Some travelers complained of hearing strange sounds from behind the curtain while they ate. The family that slays together, stays together. “And they command me to kill you now.”. Get updates on the coronavirus pandemic and other news as it happens with our free breaking news email alerts. After the Civil War the Osage Indians were moved from their home in Labette County to Oklahoma, in order to make the Kansas Territory available to European settlers. But when they were brought to Kansas, a panel from Labette County meant to confirm their identity provided inconsistent results. The doctor was among dozens of travelers who had ventured past the Benders’ home and were never seen again. Elvira is thought to have been born Almira Mark in the Adirondack Mountains, and to have had multiple children and husbands—some say who died of head injuries—before she took up the Bender alias. As the story of the Benders spread across the country in the years following the murder spree, thousands of tourists and souvenir hunters flocked to the Bender’s former homestead, looting the property down to the bricks lining the cellar and stones lining the well. They lured people to their inn, killed them and stole their property. There, the family had used canvas to split the one-room cabin into two parts—the back was kept as the living quarters, while the front was converted into a general store, kitchen, and dining table where travelers could stop for dry goods, a meal, or even a night of rest. Reports of sightings continued for decades, but they led to nothing. The body would then be dropped through the trap door, stripped, and later buried or dismembered. The killer clan still draws tourists to the region. #truecrime #murder #history THE BLOODY BENDERS Mass Murderers from the History of Kansas. They said no. Tweet. Another time, a local spiritualist stopped by to chew the fat about the netherworld with Kate. After a few months of life on the prairie with its high temperatures, hot winds and hardships, two of the families moved away. When people begin to mysteriously vanish on the frontier, the troubled Doctor York goes searching for answers and stumbles upon the Benders, a homesteading family with an unnatural way of living off the land. Though Elvira initially pretended not to understand English, she began yelling about how the woman had cursed her coffee when Colonel York repeated the accusation; Elvira then kicked the men out. They popped up around 1870, settling on the border between Kansas and Indian Territory, known today as Oklahoma. This Aug. 21, 2013, photo, shows a Kansas Historical Marker telling the story of the Bloody Benders is at the Montgomery County Rest area in Cherryvale, Kan. Old Bender and Johnny built a 20- by 16-foot building, hung out a sign that said, “Grocry,” [sic] and started offering hot meals and warm beds for the weary, wrote Fern Morrow Wood in “The Benders: Keepers of the Devil’s Inn.”. Though stories abound, to this day no one knows for certain what became of the "bloody Benders." One of the few items found in the cabin was a Bible with notes in German, which identified John, Jr. as one John Gebhardt. When Death Comes: An Oncology Nurse Finds Solace in Mary Oliver, Alan Lightman on the Artfulness of the Cosmos, The Struggle to Define Wilderness: On Encountering John Muir in Bear Country, Writing About Housing Anxiety in the Contemporary Novel, Emily St. John Mandel on Irene Nemirovsky, Zadie Smith, and, The Birds and the Bees:A Translation Bestiary, Meet the Bookstore Owner Behind National Black Literacy Day. The Bloody Benders would lure victims to their inn where they would kill and rob them before burying their bodies in their garden. While waiting for more details from Kansas, the man tried to escape by severing his foot; he ended up bleeding to death, and decomposed before an identification could be made. But no one really knows how many people died at the hands of the monstrous Bender family —Old John, 60, Ma, 55, and their two children, Johnny, 27, and Kate, 24. Once Kansas declared itself with the Union and the Civil War began to rage, the bloody battles continued. The mere sight of him sharpening some knives once sent a woman fleeing in terror. February 07, 2020 01:33 AM Land belonging to one of America’s first serial killer families — the “Bloody Benders” — is up for sale. And their story remains a ghastly part of Kansas folklore to this day. Most of all, the story of the Bloody Benders has endured because of its their ability to inspire fictional accounts—including one by famous prairie writer Laura Ingalls Wilder, who claimed that Pa Ingalls had joined a vigilante hunt and that she’d come to her own conclusion as to what he meant when he said the family would “never be found” in her annotated autobiography, Pioneer Girl. The foursome preyed upon settlers heading west along the Great Osage Trail. The real Amityville Horror was Robert DeFeo Jr., who killed his father, mother, two brothers, and two sisters in the house that would later become the focus of paranormal speculation. A Kansas historical marker stands nearby telling the story of a family of killers — the Bloody Benders — who ran a tavern on the land in the years after the Civil War. Bender Inn wasn’t the safe haven it pretended to be, and would soon become the focus of an inquisition into a series of mysterious disappearances and deaths in the region. It is the first and only comprehensive story of the Bloody Benders; a terrible chapter in the annuals of crime on this lonely prairie Inn in the southeast Kansas. What the Benders didn’t realize was that their latest victim came from a prominent family — Dr. York’s two brothers were Colonel Ed York and Alexander M. York, a member of the Kansas State Senate. All the farmer said was, “It’s good cropland.”. Though some victims were wearing valuables or carrying cash, a lack of targeting suggests the Benders killed for the thrill, not for the money. The Bloody Benders – Serial Killers of Kansas. In April, 1873 on a homestead in Labette County, Kansas, another of these stories was unfolding—one that would leave a local family with a nickname that remains infamous almost 150 years later. But on his way back to Independence, Dr. York made a fatal decision, stopping at the Bender Inn. A one-room house belonging to the Bender family was found to be abandoned, and the family’s farm animals were left starving. But the Bender family had other plans then just farming the land. . Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to share on Google+ (Opens in new window), Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window), Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window), Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window), Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window), Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window), Don't stop at the inn - just keep driving, The Past, Present, and Future of the "Eco-Thriller", The 15 Best Crime and Mystery Television Series of 2020, Every Mystery Writer Knows, You Can Kill Anyone But The Dog. But it was the disappearance of George Newton Longcor (also reported as “Loncher”) that set in motion the series of events that would eventually expose the truth about these mysterious disappearances and deaths. The same modus operandi—the victims were hit in the head, likely with a hammer, before having their throat slit—was evident on all bodies except that of Mary Ann, who was likely buried alive. They read: “Prof. But Bender Inn wasn’t the safe haven it pretended to be, and would soon become the focus of an inquisition into a series of mysterious disappearances and deaths in the region. A Kansas historical marker stands nearby telling the story of a family of killers — the Bloody Benders — who ran a tavern on the land in the years after the Civil War. 4.0 average based on 2 product ratings. In October 1870, five families moved to this area of Osage, settling around seven miles from where the city of Cherryvale would be established. Dr. York never returned. Editor’s Note: The Bloody Benders were a family of serial killers who lived and operated in Labette County, Kansas, between 1871 and 1873. Currently, there's not any kind of alert system regarding pot… This, as well as reports from neighbors, suggest that John, Jr. and Kate may have actually been a couple instead of brother and sister. The "Bloody Benders" were a German family of four that settled a claim in southeastern Kansas in Labette County in 1871, according to the Kansas Historical Society (KHS). Saga of the Bloody Benders: The Infamous Homicidal Family of Labette County, Kansas (Treasury of Victorian Murder) (Treasury of Victorian Murder (Paperback)) (A Treasury of Victorian Murder) Authors. According to Mrs. York, her husband removed it from the Bender Inn the day his brother's body was found. The woman grabbed her rifle and bolted for the door, never to return. Stories abounded of shrieks in the night and ghosts, as well as many other creepy encounters with the family. 1871.... high on a prairie in southeast Kansas remain the Bender Mounds, named for the infamous Bender family - John, his wife , … He was speaking of the mysterious group of four who came to be known as the Bloody Benders, whose horrendous crimes shocked the nation and stoked tales about the Old West. Still, another maintained that a posse had tracked them down, killed them, and split the family’s loot. Though they kept to themselves, the Benders attended church and town meetings and seemed to be an ordinary rural family. caused no alarm among the hard working settlers. A troubled doctor searches for patients swallowed by the prairie and encounters the Benders, homesteaders trapped by a life of unspeakable sin. [More True Crime] JUSTICE STORY: Did sex fiend who killed NYC woman commit Boston Strangler slayings. The story kept me hooked and strapped to my seat. Though occultism wasn’t necessarily unusual at the time, Kate’s advocacy of free love earned her particular notoriety, and drew fans to the Bender property. Only one was clothed, the body of a little blond girl, around 7 years-old. To this day in Kansas, a traveling mother and daughter might be teased about being Ma and Kate Bender—the women, like the legend itself, immortal in their infamy. The Bloody Benders Marker. This is the story of the Bloody Benders, America’s first family of serial killers. In February 1872, two more men were found with the same unique injuries. The Bender family was thought to be the first serial killer family. A Bender museum opened in Cherryvale in May 1961, during Kansas’ statehood centennial celebration, and operated there until 1978. The floor was covered with a sticky, muddy substance—blood. A lot of what we know about them is shrouded in mystery, but the stuff we do know for sure is, well, batshit freaking insane. Johnny was prone to breaking out in fits of shrill laughter for no reason at all. 2 Stars, 0 product ratings 0. She said she had supernatural powers, and distributed handbills for her business as a faith healer and psychic. 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Bender Mounds, Kansas by Kathy Weiser-Alexander. Yet Colonel York soon found more evidence against the Benders, and returned on April 3 with armed men. When the Bender family opens a tavern along the Osage Trail in southeastern Kansas, many westward bound travelers suddenly go missing. Nearly a dozen travelers who stopped at their small inn were murdered, and their bodies later found buried on the Benders’ property. But it was too late—Elvira had already revealed both her mastery of the English language, as well as her true nature. He questioned homesteaders along the trail as he made his way to Fort Scott, where he identified the wagon and horses as those he’d sold to Longcor and clothes found as belonging to the father and daughter. Free US Delivery 2 product ratings. The family of four disappeared before they could be arrested. One theory had them escaping in a hot-air balloon. hauntedfamilytrees.com/historicalpsychopaths/the-bloody-benders Today, the “ Bloody Benders ” endure as a notorious serial killing family of the Old West. The "Bloody Benders" were a German family of four that settled a claim in southeastern Kansas in Labette County in 1871, according to the Kansas Historical Society (KHS). 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To address the issue, the local township held a public meeting in the Harmony Grove schoolhouse, in which the community agreed to obtain search warrants for every property between Big Hill Creek and Drum Creek; Colonel York, John Bender, Sr., John Bender, Jr. were all in attendance. Near here are the Bender Mounds, named for the infamous Bender family ~~ John, his wife, son, and daughter Kate ~~ who settled here in 1871. Near here are the Bender Mounds, named for the infamous Bender family ~~ John, his wife, son, and daughter Kate ~~ who settled here in 1871. Some say that John Jr. and Kate traveled by railroad to an outlaw colony near the border of Texas and New Mexico, where law enforcement wouldn’t go. After the Civil War the Osage Indians were moved from their home in Labette County to Oklahoma, in order to make the Kansas Territory available to European settlers. In the wake of the gruesome discoveries made on the Bender property, both State Senator Alexander York and Kansas Governor Thomas A. Osborn offered substantial rewards for the apprehension of the family. Dec 12, 2019 - Explore Cari Knight's board "Bloody Benders", followed by 217 people on Pinterest. And while it’s unconfirmed whether the inspiration for Texas Chainsaw Massacre’s Leatherface, serial killer Ed Gein, actually committed cannibalism, the items found in his house of horrors went far beyond the infamous mask of human skin. One account from Little Rock even claimed that the whole family had been apprehended in Arkansas, but it’s hard to know for sure. The bloodshed started in May 1871, when a man was found in Drum Creek, Southeast of the Bender property in what would become Montgomery County, with his skull crushed and his throat slashed. After the death of his wife, Longcor and his 18-month-old daughter Mary Ann had left Independence, Kansas for Iowa, but never made it. The family of four disappeared before they could be arrested. Around a dozen bullet holes were also found in the cabin, likely from victims who’d tried to fight back. Based on the evidence and stories told by survivors of the Bender Inn, it is believed that guests were given the seat of honor at the dining table, which backed up against the canvas room divider and was positioned over the trap door to the cellar. 1 Stars, 0 product ratings 0. 3 Stars, 1 product rating 1. He was looking for his brother, Dr. William York, who had vanished on March 9. Around the same time, neighboring communities began to accuse Osage of being responsible for the disappearances. And though several vigilante groups would claim to have caught and killed the Benders, none provided evidence or claimed the cash reward. When it comes to true crime, Mark Twain was right: Truth is stranger than fiction. The Benders, Keepers of the Devil's Inn, by Fern Morrow Wood. Liam O’Brien is the Senior Sales & Marketing Manager at Melville House, and a former bookseller. The "Bloody Benders" reportedly killed almost a dozen travelers in Labette County, Kansas By Robyn Merrett February 07, 2020 01:33 AM The Bloody Benders Lyrics: The Benders were a family / Who arrived in Labette County KAnsa around 1870 / The the Bender family built a one room log shanty / … By the next day, at least ten bodies had been recovered from the garden and well, along with additional dismembered body parts. 4 Stars, 0 product ratings 0. They … They didn’t appear to be anything special, just another immigrant family that had escaped the confines of the eastern cities to try their hand out west. Editor’s Note: The Bloody Benders were a family of serial killers who lived and operated in Labette County, Kansas, between 1871 and 1873. As a group, they seemed uniquely ill-suited for the hospitality business. John, Sr. was likely born John Flickinger before immigrating from either Germany or the Netherlands, and Kate Bender as Elvira’s fifth child Eliza Griffith. Secretly, the four made a living through murder and robbery. In 1889, a mother Almira and daughter Sarah Elizabeth were arrested for larceny in Michigan and subsequently accused of being Elvira and Kate Bender. The illustrations are far more complex and intriguing. In the 19th century, Kansas was a bloody place, especially before the Civil War as “ Free-Soilers ” and slavery advocates “duked” it out for control of the new territory. But it’s also more dangerous, and real-life horror stories don’t only spread fear—they can also spread rumors, often making it difficult to discern fact from fabrication. Thought to be German immigrants, the elder Bender was around the age of 60 and spoke little English and with a thick accent, while the younger Bender was around 25, spoke English well but with an accent, and had a habit of laughing aimlessly that led some to label him a “half-wit.” After the men had prepared the land with a cabin and barn, the women arrived in 1871. Then they’d toss them into the cellar, waiting for the right time to plant the lifeless forms in the garden. Upon investigating, elected township officer Leroy Dick found that the property had been abandoned and that there was a bad odor coming from a trap door nailed shut and underneath a bed; his subsequent call for a search party turned up hundreds of locals wielding shovels and pickaxes, ready to search the Bender Inn. In this initial meeting, the Benders denied any knowledge of Dr. York and suggested that the traveler may have met with foul play at a remote location near Drum Creek, where John, Jr. claimed to have been shot at around the same time as Dr. York disappeared. Curious locals began to explore the empty house and discovered a trap door in the floor that led to a blood-soaked cellar. The unsettling true story of America's first serial killing family. 5 Stars, 1 product rating 1. The Benders, consisting of John Sr. (or Pa), Ma, John Jr., and Kate, were one of a group of Spiritualist families who had moved to an area outside of Cherryvale, Kansas. In all due honesty, I had never heard of the Bloody Benders so some of my excitement could … In 2013, “The Wichita Eagle” questioned the landowner about his notorious property. The message is accompanied by a link of unknown origin—one that is likely an attempt to gather personal information. Which International Thriller Should You Binge This Weekend? Meanwhile, there were reports that Ma and Pa Bender had fled towards St. Louis, Missouri. Directed by John Alexander. 2,855 likes. Even ghost hunters who set up equipment to monitor the site as late as 2011 came up with nothing. Soon, Dr. William Henry York—Longcor’s former neighbor, who’d sold Longcor horses and a wagon for the trip—was alerted that the team had been found abandoned near Fort Scott, Kansas. Some said they fled to Mexico, Germany, or were hiding somewhere in the west. Inscription. Bloody Benders is by far the best. Days later, the Benders’ neighbors noticed that the place seemed deserted and decided to investigate. Old man Bender would crush their skulls with three blows from a sledgehammer and slit their throats. The Bloody Benders were a German Immigrant family who lived in Southeast Kansas from 1869–1872. They are said to be America’s first serial killer family. Prof. Miss Katie offered her spiritual powers to track his missing brother, but her efforts yielded nothing. The searchers speculated that she had been tossed into the grave with her father and buried alive. The danger of dining with the Bender’s came when seated with your back to the canvas wall. You've just fallen victim to the Bloody Benders, America's first and, arguably, greatest family of serial killers. The Bloody Benders. The Bender’s kept a small grocery store in the front of the cabin, selling staples such as tobacco, crackers, sardines, candles, powder and shot. The Benders were members of that cult. The Benders’ story begins, like many from this time period, thanks to the Homestead Act of 1862. . When she arrived, she found the Benders spending quality time together — flinging knives at an outline of a man on the wall and laughing. Take Lizzie Borden, who killed her parents with around 10 whacks each, instead of the 40 depicted in the morbid children’s rhyme. But instead of hospitality, the “Bloody Benders” slit their guests’ throats or bashed their heads in once they sat at the dinner table. Meanwhile, Vigilante groups tried—with little success—to hold someone accountable, often arresting and then releasing innocent men. But while there is some evidence that the Ingalls family may have encountered victim George Longcor, the Ingalls family had already left Kansas for Wisconsin by the time the Benders moved to the area. Secretly, the four made a living through murder and robbery. 4. Detectives followed wagon tracks to find the family’s horses, who’d been abandoned outside of Thayer, just 12 miles north of the inn. Kate would also place her spiritualist clients with their backs to the curtain. But while the Benders themselves were likely never held accountable for the murders committed in Labette County, others were certainly punished for their crimes—twelve men in total were charged as accessories for helping dispose of the stolen goods.
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