The Axeman of New Orleans

The Axeman of New Orleans was a serial killer who terrorized the city of New Orleans and the surrounding area from May 1918 to October 1919, killing at least six people and injuring many others. The killer gained entry into homes by chiseling out door panels and attacked victims — often Italian-American grocers — with their own axes or straight razors. The Axeman sent a letter to local newspapers threatening to kill again but promising to spare any house where a jazz band was playing. The murders stopped abruptly in 1919 after a suspected victim's husband was himself found dead in New Orleans, but the Axeman was never identified.