True Crime: The Axeman of New Orleans — A Jazz Loving Serial Killer

The murders had taken place over a hundred years ago but the Jazzman story remains one of the greatest mysteries and unsolved murder cases within the annals of American crime.

They were a series of night slayings that were committed during a Post-War age of Jazz and new found optimism that were both dark and terrifying. It is a chilling story of terror during a seemingly golden time of boom where a New America had emerged but a night prowler was invading homes and creating night-time carnage and chaos.

The Axeman’s modern status is one of mythological urban legend and the rumours and theories behind this killer range from the interesting to the downright farfetched but terrifyingly the Axeman was real — very real.

There were four people brutally murdered and eight grievously injured by the Axeman. They were all New Orleans (and the neighbouring Gretna) residents, predominantly Italian-Americans and they were attacked within their own bedrooms by a “panel burglar”. The weapon of choice usually belonged to the homeowner and the attacks took place inside the homes of the people where this creature struck. The attacks occurred from May 1918 until October 1919 and now 101 years later they remain unsolved. There were unfounded reports of attacks going back to 1911 however these have…