Shadows Over New Orleans
For eighteen months an unknown intruder slipped through the back doors of Italian grocers, wielding the victims' own axes. He was never caught. He left only one letter — and a city playing jazz to stay alive.
March 13, 1919
The Jazz Letter
Published in the Times-Picayune, signed "The Axeman."
"Esteemed Mortal — They have never caught me and they never will. I am not a human being, but a spirit and a fell demon from the hottest hell."
"I am very fond of jazz music, and I swear by all the devils in the nether regions that every person shall be spared in whose home a jazz band is in full swing at the time I have just mentioned."
— The Axeman, from the depths of Hell
The Mystery
Across New Orleans and surrounding parishes.
Most struck in their sleep with their own axe.
The killer's identity remains unknown to this day.