Well, it is getting to be that time of year again. The spooky season. It seems many people like scary stories, the ones that make our timbers shiver. We read fictitious books or watch the make-believe movies. But I found some of the most unnerving real-life tales.
So, in honor of the fright-night season, here are a few.
Okay, the best way to start is with an axe murder.
There is a place called the Villisca Axe Murder House. Of all places in Villisca, Iowa. The terror of things started back in 1912. A murder occurred in the house, a gruesome unsolved murder. The people there included six children and two adults. They had their skulls completely crushed by the axe. No one was ever caught.
So jump forward to modern day. A woman named Martha Linn purchased the house in 1994 to restore it to its 1912 condition. And hence, converted into a tourist destination. Anyone can book a room for $428 a night. These days, visitors most always report strange paranormal experiences, such as visions of a man with an axe roaming the halls or the faint screams of children. Da-da-da -daaahhhh.
But here is the bad turn. In November of 2014. A man, Robert Steven Laursen Jr., 37, of Wisconsin, booked a visit with friends. During their stay, his pals found him stabbed in the chest. It was an apparent self-inflicted wound. Emergency crews responded, and he was helicoptered to the hospital. The sheriff reported that Laursen suffered the self-inflicted injury at about 12:45 a.m., which is around the same time the 1912 axe murders in the house began.
Laursen recovered from his injuries. But he has never said a word publicly about what happened that night. The house remains open for tourist visits and overnight stays today. I’m not going.
The next one is about another haunted doll.
I kind of like these stories because those old porcelain dolls were absolutely terrifying. I’m surprised that all the little girls that owned one didn’t come away with some mental disturbance after looking at those things, night after night.
But this isn’t that. This doll was a Disney’s Frozen “Elsa” doll gifted as a Christmas present in 2013. Houston, TX. Like all of those Elsa dolls, it recited phrases from the movie Frozen and sang “Let It Go” when a button on its necklace was pressed.
For two years, the doll spoke in English. Then, all of a sudden, it started alternating between Spanish and English. Randomly. There was no setting like this from the manufacturer.
There’s more. The family had the doll for six years. In all that time, they never had to change the batteries. It just prattled on at will. Even when it was switched completely off.
So. It creeped the family out, and they decided to throw it away. This was in December of 2019. A few weeks later, it came back and was sitting in their living room. The children swore they did not put it there. From that point on, it would only speak Spanish.
So, they double bagged the thing and hand-carried it to the garbage on pick-up day, making sure it got on the truck. Then they went on a short family trip. When they arrived home, Elsa was sitting back in the house.
At that point, Elsa ceased to sing the English rendition of “Let It Go” altogether, speaking only Spanish when pressed.
A family friend in Minnesota offered to help. They mailed the doll to him. And. He tied it to the front bumper of his truck. So far, it hasn’t made its way back to Houston. I wouldn’t let that thing anywhere near my car. I’m not sure what I would have done, but it sure would not have been that.
Now, I don’t know whether these stories can be trusted. But when it comes to their validity? I would not be the one to test it out.
Nope. I would steer clear. Without a creepy doll on my bumper.
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“Believe nothing you hear, and only one half that you see.”
— Edgar Allan Poe, The System of Dr. Tarr and Prof. Fether
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“We all go a little mad sometimes.”
— Norman Bates, Psycho
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“Normal is an illusion. What is normal for the spider is chaos for the fly.”
— Charles Addams
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Creepy axes and frozen dolls
