Paranormal Researcher Stabs Himself In Chest At Villisca Ax Murder House

I feel like chiming in with my two cents. I had the opportunity to spend the night at this house a few years ago with a group of friends. I've been interested in the paranormal forever, but not once had I ever experienced anything first hand, no matter where I go or what I tried. I've never even been the kind of person that can feel a chill in the room from an "entity" when everyone else swears they can. But at that house I saw more evidence for paranormal activity than I've ever seen anywhere else. Not a lot mind you, but some. I do believe there is something still with that house.

That said, I remember the guy that runs the house. There might be more than one person, but I just met the one guy. Let me say he is definitely in it for the money. Plain and simple. It's a tourist trap for ghost hunters. He pimps it out to investigators and filmmakers as much as he can. I can bet you he's not at all upset with this extra publicity. Not that the house itself isn't of interest, I'm glad I had the chance to spend the night there once. But he found a way to make money with it and he's milking it for every cent he can, and I'm sure this won't hurt. I can only imagine what it would do for the house if the stabbing victim claims that he was taken over by "something".

originally posted by: mysterioustranger
a reply to: CagliostroTheGreat

Yep. Knives dont stab people...people stab people.....

You are way oversimplifying a not simple matter, at all. Even I know that. And I'm not allowed to know all that much.
But I sure know that.

a reply to: theantediluvian

yes that is the episode I was referring to they also stated they couldn't keep renters in the house for very long. who knows I have my suspicions about the whole ghost hunting madness going around. Can't put my finger on it though. here's a link to the episode it starts at 13:02

I will watch Ghost Adventures a) only when nothing else is on and b) only when I have a special interest in the place...I won't watch just any episode. When I do, it's to see the place, not to see (or hear!) Zak! I DID take him at his word, though, that he had found two former residents who experienced frightening paranormal phenomena. Were these two either not really former residents, just exaggerating for the sake of the program, or did they have real experiences and are just now coming forward?



(Can anyone make this picture come out?) www.quickmeme.com...

Wonder where this picture is from, 'cause that ain't the same axe...'way too new and shiny!

originally posted by: Ensinger23
Why would ANYBODY stab themselves, OFF camera in the middle of nowhere.

That question is best answered with another question...

What kind of person would spend $428 to sleep in a house where an entire family was brutally murdered?

Does anyone know what ever became of Reverend Kelly?

Why was he acquitted when he not only confessed, but told others about the murders before anyone else even knew about it?

At 5:19 a.m. the morning following the murders, the Reverend Lyn George Jacklin Kelly left Villisca on board the westbound number 5 train and allegedly told fellow travelers there were eight dead souls back in Villisca, Iowa — butchered in their beds while they slept, he said — even though the bodies had not yet been discovered.

Kelly had arrived in Villisca for the first time the Sunday morning of the murders and attended a Sunday school performance by the Stillinger girls before departing early Monday. He returned two weeks later, and, posing as a detective, joined a tour of the murder house with a group of investigators. Authorities first became interested in Rev. Kelly a few weeks after the murders after being alerted by recipients of his rambling letters.

Kelly — the son and grandson of English ministers — had suffered a mental breakdown as an adolescent. Since immigrating to America with his wife in 1904, Kelly had preached at Methodist churches across North Dakota, Minnesota, Kansas and Iowa. He’d been assigned as a visiting minister to several small communities north of Villisca, where he developed a reputation for odd behavior. He’d also been convicted of sending obscene material through the mail and had spent time in a mental hospital.

A Grand Jury indicted Kelly for Lena Stillinger’s murder, and he was interrogated throughout the summer of 1917 while in jail awaiting trial. On August 31 at 7 a.m., Kelly signed a confession to the murder, saying God had whispered to him to “suffer the children to come unto me.” Kelly recanted his confession at trial, and his case went to the jury on September 26. The jury deadlocked eleven to one for acquittal. A second jury was immediately empanelled, but acquitted Rev. Kelly in November. No one else has ever been tried for the murders, and the crime remains one of the most horrific, unsolved mass murders in American history.

iowacoldcases.org...

originally posted by: Murgatroid

Does anyone know what ever became of Reverend Kelly?

Why was he acquitted when he not only confessed, but told others about the murders before anyone else even knew about it?

Apparently not, and, I have no idea! www.villiscamovie.com...

Geez! He's not by far even the only one to have confessed! www.villiscaiowa.com...

My daughter asked a question I hadn't thought of: How many times did he allegedly stab himself in the chest? I'm assuming it was once. But I don't see any details anywhere regarding how many wounds there were, where in the chest they were, how deep they were, etc. Not trying to be ghoulish, that just seems like relevant information. Some things would be more difficult for him to do to himself.

Perhaps details are being withheld by the police while they question the other people who were in the house.

Well, the story at the beginning of this thread says "a" wound (singular), but some news stories said he stabbed himself multiple times. www.kcci.com...

a reply to: ikonoklast

Valid question. I actually think multiple shallow wounds would indicate self inflected as opposed to a single grievous wound.

a reply to: CoriSCapnSkip
a reply to: nukedog

News stories definitely seem to disagree on whether it was one or multiple wounds. But it was serious enough that he had to be flown by air ambulance from the first hospital to a second hospital, and Friday afternoon he was still in intensive care at the second hospital. So it doesn't seem to have been minor, although by early Monday morning he was listed in "good condition" and was said to be recovering.

This is according to the radio station that apparently first broke the story and has posted a couple updates (Friday and Monday so far):

Updates from KMA radio (search results on their website)

Interesting story.

a reply to: ikonoklast

Well I mean I think it's self inflected either way but IF, this was something paranormal....

a reply to: nukedog

I at least assume this probably rules out a publicity stunt. The guy must have had some really serious issues of some kind. Maybe we'll hear more.

I saw this house on an episode of Ghost Adventures. It's a trip to think that it could have happened to the crew as they were filming there! Zach, Nick, and Aaron going to town on themselves with knives...creepy.

originally posted by: BadwolfBratton
I saw this house on an episode of Ghost Adventures. It's a trip to think that it could have happened to the crew as they were filming there! Zach, Nick, and Aaron going to town on themselves with knives...creepy.

What Zak did with the axe said to be the original murder weapon was bad enough. He shoulda got it right there!