Villisca Ax Murder House

Villisca, Iowa

July 13-14, 2021

"Triangle of Terror" investigation #2

The 2nd part of my 3 nights of 3 investigations in a row would take me to Villisca, Iowa, home of the infamous Villisca Ax Mudrer House. Just a brief recap of the history, back on June 10, 1912, a family of six and their two overnight guests (2 adults, 6 children), were brutally murdered by someone with an ax. The killer supposedly hid out in the attic and came out when everyone was asleep. Several people were suspects, but nobody was ever convicted of the crime. There is so much more to the story, you can find the details on numerous websites.

A picture in the house with Josiah and Sarah Moore with 2 of their children. Eight people were murdered that night.

When I was first planning this trip back in 2019, I specifically wanted the Villisa Ax Murder house to be the 2nd investigation. I thought this location was going to have more of a residual haunting than the intelligent variety. That would be perfect to follow the Sallie House where I was expecting a wild night and then Edinburgh Manor on the 3rd night and its infamous "Joker" entity. I thought I'll get a lot of EVPs and it would not be an intense evening.

Then COVID hit and ruined those plans for at least a year. When 2021 came around, I had to replace Edinburgh Manor with Malvern Manor due to availability. Still, the Ax Murder house was going to be my 2nd trip and I still thought this was going to be the easiest of the 3 nights in a row. This is what I would need because when I left the Sallie House at 7am, I didn't get back to the hotel in Shenandoah, Iowa until 9am. When I got back in my room, I took a quick shower with Angelica soap to wash off any negative residue from the Sallie House. Then I prepped my equipment and got in maybe about a 4 hour nap before I had to drive to Villisca. Fortunately it was only a 30 min drive there. Unfortunately, I had no cell or data service, so there would be no live feeds for my friends and supporters on social media.

After I arrived and met up with cartaker Johnny Houser to sign in and get his thoughts, my mindset changed from an easy investigation to now wondering what woodchipper I was about to walk into. Especially when he told me that I was only like the 5th or 6th person to investigate the house solo.

Johnny told me about the guy who came with his parents and stabbed himself with a knife, a story that made headlines years ago. I remember seeing it in the news, but I figured it was probably a publicity stunt. But then he told me about a group of bikers who came for a daytour and ran from the house in fear after some poltergeist activity took place. He told me how other paranormal teams have been there, left in the middle of the night while leaving their equipment behind. They left a note asking if Johnny or one of the other caretakers could mail the equipment back. He told me how the house knows how to attack people emotionally and hits weak links. He said the house splits teams up and gets the best of friends to turn nasty towards each other.

This is the living room where supposed poltergeist activity chased off a group of bikers.

Johnny also told me some of his own personal experiences and they were not for the feint of heart. Now I understood why this not a place many people want to spend the night by themselves. My mindset quickly changed to treating this like the Sallie House and showing the house there the same respect I did when I was in Atchison. Speaking of the Sallie House, Johnny and I had an interesting conversation about my trip and where I was investigating. Apparently to him and the other local investigators, there seemed to be a strong connection between the Sallie House, Vilisca Ax House and Malvern Manor.

The first thing that he pointed out to be was that the Sallie House and the Ax Murder House had the same street address, 508 Second St. He also mentioned that during the time of the ax murders in 1912, the main way to get to Villisca was via train. That train went right through Malvern, Iowa and the Malvern Manor was a hotel at the time. Thus there was a strong chance the killer stayed in Malvern at the Manor before heading to Villisca and committing his dastardly deeds. Johnny also told me about an experiment that was tried with investigators at all 3 locations on the same evening and kind of verified that there was some sort of "spiritual" communication going on between the locations.

After hearing this, I was stunned, because I wanted to go to Edinburgh Manor for the 3rd part of the trip and that changed after COVID delayed my trip a year. Now I would be hitting all 3 places in this "triangle". Looking on area maps later on, you can see how a triangle forms between Atichson, Villisca and Malvern. I didn't care who committed the crime, my focus for the evening would now be on finding out what is driving this connection between the three locations.

Johnny then took me on a tour of the house and pointed out the rooms, who was killed in each room and the attic where the killer allegedly hid out until the family was asleep. After the tour was over, he left to walk home nearby and I was left to myself. I walked around the house to take some daytime photos.

Here is the doorway to the attic where the killer hid until every one went to sleep before the mass murder took place. Creepy Annabelle doll in the back.

This picture is taken from the entrance to the children's room. The parents bed frame can be seen next to the window in the back. The arrow points to where the entrance to the attic is and how easy the killer could get to his victims. The closet door to the left was said to open and close on its own. Though that did not happen to me on this night.

This picture is taken from right outside the attic entrance. The killer basically moved just a few feet over to the bed where he murdered the Moore parents first.

This is the kids room where the 4 Moore children were slain.

This picture is of the staircase leading downstairs to the first floor, just a few feet from where the Moore parents slept. This is how the killer proceeded down to kill the Stillinger sisters who were spending the night.

The staircase came out into the kitchen, which is the doorway to the right. The doorway just behind the cast iron stove was the guest room where the Stillinger sisters slept that fateful night.

This was the guest bedroom. My worst fear about coming here would take place in this room a few hours later.

Just like the Sallie House, I wanted to make my intentions known quickly. As I made my way around the house taking photos and calling out to whatever spirits or entities might be in the house, I proclaimed I was only there to make contact. I was not there to cause trouble or confront anybody. I would be respectful and if they didn't want to interact with me, that was fine. I would just do my time and leave in the morning.

Except the big difference this night was, unlike the Sallie House, the darkness at Villisca did not give a damn about my good intentions. I was on its turf and it would let me know it was not happy.

Here is the entrance to the storm cellar outside. I was told people get crazy activity here, but I never made it to this spot to investigate. I was too caught up in all that was happening inside this night!

Only a mere six minutes after I was making my way around the house, introducing myself and saying I didn't want trouble, I get my first evp of the investigation. The warning shot if you will.

(As always,  each EVP is played in its original format, then replayed twice afterward by itself.   Each replayed EVP is audio enhanced through either amplification, noise reduction or both.   Headsets and a quiet room are highly recommended to hear EVPs the best way)

Villisca EVP #1 -  I am upstairs by the parents bed taking a photo as you can hear the click and beep of the camera. At the 5 second mark, you hear a female voice say what sounds like "Get Out". After amplifying the EVP, that is clearly what I hear now. I don't take this a threat, but more of a warning from perhaps Mrs. Moore?

Five minutes later I wake my way into the attic for some photos. I don't know why everyone leaves Annabell dolls at every location now, but this one looked particularly creepy! Especially on a chair in front of windos that look like they belong on the Amityville House!

Annabell doll by the Amityville style windows in the attic.

While I am taking photos in here, the same female voice from the first EVP talks to me again, louder and clearer this time!

Villisca EVP #2 -  The voice is louder and clearly the female who talked in the first EVP, but what I think I hear is her saying, "A hard time." Yeah I guess it would be a hard time for those killed and maybe stuck there.

A few minutes after I leave the attic, I go back by the parents bed as the air conditioner had kicked on and I needed cooling off. Mid July in Iowa is hot, especially with an old house that retains heat. As I was calling out to any possible child spirits that it was okay to come play with me during the night, I get my first creepy EVPs. The dark entity?

Villisca EVP #3 -  This happened after I finished speaking. You can hear the air conditioner in the back ground when this gravely male voice says what sounds like "That girl."

Villisca EVP #4 -  In the main part of the clip, just before I speak there is a faint male voice. After amplifiying, you can hear him, but I cannot make out what he is saying. Just before I head back downstairs.

This is the original make left by the blade of the ax in the wall of the room the Moore parents slept in. The murderer used the blunt end of his ax, so when he swung backwards, the blade hit the wall.

As I moved downstairs, I am speaking about how horrible the crime was. Just before I mentioned about feeling badly what happened to the Moore family, I heard this faint male voice speaking again. What sounds like the first curse out I get for the night.

Villisca EVP #5 -  Just before I speak at the 2 second mark, you can just barely make out a voice speaking saying "???? you". After some noise reduction and amplifying, to me it sounds like "F--k you.", but it is still faint. Later on there would be more EVP like this, so I wouldn't be surprised if that's what was said here!

While I have only played 5 EVP clips so far and barely an hour into my investigation, there is actually double that at this point. The other 5 are voices that cannot be made out and don't want to waste your time trying to make out what is being said.

This was a mirror covered up in the guest bedroom. The killer, for some strange reason, covered up all the mirrors in the bedrooms after he slew his victims.

While I still had some good light in the house, I made my way into the guest room to see if any contact could be made with the spirits of the Stillinger sisters, if they were in fact still lingering on the property. In the next EVP I captured, it almost seems like the entity is answering my question before I can even ask it!

Villisca EVP #6 -  At the one second mark of the clip you can hear the voice. At the 7 second mark you hear ask if Lena and Ina are there with me. After cleaning up the clip a bit, it sounds like this creepy male voice is saying, "Not in the house." Is the entity telling me the spirits of the Stillinger sisters are not there?

Villisca EVP #7 -  This clip is a doozy. After 6 more too faint EVPs to add here, there came this stretch of 3 EVP's in a 9 second clip. The first 9 seconds is the original recording, then it is replayed with some noise reduction. Then I take each EVP and replay it twice, trying to clean it up more.

In the beginning 3 seconds, the first EVP is a male voice saying clearly "Go back to home!" followed by some very loud gutteral screams. The 2nd EVP takes place at the 5 second mark, the entity is back to saying "F--k you!" very menacingly. This is followed by me saying your a fool (because I forgot to bring a piece of equipment in with me). This is followed by another male voice asking if I found any ghosts!

Moving back into the living room area, I was asking about the incident with the fellow who stabbed himself here a few years earlier, an event that made the headlines. I also asked about the story I heard of a woman who came into investigate by herself and somehow started having a love affair with the decesed J.B Moore. Here the angry voice comes back to tell me that I am not looing in the right spot and then a name.

Villisca EVP #8 -  In this clip you will hear the voice from 1.5 to 3 seconds before I am speaking about marrying Mr. Moore. On cleaning up the EVP a bit and amplifying, it sounds like it is telling me, "This is the wrong place!". My question about this EVP is, am I being told I am not looking the right place or am I being told this the wrong place, for me to me in?

Villisca EVP #9 -  Just a few seconds after the last EVP, same voice comes out and calls for what is clearly, "Emma", followed by a word that I believe is, "Please". The only person with that name connected to this was a Mrs. Emma Van Gilder, who was a relative of the Moore family and was not a victim. Emma Van Gilder and her daughter were brought in to identify a possible suspect that was seen acting suspiciously before the murders. However the person the police had, Joe Ricks, was not who Ms. Van Gilder had seen. Why is her name is being called out? I have no idea.

After this EVP, I walked around another 10-15 minutes taking some more photos before deciding to stop for some dinner in the barn before I would continue on. The time at this point is 6:30PM.