A Nightmare in Villisca: Investigating the Haunted Axe Murder House

This is about a place known as The Murder House where, in 1912, eight people were murdered, six of them children, and they were murdered with an axe.

The murderer was never found.

One clue was in the fact that there were simliar murders which happened along a railroad track.

The things the investigators noted were doors opening, some EVPs, doors slamming shut and things from a 'spirit box.' There's also a very interesting thing in that the guy who owns the house has noted that negative things seem to follow him from the murder house to his house. This is the same type of thing that has happened on the series about Skinwalker Ranch where, at times, thing of such a nature follow the men working there back to their own homes.

The book goes into the details of the murders and how the killer masturbated while watching one of the young girls he killed. The book also goes into how the house has been opened to tourists, the various men that were suspects in the murders and some lessons for investigators such as don't be vulger when talking to possible spirits in the place you are investigating.

It notes that making out words from EVPs can be very, very hard to do and diminishes their reliability. It covers other techniques they used such as a 'human pendulum'.

It covers the visitor's logbook and the impressions people had when going through the house and a very fascinating idea. Could a house be haunting itself?

The book does a good job going into how the investigation was done, the techniques used and how the reliability of evidence was discussed.

I like the way the investigation was done and the open-mindedness of the investigators who do not automatically say because x has happened it automatically proves a haunting to be real.