Investigation on the Villisca Axe Murder house

[klamath]

Villisca Haunted House.

On the local news channel around Halloween was a 2 segment special about a haunted house about 2 hrs away that the news crew had spent the night in. With all their high digital equipment they were able to get smoky masses and orbs on their cameras. The second I saw it I was intrigued and called my Mom on the phone to see if she wanted to take a trip. I emailed the webmaster and a couple days later we were on our way to the little town in Southern Iowa.

Mom and I showed up at the museum about 1:30 pm. There inside we met a nice old gentleman by the name of Arwin. He is one of the owners of the Moore house. We also met the author of the book about the Villisca murder. Very neat guy who had done all the research and wrote the book. He signed our copy and we talked for about a half hour. Afterwards Arwin let us look around the museum and then when we were ready, he lead us into a damp and dew room with a little VCR and TV. He played a cheesy 15 min rendition of the day that lead the family's demise. Mom and I kept getting the feeling like we were being watched. Later to find out that the Museum was the same building as the Farm equip store used to be in. Jones owned this store.

A little history . . . .

Jones's was the one who put the hit out on the Moore family.

Father JB and Mom Sara had 4 children and then had 2 cousins who stayed over that horrible night. That day they were all involved in a town gathering which was like a local fair. The Moore family and cousins came home that night and were really tired from playing all day. According to legend they all came home and went right to bed. About 12 to 3 in the morning is when 2 or 3 men came into the house with their work clothes, work boots, an a axe in hand and one by one, in their own beds, bludgeoned the family to death. The youngest daughter was out of place on her bed and it was believed that in the middle of the crime she got up and saw the men, who then might of molested her before they killed her.

The men timed it to happen at the same time a coal locomotive came through town and due to the loud engine and toot of the horn, no one heard the family's cries.

Due to these horrific events, there is apparently a Residual haunting that occurs on full and waxing moons and takes place at that same time of the early morning. You and 3 others can spend the night in the house and if you are lucky, experience this.

Of course I had done days of research on the web to find most of this out before we got to Villisca so it was all review for me but this was the first time Mom had heard it. Mom is more in-tune with her psychic abilities so I wanted her to be fresh and not know the history as in depth as I did.

Well at any rate, it was a really cold that day. About 20 degrees Fahrenheit. The sky was overcastted and it happened to be a waxing moon. We didn't have a lot of money and decided to do the daylight tour of the home. It was the cheapest and from there we could decide if this is something that we would want to take the rest of our family to. If it was a hoax then not a big deal.

Arwin let us in the house and walked us around showing each room. After about a 15 min tour he left us alone in the house, checking back on us every 20 mins or so, just to make sure we were okay. He was really a sweet man.

After he left we broke out all our gear, digital camcorder, 2 reg cameras w 400speed and 800speed film, a voice recorder and a compass. I setup the voice recorder upstairs in the girls' room and walked around the rest of the house taking pictures of corners, walls, ceilings, etc. I had the reg camera in one hand and the video camracorder in the other hand. At one point downstairs when I had just started taping, something kept trying to push my videocamera down. I'd be standing in a spot, the battery juice would jump down like 30 mins and then I'd feel a push on the top of my videocam in a downward motion. I thought at first it was my hand and switched the videocam to the other hand, wrapped the strap around my arm and then much harder, something kept trying to push it down, out of my hand. Mom was right next to me snapping photos and I'd tell her to take pictures around me to try and get this on film. No luck though. No smoky masses, no orbs, nothing.

Mom had feelings of great despair, and at times it was hard for both of us to breath. We were on flat land, but it felt like when you are in high altitude and it's hard to catch your breath. I wanted to put the videocam down, so I went upstairs to point the videocam (VC) on the girls bedroom and take some still shots w/my reg camera. I set the vc down on a nightstand that was perfect to show the bedroom. But accidentally turned it a little bit so it ended up taking a really nice 20 min or longer, shot of the wall right next to the bedroom. Oye vey - amateurs

At any rate I went into the attic which was what the family used as their bathroom and had a little potty in there for the cold nights so they didn't have to travel outside to the outhouse. Mom and I got a lot of neat still pictures in there. I was using 400 speed film and Mom using 800 speed. Most of my pictures had like electricity orbs (orbs with lines) and a couple of them had this oblong white mass (like frosted glass). Mom on the other hand got these 3 dimensional orbs that are really pretty. It looks like a glowing ball of loose twine. And we were able to compare the photos to the VC where I pointed out pin holes in the walls, etc. We were able to tell that these orbs and masses weren't there on previous photos or on some thereafter. These orbs where not there to the naked eye.

Mind you that the VC is still on the night stand, recording. I came out of the attic and walked passed the VC. The VC went back into focus, which was still pointed to the wall. And then a second later went out of focus as something passed the lens. The VC was out of focus trying to focus on whatever was in-front of it. About 2 sec later the vs. went back into focus. It reminded me of when you are walking and it's a hot day. And you look down the street to see heat rising off of the ground and it looks like a vapor? That's what this mass looked like as it passed my vs..

Right after that is when I felt this presence. My hair was in a pony tail and I had all these little wild hairs sticking up. I felt this presence tug on the end of my hair, pat the top of my head, touch the back of my neck, and a heavy feeling on my back. Again Mom snapped many photos but nothing showed on them, well except, the big goober in the middle of the photo

Through out this whole experience Mom wasn't getting the heavy sensations like I was, she was just getting feelings of sadness and flashes. I'll explain the flashes later. . .

Well Erwin had already come back like 3 times and Mom could tell that there was another group coming up to the house. They weren't there yet but she could tell by the excitement of the old man that there was something going on.

At any rate I collected all the equipment and made one more sweep through the house. We went back downstairs and I was in the blue room. (It was where the 2 girl cousins were found dead in their bed.)

Mom asked me if I had VC the closet in that room. I said "No I haven't even looked back there." Mom said "Take a look I got some feeling from there like that's were the men hid that night or like a presence in there." I had the VC in my hands and pulled back the cloth that was hanging over the closet entrance. The closet was big enough for 3 or 4 people to stand in. As soon as I pulled back that cloth and stepped in, my vs. battery juice jumped down another 30 some odd mins. It was really dark so I turned on the VC light and started moving throughout the closet. One of my arms was holding back the cloth the other hand was holding the VC. Whatever was in there moved through my arm, that was holding the cloth back, and then stayed right there. It was like heavy air. I pointed my VC towards my arm and the vc light started going on/off on/off on/off this happened like 15 times. All the while this heavy air is all over the left side of my body and on/in my arm. We later found on the VC that this is were the ghosts were hiding. We found 3 little orbs moving at lightning speeds, in and out of my camera focusing of the light going on/off. They were like lighted little fairies with no wings. The 3 would merge into 1 light, break off into 2 and then the 3rd one would break off and fly right in-front of the lens. Kind of like Oops I'm being seen, better run! It was one of the neatest experiences I have ever had. In a previous note I explained it like The orbs fly in and out of my viewcam window, like dancing, little fairies. They weren't bugs or knats because there was no wings, just little lights. No dust particles.

After about 20 mins of this, Mom was dragging me out of the closet. I walked out of the closet and my battery juice time returned back to normal (with the light still on) and then I'd walk in/out of the closet and the juice time would go up and down. Mom finally was able to drag me out of there.

After we walked out the back door of the house my battery camera then told me that I had like 73 mins of time left on it. My battery is only a 80 min one and we had been in that house a lot longer than 7 mins.

We drove home pretty much just taking in all that we had been through in the couple of hours. Mom said that she was starting to get flashes of what happened that dreaded night. The next day she called me up telling me that night and then the next day she had been having flashes.

According to the author of the book, JB Moore (The father) had been working for Jones who owned the only big farm equip/hardware store. Jones's eldest son was married to a lady and she liked/fell in love for JB Moore. JB and Jones had a falling out and JB opened his own Farm equip store right a crossed the street. JB sold the first style of cars. This was 1912, mind you. The owner sold carriage and buggies and didn't believe in the car. That is what caused the feud and the owner then had a hit put out of JB Moore. 2 or 3 men came from Chicago (part of the Italian mafia) and they came on foot, train to get to Villisca. Jones in later years during the whole court procedures was running for Senate of Iowa and ended up pulling out of the race, due to the publicity of this murder.

Mom's flashes told her some of the same but much different context. I wrote this on the day she called me so hopefully I can clean it up to make sense.

Sara, JB's wife was pregnant or thought she was pregnant - JB Moore told the Jones's daughter in law that he was going to stay w/his wife.

Jones's d-I-l found out that JB was going to stay w/wife because she was pregnant and told her D-I-L everything. She wanted to ruin him and asked Jones for names (men to murder JB).

Jones gave her the names and daughter in law (Dona Rebecca mom thinks) actually contacted the people (Blacky and the others) to perform the killing.

That is why everyone was killed instead of just JB because Dona wanted vengeance.

(Mom thinks that the thing that followed me throughout the house was) - Blacky did hide in the pantry till the family went to sleep and then let the other person in. Went upstairs - Sara wasn't in bed - chking on children - he saw that she wasn't asleep and hide in the attic. My Mom hasn't seen yet where the other man was hiding at this time.

Mom thinks that there was only 2 that actually participated. There may of been a 3rd that waited outside. But she hasn't seen the 3rd.

Blacky came out of the attic after either stalking Sara to her bed or he waited for her to go to sleep - Mom thinks Sara was the first one hit.

The youngest daughter did get out of bed and went into the attic to use the potty. She heard men and heard Blacky kill her family. She screamed and that's when Blacky found her. He picked her up and brought her to every bedroom, making her look at her dead family members. Mom's not sure if Blacky molested her, but she did have a couple of flashes of him putting her back in her bed, her screaming that she was going to be killed. And Blacky telling her that he'd pull the covers over her face before he killed her.

My Mom has had lots of flashes today and she actually saw what took place. She doesn't know if it's real or not but she says that her flashes are usually right.

Mom see's him putting a cloth over a mirror and admiring at himself before he covered it.

At any rate that's all I have for right now. The adrenaline rush that I got from doing this has made me excited and wanting to go do more asap. This was my first documented haunting and I really didn't know what I would do. Turn around and run away or face the music. And there were times when that thing was touching me or trying to push my VC out of my hands that I had wondered what I had gotten myself into and wonder if I could still run!!

Since then I have found out about a neat group of people here in town that have all kinds of historic places that they have listed for me to go to. Problem is that full time work and Mommy life seems to take priority but I can't wait for my next adventure!

I am hopefully going to be getting the orbs onto the pc so that I can send them. I'm just in the process of trying to find a program that will capture all the frame per second that my videocam puts out. I also need to get the negatives to Kodac to get them put on a cd. Need the $$ to do so. . It's not that expensive but I don't want to go in there short handed. . .

Blessed be to all,

Klamath

[Thistle]

What a sad story klamath. I dread to think how I'd react if I visited that place and experienced what you did ( probably pee my pants lol ). Can't wait to see the pics you took.

Look forward to hearing about your next outing

[Cufflink]

Thanks, Klamath. That's a great write-up.

What an incredible place. Clearly there does seem to be something there, as both you and your mum can testify. I think you're both very brave, spending time in a place that has such a violent and tragic history. As Thistle says, please post some of the stills from your video camera footage.

Incidently, am I the only one who finds the idea of the site of an infamous murder, being turned into a tourist centre, rather macabre and tasteless?

[Thistle]

Incidently, am I the only one who finds the idea of the site of an infamous murder, being turned into a tourist centre, rather macabre and tasteless?

Nope, I agree with you on that one Cuffy. It's one thing to have a tourist attraction which " happens " to also be the site of a murder or violent death ie: Tower of London. But it is taking things to extremes when the ONLY claim to fame of an attraction is that it was a murder scene, a bit like selling tickets for a tour of Fred West's house.

[algernon the 3rd]

Incidently, am I the only one who finds the idea of the site of an infamous murder, being turned into a tourist centre, rather macabre and tasteless?

Believe me you're not, there is something just a bit macbre (to put it mildly) about turning a murder site into a tourist attraction. They pulled down the house in Cromwell Road Gloucester where Fred West commited his murders so it wouldn't turn into a shrine for weirdo's, plus who'd want to live there (apart from aforementioned weirdos). Mind you I could image that place being haunted by some very restless spirits.

[Agent_21]

Incidently, am I the only one who finds the idea of the site of an infamous murder, being turned into a tourist centre, rather macabre and tasteless?

Believe me you're not, there is something just a bit macbre (to put it mildly) about turning a murder site into a tourist attraction.

True, but it's a good account. Makes interesting reading too. I look forward to hearing - and seeing - more.

A:21

[klamath]

I agree with you all on it being tasteless and gaining on someone else's demise. I had already made the reservation when I did my research and found out about it all. I did feel guilty for going but at the same time I couldn't stop myself from being able to experience. Also I remember trespassing into 'haunted houses' when I was a kid and was kinda happy that I wouldn't have to worry about the heat this time.

[Cufflink]

I agree with you all on it being tasteless and gaining on someone else's demise. I had already made the reservation when I did my research and found out about it all. I did feel guilty for going but at the same time I couldn't stop myself from being able to experience.

Not to worry, sweety. As Agent said, regardless of the history, that is an interesting account, and we're looking forward to more.

[klamath]

Thanks to the help of one of the admins on this website I finally got my footage into a .WMV file. Here is the link. I'm sorry for the quality - it's my first time so give me a break. The video doesn't give it justice but it will help.

Enjoy!!

http://home.mchsi.com/~realmofconsciousness/

-Klamath

[southampton enigma]

Wow wot a sad, moving story, i cannot wait for more, how did the killers die? i would love to spend a night in that house what an experience!!! just watched the videos, I could not se anything about your vc timer changing and what comes into the picture after the orbs?

Thanks

steve

[klamath]

It's an unsolved mystery - the killers were never brought to justice. The rest of the tape is pretty boring except for the closet. There are other orbs that I can see when I watch the video on my TV but it's hard defining them on the computer. That part that is actually on the .wmv file has a 3rd orb in it that breaks off from the main one but you can't see it at all from the file.

There's an update on the murder, you can see it from this link. . . .

http://www.theiowachannel.com/entertainmen...607/detail.html

On the horrible information itself . . .

http://www.villisca.com/

http://www.villiscaiowa.com/

http://www.millersparanormalresearch.com/P...se7_History.htm

http://www.ghostmag.com/issues/2004-03/200...caAxeHouse.html

Or Heck See it all @

http://www.google.com/search?q=Villisca+Ax...8&start=10&sa=N

-Klamath

[southampton enigma]

Thanks for the links Klamath, very good reading it's a shame to hear that a producer is going to make a fortune out of this story when it's released in the fall, any thanks again and please keep us up to date.

steve