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Terror Bites: Bite Sized True Crime

The Axeman of New Orleans: Jazz, Murder, and the Phantom Killer Who Terrorized a City

Terror Bites: Bite Sized True Crime

Audio Cowboy

Unsolved Mysteries, Criminal Cases, Chilling Crime Stories, History, Society & Culture, Suspense, Mystery Podcast, Spooky Stories, Serial Killers, True Crime Podcast, Cold Cases, Bite-sized Crime, Horror Podcast, Kidnappings, Short True Crime Stories, Murders, Documentary, True Crime, Disappearances

5 • 2.3K Ratings

🗓️ 2 July 2025

⏱️ 10 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Between 1918 and 1919, New Orleans fell under the grip of a faceless horror—the Axeman. In this episode of Terror Bites, we dive into one of America’s most mysterious and theatrical serial killers. Victims were butchered in their beds with axes stolen from their own homes. The killer left no clues—only bodies and fear. But it wasn’t just the brutality that shook the city… it was the letter. A typed manifesto from “the hottest hell” claiming anyone playing jazz would be spared. The result? A night where music drowned out death. Was it a lone madman, a mafia message, or something more sinister? Join us as we unravel the blood-soaked legend of the Axeman of New Orleans—and why his tune still haunts the French Quarter today.

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Transcript

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0:00.0

Welcome to Terrorbytes, the True Crime Podcast, where the stories are dark, the laughs are twisted, and the terror, well, it's real.

0:18.6

I'm your host, and this where we dive into the most bizarre, chilling and downright weird

0:24.3

true crime stories you've never heard.

0:27.1

Make sure you're subscribed so you don't miss a single second of the madness.

0:35.3

New Orleans, 1918, a city of jazz and sweat, spirits and secrets.

0:41.3

It pulsed with music and mystery, with every alleyway telling a different story.

0:47.3

Some soaked in rum, others in blood.

0:51.3

But nothing prepared the city for the terror that would seep into its homes,

0:56.9

into its sleep. He didn't come with a face. He came with a weapon and a promise. The Axeman.

1:05.6

Between May 1918 and October 1919, someone or something, terrorized New Orleans in a wave of murders so

1:15.9

vicious, so theatrical, they would echo through history. His victims were ordinary people,

1:24.1

mostly Italian-American grocers, murdered in their beds while they slept.

1:30.0

The killer never used his own weapon.

1:32.7

He always used the victim's own axe or a straight razor.

1:36.7

He never stole valuables.

1:38.7

He never left fingerprints.

1:40.7

He just left blood.

1:43.2

It started with Joseph and Catherine Maggio.

1:46.0

May 23rd, 1918.

1:49.0

Their throats slashed.

1:52.0

Skulls crushed.

1:54.0

The killer had removed a panel from their back door,

...

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