Tiktakers, we often talk on the channel about the bloodiest killers.
We know you like to know about his life and his misdeeds.
But to date we hadn’t talked about anyone who planned his death as if it were a murder.
Today we want to talk to you about the strange death of James Moon. At 37, he was a merchant who
lived on a farm with his wife and six children. He often traveled to the town of Lafayette,
Indiana, United States. It was close to him and he could solve business matters.
He used to stay at the Lahr House Hotel, a place famous for being the first hotel in the
area. Since he went often, the employees knew him well. That is why his case became so well known.
Like other times, on June 10, 1876, Moon checked into the lodge to spend a few days in the area.
In addition to being a merchant, he had a reputation as an inventor. Therefore,
when he arrived with a large trunk, no one was surprised. They thought that surely it was a
new job. At the front desk, he politely asked a clerk to assign his a quiet, secluded room.
He said he wanted to rest and he couldn't if there was noise. The clerk offered him several rooms,
and he finally settled on one on the third floor. It was located at the back of the hotel.
After settling in and leaving all his belongings in the room, James headed out on errands around
town. Going downstairs, he ran into a hotel employee with whom he trusted. Therefore,
he didn’t hesitate to tell him that he was working on a very important new patent.
Leaving him intrigued, he went outside and headed to a nearby hardware store. There he bought
a heavy ax head. Then, he went to a foundry and asked for two very thick iron plates. In addition,
he gave them clear instructions to drill holes in the ax head and the iron plates.
He said he was working on a fruit slicer. There they told him that it would take them
a long time to complete the order, so Moon took the opportunity to go to a barbershop and shave.
Then he went to a pharmacy and bought cotton and chloroform.
Everything was normal, and of course no one could suspect everything that would come later.
He returned to the foundry with his trunk pulled by a cart.
He loaded everything into it and went out. He had several companions in the city,
men with whom he had shared ranks during the civil war, so he took the opportunity
to stop by to greet them. It was something he used to do when he was in the city.
After completing the tour, he returned to the hotel. The trunk he was carrying was loaded
so it was impossible for him to carry it to the third floor.
He asked the hotel staff for help, who without hesitation carried the trunk.
They were over 90kg in weight so Moon didn't hesitate to give them a big tip.
Once in his room and with everything he needed, he locked the door and went to work.
That was the last time anyone saw him alive. On Sunday, June 11, a woman who was in charge
of cleaning the rooms knocked on his door several times. But she didn't receive any
kind of response. She thought the man would be sleeping so she decided not to disturb him.
In the afternoon she returned and the same story repeated itself. It was very rare for Moon to be
gone for so long and no one had seen him leave. Therefore, she decided to ask for a skeleton key.
Thus, she managed to enter the room. There was a totally terrifying spectacle.
In fact, her screams alerted the hotel staff and guests, who immediately arrived at the scene.
Inside was the body of James Moon, decapitated. What he had described as a fruit slicer was
actually a guillotine. He tested his invention on his own head, something totally macabre.
Immediately, the hotel staff notified the police, who determined that the man had built a perfect
guillotine. He had thought of all the steps. It was an ax attached to a jointed wooden arm
that pivoted on a hinge bolted to the ground. At the head of the ax were two wooden bars that
acted as counterweights and he used a soap box to make sure he kept his head steady.
The final step was to tie a rope to the windowsill and place a candle there,
which would give him enough time to get settled before breaking the rope.
Everything was measured. When they found him, Moon had already been dead for 10 hours
and no one knows why he turned his invention into the end of his life. It was scary, tiktakers!