AMERICAN HAUNTINGS DINNER AND SPIRITS
EVENING OF AMERICAN
AX MURDERS
EVENING OF AMERICAN AX MURDERS
mineral springs HOTEL | ALTON, ILLINOIS
$46 PER PERSON
SEE AVAILABLE DATES BELOW:
NEW & UPDATED EVENT!
MORE TALES OF AMERICAN HORROR AND HOMICIDE HAVE BEEN ADDED FOR FALL 2023!
Join author Troy Taylor for another night of our “An Evening with…” series of events! This eerie evening will include a catered dinner, served in our private ballroom at the former hotel. After dinner, Troy Taylor will be presenting “American Ax Murders,” a look back at some of the nation’s bloodiest murder sprees —from Villisca to Millstadt to San Antonio and Beyond -- and the hauntings that linger in their wake!
In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the ordinary household ax was one of the most commonly-used murder weapons in America. It was for a simple reason — everyone had one — but the murder sprees linked to the ax have become some of history’s most legendary and horrific in the annals of American crime. From the murders in Villisca, Iowa and the Midwest Axman’s terrible trail of death, to the killer that preyed on Austin, Texas, the “Ax Fiend” of the Deep South, and the blood-soaked murders on Saxtown Road in Millstadt, Illinois, Troy Taylor takes you behind the locked doors of America’s Murder Houses and presents tales of terror and of the hauntings that linger in their wakes!
It’s going to be a special night of history, horror, and hauntings that you don’t want to miss!
ANOTHER GREAT EVENT FROM AMERICAN HAUNTINGS AT THE MINERAL SPRINGS IN ALTON!
- All events held at the Mineral Springs Located at 301 East Broadway in Alton, Illinois
- Limited number of guests for each event
- Private American Hauntings Ballroom for use for our event only
- American Hauntings Bookstore located in the Ballroom so books will be available for purchase and can be autographed by Troy Taylor
- Nearby restrooms
- And if you’re coming from out of town, the Best Western Premier offers our guests an exclusive discount price! Details are sent out with your confirmation!
AN EVENING OF AMERICAN AX MURDERS
PRESENTED BY TROY TAYLOR
There’s something about an ax murder that can chill you to the bone. Perhaps it’s the brutality involved, the deadly weapon that can both cut and bludgeon, or perhaps it’s the damage left behind when it comes to the carnage — or perhaps when it comes to the ghosts. American Ax Murders have left behind more than their share of lingering spirits, dark tales, and sinister hauntings.
During this eerie evening, Troy will be presenting a number of horrible homicides, including:
The Villisca Ax Murders
During the late night hours of June 9, 1912, local businessman J.B. Moore, his wife Sarah, their four children Herman, Catherine, Boyd, and Paul, and two overnight visitors, Lena and Ina Stillinger, were murdered in a small house in Villisca, Iowa. But Villisca was only one of the murder sites connected to the Midwest Axman, who had left a string of victims behind in Illinois, Colorado, and Kansas, too. None of the murders were ever solved and the Moore house remains one of the most haunted places in America today.
Murders on Saxtown Road
In 1874, horror came to the small town of Millstadt, Illinois, a little town located across the Mississippi River from St. Louis. Millstadt has always been known as a quiet community but when a local German family was brutally slaughtered, it created a dark, unsolved mystery – and a haunting that continues today.
Victims of the “Ax Fiend”
Between 1909 and 1912, an unknown killer claimed dozens of lives in Louisiana and Texas and was never caught. Newspapers called his crimes “the Church of Sacrifice Murders” and linked them to Voodoo and the supernatural but he was something even worse — a lone killer preying on poor families across the south.
The Midnight Assassin
In the late 1800s, a killed dubbed the “Midnight Assassin” wreaked havoc among the people of Austin, Texas, claiming scores of victims and then disappearing without a trace. Before the murder spree ended, at least a dozen men were arrested for his crimes, but no charges could ever be made to stick. In the years that followed, some came to believe that the killer had fled Texas for England — and became “Jack the Ripper.”
This is going to be one of the strangest and eeriest nights you’ll spend this fall and you don’t want to miss your chance to attend. Make reservations now!