Put on any B-rated horror movie and someone is bound to be swinging an axe, but just how prolific are axe murders? Truthfully, we rarely hear about people being slaughtered with axes, but that was not the case in the early 1900s. The axe was a handy tool to have around the home, and it was also a rather handy way to end another person’s life.
1. Roommate Trouble
In 1913 a 37-year-old man of Joliet, Illinois had a roommate problem. While the newspaper article did not explain what had transpired between the roommates, the problem ended when Aebukas drove an axe into his roommate’s head. After he split open the other guy’s head, he then proceeded to beat the body until nearly every bone was broken. [1]
2. Head Nearly Severed
Mrs. Labello of Chicago married her 30-year-old husband when she was a mere 15-years-old. Two years passed by and the marriage was filled with arguments and unsettling jealousies.
One Friday night in 1916, neighbors heard the couple arguing once again. The husband was accusing his young wife of paying attention to other men. After the argument, neighbors noticed that there was no movement coming from inside the couple’s apartment.
A few days went by and neighbors finally contacted the police who arrived at the apartment and broke down the door.
Inside the bedroom, they found the decomposing body of 17-year-old Mrs. Labello. Her body was on the ground, between the bed and the wall. Her head had been nearly severed off by an axe and her body was covered in deep gashes made by an axe.
Two children, ages 4 months and 14 months, were found. Both children were nearly dead from starvation.
The husband, of course, was nowhere to be found. After he had murdered his wife, he took off and went into hiding. [2]
3. Murder Hallucinations
Husbands were not the only ones hacking a partner with an axe. In fact, wives were pretty good at axing unwanted husbands.
Mrs. Hamilton was married to a young farmer in South Carolina. While no mention was made of their normal home life, it was reported that Mrs. Hamilton had recently come home from a local insane asylum. She was apparently troubled with hallucinations of killing her husband.
In 1911, she turned her deadly hallucination into a reality. She beat her husband with the blunt end of an axe and, when he became unconscious, she then used the axe’s blade to nearly severe his head from his body.
Mrs. Hamilton was arrested and charged with the murder. [3]
4. Wife and Axe Slayer
According to Lucy Clark, she only did what her husband was going to do. In other words, she beat him to the act.
In 1936, the 44-year-old woman grabbed the family axe and chopped her husband’s head open. Lucy was arrested and newspapers named her the “Axe Slayer.” [4]
5. He Snapped
It was in Michigan, 1907, where Henry Scutcheon finally lost his mind. He was a 50-year-old farmer who lived in a house with his wife, his invalid son, and his wife’s foster father. Neighbors claimed that it seemed like a happy family except for when it came to the farmer’s invalid son.
One day, out of the blue, the farmer simply snapped. He grabbed an axe and crushed his son’s head with it. When his wife saw what he was doing, she tried to intervene, but he turned on her.
Henry chased his wife outside, to the road, and struck her down. Then he went back into the house and axed his father-in-law.
Then, in what was supposed to be his final act, Henry slashed his arms and neck, but the gashes he made were not deep enough. He took a swig of poison, but it did not seem to have any effect on him.
With axe in hand, Henry went back outside and quickly discovered that his wife was missing. Apparently, while Henry was killing his father-in-law, a neighbor found the wife alive and carried her into his home. The neighbor then ran to another neighbor’s house for help.
When Henry discovered his wife in the neighbor’s home, he smashed through the window, entered the house, and crushed her skull with the axe.
As Henry walked across the street, back to his own home, the neighbor returned and grabbed his gun. He shouted at Henry to stay on his side of the road or be shot.
Since Henry wanted to die, he walked towards the neighbor and the neighbor fired his gun, ending the life of Henry. [5]
6. Murder Made Him Sleepy
The article about this bizarre axe murder was written in four sentences, but the words were enough to ignite the imagination. In 1913, a man entered the Boyke house and fatally struck Mrs. Boyke with an axe. Seeing what had been done, Mr. Boyke, the husband, killed the axe murderer.
Then, strangely enough, Mr. Boyke dragged the man’s body out to the shed and hid it. While his wife lay on the floor, dying, Mr. Boyke decided to go to bed.
Mr. Boyke was arrested and charged with murder. [6]
7. Slept Soundly Afterwards
There are numerous articles reporting on killers who have gone to bed after committing murder, and it is not something that happens just in the United States. In 1913, it was reported that a 15-year-old boy from a village in France murdered seven people and then went to bed.
Young Marcel was employed as a vine cutter, but after getting into an argument with his employer, Marcel grabbed an axe and killed the man. As if that was not enough, the boy walked to his employer’s house and, with the axe dripping with blood, killed the employer’s wife, mother, a servant, and three of his employer’s children who had been tucked into bed.
Marcel left one child untouched. The four-year-old slept through the devastating act.
Marcel then left, returned to his quarters, and went to sleep. The bodies were discovered in the morning and Marcel was taken into custody. [7]
8. Yeah Right
In Arkadelphia, Arkansas, 1914, a husband claimed that a mysterious man came into his family’s home one night, axed his wife to death and two of his children. The husband said that he fled from the axe slayer and managed to grab one of the children as he ran.
After the husband escaped the murderer, the mysterious murderer went through the trouble of lighting the house on fire and left the scene. [8]
