I'm a midwesterner and a lot of people assume I live near farmland and nothing ever happens here. I can be the first to attest that it takes at least a half hour out of town to find some decent farmland, and that to say nothing ever happens here has to be linked to the fact we assume all major events are linked to someone or something famous.
Iowa may not be at the top of the list for “all things happening” but we do have some pretty interesting stories here and there. It’s October, so I'm currently engrossed in Ghost Hunters and horror movies, so I decided to cover this topic before the month is over.
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| The Moore Household |
Let’s jump in the Way Back Machine and visit a town called Villisca, IA in June of 1912. It’s located in southwest Iowa and with a population of about 2,500 residents, it was considered a flourishing town. This is mostly contributed to the train depot that saw several dozen trains on a daily basis.
This town, probably not being on any kind of national radar, is now known as the site of unsolved, brutal murders. So much, in fact, that while some of this town’s historic buildings and monuments have been demolished, the house that the murders occurred in still stands firmly to this day and is open to public tourism.
So what happened that fatal night and/or morning that made this small town so famous?
The Moore family consisted of parents Josiah and Sarah and their four children Herman, Mary, Arthur and Paul. This family was well known and well liked throughout the small community. June 9th, 1912, The day before the fatal night, Mary invited her two friends, Ina and Lena, to spend the night at the Moore residence. That evening, The Presbyterian church where the Moore’s attended held their annual Children’s Day Program which Sarah was instrumental in coordinating. The program ended around 9:30pm, where the Moore family and their two overnight guests then proceeded home for the night.
What happened that night is still being investigated and analyzed to this day, and nobody was ever charged with the cruel, ludicrous crimes committed that night.
The Moore’s neighbor, Mary Peckham, became concerned after she noticed the Moore family had remained unnaturally dormant the next morning. Usually they were busy with morning chores and Peckham had grown accustomed to seeing them out and about by 7am. That morning, the house stood eerily quiet. Peckham attempted to rouse the family by knocking on the door, but when nobody answered she discovered the door was locked. When arousal became unsuccessful, she called upon Josiah’s brother, Ross Moore, for help.
Moore joined Peckham with his copy of the house’s key and entered through the parlor. It was when he opened the door to the guest bedroom did he find the two guests, Ina and Lena, bludgeoned to death. The murder weapon, an ax Josiah owned, was in the guest bedroom with them.
Doctor’s at the time concluded that the murders took place between midnight and 5am. The killer, or killers, began in the master bedroom where Josiah and Sarah were sleeping. From there the killer(s) moved into the children’s room and bludgeoned them the same as they had Josiah and Sarah. Lastly, the killer(s) ended their spree in the guest bedroom with the two sisters. It was believed that all of the victims had remained asleep during the attacks, except for Lena. Her body was the only one that had defensive wounds, indicating she had put up a fight.
News traveled quickly, and it’s said that up to a hundred people stopped to gawk at the crime scene before the Villisca National Guard even had a chance to show up. They lost control of the crime scene quickly, and it’s thought that possibly valuable evidence could have been removed or destroyed before it had a chance to be investigated.
The crime scene had some alarming aspects that were noted. As follows, all of the curtains inside the house were drawn that night, except for two. The two windows, which did not have curtains, were covered with clothing belonging to the Moore’s.
After the victims were killed, their faces were covered with their bedclothes.
The axe was found in the guest bedroom and was bloody, but there had been an attempt to rub it clean.
The upswing of the axe had left gouge marks in the ceilings of the parent’s and the children’s rooms.
A plate of uneaten food, as well as a dish full of bloodied water was found on the kitchen table.
All of the doors were locked.
The coroner reported a slab of bacon which weighed nearly 2 pounds was covered in a dish towel and found next to the axe in the guest bedroom.
Because of the time period when the crimes were committed, it could have been possible that even if the crime scene had been secured they still wouldn't have had the technology to solve the crime. There were several suspects investigated in relation to the crimes, and the Reverend George Kelly was even tried twice for the murders, but after a hung jury and an acquittal, all other suspects had been exonerated.
