Late into the night of March 18, 1919, the gentle hum of jazz from homes and bars drifted into the damp, dark air across the New Orlean suburbs. Usually, this atmosphere indicates a celebration. On this night, however, New Orleanians played jazz not out of joy—but fear for their lives.
At the turn of the 20th century, a music-loving serial killer proclaimed that only jazz lovers would be safe from his reign of terror. Between March 1918 and October 1919, the unidentified killer, who later earned the title of the Axeman of New Orleans, prowled the streets of New Orleans, Louisiana.
The victims, mostly Italian and Sicilian grocers, were attacked in the middle of the night by a mysterious ax-wielding intruder who left almost no clues after fleeing the scenes…