In early twentieth-century New Orleans, someone was breaking into homes and attacking people while they slept.

The crimes associated with the Axeman began in 1918 and continued into 1919. Many of the victims were Italian immigrants or Italian Americans, and several lived in or near the small grocery businesses they operated. In multiple attacks, part of a door was removed to gain entry. In several attacks, the weapon belonged to the victims or was found somewhere on their property.

No one was ever conclusively identified as the Axeman. Even the number of crimes committed by the same person remains uncertain.

Then, in March 1919, the story became stranger.

A letter attributed to the Axeman appeared in The Times-Picayune. Its writer claimed to be a demon, announced when the next attack would happen, and promised to spare any home where jazz was being played.

When the appointed night arrived, music poured from homes, clubs, and dance halls across New Orleans.

No Axeman attack was reported that night.

Whether the letter came from the killer, a prankster, or someone who knew how to turn terror into a spectacle has never been established. What is certain is that it changed the story. The person behind the attacks began disappearing beneath the legend built around him.

Even at the time, the Axeman drew comparisons to killers such as Jack the Ripper. Both killers vanished without being identified, leaving behind cases in which the legend eventually became almost as powerful as the crimes themselves. My Jack the Ripper Tarot Reading explores another murderer whose identity has been buried beneath more than a century of suspects, theories, and storytelling.

This reading does not attempt to identify the Axeman or solve the murders. Instead, I asked the cards about the fear hanging over New Orleans, the homes that were targeted, the letter that gave the Axeman a voice, and why the truth remains buried.

What emerged was not the image of an untouchable criminal mastermind.

It was something smaller, more frustrated, and perhaps far more ordinary.

About This Reading

Tarot cannot be used as evidence, and this reading is not accusing any named person of involvement in the crimes.

The questions explore the atmosphere surrounding the case, the possible energy of the person behind the attacks, what investigators may have overlooked, and the strange hold the Axeman still has on us more than a century later.

The most unexpected card in the spread landed on the most disputed part of the entire story.

That is where the reading takes a turn.

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