The cemetery itself is a beautiful place on a bluff that virtually overlooks the town. The gravestones are remarkably well-kept and in very good condition. The cemetery is open from dawn to dusk. A tour of the cemetery can be included in your tour of the Axe Murder House by request.

In the photos below, you can see the Moore family headstone. The headstone was purchased with the funds raised for the reward money offered for information leading to the arrest of the Axe Murderer. The large headstone is connected to smaller one that lists the names of the entire Moore family.

Shown below is the gravestone of Lena and Ina Stillinger, guests of the Moores on the night of the murders. Next to Lena and Ina is the family stone (shown below) and the graves of their parents and a sister who was stillborn shortly after the murders. The Stillingers plot is located just a few feet from that of the Moore family.

 

The headstone of Frank Jones is shown in this photograph below and lies next to that of his wife, son and daughter. Missing (the plot marked with the red arrow) is the wife of Mr. Jones' son who remarried after Albert's death and is supposedly buried with her second husband. In contrast to the Moore and Stillinger stones, that of Mr. Jones seems terribly modest given his reputed prominence in the town.

 

 

The Villisca cemetery is a beautiful place to visit and on occassion, visitors have been known to capture evidence of paranormal activity in their photos of the cemetery and the Moore family graves. The remaining photos were submitted by Dawn Frary.

Many other members of the Moore extended family are buried in the cemetery as well as several other prominent figures in the Villisca Axe Murder Investigation. Below is a photo of Ross Moore's stone - Ross was Josiah's brother and the first one to enter the house after the murders. Below Ross's photo is the gravestone of Dr. McNaughton, the physican who testisfied at the Inquest and died shortly after the murders.

 

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