Dark Crossroads
A podcast about all things true crime & paranormal
Welcome to Dark Crossroads Podcast! We bring you gripping stories and intriguing discussions in the fascinating world of the paranormal, true crime and the unknown. We offer a captivating range of episodes that will leave you questioning the boundaries of reality.
At Dark Crossroads Podcast, we pride ourselves on delivering thought-provoking content that keeps our listeners on the edge of their seats. Our episodes explore supernatural phenomena, unsolved mysteries, and unexplained events, providing a unique platform for those interested in the uncharted and enigmatic.
Whether you're a devoted follower of the paranormal or just searching for something off the beaten path, Dark Crossroads Podcast invites you to join our growing community of curious minds. Immerse yourself in our immersive storytelling and engaging discussions, and let your imagination run wild. Check us out at the link below and embark on a journey that will challenge your perception of the world around you. Don't forget to subscribe to the podcast for all bonus content!
Don’t. Trust. Anyone.
Dark Crossroads
The New Orleans Axeman's Reign of Terror
Could the haunting jazz melodies of New Orleans hide a spine-chilling secret? Embrace the darkness with us as we explore the sinister saga of the New Orleans Axeman, a shadow that loomed over the city with an axe in hand. Our latest episode takes you through the terrifying events, when playing jazz became a means of survival against an enigmatic killer's promise. We recount the gruesome fate of his victims and sift through the theories surrounding the Axeman's true identity, unmasking the fear that still lingers in the heart of the Big Easy.
We navigate the labyrinth of New Orleans' past, haunted by the echoes of a bygone era of terror. Unveiling the torment inflicted and the miscarriage of justice that followed. As we reflect on the Axeman's indelible mark on the city's culture and paranormal lore, we invite you to join us on this journey through one of America's most captivating unsolved mysteries.
Sources:
Medium article, Wikipedia, Legends of America, Smithsonian Magazine, NolaGhosts.com and criminal minds wiki.
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Welcome to Dark Crossroads Podcast, hosted by Roxanne Fletcher. This is your stop for all things true crime and paranormal. From the infamous story of the New Bedford Highway Killer to the chilling tale of the Black Eyed Children, dark Crossroads Podcast is a truly deep dive into the stories that frighten and fascinate you. All links to the show will be provided in this episode's description, and don't forget to let us know what you think of today's episode. The Axeman of New Orleans was an unidentified American serial killer who was active in and around New Orleans, louisiana, between May of 1918 and October of 1919. The attacker was never identified and the murders remain unsolved to this day.
Speaker 1:Late into the night of March 18th of 1919 and early the morning after, jazz floated into the damp, dark air from homes and bars across New Orleans and its suburbs. Normally, such an outpouring of music is and was a product of celebration, but on this particular spring night the sound signaled something much more sinister. New Orleans citizens were playing jazz music out of fear for their very lives. This collective anxiety was the result of a string of brutal attacks by a mysterious killer whose spree of terror had escalated considerably in the previous few months. The attacker had established a pattern of sneaking into his victim's bedrooms under the cover of darkness and bludgeoning them in the head with a hatchet or an axe, usually found on their own property or stolen from somewhere nearby. As they were sleeping, citizens were desperate to do anything in their limited power to protect their families In particular.
Speaker 1:This nervous night of music was the result of a letter that was published on Sunday, march 16th 1919. Through my research of the letter from the New Orleans Axemen, I found an amazing retelling on YouTube of the actual letter. It is by YouTuber TheTailMaster and I am going to plug it here, but I highly recommend that everybody go check out TheTailMaster if you're into these stories or hearing a retelling of them. It is very fun to listen to.
Speaker 2:Hell, march 13th 1919. Esteemed model, they have never caught me, for I am invisible, even as the ether that surrounds your earth. I'm not a human being, but a spirit and a demon from the hottest hell. I'm what you Orleanians and your foolish police call the Axeman. When I see fit, I shall come and claim other victims. I alone know who they shall be. I shall leave no other clues except my bloody axe. My bloody axe, my bloody axe, be smeared with blood and brains of he whom I've sent below to keep me company.
Speaker 2: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. No, not 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, 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 their X-Men. I don't think there is any need of such a warning, for I fear sure that the police will always dodge me, as they have in the past. They are wise and know how to keep away from all harm.
Speaker 2:Undoubtedly, you Orleanians think of me as the most horrible murderer which I am, which I am, which I am. But I could be worse if I wanted to. 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'm in close relationship with the angel of death. Now to be exact, at 12.15, earthly time.
Speaker 2:Of course, on Tuesday next I'm going to pass over New Orleans In my infinite mercy. I'm 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 mentioned. The Jazz Band is in full swing at the time I have mentioned. If everyone has a Jazz Band going well, so much the better for your people. One thing is certain, and that is that some of your people who do not jazz it up on Tuesday night if there be any, will get my axe. Well, as I am cold and crave the warmth of my native Tartarus, it is about time I leave your earthly home. I will cease my discourse Hoping that thou wilt publish this. That may go well with thee.
Speaker 1:I have been, I am and I will be the worst. Carefully. Historians as well as criminal profilers think the likelihood of the actual Axeman having written it is exceptionally slim. Of the actual Axeman having written it is exceptionally slim. Historians have largely debunked the letter surrounding the Axeman, regardless of who actually wrote the letter. The people of New Orleans clearly took a better safe than sorry approach to the warning. The tinkle of jazz music coming from dozens of New Orleans homes at 12-15 o'clock Wednesday morning demonstrated that many Orleanians took the Axeman letter printed in the newspaper on Sunday seriously.
Speaker 1:To understand the possible suspects of who the Axeman might be, you sometimes have to better understand the Axeman's crimes and the poor, unsuspecting individuals who were his victims. The murders have taken place over a hundred years ago, but the Jazzman story remains one of the greatest mysteries and unsolved murder cases within the canals of American crime. They were a series of night slayings that were committed during a post-war age of jazz and newfound optimism that were both dark and terrifying. It is a chilling story of terror during a seemingly golden time of boom where a new America had emerged but a night prowler was invading homes and creating nighttime carnage and chaos. The Axeman's modern status is one of mythological urban legend and the rumors and theories behind this killer range from the interesting to the downright far-fetched. But terrifyingly, the Axeman was real. He was very real. There were four people brutally murdered and eight grievously injured by this Axeman. They were all New Orleans and the neighboring Gretna residents, predominantly Italian-Americans, and they were attacked within their own bedrooms by an intruder. The weapon of choice usually belonged to the homeowner and the attacks took place inside the homes of the people where this creature was struck. The attacks occurred from May 1918 until October 1919 and now, over a hundred years later, they still remain unsolved. There were unfounded reports of attacks going back to 1911,. However, these have subsequently been questioned by researchers. This letter that was sent by the Axeman claimed to spare anyone that was playing jazz, thus establishing the somewhat twisted and yet also romantic motive that the Axeman was killing to promote his own love for jazz.
Speaker 1:The city of New Orleans was in the grip of fear by 1918. The attacks were surprising and very vicious. The first victim, an Italian-American called Joseph Maggio, had his skull fractured and his throat cut with a razor, while his wife Catherine choked on her own blood. This clearly demonstrated the police description of a murderous degenerate who gloats over blood In the spirit of a later serial killer known as the Night Stalker and predating the infamous Richard Ramirez's trademark of breaking into houses in the middle of the night. This was the original Night Stalker. The Axeman had many of the same traits as Richard Ramirez he was a home invader with a desperate hate for women and a need to punish those as they remained the most vulnerable. A human being could possibly be sleeping.
Speaker 1:On the night of March 19th, the jazz man got his wish. The dance halls were full and the majority of houses blared out jazz throughout the night, and no murders occurred. However, it is impossible to distinguish if the letter from the ax man was real or a hoax, in much the same way that we cannot identify the from hell letters from the Jack the Ripper. It is, of course, the most glamorized and famous aspect of the Axeman tell. Strangely enough, the unidentified Axeman was not even the first Axeman of New Orleans during this time era.
Speaker 1:Clementine Barnabette was convicted in 1913 for a murder that she carried out in 1911, whereby Clementine was a voodoo murderess with the same MO for axe wielding as the Axeman. The only difference is that she was awaiting execution at the time of the 1918 slayings, claiming allegedly up to 35 victims. She was described as braining her victims with an axe. To have this coincide with the jazz-loving Axeman is even more crazy, and the overlap between the 1911 axe murder reporting and the 1918-1919 slayings could be explained by the presence of bloody Clementine. In 1923, clementine walked out of prison and was never seen again.
Speaker 1:The first murder conclusively linked to the Axeman was on May 22, 1918, where store owner Joseph Maggio and his wife Catherine were discovered lying in a pool of blood. Joseph's brother, who was also a next-door neighbor, discovered their bodies. The killer had entered the house by chiseling a lower wooden panel out of the back door. The axe was left in the bathroom and the razor was found in the neighbor's garden. There was no evidence of stealing and thus no link to burglary as a motive. The only clue found at the scene was a cryptic message written in chalk on the pavement a short way away from the murder house. It read Mrs Maggiago will sit up tonight, just like Mrs Tony. The police linked the message to Mrs Tony, who was killed some six years earlier by an axeman. Again, experts cast doubt on whether any attacks prior to 1918 were carried out by the same man. However, this could link to a copycat slaying Unfairly but beginning a running theme. Throughout the case, joseph's brother was considered an early suspect in the murder. Andrew Maggiago was booked in for questioning but was released when police failed to break down his statement.
Speaker 1:A month later, the Axeman struck again. On the 27th of June, baker John Zanka went to make a delivery to a grocery store owner, luis Basumer, another Italian-American. John was aghast to discover the remains of Basumer and what appeared to be his wife, who was covered in blood, but somehow both were still alive. Basumer had been hacked at with an axe. The attacker had again entered through a panel via the back door and attacked the seemingly married couple while Louis Basumer and his wife Harriet lay sleeping. In a bizarre turn of events, it emerged that Harriet was not Mrs Besumer but Louis Besumer's mistress. He had been attacked with his own axe, which was again found in the bathroom, and there were no valuables that had been taken. The police rounded up suspects, including one of Louis Besumer's employees, but a lack of evidence produced no further charges. Harriet was to die two months later as a result of her injuries. Harriet's final act before dying was to accuse Bissouma of espionage and working on behalf of the Germans and pointed the finger at him for the attack. Louis Bissouma, rather unfairly, was even put on trial for the attack but was acquitted.
Speaker 1:The next victim was Mrs Schneider, a non-Italian victim. Schneider was pregnant at the time and was discovered by her husband with her scalp cut open and her teeth completely knocked out. She had managed to survive the attack and would later safely give birth to her daughter. The survival of some victims despite horrific injuries would indicate a frenzied nature of the attack rather than a methodical and pragmatic serial killer. The Axeman appeared to be attacking through methods of carnage and savagery. An FBI profiler would probably tell you that this indicates some form of rage and hatred towards women or Italian-Americans. With Mrs Snyder's attack, the windows and doors showed no signs of forced entry and, rather than an axe, a lamp had been discovered near the scene and likely was used in the attack. It kept in line with the victims being attacked by their own possessions.
Speaker 1:The next target after Mrs Snyder was Joseph Romano. Romano was an elderly man who lived with his two nieces, pauline and Mary. Bruno was an elderly man who lived with his two nieces, pauline and Mary Bruno. The attack occurred on the 10th of August in 1918. The sisters had found Joseph after he had been struck on the head and was discovered bleeding badly. They managed to get a peek of the axeman and described him as dark-skinned, heavyset and wearing a dark suit with a slouched hat. The intruder had again used a chisel to the panels to force entry. Mr Romano died two days after the attack, resulting from the injuries.
Speaker 1:The attack to Joseph Romano sent the whole of New Orleans into frenzy and police believed that they were looking for a real life. Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, police detective John D'Antonio, believed that they were looking for a seemingly normal person in plain sight with a dark and devious double persona. It was now that the idea of a mass murder was taking shape. Serial killer, obviously, was by then an unused term. The next attack was particularly disturbing.
Speaker 1:The Cortimelia family were attacked by the Axeman on the 10th of March in 1919. This time the attack occurred in the New Orleans suburb of Gretna. For unknown reasons, it occurred seven months after the last attack and there is no explanation as to why. The hiatus, however, the MO, remained eerily similar. They were Italian Americans and they were grocers. The Axeman had entered the house by chiseling through the backdoor panel and attacked with the victim's own axe. The axeman had struck Charles Cornelia across the head, causing a fracture, and then turned his attention to his wife, rosie, who was holding their two-year-old daughter. Their daughter would die instantly, with Charles and Rosie, despite their serious injuries, surviving the incident. It was a fellow grocer, mr Giorn, that came to their aid when he heard the blood-curdling screams and then alerted the authorities. Unfortunately for Mr Giornato, he was then accused by Rosie of the murders, making an accusation which Rosie later admitted was made out of spite and jealousy. The result of her accusing him of this crime and his son Frank resulted in them being sentenced to life in prison. Charles was allegedly so disgusted by his wife's actions and the false accusation, which he told police were untrue at the time, that he eventually divorced her, with Rosie later recanting her testimony. The two men were then released and spared the multiple murder charges. It was after the Cortimelia attack that the infamous letter was sent to the newspaper at the time, where the Axeman threatened an entire city and the city went on to throw a massive jazz party to keep him at bay.
Speaker 1:The next attacks were questionable. The victims were Steve Boca and Sarah Laman, who both managed to survive. However, the authenticity into these two incidents being the Axeman has always been questioned. The MO of attacking woman matches Sarah Laman, and Sarah also suffered severe skull fractures and also had her teeth knocked out in the attack. However, this time the perpetrator had entered through an open window and not the chiseling of the panels. Steve Bocca's attack was unusual in that there were no women present at the time of his attack and, despite surviving, he claimed to not remember anything from the attack. Many believe that these attacks were the work of a copycat, as they either did not follow the same MO or, unusually, attacked a single man in his bedchambers.
Speaker 1:The final slaying by the Axeman was on the 27th of October 1919 against another Italian-American grocer called Mike Pepitone. Pepitone was awakened by a noise and was struck at his front door by an axe-wielding, darkened figure. The figure then fled into the night unidentified by the Pepitone family. The blood from his wounds had sprayed onto a painting of the Virgin Mary. In this instance, the nature of the attack and Pepitone catching them at the front door had fortunately spared both his wife and his six children. And then, after October of 1919, the string of attacks just stopped.
Speaker 1:The first theory points to the Italian-American mafia. Due to the attacks mainly being carried out on Italian-American grocers, it has led some to believe that it was the Black Hand that was behind the axe attacks. The Black Hand was an early form of the mafia in America and could link the murder to hard-working Italian-American business owners to an extortion racket run in New Orleans. This links the attacks to an old-fashioned vendetta in order to settle old scores and repay any outstanding debt. Joseph Mumphrey is the only legitimate suspect linked to the real identity of the Axeman. Mumphrey was connected to the New Orleans extortion racket and was later shot dead by Mike Pepitone's widow in Los Angeles in 1920. Further research has drawn a blank on this theory, as there is no record of a Mumphrey having been in California, let alone dying in California, during that time, and there is no source of a Mrs Pepitone being arrested for any crime, which leads many to claim that the entire story is an urban legend.
Speaker 1:After his last attack, the Axeman vanished from New Orleans, but evidence from police records and newspaper accounts show that he struck elsewhere in Louisiana, killing many others. The killer's MO was the same, breaking into Italian grocery stores in the middle of the night and attacking the grocer and his family with their own axe. The Axeman then disappeared from history. The Italians of New Orleans did not, though. They continued to prosper, although as a result of the growth of supermarkets, the corner groceries eventually disappeared. They, like so many immigrants before them, joined mainstream American society while continuing to maintain their ethnic identity.
Speaker 1:The Axeman has become interwoven into New Orleans' history, cultural makeup and ghost-filled closet of terrors. The house where Joseph Maggiago and his wife Catherine is said to be haunted by their remnants. On certain nights near the area, people have reported screams and shrieks. From March 13th to the 15th, it is a no-load tradition to play jazz in most pubs, clubs and discos at least once a night in order to ward the Axeman's fury. It doesn't matter if it's a honky-tonk, a goth club or the swankiest dinner hall. You will hear the beat of Miles Davis or his cronies at least once during those nights. The hospital where Joseph Romano was treated is said to be haunted by his restless spirit.
Speaker 1:According to local legend, the aptly named Haunted Hotel of New Orleans is the location believed to be where the axeman hid between picking off his victims. This is the place where he slept during his murder sprees. The natives believe that his ghoulish specter remains at this hotel. In the back of the hotel, there is a quaint courtyard with a strange and dark vibe. Visitors have claimed to have seen wandering shadows, pools of blood, capture strange EVPs and even experience bizarre electrical hiccups with their cell phones.
Speaker 1:With all of this said, to this day, no one knows about the Axeman's identity, and it is that time, guys, to say goodbye, but before I do so, I just want to send a thank you to all of my listeners for your continued love and support and for sending in cases that you want covered and stories that you want read on the podcast. We truly accept all stories, including scary, paranormal and funny. Any cases you want covered or stories that you want read on the podcast. Just please send them in to darkcrossroadspodcasts at gmailcom. Thank you for hanging out again today, and if you want any more information about the podcast or cases and stories that we cover, then head on over to the website at wwwdarkcrossroadspodcastcom. There you can find all of the information about the podcast, a link to our merch and also our blog covering all of the cases that we cover.
Speaker 1:You can also find us on all social media platforms. Don't forget to like, share, rate, review, subscribe wherever you're listening to us. You can subscribe to the podcast for bonus information. There is a link in all episodes in the notes that will send you to our subscription page and with that you will get bonus content, discount on future merch and a lot of extra goodies. Every single dollar that comes through donations or through our subscription goes straight into the podcast, helping fund research, and it really helps us out and keeps this podcast going. And with all of this said, please don't forget to be weird, stay different and don't trust anyone.
Speaker 2:Thank you.
