Haunting Villisca

For some reason, last night I was thinking about the Villisca Axe murders. It is an uncomfortable haunting to think about, because it raises so many questions about loss of innocence, parents helpless to protect the children in their care, and extraordinary evil. There must be a tremendous amount of residual sorrow and inconsolable pain in that house. I've listened to EVP's taped in the house in which you can clearly hear the murderers laughing about the crimes they have committed and are about to commit, and the children whispering as they hide from the murderers, whom they know will be coming up the stairs to kill them next. It's bone-chillingly horrifying.

This morning as I began my initial research, I discovered a full-length feature film on the topic of the Villisca murders has been produced and was being shown yesterday, the same day I felt compelled to think about it. Is there a connection? I've had many experiences that carried a sense of serendipity with them and believe that ideas, once tossed out into the universe, bounce around and are picked up by others, so that people seemingly completely unconnected may find themselves thinking on the same things.

Here's what I found. Please click on the link under the title of this post and you will be able to learn more about the film, the documentary of the making of the film and when it may become available for viewing. It has won the "Silver Eddy" award at the Cedar Rapids Indpendent Film Festival.

Inspired by the unsolved 1912 Villisca Axe Murders and the present day paranormal investigations of the J.B. Moore Home, Haunting Villisca was shot on location at the crime scene and at the historic Montgomery County Courthouse where the trials took place, as well as in several other Iowa locations.

Haunting Villisca features well-known Hollywood actor, GregAlan Williams (Remember the Titans, Be Cool, Old School, In the Line of Fire, The Sopranos, The West Wing) and actors Michael Cornelison (Lost in America, Eliot Ness: An Untouchable Life, The Final Season ) and James Serpento (White Boyz, Iowa, The Final Season, Duck Farm Number 13) in addition to many other actors who now reside in the Midwest.

The award-winning behind-the-scenes documentary, A Ghost of Chance: The Making of Haunting Villisca, by Jill Jones, Elizabeth Hixenbaugh and Kaitlyn Busbee, three college film students known as JEK Films, will also screen on Sunday April 27 at noon in Reunion Hall.

A Ghost of a Chance follows the process of making Haunting Villisca and features interviews with cast, crew, filmmakers, and historian Roy Marshall, writer of the book, Villisca. The documentary also chronicles an overnight stay in the infamous Villisca Axe Murder House and evidence of paranormal activity in the Moore Home, including video footage and E.V.P.s ("ghost voice" recordings known as Electronic Voice Phenomenons) by the paranormal investigations group, P.R.I.S.M.

I share this information with you now, as I don't want to delay getting the word out about this movie. If anyone has seen it, please post a comment and let us know what you thought of it.