About this episode
In the humid nights of New Orleans in the early years of the 1900’s, a shadowy figure prowled the moonlit streets. “They have never caught me and they never will. They have never seen me, for I am invisible, even as the ether which surrounds your earth. I am not a human being, but a spirit and a fell demon from hottest hell. I am what you Orleanians and your foolish police call the axman.” Whilst almost certainly not written by any real Axeman, this letter, published in the press during the peak of a series of attacks by a violent perpetrator, struck fear into the hearts of citizens who were already terrified of the brutal, seemingly random violence that had been wrapping the city in a terrifying mystery for almost a decade. SOURCES Davos, Miriam C. (2017) The Axeman Of New Orleans. Chicago Review Press Inc., Chicago, USA. Tallant, Robert (1952) Ready To Hang. Pelican Publishing Co., New Orleans, USA. New Orleans Dept. of Police (1911) Report of Homicide . Report No.29. New Orleans, USA. The Times Democrat (1910) Mysterious Assault . Sun 14 Aug 1910, p4. New Orleans, USA. The Times Democrat (1910) New Clew To Assailant Of Rissetto’s . Wed 21 Sep 1910, p4. New Orleans, USA. The Times Democrat (1910) She Wore No.4 Shoe . Thurs 22 Sep 1910, p4. New Orleans, USA. The Times Democrat (1910) Rissetto Assault Remains A Mystery . Fri 23 Sep 1910, p5. New Orleans, USA. ------- For almost anything, head over to the podcasts hub at darkhistories.com Support the show by using our link when you sign up to Audible: http://audibletrial.com/darkhistories or visit our Patreon for bonus episodes and Early Access: https://www.patreon.com/darkhistories The Dark Histories books are available to buy here: http://author.to/darkhistories Dark Histories merch is available here: https://bit.ly/3GChjk9 Connect with us on Facebook: http://facebook.com/darkhistoriespodcast Or find us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/darkhistories & Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dark_histories/ Or you can contact us directly via email at contact@darkhistories.com or join our Discord community: https://discord.gg/cmGcBFf The Dark Histories Butterfly was drawn by Courtney, who you can find on Instagram @bewildereye Music was recorded by me © Ben Cutmore 2017 Other Outro music was Paul Whiteman & his orchestra with Mildred Bailey - All of me (1931). It's out of copyright now, but if you're interested, that was that. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices