(HorizonPost.com) – About 30 years after Jack the Ripper plagued London, another serial killer surfaced in the United States. From 1917 to 1919, the Axeman terrorized the town of New Orleans, Louisiana, breaking into stores at night and murdering Italian business owners and their wives with an axe. Like the case in London, police never caught the perpetrator. Unfortunately, he left no evidence to reveal his identity, but allegedly wrote a letter to the citizens of Crescent City to warn them of an upcoming attack.
In his writings, he supposedly gave residents a chance at survival as long as they followed his unusual instructions.
The Axeman of New Orleans was a serial killer active in New Orleans from 1918 to 1919.
In a letter, he wrote: "I am very fond of jazz music, and I swear by all the devils that every person shall be spared in whose home a jazz band is in full swing at the time."
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— Marina Amaral (@marinamaral2) January 20, 2021
He claimed to be a lover of jazz music, telling all of New Orleans to “jazz it out” at 12:15 a.m. on March 18, 1919, or else they would “get the axe.” The town’s residents reportedly complied with the demand, and the night was more musical than usual. In fact, most people played jazz music that evening, and no one died. However, historians suspect the letter writer was not actually the killer but a musician trying to pedal his new jazz music creation.
According to witnesses who survived the attacks, the killer who kept New Orleans citizens on edge for years was a white man in his 30s. The Axeman attacked four more times in the city after the letter was published before disappearing forever, leaving police stumped to this day.
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