Murder by axe was not such a unusual occurrence in the early part of the twentieth century. In fact the murder weapon of choice is not totally strange in its entirety when you consider that most households possessed the handy wood chopping, chicken killing, muti-purpose murdering tool due to its valuable use for getting tasks done. New Orleans residents were terrified by the mysterious axeman when the greatest boogeyman to hit Louisiana arrived in May 1918 ready to butcher the citizens one by one while they lay sleeping. Within one year the unknown phantom assailant had shamelessly murdered over a half a dozen residents including several grocers, leaving the city drowning in blood.
The New Orleans Axeman further tormented the city by sending letters to the New Orleans Times-Picayune newspaper stating that “They have never caught me and they never will. They have never seen me, for I am invisible, even as the ether that surrounds your earth. I am not a human being, but a spirit and a demon from the hottest hell. I am what you Orleanians and your foolish police call the Axeman. When I see fit, I shall come and claim other victims. I alone know whom they shall be. I shall leave no clue except my bloody axe, besmeared with blood and brains of he whom I have sent below to keep me company”.
Reports began to flood in from all over the nation involving murder by axe during the early part of the twentieth century with the Villisca, Iowa massacre being one of the worst because it involved children. The details did not escape top Hollywood movie makers capitalizing on these horrific events and soon maniacs everywhere were featured in horror flicks toting an axe, lying in wait to chop up their victims. Jason Voorhees from Friday the 13th Part VII, The New Blood murders one female victim by giving her a direct hit with an axe to the face and then tosses her lifeless body as if the slice and dice weren’t enough to get his point across.
One documented triple murder case made headlines in 1909 due to the nature of the crime and how it ultimately tormented the citizens of Savannah, Georgia with the deep fear of an unknown axe wielding murderer running around loose, committing horrendous acts on innocent people as he saw fit. The case is making headlines once again in the Savannah Morning News that possibly relates the 1909 homicide at the Gribble House to paranormal activity that occurs at the site of what has been labeled as the most diabolical crime ever committed in Savannah.
The chilling events of the triple homicide occurring at 401 W. Perry Street on a blustery winter day, just two weeks before Christmas took the lives of Carrie Gribble Ohleander, 36, Eliza Gribble, 76 and Maggie Hunter, 35. An axe, believed to be the murder weapon was found in a pool of blood. Pandemonium quickly took over as reporters roamed freely throughout the murder site, unknowingly depleting evidence in their effort to report the latest news. A story this big doesn’t go unnoticed and it soon spread like wildfire, becoming national news. The deaths were soon the only factual thing on the list of evidence. Suspects and other pertinent information became clouded by gossip and other sordid details, and in fact reports were becoming so helter skelter that the Ogden Standard in Ogden City, Utah, reported that 150 black men were being held in Savannah as possible suspects in the case.
Everyone in town became a suspect, but the main person of interest as reported in the headlines was a “negro man”. Even though there were few scattered clues the headlines purged forward with harsh headlines from” Women Killed By Negro With Ax,” and “Neighbor Saw Negro With Ax” to “Must Arrest Negro To Solve Mystery.” The tension looming in the air had neighbor against neighbor and in one isolated innocent a white man was attacked by a mob simply because he donned a scratch on his face, even though police never considered him a suspect. J. C. Hunter, husband of murder victim Maggie Hunter was eventually convicted and sentenced to death for the triple murders even though a street car conductor claims that he witnessed W. H. Coleman getting on a trolley car at Perry & West Broad Street shortly after the murders took place.
The old Gribble House was torn down in 1944 and is now an extremely large haunted warehouse where ghost hunters, historians and enthusiasts can explore paranormal activity using the latest ghost hunting equipment. The site has become one of the most popular stops on the Savannah tour lines ran by the Old Town Trolley Tours famously known for the haunted tour, Ghosts & Gravestones. A rare two-hour lockdown invites you to meander deep into Savannah’s darker side where you will not only get a lesson on the sites history, you are entertained by orbs, electronic voice phenomenon, unexplained anxiety and headaches, the feeling of being touched or pushed and just about everything else that you can expect to find in a paranormal adventure.
The Gribble House Paranormal experience allows ghost hunters to get detailed results by using equipment used to locate, film and record paranormal activity. People who have previously taken the two hour tour claim that paranormal activity is lurking throughout the entire building, not just where the house was once located. Connecting with the other side with the latest equipment will prove fruitful with proof from video footage and digital recorders. Motion sensors, laser grids and EMF detectors will allow the ghosts to draw energy which will guide them into participating and communicating with guests while on the ghost hunt. Digital cameras have given evidence with an array of orbs and often times the face of an unknown male. Many believe that this is possibly the murderer and he is watching every detail while unknowingly being caught on film.
Gribble House Paranormal Experience Tour: 234 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd & River Street, Savannah, Georgia 31401. Phone: (912) 856-4316 or Customer Service: 1-800-844-7601. Tour Times: Nightly starting at 10:00 p.m. and 11:00 p.m. Price: $26.00 for adults and $10.00 for children. The cost for the Gribble House Experience is $65.00. For more info, go to: http://www.ghostsandgravestones.com/savannah/
