Butchered My Iowa Plans://Part 1~ Villisca Ax Murder House [18+]

               Date:7/3/2025-7/7/2025

Destination: Villisca, Iowa; Chicago, Illinois

Goal: Villisca Ax Murder House, Six Flags Great America, Chicago Culture

Distance: 641 Miles

Means of Travel: Driving

Potential Credits: 1

[CONTENT WARNING: This blog entry discusses a murder that killed an entire family, including children, and possible sex crimes against a child, in a true crime and paranormal context. Do not read if under 18.]

"You can go anywhere in the world," I asked Keely. "Where is it?"

"Iowa," she answered without skipping a beat. Iowa? I couldn't help but wonder. The "Corn and Pig Shit State" Iowa? My girlfriend's response caught me off guard. I mean, don't get me wrong, I loved my trip to Iowa in 2023. Lost Island was super nice, everyone is so friendly, it's probably the prettiest part of the Midwest, and who doesn't love a good big ol' flat pork tenderloin sandwich? But to people who've not been there, it's America's cornfield by stereotype. But Keely knew of something downright sinister lurking in those ears and stalks.

IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A simple white residential home sits on a grassy green lawn, behind a sign reading "VILLISCA AX MURDER HOUSE; JUNE 10, 1912."

The year is 1912, on a warm summer night in the tiny town of Villisca, Iowa. A picturesque, stereotypical Midwestern small town where everyone knows each other, the ill-fated Moore family had just finished a Children's Day service at their local Methodist church, presided over by Reverend George Kelley. It was a nice evening, they had friends over, and had just finished up a nice dinner. Family patriarch Josiah and his wife Sarah had put not only their own children: Herbert, Mary Katherine, Arthur, and Paul, to bed, but also Mary Katherine's friends Ina and Lena Stillinger who were sleeping over, to bed. The following morning, the Moores' neighbors called the police as they noticed an odd, ominous silence from the house. And inside, was the gruesome sight of the entire family and their sleepover guests bludgeoned to death with the back of an ax. While their faces were bashed in beyond recognition, Mrs. Stillinger called the Moore house when her children did not come home, only to be told by the phone operator, "nobody can reach that home, there's a dead body in every bed."

Keely has been obsessed with this case since she was a child. She'd listened to podcasts, watched documentaries, played whodunnit online, and it was always her dream to go to Villisca and see the crime scene with her own eyes. On the other hand, Lost Island Theme Park, a favorite park of mine, was opening an RMC, so I had reason to get to Iowa as well. However, due to delays with the RMC, Fire Runner, it was not ready in time for our trip, so last minute we diverted to Chicago and Six Flags Great America for the second leg of our adventure.

We had a hell of a time on this adventure, and it will be, for my first time ever, a joint trip report written by both Keely and I!

This is the original video from which this trip report was transcribed. Read this one like any other blog entry, or watch it for the full true crime podcast experience!

Day 0

IMAGE DESCRIPTION: On a street sits a white SUV in front of a small blue car.

Jarrett: So, start off with this picture. Um, this was our rental car.

Uh, was our rental car. Um, I, you know, rented it, picked it to make sure Keely's chair could fit in it. Um, and it was a pretty nice rental car, right?

Keely:  Yeah, it was really nice. I was impressed. There was a lot of room and we had, you know, we had enough room for all my stuff, which was great. Plus, you know, it was it was nice and airy in the car, which is essential when you're on the trail. Yes, there's like no shade out there.

Jarrett: It's all wide open cornfield, so it was good that we had good AC.

IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A sketchy metal building in an overgrown field has signs reading "EXOTIC DANCER" and "TOPLESS DANCERS."

Jarrett: Um, next, um, this was outside of our first hotel. Well, I I knew it was going to be one of those hotels when we drive up and we see this next door, remember?

Keely: Yup

IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A slice of pepperoni, sausage, and mushroom pizza in a box on a hotel bed.

Jarrett: And Keely was nice enough to get us pizza.

Day 1

IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A hotel mirror selfie of Jarrett, a 31 year old man in a yellow pineapple shirt, and Keely, a 35 year old woman in a yellow dress holding a backpack sitting in a pink wheelchair.

Jarrett: Who are those bozos?

Keely: That was the day we went out, wasn't it?

Jarrett: Yeah, that was leaving the Indiana hotel. I got off work and we hopped in that car and we drove three hours to Indiana just to take a bite out of the drive. Between here and it would have been like 10 hours. So glad we broke that up at least even a little bit.

IMAGE DESCRIPTION: Keely smiles in a store full of colorful boxes, a sign on the back wall says "SHELTON WORLDS LARGEST FIREWORKS."

Jarrett: So you want to tell them about this one?

Keely: Okay. So, I've actually never been to a fireworks store before. Uh, growing up, um, I grew up in New York and in North Carolina, fireworks were never legal.

So, I had never been to a fireworks store before. So, I when he wanted to buy fireworks, that was I was I was down to do that because I never Yeah, it was Fourth of July, so I mean, we kind of had to, right? Yeah.
that I'd rather be in a haunted house than surrounded by fireworks.

IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A parking lot has a single yellow "DOLLAR GENERAL" sign, with a cornfield across the street.

Jarrett: Well, we and and because we were going to the Midwest, we also uh stopped at a Dollar General. Um I remember Keely's over here telling me like she's expecting Iowa to be so pretty and miles a beautiful colorful prairie flower as far as a guy can see, Little House in the Prairie, and we get this shit instead.

Keely: I grew up with Little House in the Prairie and Little Women. I I blame this.
Yeah.

Jarrett: We just stopped at this Dollar General to get her a cigarette lighter charger and go to the bathroom basically. Yeah. So that was Yeah.

IMAGE DESCRIPTION: Jarrett and Keely huddle outside of a small white farmhouse, a sign reads "VILLISCA AX MURDER HOUSE; JUNE 10, 1912."

Jarrett: Aww, look at us. Oh, yeah.

Keely: We finally made it. I remember being so so taken back. There were certain emotions even just standing outside.

Jarrett: Yeah. I remember like we we hadn't seen civilization for at least 2 hours. This is a very rural part of Iowa and suddenly we get into this little two stoplight town of Velisa and I'm like, "Oh god, like are we in the right place? Is there anything even out here? Did I put it in the GPS right?" We get in town and then there's this little cute little neighborhood and then you know just turn down the street next to you know houses you know drunk rednecks lighting off fireworks and we just casually the murder house just chilling in an otherwise normal residential neighborhood which I think adds to why this case is so chilling.

Keely: Yeah, it definitely does. Um, there's something for me that's very disturbing about the idea of just, you know, being at home, being safe, and then all of a sudden you're so far from safe.

IMAGE DESCRIPTION: An old-fashioned kitchen with a set table, stove, water pump, and meat grinder sit on a weathered hardwood floor. Lacey curtains obscure the windows.

Jarrett: Yeah, this was um when you first walk in. Um, I'm sure we can both vouch for this, like it just feels wrong.

Keely: Yeah, it feels like it feels like I said there's so many emotions. You get weird rush of sadness and fear and also a lot of excitement for me because this is literally my major bucket list trip. So, I've been following the case for like 20 years. So, so many feelings all at once.

Jarrett: Like I've been in historic homes before and like yes like they are like old and creaky but there there is something very off about this one. This this isn't just you know you know life on the farmstead exhibit. It's some something much darker and you can tell the second you step in.

Keely: What was so weird for me and I I hope I'm not talking too much, but what was the was you knew that's where you know where that person just hung out for hours right in that kitchen.

Jarrett:  Yes

IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A small endtable is topped with some books, a Titanic advertisement, and a bust of Jesus, with several books stored on a shelf below the tabletop.

Jarrett: Keely just noticed this little bookshelf thing and we just thought it was cool.

IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A small twin bed sits in the corner, with a small bunny plush on the white sheets with red roses. The nightstand holds two books and two black and white photos of two little girls.

Jarrett: Um want to tell them about this room?

Keely: Oh, okay. So, like I said, Lena and Stillinger were staying the night. This is where they slept on that night. It actually belonged to the two older kids, Herman and Mary Catherine, on a normal night, but they put the Stender girls in here. Um, and this is where we slept.

Jarrett: Slept slept on the floor that the foot of that bed like right where two little girls were murdered. It was one of the most insane things I've ever done.

Keely: Yeah. I I'm still not sure how I feel about dragging you there.

Jarrett: Yeah. She She You see the little uh bunny over there on the bed? She left that.

Keely: Yeah.

Jarrett: Supposed to bring toys for the kids. Yeah.

IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A salmon-colored bedroom with a full-sized bed covered with quilted sheets, sits next to a nightstand with flowers and black and white portraits of a man and a woman. To the left, a dresser has a gas lamp and a mirror covered with white sheet. Atop it, an axe blow is carved into the wall.

Jarrett: Um and um uh do you want to explain the stair situation because that's kind of your thing to discuss.

Keely: Um, I'm in a wheelchair for those who don't know. If you follow me at all or you've seen me in his pictures, probably know. Um, but I can't climb stairs very well and the stairs were very narrow. So, at the last minute, I decided I'm going to climb the stairs and see what's up there. So, I climbed up the narrow stairs.

Jarrett: We'll get to that. We'll get to that tomorrow morning. 

Keely: Sorry,

Jarrett: No, you're you're you're good. I just I wanted you to be able to tell that like when you know when the time came for it.
Um but you didn't and you initially you didn't want to go up the stairs so I went up and I facetimed you remember.

Keely: Yeah. Yeah. So he went up and facetimed me.
Sorry. See what else is here? Okay. I'm ina and Lena's room just you know taking video, taking pictures, looking around and all of a sudden he comes running downstairs like "ghosts are real! Ghosts are real!" And I'm like, what's going on? I honestly thought clean it up cuz, you know, we were recording and he after like two seconds I realized he wasn't and I just hugged him because he heard um he heard a thumping noise next to an axe mark in um this is the more bedroom.

Jarrett: This is where the parents um uh Josiah and Sarah were sleeping the night they were murdered. If you look there on the left, you'll see um the killer covered all the mirrors in the house when he committed these murders. And you can even see a little axe mark at the top that there's a better picture of it. 

IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A dresser holds atop it a lace doily, some coins, a black and white photo, and a gas lamp. A mirror is covered with a white sheet, atop it there is a vertical ax mark in the wall.

Jarrett: Um to me, the covered mirrors are like what gives this away as like not just another crime. This was a sheer act of depravity killing this family in the horrific manner in which it was done. But I was just walking around upstairs taking these pictures and I heard what sounded like a wooden handle tapping on the wall behind me. And I turn around and it's coming from that axe mark up there. And I did probably what you would have done and I ran and hugged my girlfriend like a little bitch.

IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A blue children's room has a small single bed and a crib with stuffed animals and dolls in it, to the right is a table bearing black and white portraits of children, coins, and toys.

Jarrett: Um this was the kids' room. I also showed her um they had You said all four of the all four of the more children were sleeping in this room when they were you know sadly murdered.

Keely: All four of them.

Jarrett: All four of them. I mean, look, like that child was sleeping in a crib. For God's sakes, who kills a child in a crib? Yeah. The youngest one was only four and a half. 

IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A creepy doll with a grey face and streaked red eyes has black paint oozing down her lips, she has black hair and wears a red dress with a white bow. In the background, she sits on a dresser covered in coins, a colorful spinning top, and a man in a toy car.

Jarrett: Um, and I also saw this creepy doll someone had left in the kids' room, and that scared the crap out of me.

IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A close shot of a blue wall with a gouge from an ax cut into it.

Keely: Um, this is another axe mark in the wall. The killer left a few, you know, he left a few of these axe marks around.

Jarrett: Um, and that this I got a closeup like photo of this just to show the texture, show the depth. Um, but I think the worst part of this one is just the fact that it was over a child's bed.

Keely: Yeah, there's something so incredibly chilling about that. And um, can I mention the floor?

Jarrett: Yeah, the the the Oh, the floor is um later on. Like I'm kind of going chronologically here, but like you'll definitely get to tell that story. That is all yours.

IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A sunset over a cornfield and a Dollar General

Jarrett: Keely, sorry. I love you, but I have to make fun of you here. Um we went to Casey's to get food because it's the only place to get a hot meal in Villisca. It's a very small town. And we're we're leaving and she looks out and goes, "Oh my god, look. It's so beautiful." And this Dollar General in the cornfield were the view 

Keely: I am in love with every beautiful sky image in the world and I will constantly stare at the sky like I've never seen the sky before.

Jarrett: Yeah. Like she when she told me like I was talking about the sky I'm like okay but I just I hear oh my god look how beautiful it is and it's a Dollar General and a cornfield. I mean we we have a Dollar General right down the street from me and there's a cornfield right across the block. So I thought it was funny.

IMAGE DESCRIPTION: The back of a car has a few bags in it and a wheelchair flipped upside-down.

Jarrett: And then driving back, um, uh, the stoplight changed on me too quickly and I may or may not have Paul Walkered her wheelchair upside down in the back of the car. Whoops. I'm sorry. I'm going to hell.

IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A hand holds a bun with a large breaded pork tenderloin, in the foreground of the white farmhouse, the sky is getting dark and a moon rises.

Jarrett: Um, and this is Key's favorite photo. I We just got Casey's. That's an Iowa pork tenderloin sandwich in front of the murder house about to go in. We sat outside with uh Joe, this weird guy that was also staying there. And um we we lit off fireworks and chatted.

IMAGE DESCRIPTION: On a piano sits a small black casket-shaped cardboard box holding a creepy voodoo doll inside.

Jarrett: Um then we went inside and um this thing was in the corner.

IMAGE DESCRIPTION: On a bedroll sits a pink ouija board with flowers and cats on it.

Jarrett: Um, then we got out the Ouija board. Um, you want to tell them how that went?

Keely: Okay. So, don't buy a Ouija board off Amazon for $12 because even if you're in a portal to hell, it's not going to work.

Jarrett: Something else did happen which I got on video. We'll see if it actually plays after this.

Jarrett: Oh god. You're laughing at my terror, aren't you?

Keely: I was the one who like just jumped behind you.

Jarrett: You You hid behind me. You just like leapt behind me.

Keely: Yeah, that was definitely eerie.

Jarrett: Yeah, we we asked if anyone was there and um the lantern like we we'd set up a little LED lantern on one of the chairs and it fell over. This happened happened the first time. Then I set up the camera to see if like you know after that I'm like okay I need to see if I'll get this on camera and I got it on camera.
So that that that that was the lamp thing. It happened twice and it was terrify

Keely: Yeah. Was there something very weird in that house? Definitely.

IMAGE DESCRIPTION: An old-fashioned living room has a few seats and couches, some cardboard Amazon boxes, and a black dress ominously hanging from a white curtain over the door.

Jarrett: Still very your favorite dress. 

Keely: I kept thinking there was a person.

Jarrett: Someone hung this black dress and it just looks like that like you know like hatman or whatever out the corner of your eye in in this very haunted house.
It it it is eerie. I'm not going to lie. It scared the crap out of her the first time she saw it.

Keely: It for real. Just seems like there's some old like Victorian ladies standing behind you. I don't like it. Don't like it.

Jarrett: Yeah. Well, well, we were just chilling out in this room. Joe was like full on [ __ ] with us by now. He like hid in the corner and said hi to us when we walked in. And um Oh. Oh, yeah. That stack of Amazon boxes you see? Um do do you remember um like do you remember they like like just kind of fell over randomly? 

Keely: Oh yeah.

Jarrett: And then afterwards, Joe went outside and banged on the window and just made it even worse.

Keely: Yeah. Joe, if you see this, I'm still mad at you, bro. But thank you.
Oh, don't don't don't worry. The ghost took care of him. Remember? We'll get to that.

IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A 1910's little girl's bedroom has a rocking chair, sewing machine, and bed, lit up only by an LED lantern.

Jarrett:Yep. So, this is the Stillinger room at night where we slept that like by by only LED lamp light. It's like it is probably the scariest place I've ever slept.

Keely: Yeah, you're not one to turn the lights on when you sleep, but you wanted them on. 

Jarrett: I I made I told Keely like I'm not sleeping here in pitch blackness. We We are putting it We are keeping at least one lantern on.

Keely: Yeah, it was It's very scary experience.

IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A nightstand holds a stack of two books topped with coins, and has two black and white portraits of little girls. One is labeled "INA 8," the other is labeled "LENA 12."

Keely: Um I mean, should we tell the story?

Jarrett: um you you you um you let them know like how this was set set up and like familiarize them with it. I'll I'll say exactly what happened because I'm the one that like walked into it and you know about pissed himself.

Keely: So these are pictures of of the girls. Um if I'm not mistaken is the blonde and Lena is is the uh brunette.

Jarrett: Other way around Lena's on the right.
She's 12. Aa's on the left. She's eight.

Keely: Sorry.

Jarrett: You're fine.

Keely: Um, but the the pictures were just kind of set up on a little table next to bed. There's a picture. There's a book as you can see. Um, Mrs. Moore really enjoyed birds according to the curator. So, there's a book of birds watching and then there's money. People leave money to pay their respects.

Jarrett: There are also three birds nests around the house which I thought was weird.

Keely: That was just a decoration of the time, I guess.

Jarrett: Yeah. I don't know if it's because she liked birds or people just did that or what, but I I that was a weird decorative quirk. I remember I don't I don't like animal nests, especially not in any home. Um anyway, um this nightstand was there and um you actually you saw in um the last picture there's that rocking chair in front. You can actually kind of see um my uh keys, wallet, all that were like left on that rocking chair. And around 1 in the morning, Key needs me to get her meds out of the car. So, I'm like, "Okay." So, I go to, you know, pick up the keys off that rocking chair. And then I about shit myself when... 

IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A small square wooden nightstand is covered by a white lace doily, two books, and two portraits. One, labeled "INA 8," stands at the top left, where at the top right, the picture frame is flipped face-down.

Jarrett:...this is what I see. Something had knocked over Lena's picture. We had not bumped this. There was no rigging that I could see in any of it. Like I I get up and go go to get and I'm I'm just like "Keely! Keely!" and she screamed.

Keely: Yeah, it was definitely it was very Being in there was was very disturbing.

Yeah.

Jarrett: Are are you comfortable telling them how you reacted to this? If not, it's fine. 

Keely: Um yeah, it's fine. Um okay. So, I wear Depends when I'm in an unfamiliar environment it's a trauma response. Anyway, thank God I did because I kind of peed my pants.

Jarrett: And I don't blame you. I'm I I probably could have used some Depends in that moment, too. Um, we we we screamed so loud that it woke Joe up upstairs. Yes. Um, sorry. I'll go back to um eventually like we'd heard all kinds of things. Um, like the what probably like stuck with me most was um you could hear some like footsteps um in the stairwell and then I heard a sound like a grown man exhale and then the sound of like a metal ax plate scraping against a wooden wall.

Keely: The the sound of the like soft crying will stick with me until I'm dead, I think.

Jarrett: Yes, it sounded a bit like a cat, I remember. But like and like she's freaking out. She's clinging to me. I'm like like what is what what is it? And she tells me like I I hear voices. I'm like, it sounded like a cat. And then the closer you listen like it sounds less like a cat and more like the voice of a little girl like crying and saying mommy and stuff.

Keely: Mommy, it was literally terrifying. And I wanted to just scoop them up and be like, "It's okay. Like, you're safe with us, but you can't do that with a ghost." For the rest of my life, 

Jarrett: Um, after that, like, um, we we we have the video, I'll put I'll put it with the trip report of us like huddled together in bed cuz we were scared shitless by then with the creepy doll hovering over us.

Jarrett: Um and um like I I put it on Facebook and then I get a um a Facebook friend. Um her friend Kristen tells us like I told them like you know thank you for letting us stay in your house but it's time to go to bed. And like I didn't even believe in ghosts at the start of this trip. And I'm I'm like I'm not talking to you know some you know apparition that doesn't exist. But I'm like at this point I'm scared shitless. I will do anything for all this activity to stop. So, I tell the, you know, tell the little girls and the creepy man with the axe and all that to, you know, please, you know, it's 2:00 a.m. Time to go to bed. And it stopped and we went to bed. Um, hold on. Um, this is where Okay, we have to finish this up in 10 minutes, so we can do that.

Day 2

IMAGE DESCRIPTION: Keely kneels on the floor in a burgundy hoodie and dress with a purple bow in her hair, holding a voodoo doll in a black casket-shaped box.

Jarrett: Um, that's just her holding the voodoo doll. Um, want to tell them what happened in this room? Um, oh, so okay, that's the living room. Yeah. Yeah, the living room. Tell them what happened in the living room that morning.

Keely: So that I was um I was wanting to explore the house further and right as I was about to, you know, I was saying thank you to who or whatever is in the house for, you know, letting me stay there. I felt like an arm, you know, on my shoulder, like hand on my shoulder. And then I go I just get this like incredible urge to go upstairs. I'm like, "Okay, I'm going up the stairs." The stairs were windy and narrow and I was very nervous, you know, just because wheelchair user.

IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A wooden floor with a large ax gash carved into it.

Keely: So, I finally climbed and um there's an X mark in the floor at the top of the stairs.

Jarrett: Yeah. this this badass like climbed all the way up those like steep windy stairs like all by herself. I was so proud of her. I I spotted her, but she she did all the work. She she she didn't need the help. There's a Sorry. Um this Sorry, these pictures got a little out of order.

IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A creepy wooden attic has several dolls sitting in chairs in it, with a baby carriage to the right.

Jarrett: This is the attic. We didn't go in. Um I'm telling people it's my claustrophobia, but like I I think you get why we did not go in this room.

Keely: Yeah, I didn't go in either. I could have fit through.

Jarrett: Yeah, I'm I'm not The door was like four feet tall, so that didn't help. But like I'm I saw that I'm like I'm not going in there.

IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A kids room has a small white table with portraits of four children in grayscale, surrounded by change and toys.

Jarrett: I took her into the kids' room and um well, there are two AC units in this house and this is opposite both of them. So I it is normally the warmest room in the house, but tell them what you felt when you walked in.

Keely: It felt like bitter cold, like it was winter all of a sudden. And I really when we first woke up, but then when I got in there, it was like I needed my jacket. You can see I'm wearing a jacket in a couple of the pictures later on. And it was still wasn't warm enough. Um, but ghosts seem to be attracted to me and like me. So...

Jarrett:  And I I as I even asked like like why are they interacting with you but not with me? And um like I I I don't know if she's trying to scare me or what. And then I feel something tug at the back of my shirt and she she saw it like come untucked and like like come to rest. So that that scared the shit out of me.

Keely: To me that was one of the smaller children like like you know hey because they would have come up to you know the younger ones might have come up to about about that height and they would have been like hi we're here too. 

IMAGE DESCRIPTION: Jarrett and Keely kiss at the top of the stairs, with her fingers curling around a banister and a bed in the background.

Jarrett: I kissed her because I was proud of her for making it up the stairs. Um and then while while we were there um we hear the door open downstairs and it it was the house curator and she was just coming in to check on the place and we tell her about the pictures falling over and the lamp thing and the voices and she's just kind of nodding like, "Yep, yeah, that happens." Like it's no big deal.

Keely: They hadn't seen the ax mark though, so that was kind of cool. 

Jarrett: Yeah. That morning, I'd also gone outside to go to the restroom. The restroom's outside the house in the gift shop. It's just across the driveway. And Joe's out there and he's like, "I see you guys survived the night." And um I'm like, "Yeah, you see anything unusual?" He's like, "No, but I dreamt that I got dragged under the bed and I woke up with sleep paralysis." I'm like, "Bro, how are how did you not sleep out in the car?" So, we talked a bit um like we discussed who committed the crime, which I'll I'll do our own little write up like after because that's like too big a topic for the video. We only have like five minutes left and she'll help me. Um but afterwards, we had to get out of there. It was heritage day, so they they basically told us to get the fuck out. People are going to want to come see the house. And there there was a parade going on in town, which would have been cool, but we had a long drive.

IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A cemetery gravestone reads "MOORE" and has a long single headstone to the left, bearing the names of the Villisca Ax Murder Moore victims, covered in toys and coins.

Jarrett: I uh took took Keely to the Villisca Cemetery because it was just at the end of the street and we drove around until I found this. Um, didn't didn't want to have to get out and like fuck with her chair over, you know, uneven grass. So, I facetimed her and um, this is the Moore grave. This this is where the Moore victims of the Villisca Axe murders are buried.

Keely: And um the still injured girls and unfortunately their younger stillborn brother are all buried right next to that.

IMAGE DESCRIPTION: Three small red granite headstones read "LENA 1900-1912 INA 1903-1912; EDITH M STILLINGER 1892-1969; INFANT SON 1912." 

Jarrett: Yeah, I I I saw the more grave and I I took the like video for her and then like oh yeah, my phone was also like dead because the ghost drain like they can drain your battery. It went from 24 to 3% in the kids' room for some reason.

So I didn't have a lot of battery life left. So I hung the like I hung the FaceTime call up and I'm walking back to the car and then I see this. You see they even have like the toys and the little like coins left on their grave still just like in the house.

Keely: Oh. Um I found change in my backpack once we left. 

Jarrett: Yeah. Yeah. There was change in her backpack that wasn't there. She didn't take any coins with her. So we got four minutes left till we can, you know, close this out. Is there anything else you wanted to add? 

Keely: Um just as a random fact while we're here. Um just as a random fact while we're here. um the mother of AA and Lena shortly thereafter gave birth to a son.

Um he was still born. So it's just incredibly tragic and uh I'm I've always felt for them and for them in particular because they weren't supposed to be there.
We were supposed to be in that room either. 

Jarrett: And I know we discussed this briefly, but I think like part of the reason these murders happened in the first place is because they just happened to be there that night. Like they you you want to tell them about you know who you think did it?

Keely: I think it was the reverend um there the church service. I got to wrap this up quickly. I know there was a church service um that night and I think the reverend who was also a pedophile. I don't know if I'm allowed to am I allowed to say that? He was a pedophile and uh he was a known pedophile but he was a transient so not everybody knew and I think he had a thing for Lena. Um the crime scene suggests that there was an attempt at an SA but it didn't happen thankfully. Um but I think she was trying to get her and maybe um SA her and/or kidnap her and he killed the people in the house. Because he wanted to take her and he didn't want someone to fight him. That's my take.

Jarrett: I don't think it was just any act of like sexual violence against a child just because he did he did cover the mirrors which explained this would have been like a superstitious like religious individual such as a pastor. Um, and Reverend Kelly was in town and he given like a you know speech about like sin and stuff and you you said like he did have some like mental health struggles.

Keely: So this who the I read and the things that I've watched he was schizophrenic. Um I don't know if he really was or again if he was a sexual predator maybe he wanted to be. I don't know. 

Jarrett: Yeah, we only have like two minutes left, so we probably should wrap this up, but like Key, thank you so much for helping tell this story. I couldn't have done it without you. You were you're incredible and you

Keely: you're the one who took me there and you're the one who-

Jarrett: You had the idea!

Keely: Yeah, but you're the one who took me there and brought me to the house and protected me from the scary ghost.

Jarrett: Um, you protected me from the scary ghost, too. I'm not going to lie. Um, but yeah, that's pretty much it.

I'll I'll paraphrase all this. I'll I'll write it out. I'll get it in the trip report. But thank you so much for helping get that down. You are amazing and I love you.

Keely: I love you too.

IMAGE DESCRIPTION: Across a Midwestern town square section of a theme park, a tall blue dive coaster with yellow supports rises into the cloudy sky.

UP NEXT: We go from fear of scary ghosts to scary roller coasters! Keely and I cross the stormy heartland of America to go from the friendly, slow small town America life to the rat race of Chicago for Six Flags Great America. I have a score to settle at Maxx Force, Keely wants to go upside-down, the reason you don't let dumb corporate abled people in suits decide how to make your theme park accessible, and the Wrath of Rakshasa rattles my world! She scared the crap out of me, it's my turn to return the favor!