Could a single night of unimaginable horror forever stain the soul of a seemingly ordinary town? The Villisca Axe Murders, a chilling tableau of carnage discovered on June 10, 1912, in Villisca, Iowa, stands as a stark reminder that evil can lurk in the most unsuspecting corners of America, its secrets buried deep within the walls of a now-infamous house.

More than a century has passed since that fateful night when Josiah and Sarah Moore, along with their four children Herman Montgomery, Mary Katherine, Arthur Boyd, and Paul Vernon and two young houseguests, Lena and Ina Stillinger, were brutally slain with an axe. The sheer brutality of the crime, coupled with the fact that it remains unsolved, has cemented the Villisca Axe Murders as one of the most enduring and unsettling enigmas in American criminal history. The quiet town of Villisca, nestled in Montgomery County, Iowa, with a population hovering around 1,100 as of 2019, became synonymous with unspeakable terror.

Victim	Age	Relationship to Moore Family	Details
Josiah Moore	43	Head of Household	A successful businessman in Villisca.
Sarah Moore	39	Wife	Homemaker and mother of four.
Herman Montgomery Moore	11	Son	Oldest child of Josiah and Sarah.
Mary Katherine Moore	8	Daughter	Second oldest child of Josiah and Sarah.
Arthur Boyd Moore	7	Son	Third child of Josiah and Sarah.
Paul Vernon Moore	5	Son	Youngest child of Josiah and Sarah.
Lena Gertrude Stillinger	12	Houseguest	Daughter of Joseph and Sarah Stillinger.
Ina Mae Stillinger	8	Houseguest	Younger sister of Lena Stillinger.