Talk:Villisca axe murders

Needs a lot of work.
Iv'e removed some information about ghosts and who people thought was the killer if someone feels they have to put it back please do it in the alleged haunting section allthough I think that section should be removed alltogether as it's obviously nonsense. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Owain meurig (talk • contribs) 19:40, 5 September 2011 (UTC)

Factually inaccurate all over the place
I too would like the entire "Alleged Haunting" removed. While some may believe the place is haunted there isn't any widely accepted proof that ghosts exist. The suspects need to be completely re-written due to flat out wrong information as do many of the crime scene descriptions. Inspector Winship (talk) 15:11, 27 December 2011 (UTC) This entire page should be deleted. There is nothing of value to be gleaned from it.

Clean-up
I agree that the the "Alleged Haunting" section ought to be removed. It provides no valid information about the crime. Also, the "Tours" subsection is inappropriate. I do, however, disagree with deleting the article. As it stands, it's rubbish, but it can be salvaged. From what I've found, the murder was a tragic event that shocked the community. Its aftermath was complete with investigative missteps and alleged misconduct by people as high as the Iowa Attorney General. The history of this can stand on its own among other articles of unsolved murders.

I have located news references from national newspapers regarding the crime scene, investigation, and the two trials of George Kelley. I will incorporate these, clean up the text, and do what I can to verify other information. I'll locate another location that would be appropriate for the "Alleged haunting" content. Encycloshave (talk) 14:38, 30 January 2012 (UTC)


 * I have moved the sections for the house and the alleged haunting to an article specific to the Moore house, which is a registered historic site. I have tagged the areas that still require citations.
 * As the content for the haunting has been removed, I've also removed the WikiProject Paranormal banner from this talk page. Encycloshave (talk) 03:55, 9 February 2012 (UTC)

John?
I think the article has been improved a lot recently but one thing I'm confused about is in the Henry Lee Moore section he is described as being ex-husband of John's sister, who is John?Owain meurig (talk) 10:14, 22 February 2012 (UTC)


 * Excellent question! I haven't run across that name yet. I would love to get my hands on the court records or the coroner's inquest. I'm not paying for the reprints, and Iowa libraries are a long drive from Washington, D.C. Encycloshave (talk) 20:36, 23 February 2012 (UTC)

Serial killer identity
So, I'm confused: the axe murders in Colorado and in Paola, KS were attributed to Mansfield, to Moore, or to an unidentified killer? This needs to be clarified, as the article presently attributes them to both named men. 63.152.123.127 (talk) 00:35, 6 July 2012 (UTC)

Move discussion in progress
There is a move discussion in progress on Talk:Watts Riots which affects this page. Please participate on that page and not in this talk page section. Thank you. —RMCD bot 04:58, 9 December 2014 (UTC)

Move discussion in progress
There is a move discussion in progress on Talk:Carnation Massacre which affects this page. Please participate on that page and not in this talk page section. Thank you. —RMCD bot 02:00, 13 December 2014 (UTC)

The Man From the Train
Author Bill James has claimed to have solved the Villisca murders, as well as many other murders of families across the United States, in a 2017 book, The Man From the Train. He argues that several signature facts about the murders are shared in dozens of other killings. These include, but are not limited to: that entire families are murdered in their homes by being hit in the head with the blunt end of an axe; the murders take place on the edge of small towns; robbery is not the motive, since money and other valuables are left at the scene and not taken; a young female is among the victims and was sexually assaulted; a lamp is left at the scene without its chimney (shade); the murders take place within close proximity to railways, allowing the killer to flee; the house has its windows covered so people can't see in and the door is wedged shut so that it is difficult to open. The web page should reference the book so that people can read for themselves James's proposed solution to the Villisca murders--as well as dozens of other killings across the country during this time that were committed by the same man.

Waisanhart (talk) 14:36, 1 October 2017 (UTC) Bill Isanhart

Reite and Expansion
Looking over this article, and considering the massive wealth of sources that exists on the murders, this article is underdeveloped and undersourced, and is missing MAJOR pieces of information. There are some points in the article that requires some rewrites so that they meet Wikipiedia's guidelines and standards. In order for everything to be a bit more clear, I will list the following order of sections and subsections the article should be structured as, with explanations as to their content. Hopefully this all helps!

Section: Background- The Background of the area and victims BEFORE the crimes. Section: Murders- Details of the murders themselves. Subsections: Discovery- Discovery of the crime scene. Section: Investigation- Police investigation of the murders. Subsection: Initial Suspects- Detailed entries of suspects that were pointed out during the initial investigation of the murders. Subsection: Proposed Suspects- Detailed entries of suspects that were not pointed out during the initial investigation. Section: Aftermath and Legacy- (Aftermath) The effects and influences the murders have had and their impact on society. Influences the murders have had upon works and popular culture. Subsection: Popular culture- Books, films and other adaptions of the murders can be included, as well as their inspiration, and references in other works. PLEASE NOTE: Popular Culture sub section should NOT be formatted as bullet points.--Paleface Jack (talk) 17:52, 16 December 2019 (UTC)