In June 1912, someone entered the Moore home in Villisca, Iowa, took the family’s own axe, and killed Josiah and Sarah, their four children, and two visiting Stillinger sisters as they slept. The doors were locked from the inside, faces and mirrors were covered, a lamp was turned low—and before investigators could secure the house, the town had already trampled through the scene.

In this Time and Tales episode walks through the Moores’ last Sunday, the chaotic investigation, and the main suspects before widening the frame to The Man from the Train, where Bill James and Rachel McCarthy James argue Villisca was part of a rail-linked series of family axe murders—and name a likely offender: a German immigrant named Paul Mueller, who may have killed dozens across North America.

**This one was a quick one! Look forward to a return to our usual format next week.

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Links

• Intro Music by Randy Lee Riviere
• Time and Tales Pod IG
• Patreon

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Sources

• “Villisca Axe Murders,” Iowa legislative brief; Villisca Axe Murder House historical overview.
• Mike Dash, “The Ax Murderer Who Got Away,” Smithsonian Magazine (2012).
• The Man from the Train (2017), Bill James & Rachel McCarthy James; “The Man from the Train” and “Billy the Axeman” entries (overview of the pattern, Paul Mueller theory, estimated victim count).

A king who helped write the script for Salem. In this Time & Tales dark history episode, we go back to 1590s Scotland, where James VI—later James I of England—personally questioned accused “witch” Agnes Sampson, convinced that storms against his marriage voyage were assassination attempts raised by the Devil. From the North Berwick witch trials to his demonological handbook Daemonologie and the 1604 Witchcraft Act, we trace how one monarch’s fear turned into statute, culture, and a theological blueprint that framed witch-hunting as godly duty.

*This episode may supply a few controversial opinions-- to clarify, James' historically agreed-upon sexuality is not a crime. His treatment of individuals of similar sexuality, however, we find to be egregiously unjust. Additionally, we are not aiming to offend anyone's religion. Our views are not reflective of any group, merely a reflection on the actions of a few during this time period. Sources are listed for your further reading and ultimate judgment.

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Sources & Further Reading

Primary & Contemporary Texts

• James VI/I — Daemonologie (1597)
• Newes from Scotland (1591) — pamphlet on the North Berwick trials
• Thomas Potts — The Wonderfull Discoverie of Witches in the Countie of Lancaster (1613)
• Matthew Hopkins — The Discovery of Witches (1647)
• Cotton Mather — Wonders of the Invisible World (1693)
• Increase Mather — Cases of Conscience Concerning Evil Spirits (1693)

Statutes & Legal Context

• Witchcraft Act of 1604 (1 Jac. I c.12)
• Records of Scottish witchcraft prosecutions (North Berwick and beyond)
• Massachusetts Body of Liberties (1641) — witchcraft / “familiar spirit” clause
• Library of Congress — Salem legal framework and the end of spectral evidence

James’s Court & Sexuality (Context)

• G. P. V. Akrigg (ed.) — Letters of King James VI & I
• David M. Bergeron — King James and Letters of Homoerotic Desire
• Michael B. Young — “James VI and I: Time for a Reconsideration?” Journal of British Studies

Secondary & Synthesis

• National Archives (UK) — Hopkins and Pendle trial materials
• National Library of Scotland — facsimiles of Newes from Scotland
• Encyclopaedia Britannica — entries on Daemonologie, Matthew Hopkins, and the King James Bible
• Stuart Clark — Thinking with Demons
• Lyndal Roper — Witch Craze
• Malcolm Gaskill — Witchfinders
• Marion Gibson — Witchcraft: The Evidence

A “shortcut” that turned into a death sentence. In this Time & Tales dark history episode, we follow the Donner Party into the Sierra Nevada winter of 1846–47: from hopeful departure on the California Trail to the fatal choice to take Lansford Hastings’ cutoff, ignoring Shoshone and Paiute warnings about the Wasatch and the Great Salt Lake Desert—lost weeks that became lost lives once early snows sealed the pass and families at Truckee Lake and Alder Creek turned from boiled hides to cannibalism to survive.

Joined by author K.M. West, we strip away the textbook version and look at what the record actually shows about hunger, choice, and how this story was told.

* KM West Socials

*KM West Book Link

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Sources & Further Reading

• William O. Fallon — April 1847 diary (Fourth Relief; Keseberg encounter). Donner Party Diary
• Forlorn Hope survivor accounts — diaries, statements, and early interviews compiled in Donner Party document collections. Wikipedia
• Daniel James Brown — The Indifferent Stars Above: The Harrowing Saga of a Donner Party Bride. Amazon
• Michael Wallis — The Best Land Under Heaven: The Donner Party in the Age of Manifest Destiny. National Geographic
• An Archaeology of Desperation: Exploring the Donner Party’s Alder Creek Camp; Truckee / Donner Summit historical & archaeological reports Truckee-Donner Historical Society