J. Moore House (Villisca Axe Murder House)
Location Information
Date:30th July, 2005 Type:Residential
Location Title:J. Moore House (Villisca Axe Murder House) City/State:Villisca, IA
Investigation Times:09:00 PM - 02:30 AM Status:Analysis
Weather Information
Sunrise:06:14 AM Sunset:08:37 PM
High Temperature:87 °F Low Temperature:60 °F
Sky Condition:Clear Wind:S at 5 mph
Humidity:88% Precipitation:0%
Lunar Phase:Waning Crescent % disk visible:30%
Solar X-Rays:X Class Flare Geomagnetic Field:Unsettled
Pressure:30.21 mmHg
Investigators Present
Bryan Kaplan
Hugh McLenaghan
Kelli Patrick
Becky Ray
Investigators Notes
Bryan Kaplan:I used my Sony Nightshot camera both in the upstairs area of the home as well as in the bedroom where the two visiting girls were staying. I also used several digital audio recorders. At the beginning of the investigation my sony handicam was in the off position and it began to start beeping for no apparent reason (as well as flashing the name of the camera on the LCD screen thats located on the side of hte camera). I turned the camera on and then off again and it stopped. I should also note that I took a step into the closet located in the childrens room on the second floor of the home and was hit in the upper arm region of my right arm. I will be posting any EVP's and/or video evidence sometime in the near future.
Hugh McLenaghan:This was a very interesting house. I didn't feel anything strange in there at all, nothing weird happened to me, or that I was aware of.
Kelli Patrick:Tours are available-www.villiscaiowa.com My equipment consisted of: Sony Nighshot video camera, 35mm camera, laser thermometer. The house is a great little farmhouse and had a great time there. You could feel the pain in the house when thinking that 8 people were bludgeoned to death by an unknown murderer. The weapon was the axe that belonged to J. Moore, owner of the house. To this date, the murder has not been solved, but there are suspects. We investigated throughout the 5 room house. The rooms were the kitchen, living room, small bedroom (the little Stillinger girls who stayed over that night slept here). Upstairs was the parents bedroom just inches from the stairs. The hallway from the room led to the children's room. The 4 Moore children slept in here. We had been told that a previous group went up to the children's room and contacted Paul, the 5 year old boy. Supposedly, he liked to stay in the closet. They had asked him that if he would open and close the door, they would give him candy. He opened and closed the door with each direction. This happenend several times and was caught on tape. We went upstairs and attempted this several times thoughout the night with no success. About 1:30 in the morning, I was sitting on the floor facing the closet I just mentioned. I felt something poke me in the left shoulder. I turned around to see if I had brushed up against my equipment (my video and tripod was behind me), but I wasn't touching anything. It was just a quick poke. Most of the group moved downstairs to the kitchen. Bryan and Eric were still upstairs in the children's room when we heard a commotion upstairs. They came running downstairs w/ a bat (a flying one) behind them. The bat flew around a bit in the kitchen and then flew out. Nothing else happened. Great time, though!
Becky Ray:This is a small house, and being in it, I cannot imagine what happened there going on without everyone in the home being immediately awakened, but the crime happened and remains unsolved.
It is sad, knowing what happened in the house, but I felt a playfulness in the children's room rather than any type of sorrow.
As Kelli states in her notes, we attempted to re-create having the youngest son, Paul, open and close the closet door but had zero success. On the night this originally took place with the other group, there was a storm outside. Since on this night the sky was clear, and there was barely a breeze at all while we were in the home, I partially wonder if the door phenomena was due to the air pressure in the home. We do know that there was an opening in that closet to the attic as that is where the bat entered the home.
I'd gladly return to this house again for another investigation, as we did have a great time there! I'm still developing my photos and reviewing the video from the night. I'm especially interested in my video from around 11:30 in the downstairs area where the neighbors daughters were murdered.
No EVPS for this Investigation at this time
PHOTOS
This is a photo of the front of the J. Moore House taken on the night of our investigation.
This is a photo of the back of the J. Moore House taken on the night of our investigation.
I took this photo of Kelli after she commented that she had felt something poke her in the left shoulder. As visible in the photograph, there is nothing present that could have touched her.
This is a photo of the front of the J. Moore House taken on the night of our investigation.