The Welcome to another episode of American Hauntings, the podcast dedicated to the history,

haunting's legends and lore of America's past.

The show is hosted by Cody Beck and Troy Taylor and today we are continuing our third season

which we call Murdered in their beds.

If you're tuning into the podcast for the first time,

we recommend going back to episode 36

and start the new season from there.

It's the first part in the series

and marks the beginning of the transient butcher's

reign of the Midwest of the transient butcher's reign of terror in the Midwest of the early 1900s.

Each episode will not only explore the killer's horrific crimes but will explore the effect

he had on the small railroad towns of the region, especially the town of

Veliska, Iowa.

So turn up the lights, lock all the doors, and prepare yourself for the next installment

of murdered in their beds. You're going to be here. In southwestern Iowa they called it the Summer of Fear. The entire region was on edge.

Years later folks would talk about the horrific things that happened that summer,

from the murders to the terrible storms that wreaked havoc on the landscape.

Damaging winds and violent electrical storms pounded the area in at least a half dozen farm buildings near

Veliska, including two houses in several barns, were destroyed by wind or burned after being hit by

lightning. Several unlucky farmers lost their entire crop of oats and a new house built by John Slack burned to the ground.

But the weather, of course, was not the most prominent topic of conversation that summer.

Everyone was still talking about the murders.

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