Murdered In Their Beds

by Troy Taylor

“Something terrible has happened here…” Those were the words uttered by Ross Moore after discovering the bodies of his brother, his family and two houseguests in Villisca, Iowa in June 1912. That horrifying discovery created a legend that became both an unsolved mystery and a haunting that continues to this day.

The small town of Villisca received an unwelcome visitor on that dark night and the town was touched by a horror unlike anything that it had seen before – or has seen since. Over the years, the brutal murders committed that night have earned a place in infamy and they remain the most famous in a series of murders that were committed across the prairie during that era. But that night in June was not the first time that the monster who committed the “Villisca Ax Murders” had tasted blood. He blazed a terrible trail across the region in the years before and after the Villisca murders, using the railroad lines to carry out his horrific deeds. This book will bring you the story of the Villisca Ax Murders, along with the history and the hauntings that followed, but it tells another story as well. It is a tale of madness, murder, horror and blood and the story of the “transient butcher” who wreaked havoc in the American Midwest and then vanished into history, his name and face forever unknown. Only his dark legacy lingers behind with us today and it remains a chronicle of one of the bloodiest unsolved murders sprees in our history.

The small towns of the American prairie were never the same again.

Genres: True Crime, Nonfiction

282 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 1, 2012

Reviews

[Sabrina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Get it here:
Amazon US * Amazon UK

[Adam Whitlatch · Rating 4 out of 5]

A must-read

A must-read for true crime enthusiasts. The book goes into amazing detail about the Midwest ax murders and their aftermath.

It can get repetitive at times, and it would benefit from a professional edit, but I still enjoyed it overall.

[Susan Molloy · Rating 4 out of 5]

June 9, 1912, was a warm evening in southwestern Iowa, and the town of Villisca stirred quietly in the gloom of the setting sun.

Then, the craziness happened.

In Villisca, Iowa, a family of six and two neighbor girls died when someone came into the house in the blackness of night (the electricity was cut-off for the streetlights in town; that is another story) and murdered them with an axe. To this day, no one really knows who swung that axe. There are suspects (a travelling minister, for example), but no concrete evidence to name him. Or them. It is really not known if this was the act of one or more people.

This book outlines and tells in detail what is known about this murder, yet so much is still unknown to this day. There were (and still are) suspects, but nothing is proven. Villisca, Iowa is a small town with such little crime, that the police had no training on murder investigation procedures. No one cordoned off the property. No one saved any notes taken. Documentation is missing. They did not have the means to do forensic testing, except for lifting fingerprints, but that was still in its infancy. Rumors spread. Moreover, hundreds of gawkers traipsed through the house when word got out – and the house was not yet empty. That’s right. Those nosey Nellies walked around the bloody house, the victims still in their bloody beds. It is shockingly unimaginable the sick minds of the rubberneckers, especially those that took parts of the dead father’s skull fragments, and who knows what else. The crime scene was desecrated, and the authorities did not (or were not able) to stop the hordes of lookers.

What is also interesting, there were many other similarly executed murders around that time in the United States, namely in Colorado, Kansas, Illinois, and other towns in Iowa, and who knows where else. However, no one is able to conclude they were committed by the same murder(s), but they are very curiously similar: Sunday nights, axes, victims sleeping, bedsheets put in the same layout, victims lived near railroads, . . .

The book has a tendency to get repetitive, and the many statements by the author that such-and-such fact will be shown later in the book became annoying to me. There was too much of that, and so much that by the time I got to the part of what was promised to be revealed, I forgot exactly I was wanting to know earlier. There are typographical errors and a little more editing is needed; some of the sentences did not make sense.

Otherwise, I learned a little bit about this mass murder that before today, I did not know. There are black and white photographs of the house (which is now a museum and is available for sleepovers), the victims, the suspects, and some of the investigators).
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🏮Kindle Unlimited version.

[Eva Celeste · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would imagine this was a difficult book to write, given the lack of information regarding the crimes described. I have been captivated by the idea of a serial killer in the early 1900's riding the rails and murdering families in their sleep with an axe. I can only imagine what kind of terror would grip the country if this sort of crime spree went on today. Yet back then, it was barely noted by the press and people seem to have been mostly unaware. The killer (& I personally believe it was one person) was never caught. Much of the information in this book is available other places, but this was the most comprehensive collection of it I have seen yet. I would like to see an author synthesize it into something new and perhaps explore how the press, crime scene investigation, and other aspects of society have evolved since that time in more depth. This series of crimes was in many ways more gruesome and unsettling than Jack the Ripper, but has somehow escaped that level of publicity. I personally can't shake it, however.

[Douglas Reedy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Villies Axe Murder still unsolved.

This book contains many interesting items about the Villisca Axe murders. The author has done quite well at obtaining information. At the end, he gives his own theory. This book is one of many about the murders.

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I always enjoy Troy Taylor's writing. I first found him on his Podcast "American Hauntings" His research is impeccable and his descriptive writing style mixed with a dry sense of humor makes reading his books and listening to his stories on the podcast a treat!

[Bibliovixen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not my usual genre, but interesting information surrounding the events of the crimes.

[Joseph Doyle · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Great True Crime Read!

Very well researched and complete. Used the American Hauntings podcast as a companion to reading the book; made a very enjoyable experience

[Janet evarts · Rating 5 out of 5]

Murder

Very well written,informative book. Loved the fact that you really did your research. Thank you so much for writing this book and sharing your experiences at the house.

[Don Vanderworken · Rating 5 out of 5]

awesome

It’s a great read. Highly recommended to anyone interested in this subject. The. Axe murders throughout the Midwest that took place in the early 1900s

[Bettye McKee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Billy the Axman

This excellent book is about a series of ax murders that occurred in the Midwest between 1911 and 1916. Although each murder site was investigated locally, no viable suspects were found.

In June of 1912, in Villisca, Iowa, eight people were slaughtered as they slept. The local authorities requested the help of a Burns detective, and they got James Newton Wilkerson.

Although there were no clues or leads, Wilkerson intended to solve the case and make a name for himself. Based on local gossip and his own suppositions, he began to build a case against a prominent local man.

The author has provided a well-written, well-researched account of the murders, the local atmosphere, the suspects, the division created within the town, and the current status of the murder house.

I found approximately 40 errors. Contains graphic descriptions of ax murders. Includes photos.