This unsolved murder fascinates me endlessly, and I could easily spend hours with Ed just listening to him talk about this case. Thank you for these videos.
I went to this house three days ago. Ed Epperly is right, it is a tiny house, but so quaint. After the removal of the layers of wallpaper, and paint (after all, it’s been 111 years since the massacre,), you can still see the axe marks on the ceiling.
It's hard to imagine something this terrible. The mental image of the elderly mother, sitting next to the casket, holding the hand of her son while what remains of his head is obscured with cloth... That kind of messed with me.
It is a pleasure to have found this intelligent and " non-gossipy" podcast. I've just subscribed and look forward to many hours of intelligent discussion. Thank you🎉
I agree,I love to listen to him .He has researched this case and worked on it so much,I feel like he is an expert. I daresay no one else knows as much about the case.
I'VE NEVER HEARD OF THIS CASE BEFORE SO I'M VERY GLAD I RAN ACCROSS THIS SITE. THANK YOU FOR POSTING IT. EXCELLENT JOB BY MR. EPPERLY TELLING THE STORY, VERY DETAILED AND THOROUGH ! EXTREAMLY GRUSOME , WOW !! BREATHTAKING .
Oh, wow. I thought she took his hand, while he was draped under a sheet at the furniture store, because they wouldn't allow her see his extremely damaged face and head. Furniture stores (furniture makers) used to make coffins. The only thing she was allowed access to was his hand, so she held it.
@@SouthernBelle1959yeah. Only people who have never lost anyone they really cared much about can fail to understand how even what’s left after their spirit is flown is excruciatingly precious. Even the pain of the loss is precious. You can’t explain things like that to people who are innocent to real grief. They usually think they’ve experienced deep loss and just handled it better than the rest of mankind instead of understanding they never really lost anyone that really mattered to them yet. God bless you in your loss maam.
I love this. I'm so happy to come across this channel. I was watching Buzzfeed Supernatural and so many commenters talked about this subject and the book (The Man on the Train). Subscribed. :)
Hello all, and welcome to the Most Notorious Podcast! Just a reminder, most of my episodes are not uploaded to UA-cam. Regular episodes are released every week and available at my website www.mostnotorious.com/ and your favorite podcast apps, including: Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/most-notorious-a-true-crime-history-podcast/id1055044256 Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/1JeYsvYZI4OxGTC9TJljLV Spreaker: www.spreaker.com/show/mostnotorious Stitcher: www.stitcher.com/show/most-notorious-a-true-crime-history-podcast Pandora: www.pandora.com/podcast/all-episodes/most-notorious-a-true-crime-history-podcast/PC:16671 Amazon Music: music.amazon.com/podcasts/39005731-4486-40a2-a16b-1bc62255b243/most-notorious-a-true-crime-history-podcast?refMarker=null Google Podcasts: podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuc3ByZWFrZXIuY29tL3Nob3cvNDY5ODMxNS9lcGlzb2Rlcy9mZWVk TuneIn Radio: www.pandora.com/podcast/all-episodes/most-notorious-a-true-crime-history-podcast/PC:16671
1. It's an English thing with the mirrors" and Rev George Kelly was from England. 2. I've watched 6 different paranormal shows on UA-cam and every single time anyone asks for the name of the killer, especially during the Estes method, it says Rev Kelly. 3. Lena and that being sexual is for sure. Not sure on the bacon. They could have given it as a gift, but wouldn't it go bad sitting out? 4. It's pretty simple. Kelly happens to show up that day. He fits the description. He was the number one suspect with two trials that only set him free bc he was a reverend and bc he had mental illness so they weren't sure if he was truthful and back then you didn't want to have mental illness. He was diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic. He was a peeping Tom. Was arrested for it. Was weird bc he was married and trying to get 13 yr old girls and secretary's to be nude. I think it was he saw them at church. He followed them home. He was there too so I'm pretty sure he'd have to. I think I remember reading Joe got out his key and unlocked the door bc there's a witness against Mansfield and ff Holmes that said she saw him unlock the door. If they locked it before bed I don't know. But it had to have been locked according to her statement if it's true when they arrived home. He wanted Lena. Lena was the target. He killed all of them like Ted Bundy said to have all the time to do what he wanted and no witnesses. He was going to stay longer hence the food and possibly the bacon. But something spooked him and he ran. Funny how he gets on a train and leaves and has knowledge before they find them dead. Funny how wherever he went there was an axe mass murder of a family. I fully believe he did it and that it was sexually motivated and even his wife said he was impotent but then they believed he used the bacon to satisfy himself while looking at her... Just the details on how the parents looked with the axe cuts, like, it's just absolutely horrific.
From a psych point of view, covering the children can mean care (parents who kill their child often wrap them in a blanket) or, shame. The covered mirror backs that up.
My sister lived in a mildly haunted house for a year with her husband and baby when I was twelve. I found out many years later that a woman had committed suicide there. The house had a weird vibe, some rooms more than others. A couple of rooms were added later and they had no problem. The worst was the stairs, upstairs large bedroom and downstairs master bedroom. There was a tiny room upstairs that was going to be a nursery. I couldn't go near that room. At all...
This case has intrigued me for years. I feel the neighbor woman next door who made the alert, saw more than she let on to, but didn't say anything out of fear. She probably saw the man/men mulling around the property, but wasn't sure what the murderer(s) were up to and in the morning knew something was wrong when the family didn't appear for chores and to use the privy and alerted Joe's brother. She moved not long after the event occurred. I don't believe this family was picked randomly either.
I do. Random yea, but when the killer saw a young prepubescent girl he honed in on this family. Read “The Man From the Train” written by famed baseball statician Bill James and his daughter. This family fell afoul of a serial murderer who was roaming the whole country with the same MO from about 1898-1912. He was using the nation’s rail network to travel the country.
@@tigerlioness1 I was thinking the same thing. It could be that the goal was the girl and the others were "collateral damage". That's horrible to imagine. I noticed from aerial maps that their house was at the edge of town and a few blocks from the train tracks. The east side, near the back door, is obscured from view.
I wonder what kind of positive identification was done on Joe Moore in 1912? …was the reason his face was so badly destroyed to possibly hide the fact that it WASN’T him? No disrespect intended …but just thinking outside the box …could HE have masterminded and carried-out the elimination of his own family …plus a murdered stand-in for himself …so he could run-off with another woman and away from a life he didn’t want? (he was known to be unfaithful and everyone thinking he had died would let him start anew elsewhere) The only female victim with a sexual element to her assault was the 11-year old NOT related to himself …and not the 10-year old female victim which was his own daughter. The fact that the children were hit with the blunt end of the axe and then covered-up may have been out of some twisted sense mercy/shame/respect (usually in murders when a body is covered by the killer - it tends to be someone who had a close relationship with the victim). Is the reason the killer felt so comfortable spending SO much time at the crime scene after the murders because it was his OWN house? Did Joe Moore pull-off the perfect crime? This may be a crazy theory …but the case does remain unsolved 🤷🏻♂️
Where would Josiah Moore get a spare body in such a small town? Plus, all his movements were accounted for. From home, to work, to home, to church and back home. I like your theory, but I can't imagine how he'd plant a body without someone missing... Also, how did no one recognize him from the train or another town after his photo was published in the newspapers? The logistics of this stymie me.
I recommend reading The Man from the Train by Bill James & Rachel McCarthy. I don't think this murder was this guy's 1st. There's compelling evidence that this guy committed similar ax murders across the US.
Found out about this case a year ago so evil to do what he did to the Moore children and Lena friend its really hard to say definitely pick a main suspect
In psych terms, statistics show its really common to take trophies. Serial killers often take jewellery then give it to a girlfriend or wife so they can see it daily & get off on it.
I collect souvenirs when I go somewhere new, like, seashells, sand dollars, rocks, pictures...so I am reminded that I was really there. Memories can fade. That's probably why murderers do that too. Vacation and murder aren't the same thing of course though lol.
This case has fascinated me also. Dr Ed truly does know more than anyone about this story and he has saved the facts for posterity. I told Dr Ed my theory that without a doubt I believe Rev. Kelly was the killer in villisca. The others most likely were committed by a serial killer, but not this case.
And another reason i say family the mirrors were covered. Romanians and other religions would cover mirrors in the home after a loved one died because they believed if the soul saw itself it would get trapped forever in the mirror and the bodies were covered that shows remorse it was a close friend or relative to someone.
I say family because what if someone in this girls family had been abusing her the whole time and got angry that she spent the night out or perhaps they got worried she would tell someone. Knowing the killer explains the plate of food and also the corded bacon it was a large piece 4 pds.
When the brother went in to check why would his first place to check was a spare room? Nobody would normally be in there so why check in there first? Seems odd to me
But the reason for the tradition of covering the mirrors and windows... Isn't it something about the spirit escaping or some such thing. If he was possessive or as the speaker mentions interested in "erasing"at his preferred time - perhaps that's part of it. Also since he controlled himself to kill the children before some kind of additional pain.
I think it was sexually motivated i think the oldest girl that was the guest was the target. The plate of food makes me think it was someone they knew them and the layout of the house. The corded bacon could have been a gift for the killer perhaps this person was waiting or had stopped by later? Maybe a family member of one of the girls spending the night or maybe a church friend.
Dr. Epperly could give a 4 hour dissertation on the NYC phone book and I would be absolutely spellbound.
This unsolved murder fascinates me endlessly, and I could easily spend hours with Ed just listening to him talk about this case. Thank you for these videos.
Do you think it could be the little perverted preacher?
Or a train hoping serial killer?
I went to this house three days ago. Ed Epperly is right, it is a tiny house, but so quaint. After the removal of the layers of wallpaper, and paint (after all, it’s been 111 years since the massacre,), you can still see the axe marks on the ceiling.
This case for me into the hunt a killer stuff. It'd addicting. Highly recommend
@@tigerlioness1..any thoughts on who you think is responsible for the murders ?
@@erin.v.m657 The guy's name by the way who is the subject of this book is Paul Mueller...a German immigrant.
I've been reading about this murder for years. I'm glad that Dr. Epperly is still alive and talking about the case.
Best Interviewer to do the Villisca Axe Murders and given the time they deserve. Thanks Eric
Dr. Epperly was an absolute trooper. 85 years old and almost four hours talking to me. I only hope I have that stamina when I reach his age.
@@MostNotorious 85!!! Holy smokes he’s impressive, great job with this riveting interview.
It's hard to imagine something this terrible.
The mental image of the elderly mother, sitting next to the casket, holding the hand of her son while what remains of his head is obscured with cloth... That kind of messed with me.
There must be a serious issue with “the algorithm” because this channel should have millions of subscribers!!!!
Epperly needs to narrate my nite nite stories (audiobooks) so I can sleep 😴
It is a pleasure to have found this intelligent and " non-gossipy" podcast. I've just subscribed and look forward to many hours of intelligent discussion. Thank you🎉
This is, BY FAR, the very best interview of Edgar Epperly I've ever listened to. You can't have a good interview without a good interviewer.
I agree,I love to listen to him .He has researched this case and worked on it so much,I feel like he is an expert. I daresay no one else knows as much about the case.
I'VE NEVER HEARD OF THIS CASE BEFORE SO I'M VERY GLAD I RAN ACCROSS THIS SITE. THANK YOU FOR POSTING IT. EXCELLENT JOB BY MR. EPPERLY TELLING THE STORY, VERY DETAILED AND THOROUGH ! EXTREAMLY GRUSOME , WOW !! BREATHTAKING .
Great interview part about Joe's mom holding his hand at funeral gives you chills!
Oh, wow. I thought she took his hand, while he was draped under a sheet at the furniture store, because they wouldn't allow her see his extremely damaged face and head. Furniture stores (furniture makers) used to make coffins. The only thing she was allowed access to was his hand, so she held it.
I'm a mother who lost her 26 year old son,in the prime of his life. I completely understand her sitting there holding her boy's hand.😢
@@SouthernBelle1959yeah. Only people who have never lost anyone they really cared much about can fail to understand how even what’s left after their spirit is flown is excruciatingly precious. Even the pain of the loss is precious. You can’t explain things like that to people who are innocent to real grief. They usually think they’ve experienced deep loss and just handled it better than the rest of mankind instead of understanding they never really lost anyone that really mattered to them yet. God bless you in your loss maam.
I love this.
I'm so happy to come across this channel.
I was watching Buzzfeed Supernatural and so many commenters talked about this subject and the book (The Man on the Train).
Subscribed. :)
Best documentary on this murder. Thank you for making this & being so detailed
First vid of this channel, and I've subbed instantly. :)
Excellent interview.
Hello all, and welcome to the Most Notorious Podcast! Just a reminder, most of my episodes are not uploaded to UA-cam. Regular episodes are released every week and available at my website www.mostnotorious.com/ and your favorite podcast apps, including:
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TuneIn Radio: www.pandora.com/podcast/all-episodes/most-notorious-a-true-crime-history-podcast/PC:16671
1. It's an English thing with the mirrors" and Rev George Kelly was from England. 2. I've watched 6 different paranormal shows on UA-cam and every single time anyone asks for the name of the killer, especially during the Estes method, it says Rev Kelly. 3. Lena and that being sexual is for sure. Not sure on the bacon. They could have given it as a gift, but wouldn't it go bad sitting out? 4. It's pretty simple. Kelly happens to show up that day. He fits the description. He was the number one suspect with two trials that only set him free bc he was a reverend and bc he had mental illness so they weren't sure if he was truthful and back then you didn't want to have mental illness. He was diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic. He was a peeping Tom. Was arrested for it. Was weird bc he was married and trying to get 13 yr old girls and secretary's to be nude. I think it was he saw them at church. He followed them home. He was there too so I'm pretty sure he'd have to. I think I remember reading Joe got out his key and unlocked the door bc there's a witness against Mansfield and ff Holmes that said she saw him unlock the door. If they locked it before bed I don't know. But it had to have been locked according to her statement if it's true when they arrived home. He wanted Lena. Lena was the target. He killed all of them like Ted Bundy said to have all the time to do what he wanted and no witnesses. He was going to stay longer hence the food and possibly the bacon. But something spooked him and he ran. Funny how he gets on a train and leaves and has knowledge before they find them dead. Funny how wherever he went there was an axe mass murder of a family. I fully believe he did it and that it was sexually motivated and even his wife said he was impotent but then they believed he used the bacon to satisfy himself while looking at her... Just the details on how the parents looked with the axe cuts, like, it's just absolutely horrific.
Perhaps he was only impotent with his wife. Perhaps he was aroused by the younger types. Pedo.
From a psych point of view, covering the children can mean care (parents who kill their child often wrap them in a blanket) or, shame. The covered mirror backs that up.
I visited the Axe Murder house. Spent a couple of hours there, alone, one afternoon.
Weird vibe.
My sister lived in a mildly haunted house for a year with her husband and baby when I was twelve. I found out many years later that a woman had committed suicide there. The house had a weird vibe, some rooms more than others. A couple of rooms were added later and they had no problem. The worst was the stairs, upstairs large bedroom and downstairs master bedroom. There was a tiny room upstairs that was going to be a nursery. I couldn't go near that room. At all...
I would love to go in there. It's too late for me, I'm disabled and couldn't handle the long drive but I envy you
I watched a video about a whole string of ax murders in Louisiana in the early 1910's, an I always wondered if Villisca was related to that.
Covering of mirrors folklore, one reason being that the spirit might get trapped in the mirror.
This case has intrigued me for years. I feel the neighbor woman next door who made the alert, saw more than she let on to, but didn't say anything out of fear. She probably saw the man/men mulling around the property, but wasn't sure what the murderer(s) were up to and in the morning knew something was wrong when the family didn't appear for chores and to use the privy and alerted Joe's brother. She moved not long after the event occurred. I don't believe this family was picked randomly either.
I do. Random yea, but when the killer saw a young prepubescent girl he honed in on this family. Read “The Man From the Train” written by famed baseball statician Bill James and his daughter. This family fell afoul of a serial murderer who was roaming the whole country with the same MO from about 1898-1912. He was using the nation’s rail network to travel the country.
The neighbor woman had a phone, though. She could have called someone who she knew also had a phone.
@@tigerlioness1 I was thinking the same thing. It could be that the goal was the girl and the others were "collateral damage". That's horrible to imagine. I noticed from aerial maps that their house was at the edge of town and a few blocks from the train tracks. The east side, near the back door, is obscured from view.
@@tigerlioness1 I believe "The Man from the Train Theory". It makes the most sense.
I wonder what kind of positive identification was done on Joe Moore in 1912? …was the reason his face was so badly destroyed to possibly hide the fact that it WASN’T him? No disrespect intended …but just thinking outside the box …could HE have masterminded and carried-out the elimination of his own family …plus a murdered stand-in for himself …so he could run-off with another woman and away from a life he didn’t want? (he was known to be unfaithful and everyone thinking he had died would let him start anew elsewhere)
The only female victim with a sexual element to her assault was the 11-year old NOT related to himself …and not the 10-year old female victim which was his own daughter. The fact that the children were hit with the blunt end of the axe and then covered-up may have been out of some twisted sense mercy/shame/respect (usually in murders when a body is covered by the killer - it tends to be someone who had a close relationship with the victim). Is the reason the killer felt so comfortable spending SO much time at the crime scene after the murders because it was his OWN house? Did Joe Moore pull-off the perfect crime?
This may be a crazy theory …but the case does remain unsolved 🤷🏻♂️
Good point! Maybe that's why his mother wanted to see the body. She'd know if that was her sons hand or not.
Intersting thoughts!
Wow. I NEVER thought of that. Maybe dna should be done?
That’s actually a very good analysis.
Where would Josiah Moore get a spare body in such a small town? Plus, all his movements were accounted for. From home, to work, to home, to church and back home. I like your theory, but I can't imagine how he'd plant a body without someone missing... Also, how did no one recognize him from the train or another town after his photo was published in the newspapers? The logistics of this stymie me.
I recommend reading The Man from the Train by Bill James & Rachel McCarthy. I don't think this murder was this guy's 1st. There's compelling evidence that this guy committed similar ax murders across the US.
It’s a great book!
Iowans (and everyone) read this book Fiend Incarnate, it'll suck you right in!
You know where you are with an axe murderer. Not like any common gunman. An axe is personal.
Found out about this case a year ago so evil to do what he did to the Moore children and Lena friend its really hard to say definitely pick a main suspect
who takes a piece of someone's skull as a souvenir?
Especially from his friend...
In psych terms, statistics show its really common to take trophies. Serial killers often take jewellery then give it to a girlfriend or wife so they can see it daily & get off on it.
I collect souvenirs when I go somewhere new, like, seashells, sand dollars, rocks, pictures...so I am reminded that I was really there. Memories can fade. That's probably why murderers do that too. Vacation and murder aren't the same thing of course though lol.
This case has fascinated me also. Dr Ed truly does know more than anyone about this story and he has saved the facts for posterity. I told Dr Ed my theory that without a doubt I believe Rev. Kelly was the killer in villisca. The others most likely were committed by a serial killer, but not this case.
And another reason i say family the mirrors were covered. Romanians and other religions would cover mirrors in the home after a loved one died because they believed if the soul saw itself it would get trapped forever in the mirror and the bodies were covered that shows remorse it was a close friend or relative to someone.
I say family because what if someone in this girls family had been abusing her the whole time and got angry that she spent the night out or perhaps they got worried she would tell someone. Knowing the killer explains the plate of food and also the corded bacon it was a large piece 4 pds.
When the brother went in to check why would his first place to check was a spare room? Nobody would normally be in there so why check in there first? Seems odd to me
How they were all killed without waking the others, is the same mystery for Amityville.
I checked Edward passed feb 2022. Sad
Hi Cheryl! Dr. Edgar "Ed" Epperly is alive and well. He's done a number of Villisca related events already this year. Cheers!
But the reason for the tradition of covering the mirrors and windows... Isn't it something about the spirit escaping or some such thing. If he was possessive or as the speaker mentions interested in "erasing"at his preferred time - perhaps that's part of it. Also since he controlled himself to kill the children before some kind of additional pain.
I wonder what Lizzie Borden thought of this case. ????
She thought of it first.
Lizzie was 51 when Villisca happened
@BX138 and.......
well.... i'm off bacon! 🤮
I think it was sexually motivated i think the oldest girl that was the guest was the target. The plate of food makes me think it was someone they knew them and the layout of the house. The corded bacon could have been a gift for the killer perhaps this person was waiting or had stopped by later? Maybe a family member of one of the girls spending the night or maybe a church friend.
The killer stoped by FF jones house to pick up his money then left to that small river.
The Uncle had Already murdered Abby before going off to get his Alibi .