The Villisca Axe Murders

On the night of June 9–10, 1912, eight people — the Moore family of six plus two houseguests — were murdered with an axe in their home in Villisca, Iowa. All victims were found in their beds with severe head wounds, and the crime scene showed evidence of deliberate staging and a lengthy stay by the killer. Despite decades of investigation and two high-profile trials — of a traveling minister, Lyn George Jacklin Kelly, who was acquitted twice — the perpetrator was never identified. The Villisca murder house still stands today as a tourist attraction, and the case remains one of America's most enduring unsolved mass murders.