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Tourists look for ghosts at Iowa ‘Ax Murder House’

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June 9th, 2012 by Ric Hanson

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The 100th anniversary of Iowa’s worst mass killing will be commemorated with lectures, films and a chance to see the ax used in the grisly crime. But most events will be in Red Oak, 25 miles from where the crime occurred in Villisca. In part that’s because the county history center in Red Oak has better meeting space, but some say it’s also because after a century, Villisca residents are tired of talking about the case. As former mayor Susie Enarson puts it, “I would like it to be over.” But many people will still head for Villisca, where they can tour the house where two adults, their four children and two of the children’s friends were hacked to death while they slept. Their bodies were found June 10, 1912.