Somebody Murdered in Every Bed, Part ll

The Haunting

Villisca Axe Murder House

One of the earliest recorded witness accounts of the haunting in the Villisca Axe Murder House was in the early 1930s. Newlyweds Homer and Bonnie Ritner rented the property. Bonnie complained to her husband that she saw a male apparition standing at the foot of their bed in the middle of the night.

She also told Homer that she heard unexplained footsteps throughout the house. Curious, Homer checked and found out the history of the home--the Ritners moved out shortly after he was told about the murders.

Later the Geeseman family purchased the home. It is said John Geeseman refused to sleep in the home. He instead fixed a bedroom for himself in the barn.

One family that stayed with the Geesemans saw a door between the parlor and patio swing open on its own. They got up several times to close it but each time it swung open again. A neighbor later reported seeing this family quickly leaving the house in the middle of the night they were still wearing their nightclothes.

In the 1960s and 70s the Villisca State Bank owned the house. They leased it out. One family’s children who rented it heard children crying during the night. They also would awaken to find their clothes out of their dressers and scattered across the floor.

At first their parents did not believe them but when a knife the father was using flew from his hand and stabbed him in the palm the family packed up and left.

One first hand account was told to me recently. A friend and her husband who grew up in Iowa took their children back to visit family. Since their children are teenagers they agreed to visit and tour the Villisca house.

My friend was not expecting anything to happen but while in the house she got a heavy feeling that she couldn’t shake for days afterwards.

When she told me about her experience I told her that she could be a sensitive and that in future it would be best to protect herself before and then afterwards-- she should take a shower immediately to shake off any negative energy that she might pick up.

When her family returned home they inspected the photographs they took in the house. Several have a white light anomaly that is directly above or close by my friend.

You can read about these murders in Somebody Murdered in Every Bed, Part l, here.

The following is a video the Travel Channel did about the hauntings at the Villisca Murder Axe House.