History For Sale

VILLISCA – Several items from the Olson-Linn museum in Villisca will be auctioned June 3-4, one week before the 100th anniversary of the infamous ax murders.

After the death of her husband Darwin, Martha Linn decided to close the museum and sell its contents at the auction.

“When Darwin passed away, I didn’t have the passion for the museum Darwin did,” Martha said in an interview with the Red Oak Express. “It doesn’t make any money and the maintenance and upkeep on the building is just too much for me.”

Hundreds of items are expected to be sold at the two-day auction outside the museum on the square in Villisca.

“There is just a little of everything that showed the history of the small town,” Auctioneer Yvette VanderBrink of VanderBrink Auct-ions said. “If you want to look for something, it will be at this auction.”

Some of the items for sale include a large collection of antique cars, a telephone switchboard, vintage hairdresser equipment, local advertising signs, World War II uniforms, a player piano and a printing press.

In a promotional video about the auction, Martha said one of the most enjoyable aspects of operating the museum was going to auctions and sales with her husband to buy pieces for the collection.

“Darwin thought in order to make it (the museum) interesting for everybody, he had to put a little bit of everything in here,” Martha said. “There’s even some toys and things for children. He wanted everyone to see a little piece of Villisca.”

Some of the items displayed and for sale aren’t in pristine condition, but Martha said Darwin was more concerned with making sure his museum and items in it were accessible to everyone.

“It was a touch-me museum,” she explained. “Things weren’t put behind ropes … if a child or somebody wanted to touch something, they were free to touch it. That was just his philosophy.”

While there will be lots of items for sale tied to Villisca’s history, Martha said there won’t be much from the most well-known event in the town’s past: the 1912 brutal murders of eight people, including six children.

Martha said she plans on keeping the infamous ax murder house open and as such, wants to preserve many of the items inside it.

“I want to keep it open,” Martha said of the ax murder house in her interview with the Express. “It will just depend on my health. But it does give me something to do and helps me stay occupied. It also helped me get over Darwin’s death and gives me an outlet for my grief and energy.”

However, the house will be open for tours that weekend, and it is being used in the marketing of the auction.

“The Linns also own the ax murder house here in Villisca Iowa, which is one of the most haunted spots in the United States,” VanderBrink said on the promotional video. “And it’s the 100th anniversary so we are going to be celebrating that also.”

The house will actually be closed to the public the following weekend, which is the actual 100-year anniversary. Martha recently announced two individuals won a drawing to stay overnight in the house on Friday and Saturday night.

To view the video on the auction, go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEhu3_RqxmA.