The Villisca axe murders

This is my great-grandmother’s story. She passed away in 2005, at the ripe old age of 103. This story is family folklore…but unlike most family folklores, which have been exaggerated with time, this one is 100% true. (I created a throwaway in case some internet sleuth finds out my family name, I’d rather not have it tied to my main account.)

This story takes place in the year 1912 in a little Iowa farming community named Villisca. One summer day, my great-grandmother was asked if she would like to stay overnight at her friend’s house with two other girls. When my great-grandmother asked her parents if she could attend the sleepover, she was told that she couldn’t, as there was too much housework that needed to be done, but that she could go over the next day after her morning chores had been completed.
The next morning, my great-grandmother’s friend, her siblings, her parents, and the two guests who were staying overnight were found murdered.

Police discovered that all 8 people had been bludgeoned to death. The murder weapon, an axe, was left in the house. The murder has never been solved.

To this day, my family’s unofficial motto is, “saved by chores.” And yes, this story is used in my family to scare children into completing their housework.

Why wasn’t my boyfriend scared?

When I was 17, I was at my boyfriend Tom’s house (his dad house) and my bf’s dad went to town to get some food, as the house was miles away from town and very secluded. We had just been mudding and I was filthy so I took a shower while my boyfriend watched tv.

The walls were pretty thin so i could hear that a man came into the house and I could tell by the way Tom was speaking that it wasn’t his dad.

A few minutes later, my bf says he wants to shower with me because the mud was very uncomfortable. About 5 minutes in, we started making out. We made out for a while and then out of the corner of my eye, I see a black flash and then the water got really cold. I didn’t think to look out and Tom and I kept kissing after we adjusted the water.

Tom wanted to sit down so we did and the movement tossed the shower curtain around and I got a glimpse of what was on the other side. Standing there was a large black man staring at us.

I scream and Tom says “Man what are you doing here?” and the guy said “Just letting you know that I can see your dad driving down the road so you may want to get out of the shower”. Turns out the guy was Tom’s dads best friend so Tom knew him. We got out and I was shaking. I tried to get away from him and go to Tom’s bedroom but he followed me.

He asked if he could “finish me off with his tongue”. I felt sick to my stomach. I was 17 and this guy had to have been in his 40’s.It scared me so bad that I ran out of the bedroom and demanded to be taken home.

I didn’t realize until recently that this could have ended much worse. A lot of things really bother me about this situation. I have no idea why he would reach in and turn the water to make it colder. And I wonder why my boyfriend didn’t take it as seriously as I did. He wasn’t creeped out at all.