The surprising things I felt when I visited an ax murder house

Aug. 17—VILLISCA, Iowa. — Over the years, if I mentioned to friends that we were going to Iowa to visit my husband's family, I was bound to get questions such as:

* "Does your husband's family live near 'The Field of Dreams?'" No, but we've been there.

* "Do they really eat those giant pork tenderloin sandwiches and Maid-Rites?" Yes, and they're delicious.

* Most likely from a Gopher fan: "You know what the initials I.O.W.A stand for, right?" Yes, I do. Google it.

The fact is our trips to the Hawkeye State are pretty great and usually involve some of what I just mentioned — eating a lot of good food and visiting a few notable tourist spots.

They don't usually involve stepping into the scene of a brutal ax murder from the early 20th century.

But that's what we did earlier this summer, when we visited (cue the scary music) the Villisca Ax Murder House in Villisca, Iowa, a site in southwestern Iowa about halfway between Omaha, Neb., and Des Moines, Iowa, heralded by some as "one of the most haunted places in America."

It was my daughter Laura's idea to check it out after she saw something online about what happened here — the horrific ax murders of six members of the Moore family and two houseguests in the early morning hours of June 10, 1912.

As a fan of the true crime genre, I was intrigued and said, "Why not?"

We were also joined by my younger daughter and my sister-in-law, a former fourth grade teacher known more for her killer Buster Bar dessert than any love of true crime. It wasn't her thing, but she's a sport. So off we went.

I won't go into all of the details of what happened in the house, beyond the fact that the eight people were killed by an ax murderer while they slept and that the crime is still unsolved.

For more detail, I wrote a story for The Vault about house, along with the accompanying podcast.

Instead, I'll give you a look behind the scenes at what it felt like to be there.

As we turned off Highway 71 to Villisca (population 1,162), we passed buildings you'd see in a lot of smallish Iowa cities — Casey's General Store and a Dollar General. The Ax Murder House is further down the road on Second Street past the Villisca United Methodist Church and the middle school.

It looks like most of the lovely homes here, until you see the sign in the front yard: "Villisca Ax Murder House."

The home first built in 1868 had a few owners after the infamous murders in 1912, but these days it's owned by Darwin and Martha Linn, who refurbished it and opened it up to tourists. It costs about $10 for a guided tour. If your group wants to spend the night here, it'll cost $428. (Ummm, yeah. No thank you.)

After tour guide Johnny Houser told us the tragic tale from the backyard, we stepped into the house and back in time. It was pretty creepy to see the kitchen look just the way it would have in June 1912.

Even creepier? The living room looked a lot like the living room in the farmhouse my husband's parents lived in for more than 50 years. The dark woodwork around the doors was nearly identical.

The winding, narrow stairs to the upstairs bedrooms where most of the murders happened creaked with every footstep. We found mirrors covered in sheets and dolls staring back at us from the kids' beds. The sun was shining into the windows, but that didn't help the sense of darkness here. It was hard not to feel the heaviness.

The attic, where the killer was alleged to have hidden, felt claustrophobic. However, some paranormal investigators have said in the past, they believed it was lighthearted, teasing child spirits that usually want to make contact.

We didn't stay in the house very long. I stayed longer than my sister-in-law, who I found checking her phone near the barn out back. We appreciated our time at the Villisca Ax Murder House. The staff was friendly and welcoming.

If you're into this kind of thing, it's probably worth a stop. If you're a paranormal investigator, an overnight stay might even be your cup of tea.

But for me, I think I'll stick to the "Field of Dreams" and Buster Bar dessert.