Due to the graphic nature of this killer's crimes, listener discretion is advised.

This episode includes discussions of violence and murder that some people may find offensive.

We advise extreme caution for children under 13.

On the night of March 19, 1919, New Orleans was flooded with music.

Cafes, dance halls, and even living rooms across the city were packed with people.

Jazz and laughter leaped from doorways and open windows.

The strong thrum of bass and the twang of banjos mixed with buzzing cicadas in the night air.

But while venues everywhere were at capacity, the streets were empty.

No one dared walk New Orleans cobblestone lanes alone.

Instead, they stayed inside, seeking shelter among the crowds and the music.

There they danced not out of joy, but to ward off an evil spirit that stalked the streets.

They called him the axe man, but he described himself as a

fell demon from hottest hell, and he'd written to the papers just days before with a proposition.

On Tuesday, as he passed over the city, any home with a jazz band in full swing would be spared

his bloody axe. The city heated his request.

That night, the people of New Orleans danced for their lives.

They spent hours swinging and driving to a band that never stopped.

They danced until their feet ached, and then they danced some more,

swaying from exhaustion until the early morning hours,

hoping the jazz-loving demon would be satisfied.

When dawn broke, they found New Orleans had been spared.

Not a single life was taken that night.

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