“I know. It’s so hard to think about an innocent child. At least they think the baby died quickly, one blow to the back of the head or neck,” Katie said. “Anyway, a man named Steve Boca came next. He woke up to find a dark-clad man in a slouched hat standing above him and went to catch him only to discover he’d been bashed in the head. He survived. Next, Sarah Laumann. She survived the attack but could remember nothing about it. Then—in what is considered to be the last of the Axeman attacks—Mike Pepitone. He was killed, and his wife was left with six children. But there’s much more in between all that. Mrs. Pepitone wound up in Los Angeles where she purportedly shot and killed a man named Momfre—with various spellings. Some researchers claim they can find no such incident. I don’t know. In that theory, she claimed the man who broke in on her in Los Angeles was the same man who killed her husband. All in all, six were killed and six survived in the number of what most people accept to be the Axeman’s killings. There were incidents before about dark, shadowy men attacking people, back in 1910 and 1911, but in those cases, the killer wanted money. It was over a hundred years ago. It’s unlikely any more evidence will come to light, so no one can prove anything one way or the other. Researchers just go with what is out there and make their best educated guess. But the Axeman didn’t take things. He hacked, sliced and killed.”

“And it’s believed the letter sent to the Times-Picayune came from the real killer?”

“Yes, the letter was received on March 13, 1919, and in it he claimed he was more than a man, that he was a demon or a devil. He refers in it to a Satanic Majesty and claims he is the worst spirit in any realm of the real or fantasy. He claimed he was going to pass over New Orleans on the following Tuesday at twelve fifteen at night, and he would spare those who played jazz. People played jazz like their lives depended on it, and no one was killed that night. He taunted the police. And I guess he did. They couldn’t catch him. He removed panels often to get into homes, and he left bloody axes everywhere he went. He used a knife, an axe and anything he could to bash people. Maybe he was more than a man—he was a monster.”

“Today, he would have been caught. Forensic science has come so far,” Adam said.

“Really?” Katie said. “They never caught whoever killed my parents.”