What’s Hiding In the House Next Door? The Villisca Axe Murder House (ft. Jerry Wanek)

Dark House

House Beautiful/Hearst

Religion & Spirituality, True Crime, Society & Culture

4.4 • 757 Ratings

🗓️ 6 October 2021

⏱️ 71 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This week, Hadley shares the tale of the Villisca Axe Murder House in Villisca, Iowa, and unpacks the true crime event that turned the domestic symbol of the American dream into a nightmare. A quaint farmhouse built in 1868, the home is forever marked by tragedy after a family of six and their two young house guests were murdered on a June night in 1912. After reviewing the details of the unsolved case, the co-hosts discuss the current state of the home and the reports of strange occurrences from visitors and current owners. Spooked by the familiarity of this story’s setting, Alyssa and Hadley bring on production designer Jerry Wanek, who brought the sets to life on The CW’s Supernatural, to learn more about how once-friendly houses like the Villisca Axe Murder House have influenced television shows and films (41:27). Wanek shares anecdotes from the Supernatural set, including the inspiration behind the show’s quirky motel rooms (51:53) and where his team sourced the best vintage props (55:11), as well as a spooky encounter he had while staying in a Los Angeles apartment previously inhabited by Elvis (59:48). TW: Sexual assault CONTRIBUTORS Host/Producer: Alyssa Fiorentino Host/Producer: Hadley Mendelsohn Producer: May Tsehay Sound Engineer: Josh Caldwell Interested in advertising with us? Please visit https://www.advertisecast.com/DarkHouse for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	The most mundane subdivision cul-de-sac that you could find,
0:06.0	that was a house that, you know, a lot of bad stuff was happening.
0:10.0	And the fact that it was like this perfectly normal picturesque home
0:15.0	with the perfectly normal two kids in suburbia,
0:18.0	that scared a lot of people because it wasn't at the church,
0:21.8	it wasn't in an abandoned warehouse, it was right next door.
0:28.9	I'm Alyssa, and I'm Hadley.
0:31.4	We're two interior design editors obsessed with the paranormal.
0:35.1	This Halloween, we're stepping away from the beautiful homes we usually write about to tell a different kind of story.
0:40.6	From cursed cottages to abandoned estates, we're uncovering the twisted histories of America's most notorious homes.
0:48.1	So lock your doors and leave the lights on.
0:51.4	This is Dark House.
1:04.6	Hey everybody, welcome to episode two of Dark House. I'm Melissa. I'm here with my co-host Hadley. And if you're listening for the first time, basically what we're going to do here
1:08.3	is tell you the stories of four real homes that are
1:11.2	allegedly haunted. We've each picked two houses to research and report back on, and we're keeping
1:16.5	them a secret from each other until the day we record. But Hadley is up first this week, and she's
1:21.5	about to reveal our first house. So, Hadley, are you going to tell me what house you picked?
1:27.8	So do you need any hints?
1:29.5	If you have a hint, I'll take a hint.
1:31.0	Okay.
1:31.6	Think sort of unassuming maybe corn industry, if that's something you know anything about.
1:39.2	I can't say that I do.
	...

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