"Eight dead souls back in Villisca, Iowa - butchered in their beds while they slept — even the bodies had not yet been discovered" (Ewing). The Villisca Ax Murders is one of the worst incidents in American history. This case brought attention to the small town in lowa, grabbing the attention of the public. The factor that brought so much attention was the killer's actions and unknown identity. The Villisca Ax Murders are well known for the killer's actions that caused mass amounts of attention which led to the propaganda of the incident. The murders took place on the morning of June 10th, 1912. (Parker) There were a total of 8 victims of 6 children and 2 adults ("Welcome To The Historic Villisca Axe Murder House") (Parker). Josiah "Joe" and …show more content…
They left every single victim unrecognizable, including striking Joe alone 30 times (Ewing) (Dash). The killer followed the same order as the killings with the mutilations (Ewing). After the mutilation, they did something very strange. The killer placed different cloths on each victim's face (Dash). Joe and Sarah had bed clothes, Katherine had a dress, and Herman had a gauze undershirt. The rest of the victims were covered by unknown items (Dash). Once done with all the blood and gore, the killer filled a bowl of water, and washed their bloody hands off (Dash). They then proceeded to hang cloths over all mirrors and glass (Dash). They proceeded to make themselves a plate of food and not eat it afterwards (Ewing). The strangest thing the killer did non-murder related was that they took a slab of bacon in a towel and left it on the guest bedroom floor (Dash). All of these actions after the mutilation are in an unknown order. The killer ended their horrific night around 5 AM by leaving and locking up the house (Dash). These actions are what drew researchers and the public to these murders. The knowledge of the 8 souls that were killed in this house is what developed the haunted aspect of the