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The maniac, nicknamed "The Woodcutter," kept Louisiana at bay in the early twentieth century. His crimes were strange and illogical, and his personality still remains a mystery to everyone. We tell the story of one of the most brutal murderers in the United States.
A series of brutal murders, lack of an obvious motive and a craving for jazz music - Lumberjack is rightfully considered one of the most dangerous and mysterious serial killers in the world. Today, this eerie page in Louisiana history is a thing of the past, but even decades later, state residents are asking questions: who really was this cruel maniac, and how did he manage to stay uncaught?
The story of the Lumberjack maniac dates back to May 22, 1918 - it was on that day that the Louisiana Ripper, as some media representatives call him, committed his first proven murder. The Lumberjack's victim was a married couple sleeping peacefully in their house - at about three o'clock in the morning the killer entered the bedroom of Joseph and Catherine Maggio and inflicted numerous blows on the head with an ax. The police who arrived at the scene found mutilated corpses, whose heads were practically separated from the body. This brutal murder shook the whole of Louisiana - news of the appearance of a maniac instantly appeared in the press, and the residents of the state hid in a terrible expectation of new crimes.
Sketch of the murder of the Maggio family.
Soon, the offender again made itself felt - on June 6 of the same year, another resident of New Orleans was subjected to a similar attack. Louis Bezumer and his beloved Harriet Lowe lived near Maggio's house, and, like the previous victims, were immigrants from Europe. This connection between the dead led the state police to believe that the killer could be a representative of the mafia that controlled this area of the city, and therefore bloody showdowns and violent crimes were not uncommon there.
The false trail that the detectives took led to a real chaos that reigned in New Orleans - people in panic accused each other of involvement in murders and stocked up with weapons, the police detained hundreds of state residents, and the real criminal continued his bloody mission. After previous murders, he accelerated, and by October 27, 1919, eleven victims were listed on his account, including a pregnant woman who almost posthumously gave birth to a healthy child in the hospital immediately after the attack, as well as a two-year-old girl, whom the Woodcutter hacked to death with an ax right in his arms. from the mother, despite the woman's desperate pleas for mercy.
As a murder weapon, the Woodcutter chose an ax - it is to this fact that he owes his nickname. It is noteworthy that the killer almost always used axes, which he found in the houses of his victims, and later took them with him, depriving the investigation of the slightest chance of solving the case. In addition, the Lumberjack changed clothes immediately after the murder - at one of the crime scenes, one of the victims' relatives noticed that several items of clothing were missing in the closet. The detectives concluded that the maniac borrows things from his victims so as not to attract too much attention to himself.
Despite the fact that more and more new facts became in the case, and also there were witnesses who survived after the attack of a maniac, detectives could not even make a rough portrait of the killer - according to one of the police officers, the surviving victims were as if hypnotized and described completely different people. and some of them even mistakenly pointed to their acquaintances. In particular, a woman named Rosie Cortimiglia, who was attacked by the Woodcutter in March 1919, regained consciousness and stated that she was attacked by her neighbor Lolrando Giordano and his son Frank. Despite the fact that Rosie's husband claimed that his wife was wrong, Lolrando and Frank were arrested and soon sentenced to death, but after a while Mrs. Cortimiglia withdrew her testimony, saying that she was wrong.
Jazz Lumberjack Caricature
However, the maniac himself, apparently, yearned for fame and recognition, and once wrote a frank letter to one of the Louisiana newspapers. “Dear mortals of New Orleans! They could not catch me, and they will never succeed in doing so, because I am invisible. I am not a human being, I am a spirit, a demon who came from hell to take your lives. I am what you foolish townsfolk call the Woodcutter. The police investigation only amused me, but I do not advise them to continue it, otherwise they will incur my wrath. I can be much worse than you think of me, ”the letter said.
The first part of the frightening message had the effect of an exploding bomb, but what the Lumberjack wrote in the second part of the letter shocked the people of Louisiana much more: “Exactly at 00:15 next Tuesday I am going to drive through New Orleans. And I want to be merciful, and therefore I offer you a choice. "
“I really love jazz. And I swear by all the devils that I will not go into those houses, from the windows of which jazz music will sound. Your Lumberjack "
The fear that enveloped the inhabitants of New Orleans forced them to agree to the terms of the maniac, and on the night of March 19, the city turned into a music festival - literally from every window came the jazz melodies that the Lumberjack so wanted to hear, and the most daring even took to the streets and played jazz compositions in the city squares. It is worth saying that that night the killer kept his word and did not commit a single crime, enjoying the power he had over ordinary people.
But craving for jazz is not the only trait of a maniac. The detectives who investigated this case were extremely surprised by some illogicality of his crimes. All victims were of different sex, age, physique. They lived in different areas and belonged to different social classes (which refuted the original version of the police that the local mafia was involved in the killings). The woodcutter without hesitation killed men, women, children, while sometimes leaving living witnesses in the house who could describe him. The killer also very chaotically chose the methods of entering the houses - sometimes he climbed through a small hole he made himself, and sometimes he simply ripped the door off its hinges, which could attract neighbors and unnecessary witnesses.
However, the people of Louisiana were soon able to breathe freely. The series of brutal murders ended as suddenly as it began - at the end of 1919, the Lumberjack seemed to disappear without committing a single crime. However, the police were not ready to surrender and continued to search for the criminal. One of the suspects was Joseph Momrf, a man who was allegedly shot in 1920 by the widow of one of the victims at the hands of a maniac. This theory, put forward by the writer Colin Wilson, gained incredible popularity, but did not receive real confirmation and was soon forgotten.
Lumberjack Kills Map
Also among the suspects was the composer John Joseph Davilla, who, immediately after the publication of the Lumberjack's manifesto, released a composition in a jazz style called "The Mysterious Lumberjack Jazz." True, this version also turned out to be untenable, despite the fact that at first the police seriously suspected the musician.
For some time, detectives desperately tried to find at least one clue that would help them solve these terrible crimes, but soon the investigation was officially completed, and did not get off the ground. However, the residents of New Orleans to this day continue to put forward theories regarding the personality of the Woodcutter, and also wonder how this mysterious killer managed to twist the whole state around his finger and remain uncaught.
Later, analyzing the Lumberjack's letters, people came to the conclusion that the maniac's words written in his message turned out to be prophetic, and he really was smarter and smarter than those who were chasing him, each time leaving behind a bloody trail and many questions, which no answers were found.
In popular culture, the image of a maniac also left its mark - his story formed the basis of several books and film projects, including the work of the writer Julie Smith "Jazz the Lumberjack", the book by Chuck Palahniuk "Ghosts", as well as the TV series "American Horror Story", in which The Lumberjack is one of the characters in the third season.
A series of brutal murders, lack of an obvious motive and a craving for jazz music - Lumberjack is rightfully considered one of the most dangerous and mysterious serial killers in the world. Today, this eerie page in Louisiana history is a thing of the past, but even decades later, state residents are asking questions: who really was this cruel maniac, and how did he manage to stay uncaught?
The story of the Lumberjack maniac dates back to May 22, 1918 - it was on that day that the Louisiana Ripper, as some media representatives call him, committed his first proven murder. The Lumberjack's victim was a married couple sleeping peacefully in their house - at about three o'clock in the morning the killer entered the bedroom of Joseph and Catherine Maggio and inflicted numerous blows on the head with an ax. The police who arrived at the scene found mutilated corpses, whose heads were practically separated from the body. This brutal murder shook the whole of Louisiana - news of the appearance of a maniac instantly appeared in the press, and the residents of the state hid in a terrible expectation of new crimes.
Sketch of the murder of the Maggio family.
Soon, the offender again made itself felt - on June 6 of the same year, another resident of New Orleans was subjected to a similar attack. Louis Bezumer and his beloved Harriet Lowe lived near Maggio's house, and, like the previous victims, were immigrants from Europe. This connection between the dead led the state police to believe that the killer could be a representative of the mafia that controlled this area of the city, and therefore bloody showdowns and violent crimes were not uncommon there.
The false trail that the detectives took led to a real chaos that reigned in New Orleans - people in panic accused each other of involvement in murders and stocked up with weapons, the police detained hundreds of state residents, and the real criminal continued his bloody mission. After previous murders, he accelerated, and by October 27, 1919, eleven victims were listed on his account, including a pregnant woman who almost posthumously gave birth to a healthy child in the hospital immediately after the attack, as well as a two-year-old girl, whom the Woodcutter hacked to death with an ax right in his arms. from the mother, despite the woman's desperate pleas for mercy.
As a murder weapon, the Woodcutter chose an ax - it is to this fact that he owes his nickname. It is noteworthy that the killer almost always used axes, which he found in the houses of his victims, and later took them with him, depriving the investigation of the slightest chance of solving the case. In addition, the Lumberjack changed clothes immediately after the murder - at one of the crime scenes, one of the victims' relatives noticed that several items of clothing were missing in the closet. The detectives concluded that the maniac borrows things from his victims so as not to attract too much attention to himself.
Despite the fact that more and more new facts became in the case, and also there were witnesses who survived after the attack of a maniac, detectives could not even make a rough portrait of the killer - according to one of the police officers, the surviving victims were as if hypnotized and described completely different people. and some of them even mistakenly pointed to their acquaintances. In particular, a woman named Rosie Cortimiglia, who was attacked by the Woodcutter in March 1919, regained consciousness and stated that she was attacked by her neighbor Lolrando Giordano and his son Frank. Despite the fact that Rosie's husband claimed that his wife was wrong, Lolrando and Frank were arrested and soon sentenced to death, but after a while Mrs. Cortimiglia withdrew her testimony, saying that she was wrong.
Jazz Lumberjack Caricature
However, the maniac himself, apparently, yearned for fame and recognition, and once wrote a frank letter to one of the Louisiana newspapers. “Dear mortals of New Orleans! They could not catch me, and they will never succeed in doing so, because I am invisible. I am not a human being, I am a spirit, a demon who came from hell to take your lives. I am what you foolish townsfolk call the Woodcutter. The police investigation only amused me, but I do not advise them to continue it, otherwise they will incur my wrath. I can be much worse than you think of me, ”the letter said.
The first part of the frightening message had the effect of an exploding bomb, but what the Lumberjack wrote in the second part of the letter shocked the people of Louisiana much more: “Exactly at 00:15 next Tuesday I am going to drive through New Orleans. And I want to be merciful, and therefore I offer you a choice. "
“I really love jazz. And I swear by all the devils that I will not go into those houses, from the windows of which jazz music will sound. Your Lumberjack "
The fear that enveloped the inhabitants of New Orleans forced them to agree to the terms of the maniac, and on the night of March 19, the city turned into a music festival - literally from every window came the jazz melodies that the Lumberjack so wanted to hear, and the most daring even took to the streets and played jazz compositions in the city squares. It is worth saying that that night the killer kept his word and did not commit a single crime, enjoying the power he had over ordinary people.
But craving for jazz is not the only trait of a maniac. The detectives who investigated this case were extremely surprised by some illogicality of his crimes. All victims were of different sex, age, physique. They lived in different areas and belonged to different social classes (which refuted the original version of the police that the local mafia was involved in the killings). The woodcutter without hesitation killed men, women, children, while sometimes leaving living witnesses in the house who could describe him. The killer also very chaotically chose the methods of entering the houses - sometimes he climbed through a small hole he made himself, and sometimes he simply ripped the door off its hinges, which could attract neighbors and unnecessary witnesses.
However, the people of Louisiana were soon able to breathe freely. The series of brutal murders ended as suddenly as it began - at the end of 1919, the Lumberjack seemed to disappear without committing a single crime. However, the police were not ready to surrender and continued to search for the criminal. One of the suspects was Joseph Momrf, a man who was allegedly shot in 1920 by the widow of one of the victims at the hands of a maniac. This theory, put forward by the writer Colin Wilson, gained incredible popularity, but did not receive real confirmation and was soon forgotten.
Lumberjack Kills Map
Also among the suspects was the composer John Joseph Davilla, who, immediately after the publication of the Lumberjack's manifesto, released a composition in a jazz style called "The Mysterious Lumberjack Jazz." True, this version also turned out to be untenable, despite the fact that at first the police seriously suspected the musician.
For some time, detectives desperately tried to find at least one clue that would help them solve these terrible crimes, but soon the investigation was officially completed, and did not get off the ground. However, the residents of New Orleans to this day continue to put forward theories regarding the personality of the Woodcutter, and also wonder how this mysterious killer managed to twist the whole state around his finger and remain uncaught.
Later, analyzing the Lumberjack's letters, people came to the conclusion that the maniac's words written in his message turned out to be prophetic, and he really was smarter and smarter than those who were chasing him, each time leaving behind a bloody trail and many questions, which no answers were found.
In popular culture, the image of a maniac also left its mark - his story formed the basis of several books and film projects, including the work of the writer Julie Smith "Jazz the Lumberjack", the book by Chuck Palahniuk "Ghosts", as well as the TV series "American Horror Story", in which The Lumberjack is one of the characters in the third season.
