Hey everybody welcome back to coal case murder mysteries. I'm your host

Ryan Kraus and today we're descending into the dungeon of humanity once again

for an especially mysterious and vicious massacre that seems to perpetually haunt the collective

psyche of America. The Velizka murders, which occurred in southeastern Iowa all the way back

in June 1912.

The crime occurred inside the home of Josiah and Sarah Moore, who both lost their lives, in addition to their four children and two of the

neighbors kids for a total of eight people bludgeoned to death by an axe in a single event

with no credible witnesses and no damning evidence.

According to police, the crime occurred sometime between 10 p.m. on June 9th

and 5 a.m. on June 10th, with the most likely time for the assault being approximately

midnight. What we know for sure is that at least one man entered the moor home during

this time and managed to murder every person sleeping inside

without waking anyone who was subsequently afforded enough time to call for help, run,

or even make enough noise to be noticed by anybody nearby.

Furthermore, the murder weapon in question is a single axe owned by none other than Josiah Moore.

So, we're going to learn a little bit more about who these people were,

and who might want to kill them,

in addition to entertaining the possibility of a stranger committing a crime of opportunity.

Of course, we'll delve into the psychology of the murders as well,

and how the resulting societal implications mirror the crime perfectly.

Yes, I mean mirror in a literal sense. You see, the mirrors in the

house were covered with bedsheets after the murders. And so were the victim's faces.

...