1. "Villisca Murders and Uncle John"
Posted by Stefani on Aug-25th-02 at 10:54 PM

Villisca Iowa is only 32.2 miles from where Uncle John lived. Now that is creepy!

If you don't know what I am talking about, please read Kimberly's thread in Links.

here is her link to the case:
http://www.villisca.com

What is really spooky to me is that they say the killer
spent a lot of time in the house after the killings, they
even covered the victims faces and that the
Stillinger girls were said to have stayed with the
Moore family that night because they were afraid to go home
after it was dark. It is some story!

This is a link for the Coroner's Inquest
http://www.villisca.org/inquest_index.htm.

And this one includes photographs of the graves
of the victims
http://www.villiscaiowa.com/attractions.html.

Rebello, pg. 71:

Morse died March 1, 1912.

However, his neighbors supposedly gave a Boston Post reporter the info that Morse  was "Frugal and self-denying...eccentric, peculiar, never formed close relationships, and maintained an austere reserve...was selfish, hard-fisted in his business dealings, and almost avaricious but scrupulously honest." 
He was described by his half-sister Arabela as "a man who when crossed, would never forgive, a trait she herself shared."

He was 79 !  Not quite able to weild an axe even if he weren't already dead and gone.

You think it was something in the water?

How come this case isn't as famous? Seems like with so many people killed at one time, it would have been national news?

Wow, never heard about this one!!!!  And Uncle John living so close too! 

It took place just after the sinking of the Titanic,
that is the only reason I can think of for it not to
have become world famous the way others have.

This is the starting page for the other link,
http://www.villiscaiowa.com/index.html

(Message last edited Aug-26th-02  10:12 AM.)

Wow, thanks for the great link, Kimberly!  Oh no, another ax/hatchet murder to go over! 

Here's a link selling a compilation of reports by detectives on the case at the time.  Also for sale on this site is a copy of the interrogation of the suspected minister.

http://www.donrogerson.com/the_detectives.html

Sorry, I didn't remember that both these documents and a lot more are available on the Fourth Wall Films site already posted.  And you can also read the Coroner's report on-line without any outlay.

This whole thing intrigues me.  I remember when it first surfaced on the old board -- I was suspicious then that it was a hoax along the lines of the Blair Witch Project. It bothered me at that time that all search entries led to the film company website.  And that the one and only book written about it was out of print and only available through the author's website.

At that time, I checked Dr Epperly's college website to see if he was listed as being on staff. (He was.)  And now there is more than one website. So it appears I was just being overly skeptical. 

I still find it very interesting that none of us knew about an axe murder that has all the elements of a classic crime -- an entire family murdered in their beds, political involvement, and a clergyman with a penchant for naked typists.  However, I guess it's conceivable that the Titanic disaster wiped it off the media map.





 

I've heard about it for a couple of years, I never thought
that it was so out there that it might be a hoax, I'm sure there
are other "interesting" crimes that no one remembers. I don't
think it is on the same level as the Blair Witch Project, that
was a little more wild a story than just a family being killed.
I'm still guessing that the Titanic overshadowed everything that
took place in 1912.