Weevil Doer

Summary

Podcast Summary: "Weevil Doer"

Aaron Mahnke’s Cabinet of Curiosities

Date: January 1, 2026
Host: Aaron Mahnke
Producer: iHeartPodcasts and Grim & Mild

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Overview

In this episode, Aaron Mahnke offers listeners two delightfully bizarre stories from the historical record. The first tale explores the 16th-century French tradition of putting insects on trial for crimes against humanity, focusing on a notorious case involving vineyard-destroying weevils. The second story takes a dark turn into early 20th-century true crime, chronicling the chilling exploits of Belle Gunness, America’s most prolific female serial killer and insurance fraudster.

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Tale 1: The Trial of the Weevils

[01:08 – 05:37]

Key Discussion Points

• Setting the Scene:

  • The story unfolds in the wine-producing region of Saint-Julien, France, renowned for its grape harvest and centuries-old vineyards.
  • Year: 1545; the vineyards face devastation from a plague of weevils (Rhynchites oractas).

• Pursuing Justice (Renaissance-Style):

  • Rather than accept their loss, the townspeople take the weevils to ecclesiastical court—literally putting the insects on trial for destroying the grape harvest.
  • They hire Pierre Ducal as their attorney, who files an official complaint.

• An Unusual Defense:

  • The state appoints legal defenders for the weevils, making it a proper adversarial court case.
  • The presiding judge, Francois Bonivart, hears arguments from both sides.

• The Verdict:

  • Bonivart concludes that the weevils were merely acting in accordance with their nature and divine law.
  • He shifts the blame onto the townspeople, suggesting their misfortune is a sign from God.

    “The creatures acted according to their nature and according to the laws of God… the weevils represented, in the court’s view, divine punishment.” — Aaron Mahnke [03:15]

• Mandating Penance:

  • The court requires the townspeople to repent, pay their tithes, and carry out religious processions. At least two members from every household must participate.
  • After complying, townspeople report the weevil problem disappears—at least, temporarily.

• History Repeats (Sort Of):

  • In 1587, weevils return. The townspeople again seek legal remedy, referencing the earlier court decision and requesting new legal counsel for the now-deceased weevil representatives.

• A New Compromise:

  • This time, the defense again argues for the weevils’ right to live as God’s creatures.
    • The prosecution claims, “according to the Bible, animals are subservient to man”; the defense retorts, “man certainly has a right to command the animals, but not to prosecute them.” [04:30-04:50]
  • The case ends with the offer of a designated patch of land just for the weevils, but the insect advocates object—the land is barren.
  • The tale’s ending is lost to history; ironically, the last court documents were eaten by bugs.

Notable Quote

“The final two pages of the court documentation no longer exist. Because in an ironic twist… those pages were eaten by bugs.”
— Aaron Mahnke [05:29]

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Tale 2: Belle Gunness, the “Black Widow”

[06:00 – 11:06]

Key Discussion Points

• A Hard Woman in Hard Times:

  • Belle Gunness, born in Norway in 1859, emigrates to the United States at age 21. She does menial work and marries fellow Norwegian immigrant, Mads Sorensen.

• Discovering Insurance—And Its Dark Side:

  • Belle learns she can profit from insurance policies.
    • Their Chicago home and business mysteriously burn down, yielding insurance payouts.
    • She takes out life insurance on foster children; two die “from colitis” (suggestively, poisoning).

• Escalating Greed:

  • Belle takes out overlapping life insurance policies on Mads and ensures his death on the one day both policies are valid.

  • Marries Peter Gunness, takes out life insurance on him and his children; both he and one daughter die soon after in suspicious circumstances.

  • The death of Peter is blamed on a "falling meat grinder," which is highly improbable, as Mahnke points out:

    “How one [meat grinder] happened to wind up falling on Peter’s head is a mystery.” — Aaron Mahnke [08:47]

• The “Lonely Hearts” Scheme:

  • Belle places ads seeking a husband, luring Andrew Helgelein from South Dakota. She convinces Andrew to withdraw and give her his savings; he then vanishes.
  • Andrew’s brother comes looking; suspicions mount and investigation ensues.

• A Fiery Cover-Up:

  • Belle’s house burns down. Authorities find multiple bodies, including a decapitated woman presumed to be Belle.
  • Evidence later suggests the headless corpse is not Belle’s; she likely murdered another woman as a decoy and fled.

• The Aftermath:

  • Dozens of bodies are found buried on the farm. Historians estimate Belle’s victims number between 20 and 40.
  • Belle absconds with the modern equivalent of $1 million from her crimes; her fate remains a mystery.

Notable Quotes

“The thing about meat grinders is, while they tend to be secured to a counter at waist level, so how one happened to wind up falling on Peter's head is a mystery.”
— Aaron Mahnke [08:47]

“Belle Gunes is known as the most prolific female serial killer in American history, and she’s also the most successful, having made the modern day equivalent of about a million dollars off of those crimes.”
— Aaron Mahnke [10:45]

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Memorable Moments

• Ecclesiastical Law and Bug Justice:
  The oddly formal spectacle of putting bugs on trial, complete with legal counsel for both humans and insects.

• A Killer’s Masquerade:
  Belle Gunness’s chilling calculatedness, from orphan insurance scams to her final decapitation ruse.

• History’s Ironies:
  The delicious irony of the court records on weevil trials being eaten by insects themselves.

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• [01:08] — Begin story of the weevil trial in Saint-Julien
• [03:15] — Court verdict: weevils are divine punishment
• [04:30–04:50] — Legal back-and-forth: Do humans have the right to prosecute animals?
• [05:29] — Irony: court records eaten by bugs
• [06:00] — Beginning of Belle Gunness story
• [08:47] — The mystery of the falling meat grinder
• [10:45] — Belle Gunness: America’s most prolific female serial killer

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Tone and Style

Aaron Mahnke’s narration mixes dry wit and bemused incredulity with a sense of macabre wonder. He maintains a brisk, storybook pace, peppering the tales with ironic humor and historical detail. The language is accessible but laced with the wry, slightly eerie curiosity that defines the show.

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Conclusion

In this episode, "Weevil Doer," Mahnke shines a light on history’s strange corners—one, a court’s earnest struggle with the moral culpability of insects; the other, an unnerving example of human ingenuity gone fatally awry. Both stories leave us with questions—about justice, faith, and how far people will go (whether in the name of piety or profit). And always, as Mahnke signs off:
"Stay curious."

Transcript

[A]

This is an iHeart podcast.

[B]

Guaranteed Human.

[A]

Did you know Tide has been upgraded to provide an even better clean in cold water. Tide is specifically designed to fight any stain you throw at it, even in cold butter. Yep. Chocolate ice cream. Sure thing. Barbecue sauce. Tide's got you covered. You don't need to use warm water. Additionally, Tide pods let you confidently fight tough stains with new coldzyme technology. Just remember, if it's gotta be clean, it's gotta be tied. Welcome to Erin Menke's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of iHeartRadio and Grim and mild.

[C]

Our world is full of the unexplainable. And if history is an open book, all of these amazing tales are right there on display, just waiting for us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosities.

[B]

People have been making wine in the S. Julian region of France for centuries. The wine harvested from their grapes is their pride and joy. But like any product that depends on a plant in order to survive, the wine production there is vulnerable to crop failure. The year was 1545. That season, the vineyards were utterly ravaged by insects, devastating the winemakers of the region. So what did they do? Well, if it was you or I, the most we could do is start from scratch and hope that things turned out better next season. But remember, this was France in the early Renaissance. For all the advancements in art and culture, it was was still a very spiritually driven society. And there was recourse for the average person who felt that they had been wronged by an animal. They could take that animal to ecclesiastical court. And so that year, the people of S. Julien decided to do just that to a species of weevil that they blamed for the destruction of their vineyards. They hired Pierre Ducal to be their legal representative, and he filed a complaint with the court. It named the weevil species Rhynchites oractas as the culprit and demanded punishment for the offending insect. The state appointed a legal team to defend the weevils, and the trial was set. Predictably, the weevil trial did not last long. After hearing the opening statements of both sides, the chair of the court, Francois Bonivart, made a ruling. He declined to pass sentence on the weevils, saying that the creatures acted according to their nature and according to the laws of God. Therefore, it was the prosecution who needed to reflect on their own worthiness in the eyes of God. The weevils represented, in the court's view, divine punishment on the people of Saint Julien. Bonvart said that the citizens of Saint Julien needed to Demonstrate that they were a good Christian community. They had to collectively repent of all their sins, pay their tithes to the church and march in solemn procession around the vineyards. The list of pious activities was extensive, with the mandate that at least two people from every Saint Julien household participate in order for the repentance to be true. Not long after, representatives from St. Julien submitted a report to the local curate saying that they had done everything the court had asked and the weevils subsequently were no longer a problem. It was maybe inconvenient for the people, but their problem was over. For 41 years at least. In 1587, a new generation of weevils would return and cause trouble for the people again. On April 13th of that year, representatives of St. Julien requested legal assistance for dealing with another wave of their weevil driven blight. In their petition, they referenced the earlier decision of the ecclesiastical court saying that the weevils had, and I quote, resumed their pedridations and are doing incalculable injury. And as such, they asked the prince bishop to appoint new legal representatives for the weevils. Since their original legal defendants were deceased, they wanted to try the case again. The same crime, just different culprits. This time the state complied, and the weevils for the second time now went to trial for destroying the vineyards of Saint Julien. As you'd imagine, the defense maintained the argument from 1546, saying that the weevils were created by God and thus had a right to feed on the grasses of the earth. The prosecution, on the other hand, argued that according to the Bible, animals are subservient to man. To which the defense rebutted that man certainly has a right to command the animals, but not to prosecute them. The trial finally ended, not with a punishment for the weevils or another round of piety for the people of Saint Julien, but with a compromise of sorts. The mayor offered the weevils a patch of land to live on, where they could feast to their heart's content. The legal team for the weevils agreed to this. But before the agreement was finalized, one of the weevils advocates pointed out that he couldn't sign the agreement after seeing the land. It was barren and unwelcoming. Experts were dispatched to examine the land on behalf of the weevils. And that's where the story ends. As far as we know, you see, the final two pages of the court documentation no longer exist. Because in an ironic twist, it's. It seems that at some point in the past few hundred years, those pages were eaten by bugs.

[D]

Hey, Sal. Hank. What's going on? We haven't worked a case in years. I just bought my car at Carvana, and it was so easy. Too easy. Think something's up? You tell me. They got thousands of options, found a great car at a great price. It got delivered the next day. It sounds like Carvana just makes it easy to buy your car, Hank. Yeah, you're right. Case closed.

[B]

Buy your car today on Carvana. Delivery fees may apply. Belle was a hard woman, born of hard times. She grew up working on a farm in Norway before emigrating to the US in 1881. She was only 21 years old. She worked other hard jobs in the Chicago area until she met and married another Norwegian immigrant, Mads Sorensen, in 1884. And it was around this time that Belle was awoken to the wonders of insurance. It struck her as odd that you could pay for something that you would hope you would never need. Whether it was home, fire or health insurance, she planned to get her money's worth out of it. Bell and Mad's Chicago home mysteriously burned down, and they received an insurance payout. Next, they purchased a small business, which wouldn't you know, it also burned down. And then they used that insurance money to buy a new, larger home. It was at this point that Bell's insurance schemes took a turn for the macabre. We mentioned that there are more than one type of insurance. Well, now Belle wanted to see what kind of money she could get off of life insurance. She and Mads took in four foster children and purchased policies on all of them. Within a few years, two of them had died from, and I quote, colitis. That's essentially colon inflammation caused by things like bacteria or food allergies or, you know, poison. Mads must have been at least somewhat of an accomplice in these schemes. If he was, he should have considered that Bell's greed knew no bounds, because next, she took out a policy on him. The truly remarkable aspect of this next scheme was that Bell decided her initial plan was thinking too small. After taking out one policy on Mads, she decided the limits weren't high enough. She took out a second, higher policy. And she wasn't content for one policy to end and the other to begin. No, she waited until the one day that the two policies briefly overlapped, and then, well, Mads mysteriously passed away. Bell next married a man named Peter, who, surprise, surprise, she also took out a life insurance policy on. He had two young daughters from a previous marriage. One of them died just a week after he and Belle married, and he only lasted a few months himself. Beyond that, she claimed that Peter died After a meat grinder fell and hit him on the head. But the thing about meat grinders is, while they tend to be secured to a counter at waist level, so how one happened to wind up falling on Peter's head is a mystery. Belle used all of this insurance money to buy herself a farm. And this would be the final, most horrific stop on her murder spree. For this next phase of her plan, she actually put an ad in multiple newspapers across the midwest Asking for a husband to come live with her on the farm. Through this process, she attracted a man from south Dakota named Andrew Helgelein. Andrew traveled from his home in south Dakota to Illinois to be with bell. But this time, she didn't even wait for marriage before trying to get money out of him. She convinced him to withdraw a large amount from his savings at a local bank and give the cash to her. And Andrew, well, he doesn't seem to have been the wisest man of all time. He did exactly as she said, and he went missing the next day. By this time, Belle might have bit off more than she could chew. You see, Andrew had a brother who soon came looking for him. He was smart enough to check with the bank, who confirmed that Andrew had been there recently with bell and withdrawn a large amount of money. Bell knew that her murder spree Might finally be at an end. On April 28th of 1908, the workers on bell's farm awoke to find the main house on fire. The house burned to the ground before the fire department could arrive. Once they did arrive, though, they found more than they ever could have bargained for. Beneath the ruins, in the house's basement, they found the bodies of three children, as well as a woman's decapitated corpse. They wondered if this, perhaps, was bell. Later, Andrew's brother arrived and helped the police identify Andrew's body buried elsewhere on the property. And more bodies were uncovered elsewhere. Ultimately, historians believe that Belle's final body count to be somewhere between 20 to 40 people. It's hard to know for sure, given the nature of her crimes, though. Oh, and the body of that headless woman they found in the basement? Well, it was exhumed in 2007, and the testing showed that the body was probably someone other than Belle, which means that she likely killed someone and cut their head off in attempt to make the authorities think that she had died in the fire and somehow lost her head in the process. Belle then set fire to her own house and fled out into the night, leaving historians very curious as to where she might have traveled next. Nowadays, Belle Gunes is known as the most prolific female serial killer in American history, and she's also the most successful, having made the modern day equivalent of about a million dollars off of those crimes. Whether or not she ever got to spend it, though, is one mystery that we'll probably never solve.

[C]

I hope you've enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts or learn more about the show by visiting Curiosity's podcast. The show was created by me, Aaron Manke, in partnership with How Stuff Works. I make another award winning show called Lore, which is a podcast, book series and television show and you can learn all about it [e-mail] and until next time, stay curious.

[E]

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[B]

Guaranteed human.