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I have been listening to the Martha's Vineyard Beach and Book Club, which actually Elena recommended to me.
She did not listen to it, but she said, girl, this title sounds so you.
And let me tell you, it did. I've been listening to it while I walk and I am absolutely loving it.
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Hey weirdos, I'm Melaina. I am Ash. And this is Morbid.
Creepy music. Who am I? I was born ready.
Let's have a chit chat. We're not in the pod lab. tonight oh yeah that's why i'm feeling wild and cry cry yeah we're feeling fancy free because we're in the living room where this couch is and it's not walters Helter swelter.
Swelter skelter. Swelter skelter, correct.
You forgot your own catchphrase. I don't know what's happening. well and what's upsetting is we're not going to have that chance of you falling out of the recliner honestly I could probably fall out of this chair too Will it make as good a noise, though, as the recliner hitting the floor?
I'll make a good noise. You know what? I believe you can always count on a good fat kid.
No, I believe in you. I liked your other one during Ted Bundy.
It was like, I was like a weird dog. It was me who let the dogs out of my own diaphragm.
I'm like cracking you up. I'm, like, crying.
I don't know why. I know. I really don't make you laugh this hard.
I know. I think it's because, uh... I'm going crazy because we, as you know, are transitioning the girls into toddler beds.
And for anyone listening who has young children.
I urge you not to do that. I got so much free birth control today.
It's wild. Like, just... Keep them in a crib.
I'm going to be abstinent for the next 30 years.
Until they're like 16 years old. Just keep them in a crib.
I'm telling you, they need to stay in cribs.
And it's upsetting that we made this choice, but we're here now.
Yeah, they're wildin'. So we need to live with it, but...
Basically, it's like having newborns again, but like they can say things to you. now and yell at you i also got punched in the face by a two-year-old today yeah It's not a good, like, terrible twos are a thing, guys.
Yeah, terrible twos are a thing. But anyway, it's not a parenting podcast.
No. Sorry. But that's why I'm laughing so hard at Ash, because she's clearly not funny.
So that's the reason I thought I'd go do something.
So my husband and I were just in our room last night getting ready to go to bed. and we have an air conditioner in their window so you know you can like hear the outside world a little better and all of a sudden Out of the blue, we hear this screeching, screaming sound directly outside our window.
And it sounded for a brief second like a screaming child.
But... John and I looked at each other like dead ass, just stared each other in the face the entire time it was happening.
So we're, clearly really good in these situations if it was a human because we would just stare at each other until they died That's good.
But then we realized it was definitely an animal.
And I'm pretty sure it was a bunny because I know...
That bunnies are known to like when they're being attacked or they're scared or anything they scream and usually and people say they sound like a woman or a child screaming and this thing sounded like that And now I'm really upset and I'm sad and I hate that I heard it because then I googled bunny sounds.
What? well because I wanted to make sure I didn't hear something like really crazy really morbid except it really was morbid yeah colon a true crime podcast but yeah so that's something i'm living with and now all of you are living with it too so You're welcome.
You're welcome. Aw, do you know who I want to shout out today?
Who? Your friend. My friend? Yeah, Deborah.
Deborah! Because she said that I made her laugh.
And she doesn't like true crime, but she listens to our podcast, and she said it's weirdly calming to her, which, like, Deb, I got news for you.
You're a true crime fan now. It's true.
And Deb and I have been friends since we were like, I don't even know how old.
Debbie, how old are we? I don't remember.
I don't know. We were really young. I was probably not alive.
Like junior high. We were young. I was alive.
Yeah, you were alive. I've known her. I've known her even before we were friends.
She is definitely not a true crime fan per se, but she is an amazing best friend because she supports the podcast regardless. and she actually listens to it by association exactly and she And she actually listens to it.
I know it because at first I was like, are you just being a really good friend and telling me that you listen?
And maybe just subscribing just to like give me my numbers.
But then she gives me little like tidbits that I was like, girl, you listen to the podcast.
She named times when I made her laugh. I appreciate her.
And speaking of Debbie. Oh yeah, this is a fun story where we could have died today.
Okay, so I'm just gonna set the scene for you.
Two mothers, me and Annie, are leaving a park with Three children?
Yes, there were three. Good thing I was there.
Anyways, this woman literally just walks up to us, like...
No hello or anything. And let me just preface this by saying we live in a very nice, sleepy little town that everybody's kind of just like... waves to you but they do exactly but they all wave to each other like neighbors when you're in like we're in like a nice little neighborhood where neighbors wave at each other And they look out for each other.
So if anybody's thinking of trying to murder someone on my street, we all look out for each other.
So. If you've ever seen Gilmore Girls, our neighborhood slash town is literally Stars Hollow.
Yeah, it's a little bit like Stars Hollow.
A lot of it. Yeah. But anyways, so this woman walks over to us with her cute dog and she has like this like container.
And she's like, you guys want some snap peas?
And all of us just reached in without questioning and ate a snap pea.
She was like, these are from my garden. They're fresh from my garden.
And we were like, that's legit. and we just ate them without questioning anything and she was like my name's Marcy I live down the street where do you guys live and we all told her where we lived Like, our actual streets.
We, I mean, that's like against everything I've ever stood for.
I took food from a stranger and told her where I lived.
Yeah. And told her my name. Same. Like, what?
Yeah. Have I learned nothing? Yeah, we've learned nothing from ourselves.
So if we do turn up missing dead... tortured, something like that, it was Marcy with snap peas from her garden.
But, like, Marcy, if you're listening, thanks for the snap piece, because this shit was good.
You know what? If we live through this, Marcy girl...
Well done. Well done growing them snappies.
Not only did I have one, I had a couple.
Like, I reached back in. Oh, I reached in and had another one of them. got nothing of it.
Nope. Until, like, later on when we got home, I was like, I just took food from a stranger.
Yeah, as soon as I got home, I was like, wow.
Yeah. That was risky. Risky behavior. That's like the most like, I can't, I just, wow.
That's us raging against our own safety. yeah so that's that's our updates for today here you go and now we bring to you It was so loud.
Oh my god. That even scared me. Sleeping children here.
Whoa. That was legitimately so loud. Are you alright?
Bada bow! Basically that bada bow was for...
The Axeman. The Axeman of New Orleans. New Orleans.
We're so good at jazz. Yeah, they scat. Like scat.
I'm jazz. chicks and cats and the cats and you dig that's all jazz boogie man boogie man so yeah The Axeman of New Orleans.
I'm like very itchy. It's probably that giant bug that landed on you earlier.
No, like I'm dead serious. I think it farted on me.
And they like farted itchy gas all over me.
That's usually how it works. It's science actually.
I think that's just biology for sure. It was so big and it like buzzed in my ear and then I swatted it away and I swear to you it was like the size of a bat.
This is why I hate summer. Fuck summer. Like, fall.
Get here. We're waiting for you. Oh my god, I need you.
Ugh. Except I really just wish that you could skip over September.
I don't mind September. Wake me up when September ends.
And it's October. I mean, alright, Billy Joe.
That's how I feel, though. But I don't mind September because as soon as September 1st comes, I'm like...
Get those pumpkins in here. Let's make some pies.
I don't care if it's 100 degrees. I would Billy Joe at 400% and just sleep through all of it.
Remember to wake up on October 1st in a fucking coffin and be like, I'm a witch, bitch.
Now October is my favorite. but it goes so fast that I need September as my like pre-October September is my pre-October and I actually made that up last year.
Thank you. Did you? Yeah. Oh, I didn't even know that.
Yeah. Oh. I did. Wow. Must have stored that in the back of my head.
I don't refer to September as September.
I refer to it as pre-October. Well, and that's why I like it.
Because you get, like, an extra month of October.
Yeah. Transition. I think that I'm actually going to rewatch Coven in October.
Ooh, yeah. AHS. That's a good idea. American Horror Story.
Love it. Blood. And actually, that is a nice little segue into the Axeman of Nolans. because tell me well anybody who watches american horror story might be like Huh.
Hmm. We talking about that Axeman of New Orleans?
You don't know what, buddies? We are. We are indeed.
So we're taking it way back. To 1911? Nope.
Bye. We are taking it way back to 1918.
So the Axeman murders were a series of brutal crimes that occurred in New Orleans.
With an axe. Yeah. They started back in May 1918, and they ended around October 1919.
Damn. So it was about 18 months, like, ish.
Okay. You know, like a year and a half-ish.
Yeah, don't worry about those parents. They're 18 months old.
Well, that's, you know, I don't know. It's like they lasted a little over a year.
Now, like we mentioned before, you may remember this from American Horror Story Coven.
It was a fictionalized version of it. It was good, though.
They had true parts of it, but it was obviously fiction because the show... you know, identified the murderer.
Right. And in real life, no one has ever been identified for these crimes.
Unsolved mysteries with Elena and Ash. whoop so I'm gonna start this out with a few little tidbits about what New Orleans was like in this time period because nineteen 2018 is like, you know, it's like a minute ago.
So, like, you guys might not remember it.
I remember it. fully i mean we remember it but you guys might not i don't want to expect everybody to remember 1918
This was the last year of World War I. About a month before the killings began in April 1918, There was a big screening at the Barone Street Strand Theater, and it was of Charlie Chaplin's new film, A Dog's Life.
Which sounds like a Pixar movie. It does.
It actually might be a Pixar movie, isn't it?
Isn't there one that's like dogs at home and you get to see what they do?
I don't know. Oh shit, maybe that is a dog's eye.
I feel like it is. I think like Louis C.K. was a voice of it and he's like a dick now.
That's horrible. And in the beginning, when everybody liked Lucy Kay, people were like, that's a good reason to go see that movie.
And now everybody's like, that's a good reason to burn that movie.
Yeah. So... Yeah, and this kind of just shows you where we're at here, that it was like a big screening of Charlie Chaplin's movie.
Charlie Chaplin. It was exciting and kind of spooky because Charlie Chaplin himself actually showed up to see the completed film for the first time.
So that's kind of cool. So he was hanging around New Orleans right before this whole slaughter began, like the month before.
Wow. Which is kind of weird. Imagine if he got slaughtered.
That's what I'm saying. It must be so weird.
I also just said slotty. I mean, imagine if he even got slaughtered.
Like, whoa. Like, I can't even think of him being slotted.
So during this time, there was also this really fun thing, a flu epidemic broke out.
That's always fun. During the killings in the fall of 1918, there was about a 12-week stretch or so where New Orleans was literally the epicenter for another killing machine.
Spanish influenza. Oh. During this time, it was literally like spreading around the globe.
There's estimates that nearly 50 million people contracted it fatally. which is bananas.
Uh, it mainly started out in us military camps and over in Europe.
The first reported case was in October 1918 in a military encampment on the campus of Tulane University.
They tried to quarantine everybody. Didn't work.
So. Once it hit, schools closed, theaters, concerts, all the places closed.
They canceled things. Businesses went on weird, staggered schedules.
They didn't want to overcrowd streetcars because, you know, people breathing on each other.
That shit will spread like wildfire. That's always gross anyways.
I know, right? You ever take the tea for anything?
Ugh. The worst. Yeah. I mean, you gotta do what you gotta do, but man, you see some shit on the tea.
Oh yeah, I used to commute into Boston for like...
Like, every single day. And I would be on the T for, like, at least four hours a day.
Let me tell you the amount of shit I've seen.
I've seen things. And I've definitely contracted some weird... like colds and shit i didn't know where you were gonna go with that i contracted some disease i was like why are you sitting on my couch So there was some early attempts at vaccines because this was, you know, this was a minute ago.
A minute. But unfortunately it all failed.
Bummer. So stores actually ended up like passing their products out the doors to Like they wouldn't have people come in.
They just pass it to them outside, which is kind of smart.
I'm like, let's just do that now. Why are we all going in places?
Restaurants were empty. Everywhere was kind of a ghost town for a while.
Even public gatherings ended up being banned.
So they really didn't want people gathering and spreading this around.
Not that it worked. So the city itself, New Orleans had a high death rate in a whole nother round of the flu that hit in the fall of 1919.
Yeah. which is when the Axeman ended his reign.
Okay. Which is kind of weird. Maybe he got the flu.
Maybe he is the flu. i mean who's to say i had to think about that for a second it's late who's to say really are you the flu I've met some people that might be the human embodiment of the flu.
I'm pretty sure the human embodiment of the flu is running the country right now.
Yeah, that's all. And I say running very loosely.
It's like just hanging out in the White House.
So moving on. But my thought, I'm like, hmm, I wonder if he succumbed to the flu.
Oh, yeah. Because it is kind of weird that, you know.
I don't remember if I just said that or not, but I thought it.
Yeah. You didn't. I didn't? Or maybe you did.
Did I? I don't know. Who are you? Whoa. What's this podcast?
I don't know. I might be the X-Men. Do you like jazz?
Yeah, it's late, guys. And I'm distracted right now because Anderson Cooper is on the screen.
I was going to mention it, but then I was like, I need to stop mentioning the TV.
But I love Anderson Cooper. He's so handsome. handsome he is can i just say that his eyes are so blue so blue and the tie brings it out blow so blow anyway can i just say that i really want him and andy cohen to be together I also endorse that.
I support that. I'm gonna campaign for that.
I'm gonna wear a button. Hell yeah. I'm going to get a bumper sticker.
I'll make cold calls. I don't know who I have to call for it, but I'll call them.
Bravo. He is Bravo. Yeah. Bravo. No, I really hope they're together.
But the Axeman, though. So back to the Axeman.
Cool. Wow. That was a weird detour we just made.
So back to the murder and mayhem. So in the end of all this craziness, we don't know if he contracted the flu and died, but it is weird that he stopped his shit when the flu stopped.
So in the end, the city of New Orleans had one of the highest death rates in the country.
About 4,000 people died of the flu and other related shit like pneumonia.
Holy shit, 4,000? Yeah. Just in the city of New Orleans.
That's wild. And a lot of them were young and healthy.
New Orleans is a pretty big city, right?
This wasn't even just like old people. Yeah.
I've never been there. Yeah. I haven't either, but it's on my bucket list.
Oh my god, me too. So, and a fun little fact.
This is just a nerdy science fact that was interesting to me.
While bacterial infections were pretty understood by 1918, viruses weren't.
So attempts at vaccines were kind of, like, futile at this point.
So it's just kind of interesting that they had, like, bacteria on Locke.
Yeah. But viruses, they were like... It's tougher.
You're wily. Wily viruses. So that's just a little interesting tidbit about 1918.
Fine. Back to murder. So the murders happened over a period of about 18 months, like I said.
In total, there were 12 attacks and six confirmed deaths.
So, you know, that's not a great scorecard for him.
No. It's a great scorecard for... victims, but it's not a great scorecard.
Yeah, the victims have the better scorecard in this.
I mean, you don't want to be only shooting to win 50% of the time.
Yeah, when I was cheating off your notes I was unimpressed.
Yeah, right? It's more entertaining than anything else.
Yeah, right? So, I mean, that's what, but his attacks were like, you know, pretty. consistent because he had almost one attack a month at that rate right you know what i mean so that's pretty high volume i can't wait for the part when we get to his letter Yes.
It's my favorite. Don't spoil it. Barrel through.
So, he became known as, like, the boogeyman.
Because he had a penchant for creeping into your house at night like an asshole.
She wrote that in her notes. Literally in my notes, because fuck this guy.
And he would murder people in their beds.
Which is just so rude. So, yeah, he was prone to attacking people at the most vulnerable time, which is just douchey.
It almost sounds... Not completely, but like the Golden State Killer.
Yeah, it's like these little, yeah, the assholes who do that, I'm like, yeah.
Just get out of here. What a big scary monster you are.
Yeah, you're sneaking into my room. When people are unconscious and can't, yeah.
High key, my biggest fear, though. Oh, 100%.
But it's just, like, I just think it's really douchey.
I am a window walker. Oh, yeah. Like, I think we talked about this in the last podcast.
Yeah, we did. Locker room. lock all your windows because you know what what did we say fresh air is for dead people elena said that i thought it was weird maybe we'll put it on wear it on a button Learn it, live it, love it.
Oh, that's like from Jawbreaker. I was really hoping you would say that last one in unison with me, like in the movie.
I thought we were having like a mind meld moment for a second, but you didn't.
Bye. And now I feel alone on an island. Isn't it different though?
She says, does she say learn it, live it, love it? learn it live it and then they both go love it yeah you're welcome you're welcome thank you Violet.
Thank you. Love you. Okay. Violet. It's Violet.
I want to watch that movie. Watch that movie if you've never seen it.
Rose McGowan, swoon, swoon, swoon. God, I love Rose McGowan.
That is her best film. I love her. And I love her in that movie.
Oh my god, yes. Like, love her. Love her.
Love her. Love it. So. So to this day, no one has cracked the Axeman of New Orleans case.
His identity remains a mystery, which is kind of crazy.
Some people... Even think he was some kind of supernatural jerk who came to this earthly plane just to stir up some shit.
Like a demon? Yeah. Yeah, which is like a bummer, to say the least.
I think we should cover some paranormal shit.
Oh, we're for sure going to. Okay, cool.
But if this is true, then that would mean that not only do we have to worry about fellow shitty human beings being the worst but now any spirit with like a rage issue can just come chop us all up on a whim They probably could though already.
Like I'm hoping they don't. Like I'm hoping this is not that.
Me too because my house is hella haunted.
Yeah. And we'll definitely cover that because it was my house growing up.
We should just cover our house in one episode.
We really will. So not only was he a huge turd for taking people out when they didn't even see him coming, but he didn't even bring his own shit.
Oh yeah, didn't he take other people's axes?
Yeah, he used other people's tools and axes to kill them with.
Which, I have a valid motherfucking question.
What? Why didn't they just start putting their axes elsewhere other than like outside and like in their barns or whatever?
Well, because he also started using other shit.
Yeah, I mean... Like, he would kind of use what he saw.
But mostly axes, right? Mostly axes and, like... you know, hatchets and stuff.
But like a lot of these people used axes to chop wood and shit.
Well, just screw the wood for a few months.
And where are you going to put it where you can't find it?
Get rid of it. Forever. You don't need an axe.
No, you need it. The only way to, like, heat your house is chop wood for a fire.
Just buy it from some dude. No, it was 1918, man.
I know. There wasn't, like, you know, log dealers.
I would just have a lot of blankets. You know all those log dealers that are around everywhere now?
There wasn't those just floating around back then.
I would get really crafty and start making blankets.
Then you would be flourishing in this time.
I would. I'd flourish anywhere. You would not flourish in this time.
No, I'd be a flapper. You would flourish in the 70s, like we said.
But I still probably would succumb to Charlie Manson's.
100%. You would flourish for a while and then...
Then you'd blaze out in a flame of glory with Charlie Manson.
No, I really would have flourished in the 70s.
No, you really would. But not in 1918. No.
You wouldn't. Was that Prohibition? No.
Oh. It's the 20s. Prohibition wouldn't have worked out for me.
No, it wouldn't have. So to make it worse, he not only took their own shit to kill them with, he would just leave it there afterwards.
That's lazy. Yeah, that's lazy as fuck. And they didn't have fingerprinting back then, or they did?
It was a thing, but it wasn't like... The first.
Yeah, it wasn't like everybody did that the first thing and it wasn't entirely like, you know, it obviously isn't what it is today.
But it was a thing. But I guess it just wasn't something that they were really...
They never thought to get any fingerprints.
They might have, but again, this is 1918, so a lot of the records are not exactly clear.
They might have, but... Didn't work out.
At the same time, it's not like they had like APHIS that we have now where you can just plug them into a computer.
And it brings up everybody. In 1918, they were like, well, we have these fingerprints.
I like to picture like this jazzy mofo popping up on a computer with like a... pinstripe suit and like a nice hat like a zoot suit like he has a cigar in his shot like that's what he looks like well there is a description of him later so maybe it'll fit okay but so yeah uh he really loved axes like we said but he also had a fondness for taking a straight razor to his victim's throats for some sweeney todd realness so that's cool yeah that's very you know musical theater of him Often, to get into the home, he would chisel...
Like a bottom panel of a door open. Which is bizarre and weird.
How he fit through there. Well, it's even weirder because if you, so you have to think of like, you know, how a door has those different panels.
Like, you know what I mean? Like little rectangles.
Yeah. those are usually usually thinner wood so what he would do is take like a chisel to literally chisel out those thinner that thinner part but again thinking of that that's a very small piece Well, if you look online, there's pictures of a couple of these crime scenes, like the doors.
They're very small holes that he was making.
So he must have been a thin guy. Well, even a thin guy, I don't even think that would work.
Do you think that he reached his hand up Well, that's what I think is that he was reaching up to unlock the door, which means he could have been an even bigger guy because he probably needs a long arm to do that.
Right. But he would also, I don't even think he would bring his own chisel.
So apparently chisels were like rakes and everyone just like fucking had a chisel hanging out outside.
Remind me what a chisel is. A chisel is like the thing where you take something and hit it to chisel something.
Like you chisel ice with it. So how do you not hear somebody?
I like how I'm telling you what a chisel is by saying the word chisel over and over again.
You're like, you know, a chisel is a chisel.
It's a chisel where you, you know, it's a thing where you chisel.
Oh, chisel. You know. But wouldn't people hear him breaking in, like, our chisels loud?
Well, that's what I, I mean, kind of, but, like, it's not like it's electric or something, you know what I mean?
Like, it's just somebody, like, slowly doing it, and if he kind of painstakingly did it, I hear every freaking sound at night.
Yeah, see, I'm gonna... My AC changes, like, some tempo sometimes, and I wake up and listen.
Wow. Oh. That's crazy. You're a light sleeper.
Yeah, I don't know if I would hear the chisel, but You know?
I don't know. It's 2018, so I feel like better ways.
So... He didn't just come after anyone, it seemed.
He was mostly hitting Italian Americans, and they usually were...
They were usually owners of businesses or stores or grocers. that is possibly the most specific victim profile I've ever come across.
Like an Italian American who owns a grocery or store of some sort.
Right. And it's like, what the fuck are you doing killing off Italians?
They make amazing food. Yeah. Like what are you doing?
And you're killing the grocers? Like Italians are vital.
Like, let's just be real. And especially back then.
Like, what are you doing getting rid of grocers?
Yeah, and I bet they made good wine, too.
Yeah. Italians make great wine. It's just weird.
It's very weird and racist. Yeah, hella racist.
And just very odd. So he also didn't really discriminate when it came to gender or age.
That was one thing he did not, he was not particular about.
His victims included women and children.
There is some speculation about whether his killing spree began Earlier than 1918.
But it's been, like, highly debated. Because in 1911.
This is back in 1911. See, I knew I had somewhere with that.
Similar attacks occurred on Italian Americans in 1911.
Some believe that the Axeman was just a respectable citizen of New Orleans with a weird Jekyll and Hyde personality that comes out sometimes and that's why they were like maybe he did this in 2011 was able to go back to normal life and then Come back again and do it.
Did you just say 2011? 1911, excuse me. You definitely just said it.
I definitely did. Maybe he did this in 2011 because he's in the future.
I mean maybe he is a supernatural being and he's doing it in 2011 I don't know don't say that I don't know I don't know his life I don't either so you do know his life though you have like 10 pages of research about it I do know a lot of his life so John D'Antonio, a detective from the time that the Axeman attacks were happening... he believed this person's alter ego could lie dormant for months or years, which would make it so that the 1911 attacks were him as well.
He allegedly stated that the attacker may have been, like I said, a respectable law-abiding citizen when his normal self, compelled by an impulse to kill... must obey that urge so he was thinking like it's got to be this this dude that can literally shut it off and but when it comes it comes and he's got to go he's just gotta go but he can shut it right off which i mean we have seen this happen with like btk is a perfect example btk stopped for like like 30 years or something like that wild and then all of a sudden decided he wanted to start again And when he came back, he said he was starting... Like, we'll do BTK, even though I fucking hate BTK. and he when he came back he said he started trolling again like he felt the need again and he started watching people he had to like people written down that he wanted to hit like Like he was ready to begin the whole fucking thing over again.
And he had stopped for 30 fucking years.
Yeah. I'm pretty sure it was like 30 years.
It was a long time. So, I mean, it does happen.
It's not crazy. So let's get... To the victims.
So. That was very jazzy for the victims.
I'm being jazzy because he's jazzy. I know honestly we haven't even introduced why he's jazzy yet so people are probably like why are you guys being so jazzy But we'll get to it.
Trust me. This guy's jazzy as fuck. Just trust us.
Jazzy and snazzy. I mean, he's jazzy. I don't know about snazzy.
I wanted to say it. So, the first known victims, beginning in the... I almost said 2018.
It was not the 2000s. Beginning in the 1918 attacks... were Joseph and Catherine Maggio.
This was on May 23, 1918. The location was 4901 Magnolia Street.
They were a husband and wife. They were just sleeping in bed.
They lived in an apartment above the grocery store that they owned.
And they were Italian-Americans. The bottom panel of the kitchen door was knocked out with a chisel, and the door was open upon investigation.
It was found that no one had heard or seen anything. of this entrance into the house.
Wait, pause. So the door was open. So I feel like that supports our evidence that, because why would he chisel the door open? first without trying to open well the reason people were wondering this is because this is kind of an outlier because a lot of the other ones most of the other ones the door was still locked when they found it so people were like well he must have crawled through this but I don't know.
Maybe he's a ghost. Who knows? So, the murderer used Joseph's axe on their heads.
Both of their heads. And what he did was he came in, he slit both of their throats, and then used the axe to beat their faces in.
He slit their throats with the axe. Yeah.
No, he slit their throats with a straight razor.
Holy shit. Yeah. So. Was he like a hairstylist?
Probably not. A barber. But. Jake and Andrew Maggio were Joseph's brothers.
They were living under the same roof, like next door.
They found Catherine Maggio almost entirely decapitated.
That's how hard this guy had slit her throat.
Holy cow. Joseph was not as bad, but he still was suffering from a slit throat and had his head beaten.
Whoa. But she literally had almost had her head separated from her shoulders with a fucking straight razor.
And you'll hear... see that people started blaming the brothers and the other people in the house because they were like how did you not hear them scream but if you think about it The best way to not have somebody scream is to slit their throat immediately while they're sleeping.
Because if you do it quickly... Then by the time they wake up it's happened.
And when you slit someone's throat they can't scream.
They can't. So I know it's crazy. So if he had done it to one of them, if they're both lying in bed, boom, he can hit both of them quicker than they can scream. and then bash their heads in just for good measure.
So there were jewels and money in plain sight. that were not touched.
He was not interested in that. He was clearly not there for robbery.
The intent was clearly murder. An axe was found on the scene and fingerprinting was around, like we said, but it was not really standard procedure yet. police did find bloody clothes from the murderer.
And he had clearly changed into a clean set of clothes before leaving.
Or he left naked. I mean, who are we to say?
Didn't the Golden State Killer do that once?
He did. Left pantsless or something? He was naked a lot.
He always came pantsless. Yeah. That was just his jam.
Ew. Um, so reportedly near the home on the sidewalk, the killer wrote in chalk, Mrs. Maggio is going to sit up tonight just like Mrs. Tony.
Who's Mrs. Tony? No idea. She never comes up again.
So I have no idea. But it's weird. there's no explanation for that at all no literally people are like i have no idea what that meant and she's going to sit up tonight like what does that mean I know.
So, this is where things get a little crazy with this thing.
Because... Also, did he bring Jock? I know, that's the other thing.
So the razor, the straight razor that was used to kill the couple, because they both died. was found to belong to Andrew Maggio, which is the brother of Joseph Maggio.
He was one of the ones who lived next door.
So Andrew had a barber shop on Camp Street.
So he was a hairstylist. His employee...
Esteban Torres told police that Maggio had removed that straight razor, razor, razor, that straight razor, that razor. removed the straight razor from his own shop two days prior to the murder and he had said he wanted to have it like fixed I don't know how to fucking straight razors work.
If you like drop them and they get like a nick in them, they don't work the same.
Oh, so that's probably what it is. Look at you, hairstylist.
Here I am. Because I read something that said he wanted to have a nick honed from the blade.
So that must have been it. It had a nick and he wanted it like buffed out.
Huh. Look at you, teaching me shit. Because I was like, I don't know what that means.
So... Again, he had lived in the adjoining apartment, and he was the one who found them two hours after the attacks occurred.
So he says that he went in there because he heard weird groaning noises through the wall.
Which I'm sure he would have. Which I'm sure he did.
He said the reason he didn't hear any noise related to the attacks was because it happened in the early morning hours and he was super drunk.
Because he had returned home after a night of celebrating because he was joining the Navy.
So he was like, I was drunk as fuck. He's got to go off to the Navy knowing that he was drunk as fuck.
Exactly. Exactly. That's a bummer. Well, and police were like, hmm, how did you not hear this intruder?
I don't believe you. He became the police's prime suspect.
Oh, wow. But he was released because they couldn't poke any holes in his story.
And it just didn't make sense. Like he was nothing added up with it.
Right. It seemed a little, sure, it seemed a little convenient that he was around and that he was the one who found him and that the razor was his.
But they couldn't connect anything to it.
And then there were people who said they saw a strange man lurking around the residence.
And it wasn't. And it wasn't him. So, the next victim was a grocer named Louis Bessemer. and his mistress, Annie Harriet Lowe.
They were attacked on June 28th, 1918. That is my grandma's birthday.
I know. There are so many weird shit on Ma's birthday.
I can't. I know. Sorry, Mom. This location was reportedly Dorjeanot in Le Harp Street.
I'm going to butcher some of this. these names, so I apologize.
Well, they're just street names. So... When they were discovered, Louie was really severely injured.
But Anna was way worse. And both had literally been hacked in the head with an axe.
Some actually suspected a baker who was making morning deliveries to the store.
His name was John Zanka. He was a baker.
He usually came at the same time in the morning to deliver. you know, his shit to the store at the same time.
So he was the one who found them. Uh, he discovered them actually knocked on the door and no one responded.
He knocked on the door of their grocery store.
So when he entered there where they lived, because I think they lived like behind the store or above it.
Which is what a lot of them did this. Like, a lot of people lived above their businesses back then.
So when he went back to where they lived, he found the bottom panel of their bedroom door was missing.
Which is like his hallmark card. In their bedroom door this time.
That's interesting. Yeah. And I think it's because maybe he was able to get into the grocery store somehow and...
I don't know. So a chisel was used and it was left behind on the back steps.
And a bloody axe was found in the bathroom.
So... And peed on the way out. Annie loved... So they both lived.
Initially. But Annie Lowe only... She lived for another seven weeks after the attack, which I feel like is, like, worse.
Yeah. yeah way worse like really um but so at first she supposedly said that she encountered a large white man with a hatchet that attacked them Okay.
Sorry, I was just burping. But then she randomly changed her story and said Louie did it.
Her husband? Yeah. Or her mister? Yeah, her mister.
But police were like, yeah. How did he hack himself?
How did he hack his own head? So they were like, nah.
Maybe she was just, like, going brain dead.
Yeah, people don't... I mean, she got hacked, exactly.
And another thing I read was that she... like from the injury she was like paralyzed in part of her face so she wanted that fixed and she went under surgery for it and that's when she died So they were saying, like, she was really badly hacked up in the head.
So I'm assuming they didn't want to take a lot of what she was saying seriously.
So. That's not that she was just trying to fix her face.
I mean, that's one story. I mean, she died regardless from this.
So, um, the next victim was Mrs. Edge, and they don't have a name for, like, I can't find a name, a first name for this woman anywhere.
Oh. Yeah, this case is kind of funky. But, so, what I do have here is Mrs. Ed Schneider.
She was attacked on August 5th, 1918. She was pregnant.
Oh. Yeah. But. So, Mrs. Schneider woke in the middle of the night to a figure looming over her.
No, thank you. she screamed just as the axe came down on her face oh shit yep right on her noggin So her screams during this attack woke her neighbors, and they found her completely unconscious, her head severely bashed in, and she was missing a ton of teeth.
Oh, my God. From it. So she was rushed to Charity Hospital where a lot of these people go, oh, my God, I hate teeth stuff.
So upon investigation, it was discovered that their axe was missing from their shed.
So her axe was missing. Uh-huh. And a week following the attack, she gave birth.
And she lived. Yes. Where is her husband?
I don't know. That's another thing that's kind of questionable.
They think he was at work. I think that's what it was.
But she gave birth to, you know... A healthy baby?
An axe murder baby. So, that's good. Wow, great.
This happiness out of that. Yeah, totally.
Well, was her face okay? Uh, I mean, I don't know.
Why didn't you find out? Because there's not a lot of info from 1918 about what her if her face was aesthetically pleasing after that oh yeah I thought this was 2011 sorry this is 1980 I also just said 2000 2011 I thought this was 2011.
Whoa. Next victim. joseph romano romano august 10 1918 location allegedly taunty and gravier street He was an 80 year old Italian barber.
No, no, no. Yeah. So, Joseph Romano's nieces Pauline and Mary Bruno lived with him.
They heard him struggling and discovered him with a bastion head.
Why are you killing an 80-year-old? I know.
So they allegedly saw the attacker. Like, they described him more than anybody else did.
They saw the attacker and they described him as dark, tall, heavy set, wearing a dark suit and a black slouch hat.
What's a slouch hat? I was gonna say that.
I'm thinking probably not a beanie. I'm thinking it's like what I wore on my cruise. essentially like a slouchy black hat why would he be wearing like a hat that like that I mean, why is he bashing people's heads in?
I don't know. Are we really questioning his motives for these things?
I think it's probably like a... Because in that... That's like a... That's like a...
The fashion of the time. It's like the big brimmed hats.
Wow. But I mean, I'm going to look up slow chat and I'll post it on the Instagram.
Because when I heard it, I was like, slow chat.
Hmm. Beanie. Yeah. And he's wearing a suit.
So he's all business. He's all business. man unfortunately romano died two days after the attack he lived through the initial one The initial thing.
That's almost worse. And the worst part is I'm pretty sure like he, like people said he was like with it at first, but then he died.
Yeah. This is when shit just started going crazy, obviously, because after all these attacks, people were like New Orleans was on high alert.
In August 1918, the New Orleans State's newspaper allegedly said that armed men are keeping watch over their sleeping families while the police are seen to solve the mysteries of the axe attacks. extra police are being put to work daily.
It was literally like hysteria sweeping over the city. families were literally like dividing people into watches like you watch for this hour you watch for this like people would have to be awake at all times to keep guard yeah They would stand guard over their relatives as they slept, basically.
People walked around with loaded shotguns.
Like, they were just walking around being like, who's next?
So living in fear. Yeah. So on August 11th, the killer was supposedly seen.
In the neighborhood of Tulane and Broad.
Masquerading as a woman, the rumors said.
Interesting. Yeah, there was a lot of weird rumors that happened around this time.
You can't really... separate fact from fiction, but it's worth noting.
On the same day, August 11th, a man named Al Durand discovered an axe and a chisel lying outside his rear door in the early morning hours.
His back door had been damaged but had apparently proved to be a little too thick for the killer to chisel through.
So he would have died. Yeah. or at least so can you fucking imagine finding out that you only survived because you have a thick ass door If I was anybody that found out about that, I would have replaced my...
Thin ass door with a thick ass door. Seriously, I'd be like, where you get that door?
I would have been like, you got a metal door somewhere?
Give me a door. Like an iron door? An iron door.
In 1918? They did organize a manhunt after this, because they were like, we're close, he's around.
They didn't have any success, unfortunately, obviously.
On August 21st, a man was seen leaping a back fence, but despite a quickly organized search party, they couldn't get him.
So, I mean, again, these could just be overactive imaginations or people being paranoid, but I mean... It's worth noting.
Yeah. And especially the chisel, like, the door.
I mean, that was him, obviously. Yeah, clearly.
So in late August, the rear door of Paul Lobello's grocery and residence was chiseled through.
Oh, shit. No one was home at the time. Oh, my God.
So he literally chiseled through to get to the house.
That same day, another grocer named Joseph Labouf reported that an attempt had been made to chisel through his rear door in the middle of the night.
He was awakened by it. So he heard that chisel.
He was like, that's a fucking chisel. And he scared the intruder away.
Wow. But an axe was found dropped on his steps.
So that dude had his fucking axe ready. and was chiseling through and he scared him away.
The following day, another axe was found in the yard of A. Recknagel. who was also a grocer and chisel marks were found on his back door.
If I owned a grocery store, I would sell it at this point.
I'd also be like, okay, Axeman, are you like suddenly, like, are you okay?
Are you suddenly having trouble? Yeah. He was very successful.
Smooth sailing. But a lot of people became aware of that.
But it's like, dude, maybe like, I don't know, like, you need to adapt.
Adapt and overcome. I mean, I'm not telling you to go murder people, but like, shit. so September 15th 1918 a grocer named Paul Durrell found that someone had also attempted to cut through his rear door And a case of tomatoes that had been resting against the inside panel of the door had stopped that from happening.
So the case of tomatoes made it so he couldn't cut through the door.
Wow. Like he was banging into the tomatoes and he didn't realize it.
That's so Italian. That's a really Italian way to make pasta.
Like that case of tomatoes that I have in front of my door stopped me.
I'm going to put one in front of my door tonight.
So, after this, everything was pretty chill for a while.
Yeah. Then, now this one's a bummer. Is this my favorite part?
This one's a bummer. It must not be. No, this is a real bummer.
Okay. Oh, yep. So, husband and wife Rose and Charles and their two-year-old daughter Mary Cortamiglia.
Yeah, not. were attacked on March 10th, 1919 in Gretna, Louisiana.
So not New Orleans. but it was just across the river from New Orleans.
It's not far away. So Rose... woke to her husband, who's an Italian grocer, fighting the intruder.
Wow. Her husband was badly beaten with an axe.
Rose was holding their two-year-old daughter Mary and was also attacked.
She was literally begging for mercy for the baby.
And... He hit the baby and hit her. He killed the two-year-old.
And he crushed Rose's skull. One story says that they were found by a neighbor who heard their screams.
Another one says they were discovered by a visitor who... who came when they were like got weirded out that they didn't answer the door like somebody who knew them oh okay um rose so rose and charles survived but mary the two-year-old died yeah so At this point, their neighbors were actually suspected of the attack.
Rose actually said it was them. Oh, shit.
At first. So this was 18-year-old Frank Giordano and his father, Lorlando Giordano.
What a name. I know, right? Orlando Garzando.
And they were actually, after she said it was them, they were allegedly sentenced to hang.
Oh, shit. Yeah. And Frank was 18. His father was 69.
So Charles, Rose's husband, who survived, vehemently denied the screams, like said, no, it was not them.
Oh. And divorced her, actually. Because he was so mad.
And Rose later admitted that she was falsely accusing them because of jealousy.
Did they hang though? No. Oh. they were released and the police agreed because They thought that the ax man was one person.
They weren't thinking it was more. They also were like, you know, this guy's 69 years old.
Like, I don't think he committed this crime.
And Charles was saying, I fought with him like it wasn't, it wasn't them.
Yeah, like he said, he only fought one person.
So it was right after this attack that the Axeman wrote a letter to the Times.
That's my favorite part. Picayune. I think it's Picayune.
I have absolutely no idea. I don't know.
I might be totally just botching that. He wrote a letter to the newspaper.
So let me just quickly, before I read this letter, I'm going to return to the supernatural nonsense really quick.
Yeah, because of this letter. So... Some people were questioning how everyone was describing this person, this intruder, as a large man.
Like a big guy. Yeah. A looming figure. People were wondering how, again, how he could slip through these panels.
It just doesn't make sense. So... Because like I said before, it was discovered that a lot of them were remained locked after he left.
So people were like, hmm, maybe it's a woman.
Right. Because obviously a part of our biology is being able to escape under doors like fucking hamsters, right?
That's clear. I've done it so many times.
But people were also like, maybe it was supernatural so this letter that he wrote to the this paper that I'm not going to say the name again because I think I botched it Also, this letter's spooktastic.
This letter kind of helps fuel the supernatural aspect of the whole thing again.
Police called this guy a, quote, a bloodthirsty maniac filled with a passion for human slaughter after this.
Whoa. So, the famous Axeman letter, which is like the... It's like the...
The crux of this case like everyone knows this letter it arrived to the editor of The Times on March 14th 1919
At the time of this letter, there had already been five murders since May 1918 that were attributed to the Axeman.
The Axeman dates the letter hell. March 13th, 1919.
Currently. So fucking angsty. He's like, hell.
Location, hell. So according to the introduction of the Times-Picayune story in which this letter was reproduced at the time, The letter, quote, was posted in New Orleans, is written in a clear, easily read hand, and is similar in some respects. to earlier letters received by the New Orleans PD during their investigation of the murders.
That is connected to the other ones that they were getting apparently earlier than this that nobody sees.
So here is the letter. It's the best. It begins.
You're welcome. Esteemed mortal. Solid beginning, by the way. esteemed mortal i'm literally gonna begin every single work emo this greeting from ever i'm just gonna be like esteemed mortal That's how I'm going to greet everybody tomorrow morning.
Literally. Alright, so going back to this.
Excuse me, invisible. Yeah. even as the ether that surrounds your earth.
I am not a human being, but a spirit and a demon from the hottest hell.
I am what you Orleanians and your foolish police call the Axeman.
When I see fit, I shall come and claim other victims.
I alone know whom they shall be. I shall leave no clue except my bloody axe, besmeared with blood and brains of he whom I have sent below to keep me company.
If you wish, you may tell the police to be careful not to rile me.
Of course, I am a reasonable spirit." I take no offense at the way they have conducted their investigations in the past.
In fact... They have been so utterly stupid as to not only amuse me, but his satanic majesty, Francis Joseph, etc., But tell them to beware.
Let them not try to discover what I am. For it were better that they were never born than to incur the wrath of... the axeman i don't think there is any need of such a warning for i feel sure the police will always dodge me as they have in the past They are wise and know how to keep away from all harm.
Undoubtedly, you Orleanians think of me as a most horrible murderer.
Which I am. But I could be much worse if I wanted to be.
If I wished, I could pay a visit to your city every night.
At will I could slay thousands of your best citizens, for I am in close relationship with the Angel of Death.
Now, to be exact, at 12.15 earthly time.
You're kidding. Thank you for the... Like not hell time.
Yeah, not hell time. Earthly time. On next Tuesday night.
I am going to pass over New Orleans. In my infinite mercy, I am going to make a little proposition to you people.
Here it is. I am very fond of jazz music.
And I swear. By all the devils in the nether regions that every person shall be spared in whose home a jazz band is in. full swing at the time I have just mentioned.
If everyone has a jazz band going, well... then so much better for you people.
One thing is certain, and that is that some of you people who do not Jazz it on the Tuesday night.
If there be any, we'll get the axe. Well, as I am cold and crave the warmth of my native Tartarus.
No idea. And it is about time I leave your earthly home.
I will cease my discourse. Hoping that thou wilt publish this, that it may go well with thee, I have been. am and will be the worst spirit that ever existed either in fact or realm of fancy the axe man That is theatrical.
I mean, well done. Because I want more of this.
I don't want more murder, but if we have to have murder, then I want it to be dramatic and... cinematically pleasing yeah you know what i mean like i want this shit so my favorite thing is jazz it up or get the axe Jazz it up, bitches.
I would just play jazz music every night forever.
That's a t-shirt. Jazz it up. Jazz it or get the X. That's a t-shirt right there.
I want to make that t-shirt. So at this point, the people of New Orleans decided that it was, you know, like probably a smart idea to follow this guy's instructions because like, why not?
Yeah. I mean, he's basically just saying to party it up with some jazz music for a night.
And like, maybe he's just getting everybody to try to cut loose.
That would be like such a nerve. Rocking party.
Yeah, it would. Well, regardless, restaurants and clubs all over town were fucking jammed with people all night.
They extended hours and jazz bands became hot commodities.
This reminds me of like a Buffy episode.
I was thinking that too. Like the devil guy.
Yeah. It's like in a once more with feeling, which is really funny that you brought that up because I've been listening to that soundtrack in the car.
Really? Yeah. It's awesome. My favorite one is he got the mustard.
And then all the people behind him. I found it on Spotify again.
And I was like, hello, old friend. That's great.
I might look that up. It's amazing. And I miss Spike.
Love me some Spike. Let's watch Buffy next week.
Spike was like my first love. When I get home.
We're gonna watch Buffy. Yeah. Yeah. We're gonna do that.
Let's watch Once More of Philly. Yeah. And hush.
Yeah. Hush is a great one. That's a great one.
So jazz bands were hot commodities. Hot.
So friends, neighbors, you know, all the people in the town were gathered together in homes basically to jazz it up. potty and you know when midnight or 12 15 when he said came around new orleans was banging with jazz music when do you think they turned it off People said they just went all night.
They just didn't want to take any chances.
And people were basically pretending to party in a carefree manner.
Despite the doom that was hovering over them if they stopped.
Joseph de Villa, a well-known, I don't know if it's de Villa or de Villa.
I like Divya. I like Divya better. A well-known local composer actually created the theme song for the night.
And he titled it The Mysterious Axeman's Jazz.
And it became a huge hit. I actually put up the cover for it on our Instagram last night. oh yeah and it shows like a family that looks terrified like playing jazz as hard as they can yeah it's actually terrifying um I kind of love like weird cultural phenomenons like that coming out of weird like macabre things like this.
Yeah. I don't know. It's like a weird, because this sounds so bizarre and like it didn't happen.
This almost sounds like an urban legend or like a myth.
It does, totally. But knowing that that coming out of it.
Right. an actual song and everything is like shows that it happened and that it's real beach boy song exactly So, you know, no one was killed on March 19th.
So, you know, well done, New Orleans. They pretty much cemented themselves as the apex of party people a long time ago.
So they partied themselves to safety. So good job, New Orleans.
You really do. So I'm going to just quickly take a little detour.
Detour? Not a total detour, but now that you know that he's a...
A jazz enthusiast. Oh, this is good. I thought it might be who of me.
To just bring you into, like, you know, some jazz.
Blang. So... These are some fun, jazzy terms that are important for literally no reason at all, but I just want to tell you.
But they're important nonetheless. So barn burner means a class of later.
Like check out that barn burner over there.
That's horrible. I love it. Barn burner?
Bad means good. always the bomb came from jazz originally like something being the bomb that's Boogie Man actually referred to a critic of jazz music.
Like, if some critic was like, yeah, that jazz sucked, they're like, pfft, that fucking Boogie Man.
What a dick. I love it clams are mistakes while making music example Charlie is really laying down some clams tonight.
But he didn't. A crumb. is someone for whom it is impossible to show respect for.
Example. Tracy is a real crumb. I see what you did there.
Yeah, you see what I did there? Yeah, I did.
Real crumb. crumb you know and another example would be like katie is a real crumb oh man yeah i'm just no i'm just pulling names out of hat yeah totally no no connection to real life Gut bucket.
Ew. Is a type of music associated with heavy drinking.
So it's the kind of music you listen to.
Fuck you. So you rock it out to gut bucket all the time.
A moldy fig is lovers of old jazz who who just can't get down with the new stuff.
So they're like, ah, that Charlie's a moldy fig.
He can't get down with the new stuff. Skip it about.
A rusty gate is someone who can't play. So you suck at jazz.
Like that guy has a rusty gate. He can't play.
He sucks. We made this up. And a witch doctor is actually a member of the clergy, which I thought was kind of funny.
A member of the clergy? Yeah, like they refer to them as witch doctors.
What the fuck? So back to the story. Anyways, thank you for that brief interruption.
I just wanted to learn you some stuff. Learn you some things.
I wanted to lay down some knowledge. Some scat scats.
Some scat scats. So all was quiet for a little while.
Shh. Until... August 10th, 1919. A man named Steve Boca stumbled out of his home on Elysian Fields Avenue with axe wounds in his skull.
No! He was dripping blood, but he managed to make it to a friend's home about a half block away.
This friend, Frank Janusa, treated his wounds as best as he could and then called for help.
The police searched Boca's house and they found...
The classic calling cards of the X-Men, including a chiseled door panel and a bloody axe left lying on the floor.
So Boca actually lived, but he couldn't remember a goddamn thing.
Which is better. Yeah. Better for him, not so great for everybody else.
No, but better for him. Yeah. So, September 2nd. local druggist, which is a pharmacist back then, named William Carson fired several shots at an intruder who had broken into his home.
The intruder left the broken door and axe behind, but managed to escape.
He didn't get shot. Slippery. No, he didn't get shot shot.
And he left his shit behind. Like, so he left all the shit that proved he was the Axeman behind.
Good. So that's good. But he kept doing that, though, anyways.
Exactly. Because the next night, on September 3rd, 1919...
This was reportedly happened at 2128 2nd Street.
A girl named Sarah Lauman. was discovered in her home by concerned neighbors who broke in when she wouldn't answer their calls.
She was only like 19 years old, I think.
She had been attacked with an axe while she slept in her locked and shuttered home.
She received a severe head injury and was missing several teeth from the attack.
Teeth. the intruder had apparently entered the apartment through an open window so lock your motherfucking windows damn it Fresh air is for dead people, man.
So, he attacked her with a blunt object.
I heard different things. Could have been a lamp.
Could have been... So they said that they do know that she was attacked with an axe.
Like maybe the... blunt side of the axe but they also said that she was it looked like she was attacked by something else too so who knows a bloody axe was discovered in the front lawn of the building.
Lauman actually recovered from her injuries, yet couldn't remember a damn thing.
Because, you know, he's doing his due diligence hacking people in the head because they're not going to remember shit.
Right. So, on October 27th, 1919, on South Scott and Uloa Street?
Totally. I don't know, on a street in New Orleans.
The Axeman. This was his final, his final business.
So his 12th and final? Yes. So this is a grocer named Mike Pepitone was killed in his bed during the night.
His wife and six children were asleep in the next room.
They weren't touched. Damn. So his wife heard a noise and came to the doorway of the bedroom just as a large axe-wielding man was beating the shit out of him. out of her husband.
She said there was possibly two men. So what if it was?
Exactly. He had been struck 18 times. Now, They said this was possibly with multiple weapons because who knows if it was two guys.
He was so badly hacked and beaten in the head that it was tough to tell where anything had come from. oh damn she was quoted as saying every time her husband quote turned his head blood came from his head and face it simply poured over the bed oh my god So the usual clues had been left behind.
No helpful evidence. Sheriff Deputy Ben Corcoran was the first at this scene.
$100 in cash was sitting out and wasn't touched.
What's interesting is there was a circus in town near Tulane University and among the things found at the scene were a bolt and a heavy nut, like something used to secure a circus tent.
And it was bloody. So people thought it was weird, too, that his wife didn't hear his screams earlier and just came in as he was like, had his 18th hit in the head.
She was like, yeah, I'm just a really heavy sleeper.
And so are your six kids. So this is where shit gets weird.
There's a possible mafia connection to this one.
In 1910, Mike the Victim, his father, Peter Pepitone, had killed a man named...
DeChristina, outside of a building that Peter owned and had once leased to DeChristina.
When DeChristina's lease was up, Mike Pepitone, the victim, moved his business and home to that location.
So there were no witnesses to verify this.
So what they think is that... It was kind of like a wrong...
Like they should have been getting back at his dad instead of getting at him.
So his father was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to serve five years at the Louisiana State Penitentiary.
So they were thinking this could have been something like that because there was a little differences in it, but it still could have been related to the X-Men.
So it's worth noting. And it is attributed to him. right in every way right so this is when the horror came to an end This was the last murder attributed to the Axeman.
He was never seen or heard from again. Did influenza fuck him up and take him out?
That's what I want to know. I don't know.
I feel like it's got to be it. I want it to be something like that.
Let's go into some theories. There's really only one theory.
Influenza? No. There's really only one theory.
So besides it being the work of an angry racist demon from another realm, which is totally probable, I'm not counting it out.
This... This theory is attributed to crime writer Colin Wilson.
He thought, so he said, more than a year after the Axeman's final appearance in New Orleans.
A former New Orleans man named Joseph Mumphrey was shot to death in Los Angeles.
He was shot to death by a woman named Esther Albano, who was later discovered to be the widow of Mike Pepitone.
Mike Papatone. The last victim. Oh, she shot.
She shot this guy named Joseph Mumphrey.
So the police began working because they saw this little connection to the Axeman.
So she moved to Los Angeles afterwards? Or she went there just to kill him.
Oh, shit. So, they decided, they were like, there's gotta be a link here.
We gotta look. Some curious coincidences were revealed during the investigation of this.
Mumfree had once been the leader of a band of blackmailers in New Orleans who had preyed on Italians.
He had also been, for a separate matter, sent to prison just after the first axe murders in 1911.
The ones that they sometimes say that could be attributed to this axeman.
In the summer of 1918, he was paroled. So after those axe murders in 1911, he went to prison.
And they started. He was paroled in 1918 when they began again.
Okay. That's weird. It was him. So immediately after Mike Pepitone's murder, the last murder.
They stopped. Mumfrey had left New Orleans right after that.
And strangely, the Axeman stopped when Mumfrey left.
And then nothing ever happened again after he was shot to death.
I mean, yeah, nothing ever happened after he was shot to death.
Unfortunately, there's no, like, actual evidence to link him to these crimes.
There's no actual evidence about anything.
And a scholar, Richard Warner, said that the chief suspect in the crimes was Frank Dock Mumphrey. who used the alias Leon Joseph Mumphrey.
Also, criminologist Colin and Damon Wilson, who we mentioned up there, hypothesized that the Axeman killed male victims only when they obstructed his attempts to murder women.
Which, if you look at it, that seemed to happen a lot.
Like, there was some women that were killed, but the man would survive.
Right. So that's interesting. But that's really the only theory they have is the Joseph Mumphrey thing.
It makes sense. And it's been pulled apart a little bit by some people being like, it's hard to find records of him existing.
It's hard to find this. But again, that's an alias.
It makes sense. It's nice. You know, it's one theory. so we mentioned coven american horror story coven did go use this case because they often use real cases um The Axeman, in this case of New Orleans, was played by Danny Houston, who was also amazing in 30 Days of Night.
I never saw that. Great movie. Like, they did vampire right in that movie. fight me if you disagree like i will stand by that they're terrifying in that movie and he plays like the lead vampire and he like i don't even think he talks ever but he's just he's just amazing in it so they portray him in American Horror Story as a jazz musician who played saxophone in clubs around town yeah I love that They do go, they use the letter and they add the fact that he was lured by a defi- like, so they have him use that letter and say, like, everybody needs to play jazz.
And they have it so that on the night that everybody's playing jazz, the Miss Robichaux's Academy for Exceptional Young Ladies, which is, you know... pretty much fucking fucked up Hogwarts.
Yeah. Yeah, literally. they are like fuck that and they start playing opera in defiance of his demand And he gets lured into the academy because he's like, I'm going to kill these bitches for defining me.
And then... And then... I just said defining me.
Defying me. And then he's baited into a room and all the witches in the coven stab him to death.
Which if only that happened. And then his spirit secretly remains confined to the school as a spirit.
So... That's it. That's fun. And that's the Axeman of New Orleans.
Skippity-bop-ow! Bada-bow! So jazzed. Jazzy, snazzy, and jazzy.
So yeah, that's fun. Keep us nazzy. I thought that was a fun jazzy, snazzy little case.
I liked it. Even though it doesn't really have an, you know, we can't close it up.
No. We can't really sew it on up here. It's more kind of like talking about what could have happened.
Yeah. There's a lot of cool theories, so.
And I get to pick next week. It's true, so that'll be fun.
Like, maybe a 70s murder. Don't sigh at me.
There's so many 70s murders, though. I feel like the 70s was murder.
Correct. I'll find an obscure one. Yeah, we're going to hit ones that aren't.
Maybe I'll do a paranormal thing. Yeah, there you go.
Maybe somebody can suggest something. Yeah, or you can think of something.
Maybe I'll just do that. Maybe, maybe, maybe.
Or, you know... Maybe someone from another non-earthly realm will tell us what we need to pick.
I'm hoping not. I mean, it's possible. I don't want to be contacted by somebody.
I don't either, to be honest. But, yeah.
So that'll be fun. This was a great show, Esteemed Mortal.
This was Esteemed Mortal. Well done. Yes.
Well done. Well done at you who did all the research and I just commentated.
It was fun, though. What else is there? Well, so we're going to be announcing, you know, within the next couple of days what the next case will be to get you all.
Except I'll be away next week, so it might be a little bit until our next show.
Oh, yeah. We'll release this one like next week and then it might be like a few.
Yeah. A little extra time. We'll release this one this week.
This week, right? Yeah. So next week we won't have one.
Yeah, so next week there will not be an episode.
I'm terribly sorry this bitch has to go on vacation.
I've never been on a real vacation before.
Well, so we'll let you know when that comes.
And until then... Don't miss us too much.
Don't miss us too much. But, you know, send us more messages because it's fun.
It makes me so happy. And actually, we were tossing around the idea that if you have a fun... story that you want to send in to us to our email, morbidpodcast at gmail.com.
Feel free to. And if we get enough, we'll do a whole episode.
Yeah, we want to maybe do some little mini-sodes.
That are, you know, your weird paranormal experiences, weird like...
You know, lore-type stories that you have from your town.
Like, just weird shit from where you live.
Tell us weird shit. Yeah, any weird shit.
We're just into it. Keep it weird. Because I know I love listening to those kind of episodes, so let's do this.
Yeah, let's do this. So send us in your shit.
Give us some subject matter. And if they're awesome, then we'll read them on the next podcast.
And if they're not so awesome, we'll still read them on the next podcast.
Well, not the next one, but the one after that maybe.
Yeah. Or the one after that. Or the one after that.
On a future one. Future. So send those in.
Please. And, you know, find us on iTunes and Google Play and TuneIn and Stitcher.
And Blubbery. And Blubbery. And hopefully Spotify soon.
We're waiting for them to tell us that we're awesome.
And rate and review on iTunes and anywhere you can because that helps us out big time.
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Follow, follow, subscribe, subscribe. Just follow us.
Send us emails. Do all that good stuff. And, you know.
We hope you keep listening. And we hope you keep it weird.
You're such a barn burner. You are a... Fig thing.
You're not a crumb. What's the fig thing that I said?
Moldy fig. You're a moldy fig. No, I can get down with the new jazz.
Nope, you're a moldy face. You don't like Kanye's new song.
I don't. Fight me. Bye. Thank you. If you like Morbid, you can listen early and ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts.
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The town of Agde in France is famous for sun, sand, sea and sex.
But lately, life on the coast has taken a strange turn.
The town's mayor, a respected pillar of the community, has been arrested for corruption.
His wife claims he's been bewitched by a beautiful clairvoyant.
Then there's the mysterious phone calls that local people have been getting.
I am the Archangel Michael. The whole town has been thrown into chaos.
As the mayor is unable to carry out his duties, I would like to address you all.
Legal proceedings have been initiated. Join me, Anna Richardson, and journalist Leo Schick for The Mystic and the Mayor as we investigate a story of power, corruption, and magic.
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