A series of ax murders claimed the lives of twenty-five men, women, and children in the Midwest between 1911 and 1912. The axman, known as the Sunday Night Murderer or Billy the Axman, rode the rails, slaughtering families in small-town America. His most famous attack occurred in Villisca, Iowa, where he left eight dead bodies in his wake.

Clementine Barnabet, the Voodoo murderess, claimed responsibility for murdering nineteen poor black families in Texas and Louisiana in 1911 and 1912. The police captured Clementine in November 1911, but the murders continued, leading many investigators to wonder if she was the killer.

The New Orleans Axe Man preyed on Italian grocers in New Orleans and Gretna, Louisiana, in 1918 and 1919. The killer came in the night, entered the homes by chiseling out a panel in the back door, then disappeared in the night. On March 13, 1919, the Axe Man wrote a letter to the citizens of New Orleans addressed from Hell. He promised to spare anyone playing jazz music when he passed over the city at 12:15.

Lizzie Borden was accused of murdering her parents in their Fall River, Massachusetts home on August 4, 1892. The police arrested Lizzie within days of the murders. She was tried and acquitted of the crimes, but the stigma never went away. The thing is, Lizzie may or may not have been the killer, but the police didn't have any evidence to connect her to the crime other than that she was in the house when her parents were killed.