For ghost hunters, paranormal activity seekers, and adrenaline junkies, the Villisca Axe Murder House in Villisca, Iowa, is a well-known tourist destination. Paranormal investigators, familiar with the house, declared it among the most haunted locations in America following the summer 1912 mass homicide, right next to 112 Ocean Avenue in Amityville, New York, where five people were slayed in the fall of 1974.

The case in which six children and two adults had their skulls completely smashed while asleep in bed was never solved and remains a mystery to this day. The location of a horrifying mass homicide was bought in 1994, restored to its 1912 condition, and turned into a tourist attraction. Paranormal investigators who have toured the house have produced audio, video, and visual evidence of paranormal activity in the place shrouded in mystery. Children's voices, falling lamps, moving ladders, and flying objects have all caused tours to end early.

But the haunting changed into something more sinister in the fall of 2014. On November 7, Robert Steven Laursen Jr., 37, of Rhinelander, Wisconsin, had a routinely scheduled paranormal tour with his friends. Laursen was found with a self-inflicted chest stab wound and was taken to a neighboring hospital. According to the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office, the self-inflicted wound occurred at approximately 12:45 a.m., roughly when the 1912 axe murders in the home happened. Laursen recovered from his injuries but never spoke publicly about what happened that day.

The Villisca Axe Murder House is still operating today. At the time of writing, the price of the overnight stay is $428, and anyone over the age of 12 can take a tour.

Arlan,
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