Person Stabbed at the Villisca Axe Murder House

Have you heard of the Villisca Axe Murder House over in Villisca, IA? This is a house where a family of six and two visiting children were axe-murdered sometime during the night of June 9, 1912. Several suspects have been considered over the years, but this tragedy has never been solved. (Follow these links for historical information and a connected podcast).

The Villisca Axe Murder House has a reputation for being one of the more haunted houses in Iowa. I've never been there, but one of my co-workers traveled across state to walk through it a couple years ago. If you want, you can rent the house for the night and check out the spooks -- and lots of paranormal investigation units do this. Pretty much every night.

There usually aren't too many problems with these groups. But everything changed last night at 12:45 AM when the Montgomery County Sheriff's office received a 911 call from the Villisca Axe Murder House.

It seems that Steven Lauren Jr. of Rhinelander, WI, needed to be taken to a nearby hospital due to severe self-inflicted knife wounds. Laursen was in the house as part of a paranormal investigation group.

Police have already indicated that it doesn't appear to be any signs of foul play related to this incident.