Unnecessary Headaches: Wikipedia

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Wikipedia can be a great tool to initialize a research project but I would strongly encourage anyone writing a term paper to never quote Wikipedia directly (if ever).  You see, the problem is that the same person who might have written an article about cancer treatment also wrote the episode guides for ALF, which is okay if it just happens to be an oncologist that also is a big fan of ALF but I would guess that isn't the case.  Over the holiday I decided to look at the Wiki entry for the Villisca case, just to see what was written there; big mistake.


The following are quotes taken from the Wikipedia entry on the Villisca Axe Murders, which I refuse to link to.

They were likely not aware that there was an intruder or intruders who are thought to have been inside the attic or cellar, waiting for them to fall asleep, so they could attack.

 First off, it would have done the killer no good to hide in the cellar.  They would have just been a person or persons crouching in a cellar.  The cellar has no entry into the house.  Second, there wasn't any evidence of recent activity in the cellar when the murders were discovered.  Now as for hiding in the attic?  Impossible.  The attic door is inside the closet of Joe and Sara's bedroom.  This closet, as was discovered by investigators the day of the murder discovery, was jammed with boxes and clothing.  In order for the killer to hide in the attic, he/she/they would have had to remove everything in front of the attic door, enter the attic then somehow replace everything they had removed so they could close the closet door again.  Oh, and do all the replacing from behind the closed attic door.

Lena...and there were wounds on her arms. But, there was no way to see if she was sexually traumatized or not.

There were no wounds on her arms.  There were no wounds on any victim below the neck.  As for the "sexually traumatized or not," there was a way to tell...and she wasn't.

The most promising evidence goes to the theory that Senator Frank F. Jones hired William “Blackie” Mansfield to murder the Moore family. 

This is the most promising evidence if you ignore all other facts and evidence in the case.  One nice thing to ignore would be the nickname "Blackie."  William Mansfield hadn't been called Blackie in his life, until a Kansas City reporter created the name.  This reporter was a very talented writer who would go on to create the character "Boston Blackie."  Hmmm...what a coincidence he would would use that nickname.

It is believed that Mansfield was a serial killer because he murdered his wife, infant child, father- and mother-in-law (two years after the Villisca crimes); committed the axe murders in Paola, Kansas, four days before the Villisca crimes; and committed the double homicide of Jennie Peterson and Jennie Miller in Colorado.

Believed by whom?  Mansfield was in Kansas City Milwaukee when his estranged wife, child and in-laws were murdered. By 1915 the Blue Island case was cleared up after a former, mentally unstable lodger who had become obsessed with Mrs. Mansfield, confessed.  Mansfield was nowhere near Paola when the Hudsons were murdered and I have no idea who "Jennie Peterson and Jennie Miller" were.  And I love this last line in the Mansfield section:

However, Mansfield was released after a special Grand Jury of Montgomery County refused to indict him on grounds that his alibi checked out.

Stupid grand jury.  Yep, Mansfield produced rock solid evidence that he was 200 400 miles away from Villisca on the night of the murders so unless he could warp time and space, he couldn't have been the killer.  Now the author of this Wikipedia "article" goes completely off the reservation in their section on Henry Lee Moore.

Henry Lee Moore (ex husband of John's sister). 

John?  John who?

It came up in the inquest that Henry Moore often threatened to kill Josiah Moore. Josiah had told his employer of the threats and Henry's son had confirmed it to be true.

Henry Lee Moore had never been to Villisca, wasn't related to the Moore's at all and his name is never, ever mentioned in the Villisca inquest.  Also, he had no son.  He did, however, kill his mother and grandmother with an axe in 1912. This post is dangerously close to my "No posts about Villisca" policy which I follow loosely.  As punishment I will not post for the rest of the year.