For those of you who believe that the spitting, perverted preacher was responsible for the murders in the Moore house, you may want to check out this article  in the Iowa Independent.  In this article, long-time Villisca historian Ed Epperley actually told the reporter why he believed not only that Kelly was responsible for the Moore and Stillinger murders but that he also believed he was connected to more than 30 other axe murders that occurred between the fall of 1911 and the summer of 1914.

“That would be the Holy Grail, to show Kelly was a serial killer,” says Ed Epperly, a retired Luther College education professor who has studied the murders for 50 years since his own college days at the University of Northern Iowa. Epperly told me he can’t say conclusively that Kelly is the Villisca butcher, but he said, “I’ve been more inclined to Kelly.” Kelly would have been a psychopath,” Epperly said. “He didn’t have empathy for other people.”

The article also suggests that Kelly spent some time in a national mental hospital in Washington, D.C., as well as a facility on Long Island, N.Y., before he died. He is believed to be buried somewhere on Long Island, according to Epperly.

Your thoughts?

If he is buried on Long Island and the location is unknown, I am afriad we will never find the place that he is "resting", there are hundreds of burial locations that have long since been built upon, disappeared, or covered over. I am afriad he is lost in time as it were. :o

I am not so sure it was the perverted Kelly that did the murders. I do strongly believe that he either saw it happen, or was doing his normal peeping tom routine and saw the bodies..went inside and came across Lena Stillinger, who fit his needs for young girls. I believe it was Kelly that covered the bodies, closed the shades, covered the mirrors etc as I do not think he wanted to see himself as he went about his perverted tasks. I also feel he positioned Lena as they found her and was the one that wiped her panties on the axe. Once he did his thing, I am sure he realized he would be thought the murderer and locked the house..gathered his belongings and head out on the 5:30 am train out of Villisca. Having moved the bodies, etc..his shirt would have definitely been bloody, hence why he had it sent to the cleaners. The thought of what he did and the whole tragedy of the murders got to him and he took on the guilt. I could be way of course, but I feel very strongly that he was not the murderer, but that he was he entered the house not long after the murders took place. Just my $0.02 worth.

Sounds plausible enough to me. I too believe Kelly was in the house and he was a little crazy but this was just too much of a stretch for him. How unbelievable though is it that he wandered in and didn't bump into anyone associated with the crime or wasn't seen leaving the house?

Carol,

I would say he either came across as the murder(s) were leaving or shortly there after. I am inclined to think he must have seen something that drew his attention to the house and decided to investigate. A good question is, since he was staying at the minister's house..what time did they all settle in for the night? I know the minister and wife slepted outside under a tent I believe with Kelly staying inside. Now, if they were all still awake at the time of the murders, then they would have noticed Kelly leaving the house for his usual peeping tom adventures. To me, the murders seemed too planned. A person that was not familiar enough with the house, to me, would be taking a heck of a chance of things going terribly wrong. I have always thought the murder(s) were hiding out in the barn. From there, they could watch the house, be hidden from observation while moving to the back door by the house itself. They would be able to see that there were people staying in the blue room and see the coal oil lamps turned down upstairs in the Moore's room. I could go on and on about my theory, but I will save that for later.

Hi Mike,
Kelly was a peeping tom and a very small man as well so I suppose he was fairly good at sneaking around. The NY Times article that the window in the blue room was not locked so I would suppose that's how he got in - but that's assuming the killer or killers locked the doors when they left. I supposed Kelly could have been the one that did that. As a preacher, he may have also believed the soul in the mirror theory which would have prompted him to cover the mirrors? I'm extremely interested in your thoughts - planned meaning you buy the serial killer theory or the Frank Jones theory? Have we met?

Carol,

We have never met or spoken. This house has a real strong pull on me. I have visited the Moore's home several times and have done an overnight. In fact, we are going back there June 20th and I am taking my newly acquired KII meter. Tracia Long, whom I am sure you know, and her friend are joining us. The last overnight, my friend Forrest was playing period songs on the fiddle and that seemed to really cause some positive reactions..lots of interaction with the diving rods and the balls. Forrest is coming along, including my friend Carl, the top rated minstrel banjo player in the US and our Bones player, Kyle. We are gathering at the house about 5:30 pm and having a potluck supper and the boys will play for a while..of course they will do more playing in the house. We are also inviting Darwin and Martha to eat with us and enjoy the music. We do Civil War living history, to include the antebellum period, so we might dress in our period civilian cloths for atmosphere.

Anyway, as I said, the house has a real strong pull on me and I think daily about what happened and how it took place. Not sure if it was FF Jones behind it, but I simply can't believe that it was not a planned out murder.

Additionally, those of us that visit the house together have created a Yahoo Group for the house. If you would like an invite to the Group, let me know.

Hi Mike,
That sounds like fun - I'll have to try and stop down. I'd love to chat with you a little more about the attraction you have to the house. I'm working on compiling information for a book on the paranormal aspects of the house - which has yet to be done and I'm extremely interested in why it affects some people the way it does and how it has actually changed their lives. I haven't seen Tracia in a few years. It'd be good to chat with her again too. Please send me an invite to the group. Have you posted a link on the Links page? If you like, I can post a blog about it for you.

Carol,

No, I have not posted a link to the links page..not exactly sure how to do that. I will send you and e-mail as listed on the Official website with the link. We would sure be happy for you to drop by while we are there for our overnight.

I know many, like Dr. Epperly & the Rundles, believe there is nothing paranormal at all in the house. How they can think that is beyond me, especially after all the time they spent inside the little white house. Living only 2 1/2 hours away, I would love giving tours and giving Darwin a rest. Granted, I by no means have the knowledge he has, but I know enough to give a good tour and talk theory on what might have happened in there. What I would love to do is to get some other experts on the crime and walk thru the house..discussing the known facts and how they fit; trying to piece it together. I will have to send you my detailed theory of what took place that night. I looked at the various groups that have researcehd the activity, to include the evp's..matched the common elements with those of the case facts and developed a very plausible theory. I discussed it with Darwin and he thought it was pretty darn sound. Oh, are the wooden cloths line poles outside the house original to it? They sure look like they could have been.

Mike,
That's an interesting thought - Darwin and I are always looking for new ideas or twists to the tours and I know there are a lot of people who would really just be interested in focusing on the crime itself. I'll have to see what I can come up with - maybe we could do a get together type thing at the house to do something like that. The house grows on you. I haven't spent much time there lately but as busy as Darwin has been, I'm going to do Saturday tours for him this summer. I'd love to read your theory! I'm not sure about the clothes line but yes, they look like they're several feet in the ground. I'll ask Darwin and let you know.

It is my personal belief that Henry Lee Moore commited the murders and commited them alone. I believe he definatley was a serial killer and used the railroad to elude authorities. I went to a discussion sesstion with Dr. Epperly and it seemed that he was starting to change his views of the murders. He did not doubt that Rev. Kelly may had some knowledge of the murder, maybe as a peeping tom, but he felt that Henry Lee Moore could have been cabable of the murders. Here is where I feel my theory fits. Henry Lee Moore worked for the Burlington, Quincy railroad in 1912. Numerous murders took place along this railroad route from Illinois to Colorado, within miles, what a perfect way to elude authorities. On top of that, Dr. Epperly stated that railroad workers in 1912 rode the trains for free with vouchers. They had to sign for them, but no records have been seen with Henry Lee Moore's signature. Dr. Epperly had contacted Burlington, Quincy, but he said that a lot of those records did not exist anymore. To find a voucher placing Henry Lee Moore in Villisca on June 12, 1912 would be a holy grail to solving this crime. I am currently researching the Burlington, Quincy railroad and hope to find something in their records supporting this theory. WWW.ORBSOMAHA.COM