Transcript
Stephen Ballew (0:00)
Listener discretion is advised. This campfire series contains detailed accounts of real life violence, including the brutal murders of children, references to animal harm, and personal stories involving emotionally difficult subject matter, including inappropriate behavior. While some guests are sharing their experiences publicly, others will remain anonymous. In those cases, names and identifying details have been changed to protect their privacy. Our intent is not to accuse, speculate or sensationalize, but to respectfully honor these voices and explore the emotional and paranormal impact these events had on those involved. The Night Owl podcast Campfire Episode 14 the Villisca Axe Murder House Part 1 welcome to the Night Owl Podcast. I'm your host, Stephen Ballew, and this is a place for all you restless spirits out there to tune in and hear true tales of the paranormal. I hunt these stories down, capture them from the mouths of those who've experienced them, and share them with you right here. We're currently looking for more personal ghost stories or haunted locations, so if you or someone you know has one, please submit it to us. For consideration, go to thenightoutpodcast.com Click on the Submit yout Story page and let us hear your ghost story. Tonight we venture into one of the most chilling true crime cases in American history, the 1912 Villisca Axe Murders. This will be part of our campfire series, a storytelling format where we gather first hand accounts, interviews and stories connected to a haunted location. Unlike our usual investigative episodes where my team and I conduct on site investigations, these campfire installments bring together voices from afar to share their lived experiences. In this special two part series, we'll explore the tragic night when eight people, including six children, were brutally murdered in their sleep. The case remains unsolved. To this and the house where it happened. It still stands. A modest white home in Villisca, Iowa, now known across the country for both its history and its haunts. It's a place you can actually visit, though some who do report leaving with no intention of returning. Over the decades, the Villisca X Murder House has drawn in investigators, authors, television crews, all hoping to uncover the truth or connect with something beyond it. In part one of this series, you'll hear phone calls with individuals who have direct connections to this house. A current tour guide who walks visitors through the home regularly, a local Villisca resident rooted in the town's legacy and history. And lastly, a man who unknowingly bought the house directly across the street, only to discover that Villisca may have called him there for reasons he couldn't yet understand. A few months later, he would find himself entangled in a series of events that nearly tore his life apart, beginning when he was hired to manage the Murder House property itself. And that's only the beginning. In part two, we'll not only continue his story and hear from his wife as well, we'll speak with both a longtime paranormal investigator who's visited the home three times, as well as an author who has written extensively on the home's haunted legacy. So settle in and listen closely, because this campfire burns in the shadow of a home where something unthinkable happened over a century ago and where some believe it never truly ended. Stay tuned, Night Owls if you're planning to be outside at all this summer, whether it be for work or pleasure, you need to have a good pair of sunglasses to make the time outside in that bright summer sun enjoyable. Shady Rays is the perfect place to shop for stylish built to last shades. Go to shadyrays.com and use code NIGHT OWL for 35% off polarized sunglasses. Just a couple of reminder announcements Our Spirit Social event is back and this year it's happening on the most perfect night of all Halloween. Join us on October 31, 2025 for our annual Once a year Paranormal Gathering featuring the full Night Owl team, psychic mediums from the show, guest speakers and trusted collaborators from our extended paranormal network. Expect a full night of immersive panels, live experiments, haunted storytelling, spiritual history, and behind the scenes tales from the investigations you've heard. On the podcast you'll find a massive spirit market with Tarot astrology oddities and more flash tattoos, a photo booth, food trucks, a live taping of the Night Owl podcast and Team Q and A an after hours mixer for All Access guests. We're thrilled to be returning to a venue close to our hearts, the Ballroom at the former Spider House, the location featured in our very first episode, now beautifully restored and reopened. Tickets are currently on sale now and VIP passes have already sold out. Our all access passes are limited and going fast, so if you've been waiting, don't grab yours now@thenight owlpodcast.com or visit our link on our Instagram bio. We cannot wait to gather with you all, our fellow restless spirits out there for a night of connection, wonder and things that go bump in the night. Also, if you're a spooky vendor, artist or reader with wares to share, we're currently accepting vendor applications for the Spirit Social. We're seeking Tarot and astrology readers, psychics, energy practitioners, oddities and haunted collectibles, artists, crafters, jewelers, vintage sellers and more if your work at all vibes with the weird, witchy or paranormal, we'd love to hear from you. Apply now at the night owlpodcast.com or visit the direct link to apply in our Instagram bio. In the quiet town of Villisca, Iowa, tucked among rolling fields and dirt roads, stands a simple white frame house at 508 E. 2nd St. On the night of June 9, 1912, this unassuming home became the site of one of the most brutal and mysterious murders in American history. A crime so horrific it shattered the innocence of this rural community and left behind questions that still echo more than a century later. That Sunday evening, Josiah Joe Moore, a well respected businessman, and his wife Sarah, gathered their family for a night of fellowship. The Moores had four children, Herman, 11, Catherine, 10, Boyd, 7, and Paul, just 5 years old. That night they had invited two young friends, Lena and Ina Stilinger, to stay over after a Children's day program at their Presbyterian church. By all accounts, it was a night filled with laughter, prayer and neighborly warmth. No one could have known the horror that awaited them. Sometime after midnight, as the town slept and the Moores and Stillinger girls lay tucked into their beds, an unknown assailant crept through the house. It's believed the killer hid in the attic, waiting for the household to settle. Armed with Joe Moore's own axe, the intruder struck first in the master bedroom. Joe and Sarah Moore were bludgeoned to death in their sleep. The killer then moved methodically from room to room, extinguishing the lives of the four Moore children and the two Stillinger sisters. In total, eight souls were slaughtered with such violence that the ceiling above the parents bed showed gouge marks from the upswing of the ax. When a concerned neighbor noticed the house eerily quiet the next morning, she called Joe Moore's brother who discovered the grisly scene. The local sheriff and townspeople soon filled the yard, contaminating the crime scene in an age before modern forensic science. Despite fingerprints found on the axis handle and a few chilling clues, a bowl of bloody water left on the kitchen table and a slab of bacon near the axe, no one was ever convicted. Over the years, suspicion fell on several suspects. There was Frank F. Jones, Joe Moore's rival and former employer, rumored to hold a grudge over stolen business and possible infidelity. There was the traveling preacher, Reverend George Kelly, a peculiar man obsessed with the case, who even confessed though later recanted. And then there were whispers of a transient serial killer, the so called man from the train theory and who roamed the countryside, leaving a trail of bloodied homes behind. Yet with every lead came dead ends. The case remains officially unsolved to this day. But the story of the Villisca ax murder house did not end with the victim's burial. For more than a hundred years, people have claimed that something still lingers inside these walls. Visitors report footsteps echoing across empty floors, children's voices giggling in the darkness and doors creaking open. On their own, some have felt icy hands brush against them, while others have witnessed shadowy figures lurking at the top of the narrow staircase. Paranormal investigators from all over the world have come to Vilisca to try to connect with who or what remains. Television crews, ghost hunters, and brave overnight guests all gather in search of answers, hoping the spirits will share secrets and that the living never could. Tonight, we'll get the rare chance to hear from those who have stepped across the threshold of the Villisca axe murder. House Caretakers, historians, and those who felt the chill of the unsolved murder in the dead of night. Perhaps through their stories, we'll get closer to understanding what happened in that little house more than a century ago and why its tragic tale refuses to rest. So let's gather around the fire and begin this journey.