loves playing with these flashlights and all i'm seeing right now is random activity okay now we're at even okay baseline turn the blue one the one on the left and five four three two one blew one on now turn on the blue one in three two [ __ ] it's too soon if we do it enough times it'll be perfect yeah but i'm not gonna think that's a real thing i don't know man i think we're alone in this room right now yeah i'm saying this house has good vibes maybe you bring in the good vibes maybe i do bring good vibes they're probably very happy that not some dour ghost hunter coming in here being like oh that looks via sensing energy you know i'm coming in being like what's party folks except for the murderer we do not want to party with you it may sound unimaginable now but due to the heinous nature of these crimes and the fact that the town of villisca only had 2 000 residents the crime scene became a full-blown spectacle with upwards of 100 people touring the home with the bodies of the eight victims still in it even after arriving to examine the scene the town marshal went so far as to let the town's people handle the axe utterly contaminating the murder weapon left behind by the killer themself do you think this has anything to do with why this case is unsolved yes i think it has everything to do with it ryan well step right up come here and see if you could do the same whack like you got it wait a second i was smiling in that one do another one that's the town marshall again [Laughter] finally at noon about three and a half hours after the bodies were found the valisca national guard arrived when they were finally able to secure the scene authorities could then begin investigations into who could have committed these eight gruesome axe murders on a quiet sunday night in a town the iowa touring atlas called one of the finest cities in the state end quote the motive for the murders was unclear as there was no evidence of a robbery or any other reason why the moore family would have been targeted investigators found josiah's pants hung on his and sarah's bed post still containing cash a check and keys they also found a huge gash in the wall of the parents upstairs bedroom right above the mirror now covered with clothing by the murderer it is believed this mark was made quote by the upswing of the axe end quote further evidence bears this out as josiah was the only victim killed with the sharp end of the axe all seven others died by being bludgeoned with the blunt back edge of the axe this is the bedroom of josiah and sarah moore and it was here that there still is a mark from the axe from the upswing so you could only imagine the force that this dude was coming down on there is a dread to this room also once again sheet over the mirror just straight up spooky there's something about this guy there's like i don't know if it's a vanity thing or he was ashamed of what he was doing but he couldn't control himself and it's it was in the girls bedroom it's been everywhere yeah so i don't know what his deal is right now i'm reaching out to the spirit of josiah and sarah moore first off thank you for having us in your house really genuinely sorry for what happened to you if there's anything you'd like to let us know about that night please reach out to us we're very non-judgment one sorry can you say that again while the voice i heard in this moment was not captured an audio recorder left in this room later picked up a voice saying this is this the voice of the valiska axe murderer who's here with me right now why did you do what you did [Music] strangely all eight of the victims faces had been covered with clothing or bedding after being killed and at some point the murderer is also believed to have closed all the window curtains so obviously he couldn't have covered up those mirrors before he killed him if he was like sneaky well he's gonna be sneaky in the first place was it rainy that night or anything how loud is it in iowa because to kill one person and not wake up another person impressive to kill seven people and not even wake up the eighth one how among cigarette butts and bloody footprints investigators also found food on the kitchen table from where the murderer had fixed themselves something to eat before exiting out the front door locking it and taking the key with them years later the home's caretaker johnny houser would have another encounter originating in the kitchen that would stop him in his tracks hauser who has stated that he was very much a skeptic prior to working at the house said quote i'm up in the kids room and i lock the kitchen door so nobody can walk in and as i'm up there somebody walks in the house end quote hauser goes on to say he's so positive it's someone trespassing that he decides to pull a prank that will set them straight so he hides in the closet of the children's upstairs bedroom and waits until quote finally he goes upstairs into the room i'm in i kick the door open and scream nothing at all as soon as i see there's nothing it just sucked the air like i got the wind knocked out of me end quote this is the children's room obviously this is where all the more children slept and where they were sleeping the night of the awful tragedy obviously and it is unnerving to be sitting on this bed actually kind of curious what this closet look like to be hiding in here nope not doing that i'll go in there you can do it yeah you do it oh is it awful there's more people in here bye-bye hey i'm gonna turn my light out me too oh [ __ ] me you can make your presence be known i could hear everything right now to the more children i'm really sorry what happened to you happened to you do you have anything you'd like to say i'm just here to help whoever is with me right now can you tell me your name oh [ __ ] shane is that you no i'm i'm in the closet just chilling the [ __ ] bed moved oh [ __ ] is that you no i didn't do [ __ ] when should i come out of here or maybe come out now you can come out now jesus [ __ ] christ what occurred here sit on the bed sit where i was sitting kind of felt like this oh that's a ghost thing i thought somehow you kind of like bumped the wall because it's you know there's houses no i was standing directly behind the door if that was you that moved the bed can you please move it again because i would like my big tall friend here to experience it can you move that curtain off the mirror that little towel on that little blanket is there anybody here with us in this room right now i'll kill him sound like michael rooker he's not dead is it no as far as i know speak stop it do you want us to stop it's kind of like stop me somebody stump me i don't think it's jim carrey oh stop you from what is there anything you want to say to us huh what are your parents names i didn't really quite catch that can you say that again whose parents what's your parents names anything to tell us about the person who killed you did you see them i hope not something one what did you see okay i'm gonna turn it off you gotta love technology love the spirit box love all that it gives us what a wonderful gift i sense the sarcasm on your voice it sucks it's a stupid piece of [ __ ] while some investigations suggest the presence of the family in the house multiple others suggest that the house is haunted by the killer themselves investigators from the show kindred spirits picked up an evp response to the question did you do something to this family the response i killed them a medium picked up the presence of the killer in the house describing him as quote giddy about what he was going to do end quote and that his favorite type of person was the type that was weak and easily manipulated like quote putty in his hands end quote so if the killer does indeed still reside in this house how did he originally get in what investigators hypothesized was that the murderer had gained access to the more family home by removing the screen of a first floor window however evidence at the scene made this method of entry seem implausible in lieu of a far more terrifying theory the murderer was most likely hiding in the moor's attic lying in wait and holding josiah moore's own axe well well well it's the big bad of the house the attic oh wow this may be the first room we've encountered that's neither ryan nor shade sized gonna move this awful little doll this is concerning oh that's nice said you look like a little king here king of the dolls this is actually probably where he's at i think how did they not see him in here the room was i guess maybe they would have like a bunch of stuff in here why would they look in here do you check every room in your house before you go to sleep yes you don't strike me as that kind of a cautious kind of guy i feel like you would just go to sleep with the windows and doors open you do what you do to make your girlfriend feel safe that's fair well there is no real kind of uh mistaking who would be in here it's the stinker it's just you and you know who you are mr mr bad news who's in here with us right now what was that why did you do what you did i hear you enjoy it is that true why are you still here what year is it 18 what does that mean [Music] i'm going to turn this off in 10 seconds 10 nine last chance to say anything eight seven six five four three but perhaps no event indicating the killer's presence remaining in the house was more clear than what happened in 2014. on november 7th the caretaker johnny houser greeted that evening's overnight guess a man in his 50s along with his elderly parents hauser noted that the man was carrying a large hunting knife on his belt hauser checked them in and then left for the night the next morning hauser heard that the man who was apparently in the house alone had been stabbed in the downstairs bedroom the night before the knife had been jabbed into his chest and he laid in a pool of his own blood until he was found the man's injuries were labeled as self-inflicted miraculously the man survived the attack and even returned to the home years later when it came to explaining what actually happened that night all the man could remember was going into the bedroom with the goal of provoking the spirits and the next thing he knew he was waking up in an emergency room so let's see if i end up in a puddle of my own blood the caretaker noted that the first thing the man did was apologize to the house for his behavior hauser states that he didn't believe a ghost stabbed the man but he does think that perhaps the house has a dangerous effect on people and their mental state while inside also of note the axe used in the murders originally owned by josiah himself was found in this very room in which the stabbing occurred and with that being said we will now end our investigation individually in the home alone starting in the downstairs bedroom just like the man who was supposedly attacked in 2014. you can hear my stomach it's actually like grumbling right you're gonna freak out in there i'm gonna [ __ ] my pants you know what it's extra scary because the environment that you'll be in darkness quiet is exactly the conditions when he murdered all those people i know i was creeping around the house just like him i was thinking that here we are in the good old villisca axe murder house uh it's me shane i'm here alone so now's a great time to to [ __ ] with me you know it used to tear me up that he would uh go in there and have a grand old time but now i'm just frankly impressed by it and he just seems to have no fear which i used to see is courageous but now i just think he's an insane person if you're the killer why don't you turn that left flashlight off right now if you're the killer turn that left flashlight off i'd very much appreciate it [Music] it's just there's just a little glimmer of light left in it oh it's coming oh there go okay it's off okay so the killer is here odd odd choice to to stick around this house uh as i said you you kind of successfully did all the murders here and then also chose to haunt this place did you not die somewhere else or is this like uh you returned to the scene of the crime to yuck it up a little bit i don't know well the flashlight went on again does that mean yes is that a yes you did choose to return here you know i i could acknowledge intellectually that i'm not going to die in there but for whatever reason it's still very horrifying the idea that i might see something once again my name is shane i'm looking for the killer hey [ __ ] the thing that probably sucks the most about this one is that that spirit in there if the killer is in fact in there tends to um really gravitate towards antagonistic forces or people who are scared and what shane's doing in there is pissing it off and then he's gonna the the guy's gonna be in there you know punching air because he can't get to the big guy and then i'm gonna walk in there and be scared with him being pissed off already and then he's gonna stick a metaphorical ghost dildo up my ass or something like that i don't know what a ghost would do it's going to suck now they've i think they've asked us not to sleep on these beds i'm going to lay down on the floor next to it and close my eyes and then if the killer is here or if the spirit of the killer is here now would be a great time use your ghost powers to strangle me maybe when i open my eyes you can be levitating like a an inch above my face or something it's actually quite calming very vulnerable i'm so vulnerable right now oh my god you could really take a whack at me i'll tell you that so many people would see it it would be trending for at least a day or two on twitter people would be like oh my god you see this guy get [ __ ] split in two buy a ghoul really pleasant yeah yeah you have a fun time in there i took a little nap up on the top floor word of warning yeah this is going to be some really helpful information go it doesn't feel right in there when you're alone yeah no [ __ ] dude don't feel right your eyes actually look really scary right now yeah because i've been in there now get on in there how the [ __ ] did i get myself into this well it is me i'm alone i am not my fear i'm stronger than my fear i'm surprised we don't hear any screams right now he may be dead it's possible his heart just stopped and he's lying on the floor in there okay i'm in the aina still in your room with elena stillinger this is where the two girls that were sleeping over got killed i didn't mean to laugh at that i am just incredibly nervous right now we're just gonna go with one flashlight here folks the blue light if there's somebody in here with me right now turn that bad boy off now this is horrifying though but i'm stronger than that because it's just in my head it's all in my head and the light turned off okay well if there's somebody in here with me right now turn the light back on in three two one on a great deal of my time was spent napping um because i thought well what's the scariest thing i can do even as someone who doesn't believe in ghosts and i think you know going into this allegedly haunted house laying on the ground next to a bed where a person was murdered in their sleep and closing your eyes is uh a good challenge going upstairs parents bedroom is there anybody in here with me i know my big tall friend came in here and probably roughed you up a little bit told you that i was the guy that you could come in and push around that's not true in fact i'm one of the most feared ghost hunters alive and that's what you are a ghost because you're just a man and men die we're at the halfway point here the party is almost over so to speak we're not going to have much time left so that being said it's time to go into the lion's den i mean quite literally i have to crouch down to get into this son of a [ __ ] all right buddy boy you wanted me here i am my name is ryan what's your name can you say my name back to me why did you do what you did here [Music] you want me to leave just leave why do you want me to leave do you not like being talked to this way you got 10 seconds to start speaking or i'm turning it off ten nine eight seven six five four three two one [Music] what a relief that was a spiritual experience inside there was it good in there how you doing how'd it go i feel kind of invigorated honestly well goodbye valiska it's been real but i'm real glad i'm leaving let's go one last look yeah let's get the [ __ ] out of here after five years a widespread effort failed to find any credible suspects hauser added quote you got a murder in a small town with five years of gossip everyone in town at some point was a suspect end quote legal proceedings involving three different men were pursued but no one was ever convicted of the horrifying crimes that befell the moore family and the stillinger girls the veliska axe murders remain one of the most infamous cold cases in american history we will never know what took place in the moore family home on that night in june 1912 which resulted in the loss of eight innocent lives or if the tragic victims of that gruesome and brutal crime still roam the residents they once called home over a hundred years later whether the valiska axe murder house is haunted by those who lost their lives that night or if the property itself was stained by the pure evil from the unspeakable acts perpetrated by an unknown murderer will remain unsolved [Music] you

Channel: BuzzFeed Unsolved Network

Views: 5,581,630

Keywords: SffZ, The Horrors of Villisca Ax Murder House, buzzfeed, buzzfeed unsolved, buzzfeed unsolved network, buzzfeed unsolved network supernatural, buzzfeed unsolved supernatural, buzzfeedunsolved, creepy, crime, investigative, mystery, scary, true crime, unsolved, villisca ax murders, villisca axe murders, villisca iowa axe murders

Id: aABFIzfg72A

Length: 34min 30sec (2070 seconds)

Published: Fri Oct 22 2021

Reddit Comments

[u/youg]

I like how it had elements of a True Crime episode. A great crossover episode

[u/AlwaysDragons]

What was truly terrifying about this episode wasn't the ghost hunting itself, but rather just the scene of it all.

The idea that the killer just.... did it.... and probably stayed in the attic and stayed there like he owned the place just.... nightmares

[u/nubosis]

Great episode, actually felt a little spooked watching this one

[u/DeGeorgetown]

It was kind of creepy that Ryan felt the bed moving. When the group from Destination Fear was visiting the Villisca house, they also had something weird happen with the bed.

[u/HopeAuq101]

This one unnerved me a lot mopre than other episodes It def seems fishy with the policeman maybe he had something to do with it?
Also jesus the evidence got in this was amazing

[u/daesgatling]

Astonishing Legends had someone on it that made a pretty good case for why the murderer might have been a serial killer hopping trains. There'd been a slaughter a few days previous in another town not too far away. I'd pulled up old train lines and looked up speeds back then, and it's at least possible.

[u/CutToTheChase56]

MAN this location.

I’ve been paranormal investigating for 6ish years now and this place was my holy grail. No case has infatuated me as much and to see the boys finally visit is incredible.

I stayed the night myself last August and it was surreal. It really brings the tragedy to life. Personally, the haunting there is in my Top 3 most active ever experienced. My team and I heard footsteps, muffled voices and several audible anomalies I’ve never encountered since.

For example, we heard a yell from downstairs with everyone in the crew accounted for. It was clear enough to stop our talking mid-sentence. Even spookier, when we had all huddled into the attic, we began a conversation only to be audibly shushed by an eerie “shhhh.”

I know they’re just stories. You don’t have to believe them. But seeing Ryan scared in the same exact spot as me validates my encounters even more.

Enjoy the episode! So thrilled with this final season and I hope you guys are too.

[u/[deleted]]

Going to hazard a guess Ryan’s “Stick a metaphorical ghost dildo up my 🍑” won’t be on any Unsolved merch, but it will be a memory from this season

[u/Mannersmakethman2]

From the YT comment section: "The New Orleans Axeman should have taken notes on the efficiency of this guy."

Facts.