It was supposed to be his masterpiece. A sanctuary where art and love could thrive. But on a summer afternoon in 1914, Frank Lloyd Wright’s Wisconsin estate, Taliesin, became the scene of one of the most shocking massacres in American history.

The cook, Julian Carlton, turned on everyone in the house. Armed with an axe and a can of gasoline, he killed seven people, including Wright’s lover, Mamah Borthwick, and her two children. What followed was fire, panic, and questions that have haunted historians for more than a century.

Why did a quiet, polite employee snap so violently? Was it rage, revenge, or madness? Taliesin was rebuilt, but its walls still carry the scars of that terrible day.

Follow True Crime Recaps for the stories where genius and tragedy collide.