Villisca Axe Murder House

We booked the 45 minute tour which was educational, tragic, and historical. The tour guide allowed us to independently roam after the tour for a bit. We did not stay the night however overnight guests may NOT use the beds to sleep on. A cot or sleeping bag is needed. The Giftshop is small, commercialized, and nice.

This was on my bucket list for years and it definitely didn’t disappoint. The tour guide was great, knowledgeable, and super friendly. My EMF reader went off for a few seconds in the kids bedroom, so that was super neat. I couldn’t duplicate it, so something definitely was going on that we couldn’t explain or re-create. I highly recommend this for anyone that’s interested in a little spooky history.

Very authentic! We got there a little after 6pm and got familiar. Started to try and communicate and take pictures no responses that we know of yet I still need to review our digital recorder to see if anything. If you are big into the paranormal its worth the trip! Like I said no anomalies but it could just be us because a lot of testimonials from others saying they had contact. If you have time and want a rush its definitely worth it!

We stayed overnight. Had a group of 4 people. We had a very great experience. This place is really very haunted. Our host was very friendly and knowledgeable about this place. She answered every question we had. She made sure we had everything we needed for a very fun and comfortable night of ghost hunting. I would highly recommend staying overnight here

I rented out the whole house for a night. It was inane how much we captured and had happen to us for the few hours we spent investigating. The main floor bedroom were Lena and Ina’s pictures frames were tipped over in front of us. We completely tried to debunk that and couldn’t. We had a hand indent the sheet covering the mirror with the rem pod next to it while going off. I was tapped and tugged on in the attic while asking questions during our Estes method. We set up the EMF near the REM pod to see what would happen and it was crazy to see them go off at the same time. Almost to confirm there was a presence there. We had the cat ball go off a couple of times while we were all sitting still. The spirit box was so active but a lot was hard to make out. Also had the dead bell set up all night didn’t go off till the morning. And we started getting some clear responses. We set up our cots in the parlor cause we were told it was a hot spot. Nothing happened we actually probably got the best sleep we ever gotten which was strange. We all work up well rested and energetic, which is out of the ordinary for me. Thought that was weird.. I would say the hotspot rooms for us was definitely up stairs in the parents room, attic, and the downstairs bedroom. Also it was unusual but when we first arrived they were so active at 6-9pm and then they picked back up again before we left at around 8am. Those were the most active hours for us, when doing our investigation. Now the reason I give 4 stars is because the bathroom in the barn was so dirty I couldn’t even sit on the toilet there was feces and urine. It just seemed like it hasn’t been cleaned in a long time. Now speaking of the barn bathroom, I saw what appeared to be a little girl in a white gown with blonde hair out of the corner of my eye when walking out. That was crazy I have never seen anything like that before. But what I walked backwards in reverse she was gone. I don’t know if that’s a common apparition that has been seen around or what. But it was such an eye opening and intense moment for me. Best Thanksgiving I’ve ever had, will definitely come visit again in the future❤️. I’ll attach some ss photos from the videos I’ve taken of the evidence we got.

My dad was born in Villisca, so I grew up hearing many stories surrounding the Axe Murder House. Having never been to Villisca I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to visit while on a recent cross-country roadtrip. I arrived early, before the tours had begun. Being that I needed to get on down the road I only had time to walk around the property and snap a few photos. It’s not too terribly eerie in broad daylight, but knowing the history of what had happened here more than 100 years previously, sent a chill down my spine nonetheless. If horror tourism is your thing, you should have this location on your list. I regret missing out on a tour. Perhaps someday I will return.

Scaaaaaarrrŕrrrry!! I could have sworn someone touched my arm when we were upstairs in the children's bedroom. I felt a little hand right after I commented .."how horrible and tragic for the children". I got chills and wanted to bolt. The entire time inside the house there was this spooky vibe. Like someone was following us. And then when we were finished and walking out the door, my friend said to me, "what kind of sicko could do this to a bunch of innocent kids?" He then fell in the doorway!! He said someone pushed him. He was genuinely freaked out. He wanted to leave immediately. He wouldn't even go to the graveyard afterwards like we had planned to do. We will go again next year.

The staff and tour guide were both very friendly and very knowledgeable about the murders. They had a nice variety of souvenirs you could buy to commemorate your visit. Enjoyed it very much.

This house is very well maintained and taken care of, the attic is very small and very creepy. There were plenty of pictures on the wall and axe makings on the walls in certain areas of the house. The tour of the house was definitely nice and I recommend it to people who are very interested or adventurous.

We booked an overnight stay at the Villisca Axe Murder House with a group of coworker friends, which was super odd to begin with. But with all its ups and downs, we had a ton of fun overall. We were to meet our guide at the museum in town, but arrived a little early and had a bit of time to look around at the exhibits. The museum had a lot of items from the period when the murders took place - things like old Coke and Pepsi bottles, but none of which were used in any of the murders so we just took a passing glance. We came upon a bucket of old shingle scraps from the original murder house (free for the taking) so that was an interesting piece of the history. We did not take any of these shingle chips, lest we bring something more than memories home with us. Once we met our guide, she was to take us around the area and to the cemetery where the victims are buried, and then to the Axe Murder House where we would spend the night. Since we had a big group and she drove a small Sedan, she just said to follow her in our car and she would point out her window at a few things along the way and then tell us what the pointed-at things meant when we arrived at the cemetery. However, she also had a cigarette she ashed out the window so we weren't sure what was pointing and what was ashing. Just to be clear, I'm not complaining about this - it was hilarious. Our guide imparted to us that she had heard weed-whacking sounds at the cemetery earlier that week, but when she looked around, there was no weed-whacking landscaper to be seen. Needless to say, we were on the lookout for this phantom weed whacker the rest of the experience. We arrived at the main event, and got a quick tour of the barn, cellar, and the house. Inside the house there were a few historical pieces from the Moore family (the victims) such as some clothing laid out on the beds and photos on the walls. Once we were on our own, we ventured into the cellar first. After looking around a bit, a mouse or maybe a stick touched my friend's foot and she screamed, which caused us all to scream. When we found out it was just a mouse/stick, we told her to save her screams for actual ghosts or supernatural sightings. We next went to check out the barn a little closer, and saw that there were some semi-unflattering paintings of the victim's on the wall, along with a previous visitor's warning: "Sh*t went down!" We strolled around the rest of the grounds, which included an outhouse, a little gazebo style pair of benches, and a few other outbuildings. One thing to note here is that this house is not in the middle of nowhere out in a cornfield where you feel isolated and instantly eery - it's in the middle of a neighborhood with neighbors' yards all around, including playsets and bicycles, etc. If you can ignore those, the grounds do feel a little creepy as you walk through them. After our little stroll of the surrounding area, we headed into the house. We sort of just waited around for nightfall and chatted a bit about what we thought we might see once it got dark. We had Casey's Pizza and wine coolers, so we were having a good time while we waited, don't worry. Once night fell, we did walk around the house a little more (with flashlights) to see if any spooky things happened now that it was dark. We did hear a slight tapping/humming noise, but when we went to investigate, it ended up being the old window air conditioner. At this point, we thought we may need to delve deeper to get these spirits to haunt us. Luckily, one of my coworkers brought a crystal which we used to ask the spirits questions (yes or no questions). We decided the crystal swinging one way meant yes and the other way being no. I feel that was kind of arbitrary since we made up the rules of the answering format, but we did get it swinging a little bit to get some possible answers out of those dang ghosts. My other coworker brought an EVP reader and we asked the spirits a few questions (but we didn't get to hear the recordings until the next week, and there were a few little spooky things there, if you increased the volume a ton and could hear a muffled voice kind of saying a few of our names). A handful in our group were getting tired and did not want to sleep in the house, so they headed to their van at this point to hit the hay. The true ghost hunters (me and a few others) stayed up the rest of the night so we didn't miss anything spooky that may pop up. We didn't see anything creepy beyond a wasp's nest in the attic and a suspicious doll we found in one of the bedrooms. The morning came, and even though we didn't have any specific haunting experiences, we did have a ton of fun and did freak each other out a few times, so it was all in all a pretty good time. I would recommend this experience if you have a good group to go with, and a light spirit to not take it too seriously and expect to see Ghostbusters-like apparitions (who knows, maybe YOU will!)

A fun experience! The tour guide was knowledgeable and friendly. We rented the EMF detector and thought it was worth it for the extra fee. We liked the the gift shop and found prices to be fair.

Johnny was an incredibly awesome guide who told us the story, answered all our questions while debunking rumors and misinformation. Please give Johnny a raise!

Fascinating experience and a historical adventure. Really interesting! I did some research before visiting the house and it made it all the more interesting.

We recently did the Villisca Axe Murder House private cemetery tour. Guided by Johnny and Emily, we couldn't have asked for more engaging hosts. Our two tour guides were very nice people, and we instantly connected with their respect for this location. We could tell that they love their jobs!! They shared so much history with us. Not only about the cemetery and the house itself, but also about the town's history, the land, the victims, the suspects and their personal observations and experiences. Even with all their knowledge, they were both eager and excited to learn more. How cool is that? This tour was exactly what we were looking for!! They welcomed questions and were encouraging. This tour (and our tour guides) rounded out the information that we had already learned prior to visiting. After the cemetery tour, which we did on June 12, 2024 (112 years to the date of the burial), we spent the night in the house. Prior to entering the location we prepared and protected ourselves. We felt that this protective barrier allowed us to experience the house and we were fully present in the moment. We were able to release our fear, and embrace our curiousity. While there, we did experience physical contact, children laughing, cat balls lighting up, emf contact, visualizations, and spirit box confirmation. We walked through the house respecting its history and legacy. When we left the house, we knew that this was the experience we were meant to have.

Well...a wild experience to say the least. My three friends and I had our first paranormal investigation here and we did not turn out empty handed. Very REAL experiences here that entailed direct communication through spirit box and EMF reacting devices. Great first experience, would absolutely recommend. Thank you!

I had a great time. My friend didn't make it longer than 10 min before she got overwhelmed with the spirit energy. The tour guide did a great job. She was very friendly, helpful and knowledgeable. She was willing to answer any questions asked, and encouraged people to check out any area they wanted to. Would be willing to do this again.

5 stars for the true story. Please know the story of the house before visiting. The girl, who gets 1 star on her storytelling skills, rushed through it in less than 2 minutes. She did a good job on taking the money though. 4 stars for the up keep of the house. We did an overnight, September 7-8. 5 people stayed. The inside was a good temperature. There is an A/C unit on each floor. Our overnight was very stormy and lots of rain. We did find out there are a couple of leaks in the kitchen. I do think they need to dust a little more too. 5 stars on our overnight experience. No ghosts or bad feelings happened. We went in with open hearts and good intentions. Our EMF meters were going crazy at the beginning but when it was bedtime we were able to get a night sleep. We might of caught some EVP but those are under review. The house does have its own parking area and is being monitored with cameras. There are no bathrooms or electrical outlets inside house but the barn does. The town is not very big but there is a Casey's and TJ's cafe to grab food. If you are lucky the barn cat will greet you with open paws. Always 5 stars on cats.

Emily was so welcoming and informative! We definitely plan on coming back for an overnight visit. I love that this place doesn't limit your interactions with the house itself as long as you're respectful!!

I went there with my sister and cousins. We didn't a tour but we did get a rundown of the home and how the investigation went, then we were let loose which was more convenient for us. It was a nice experience however there was another group who were a bit rowdy but hey each there own, overall it was great and highly recommend if you're a firm believer in the spiritual world (photo isn't mine credit to owner)

I'm an average guy that decided to go to the villisca house with my wife. I had a brand new camera as we arrived I stepped onto the property and the camera stopped working. I had a fight with my wife about the camera in the car as we replaced the batteries I stepped onto the property and a gust of extreme wind was all around me as I looked up across the street there were no branches blowing except for me and around the property very strange as I took the footage and downloaded it onto my laptop people say they could see two girls in the window I don't see it the next morning I woke up and the screen was cracked on my brand new laptop I don't believe in all of that haunted stuff but it makes you scratch your head

Beware of Martha Linn, the rudest person in customer service Ive enter encountered. She has no business running the books, and until under new management her attitude just kind of ruins the experience. She makes booking errors. She's hateful. John is amazing. Its too bad he's not running the show. My full review under Google, and you will see many others had terrible Experiences with her as well. House itself is very eerie and left us with a very unsettling feeling. I didn't spend the night, it got too spooky for me.

You can visit the Most Haunted House in America, the Villisca Ax Murder House, in Villisca, Iowa, a small farming town about 70 miles southeast of Omaha, Nebraska. For $10 per person, you can take a 20-30 minute guided tour of the house (between March 28th and October 31st only) from the hours of 1pm to 3:30pm or for $428, you can spend the night in the house ... if you dare! The house is a small wood frame farm home with two bedrooms and a small attic upstairs and a kitchen, pantry, living room, and small bedroom downstairs. There is also a small root cellar accessible from the outside. Disembodied children's voices, falling lamps, moving ladders and flying objects have been reported and psychics have confirmed the presence of spirits dwelling in the home. The story goes that the murderer waited for the family to return from church on June 10th, 1912, killing Josiah Moore, his wife, their four children, and two of the children's friends, the Stillinger girls, who just happened to be spending that night. He bashed all of their heads in with an ax he found on the property, then sat down at the kitchen table, eating a meal before depositing a slab of bacon by the door and leaving. The family was discovered the next morning after a neighbor noticed the absence of activity at the house, calling a relative who made the gruesome discovery. There were several suspects, including a drifter, a preacher, and a local business owner who had a gripe with Mr. Moore, but the murders remain unsolved to this day. CombatCritic Gives The Villisca Ax Murder House 8 Bombs Out Of 10 ... Only Because The Prices Are A Bit High (The $6-$8 Range Would Be More Appropriate) ... More Bombs Are Better!

The gal that have the history to the group prior to the self guided tour behaved as though she was bothered to be there. No one dressed circa era or made the visit memorable. I did get to meet historical author Roy Marshall who wrote "Villisca". He was knowledgeable and very welcoming.

Creepy took a selfie there in a little girl with a bonnet for staring out the window at me through the lace curtains

Visited this past weekend. Got there about 20 mins early and saw there people going into the house. so paid for the tour and went in. I had to ask the guy standing there to tell my husband the history of the house since he was not familiar. Looking around the very small farmhouse was very well kept. The axe mark in the upstairs bedroom was super creepy. As was the very narrow staircase. The attic was my favorite room. We took lots of pics and did not see or feel anything. Awesome place to experience.

I love watching ghost shows on TV, especially Ghost Adventures on Travel Channel. They once featured this place (you can watch it on YouTube), so since it was October and Villisca is only two hours away from Des Moines (where I am living now), I decided to check it out. I won't bore you with the story behind the house; read up on it before you come. The story is very sad, especially because children were involved. But now its been proven to be haunted with many accounts of EVPs, moving objects, noises, etc. The picture on the front is exactly how it looks. You pay $10 to tour the house (tickets purchased in the red barn). What struck me first is how small this house was to support a family of six. The period furnishings make you feel like the Moore family is out and will be back any minute. The creaky sounds of the hardwood floors gives this place added spookiness. WIth all the windows covered, it is dim inside in the daytime. Walking upstairs where the majority of the murders took place, it is truly eery. I came to hopefully have a paranormal experience (not demonic, just paranormal). Unfortunately, so did about a dozen other people, so this little house had a bunch of people in it, bumping into each other, talking, etc. There was no way you could feel or hear anything with so much commotion in the house. So it was disappointing from that perspective. I suppose you could spend the $400 to spend the night in this place, but not me. The other thing that was kinda disturbing about this place was the commercialization of this gruesome murder. I understand the selling of tickets to tour the place; after-all someone is paying a mortgage on this place, plus up-keep, etc. But selling t-shirts, keychains, etc.?? It felt a little exploitive over something that should be respected. Just my personal feeling and you are certainly entitled to disagree if you like. All in all, I am glad I came out to see it. I wish I was able to walk through it alone and connect with the spirits there. Oh well - on to the next adventure!

This house is no joke I learned about this house from Ghost Adventures and I was lured in! I did the over night stay which is not cheap $400 1 night up to 4 ppl if you want more ppl extra fee. So here I go with my boyfriend road trip! ( best road trip EVA) anyways when we go to the house we was greeted very nice owner I believe her name was Martha we paid the rest of the $400 because there is a deposit when you call and another lady was like you ready ! We did pay are respects before driving to the house we went to the cemetery where the family was buried and left pennies and offerings and we talked to them like hey we going to your house we mean no harm see ya there type of thing We walked to the house and the first step inside I immediately got dizzy and hard to breath and my boyfriend got dizzy and confused ( owner says it happens all the time) she gave us history of the murders and suspects and a tour of the house and right away I felt hands on my arms as she was telling the history and the hands felt small and warm so im guessing it was one of the kids who died and my boyfriend did not fell welcomed at all he said he felt like he was being choked and his eyes was starting to water it was creepy to me! so the owner left us the keys and toke Martha and they was gone now its just me and Irvin alone in this notorious ghost house so what do we do we order PIZZA HUTT! As we ate the pizza in the shed I capt choking on the pizza like it was weird every swallow I felt like I was being choked it was so bad that I didn't wanna eat in the house I than proceeded to leave then i felt a tug on my belt and my boyfriend did too it was AWESOME so much activity in short time! We did EVP and video cam and pictures the upstair attic door opens and closes as you request but nicely its the children hiding I think it super cool! me and my boyfriend toke a nap in the kids beds and as we drifted I could smell burning like a cigar smell stong and my boyfriend couldn't smell it just me it was so strong I thought something was on fire and none of us smoke! so I ignored it and than I heard children playing downstairs laughing and chasing each other it sounded like and just a note down this street its a very quiet town and we was outside for a while and no children were there I only saw adults! I didn't say anything to my boyfriend at this time I had my eyes closed but was still awake and I heard whispers of a lil girl and boy in the corner of the room saying "look why they here" very faint but I giggled for some reason because the voices was so innocent my boyfriend did here that and grabbed his necklace cross and started praying ( chicken ass) and the voices was gone! which I got mad and told him stop praying I payed $400 for some action in this place lmao needless to say at night we got locked out the house we had to call the owner to let us back in we have no idea how that happened! and lets just say to end this we did not spend the night we left it was too scary to creepy it very strong feeling and their is no electricity so the whole house was pitch black! we was out that B**** As we drove away at midnight I was backing out the driveway but for some reason I felt like something was watching us and I could not get the courage to look at the house it was so weird im like Cynthia turn your head and I could not but me and my boyfriend before leaving we parked the car infront of the house and toke flash picture and we caught a women dressed in old clothing and it seemed like a child walking down the front steps! as I was driving I couldn't stop crying teary eye and felt like I needed to back to the house its hard to explain but as a drove farther away the sadness would fade! I WILL COME BACK when I have $400 bucks to stay again lol this place does leave a mark with you a feeling like come back well atleast to me

My experience here was blah! Nothing to exciting small house walked through in less than 5 min . It's unfortunate what happened to the family. I don't believe they still reside in the house. All the photos you see online that people post are all Matrixing. Glad I visited but probably won't ever go back!

This place is just way too cool!!! I think it's a great place and a wonderful place to possibly open your mind to a spiritual encounter of some sort. We went here while we were driving to Illinois and always wanted to stop. It seems that so many people who own places like this never want to talk about it or allow one on the property. I will definitely go back one day. We enjoyed sitting quietly in the house when no one was there. It's a great place to tune in your psychic abilities.

Really neat place. Did an overnight investigation..came away with a few questionable experiences not to mention a very cool photo. I'd recommend this place to any paranormal investigator as it has been my favorite investigation.

this is the most gruesome feeling house, w/o any knowledge of the murders. downright depressing. i have never been in this house and don't plan to. may God bless the souls of the victims.

We have been here a couple times. The first time was about 6 years ago when Darwin ran the tours. He clearly was as informed as one could be about the history of the home and town. It was obvious that this home meant a lot to him and he respected its history. Our more recent visit was not the same. First, there wasn't as much talk about the history and known facts as there was talk about present day stories. I love "ghost stories" and to hear about others experiences. I just felt like I was there to hear the history and then hear some of the experiences people are having. Their personal stories are cool, but they would be so much better with more background information about what happened there. I found the "I survived the Villisca Ax Murder House" shirts to be in poor taste especially because of what happened there. The tours and overall atmosphere here now seems more aimed at making it an gimmicky attraction rather than telling this fascinating true story and educating people on the history of the home and town. I hope that the people who go give the home and these stories the respect it deserves.

Me and four friends stayed overnight at the house this past weekend. Kristy got in touch with me the day of arrival. She checked us in and we took a tour of the home. After the tour, Kristy gave us her story of the house which was fascinating. She also made sure we knew what time the local gas station was open in case we need supplies. She then showed us to the cemetery. She really went above and beyond to make our stay better and I cannot thank her enough for added efforts. Four of the five of us had strong encounters, and one skeptic. We had feelings of dizziness, visions of mist, and out loud children laughter. We also experienced unexplained devices turning themselves on and off- just to name a few. There is definitely activity at this house. The barn has a modern restroom and a small refrigerator that can be used. In the loft of the barn you will find a tv and videos related to the house. If you get a chance to watch "paranormal boogie" do it. It's quite the treat lol. I would certainly recommend a stay here if your into that kind of thing. Keep in mind that the spirits within are innocent victims, and I believe them to be nonthreatening.