Loading summary
Transcript9 lines
- [00:00]
Genevieve Mannion
The number one selling product of its kind with over 20 years of research and innovation. Botox Cosmetic Adobotulinum Toxinae is a prescription medicine used to temporarily make moderate to severe frown lines. Crow's feet and forehead lines look better in adults.
- [00:15]
Medical Professional
Effects of Botox Cosmetic may spread hours to weeks after injection causing serious symptoms. Alert your doctor right away as difficulty swallowing, speaking, breathing, eye problems or muscle weakness may be a sign of a life threatening condition. Patients with these conditions before injection are at highest risk. Don't receive Botox Cosmetic if you have a skin infection cycle. Side effects may include allergic reactions, injection site pain, headache, eyebrow and eyelid drooping and eyelid swelling. Allergic reactions can include rash, welts, asthma symptoms and dizziness. Tell your doctor about medical history, muscle or nerve conditions including ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease, Myasthenia gravis or Lambert Eaton Syndrome and medications including Botulinum Toxins as these may increase the risk of serious side effects. For full safety information, visit botoxcosmetic.com or call 877-351-0300.
- [00:57]
Genevieve Mannion
See for yourself@botoxcosmetic.com this episode is brought.
- [01:02]
JCPenney Advertiser
To you by JCPenney. Yes, JCPenney, and if you've been there recently, you know it's the place to go for jaw dropping looks at brag worthy prices. They've got something special for every style and budget, not to mention rewards and deals that make finding those hidden gems even sweeter. If you already shop JCPenney, you're already in on the secret. But if not, it's time to ask. Wait, am I sleeping on jcpenney? Shop jcpenney.com yes jcpenney.
- [01:32]
Genevieve Mannion
Hello and welcome to my Victorian Nightmare. I'm your host, Genevieve Mannion, and I'm here to talk about mysterious deaths, morbid fascinations, disturbing stories, and otherwise spooky events from the Victorian era. Because to me, there's just something especially intriguing, creepy, and oddly comforting about horror and mayhem from the 19th century. So listener discretion is advised. Hello friends and welcome to this, my 55th episode. I hope that you had a glamorous week. Mine was a little sloppy. I had a lovely blackout dinner party with a couple of friends last weekend. I made the pretty trickiest meal. Lots of shrimps, lots of fresh veggies, lemon risotto and the Prosecco float. I wanted to impress a couple that I invited and when I want to impress people I get 10 times more nervous and have like a meltdown during the day. I destroyed dessert. Luckily I noticed in just enough time to make it a second time properly. Just panna cotta. Easiest dessert in the world. It was like soup after five hours in the fridge. It did turn out so perfect though the second time that I made it. But anyway I got all worked up. I had a good many glasses to calm my nerves and I think folks were impressed. The evening is a little spotty, but I do recall having an epic new wave dance party all by myself after people left. Fairly typical weekend for me. It starts scared. I do something that makes me more scared, then I make something pretty that makes me feel happy and feel very proud of myself and I end up dancing to Echo and the Bunnyman at some point. I don't usually black out, though that is just for special scared occasions okay, you officially have one more week to join the Fan Coven. If you would like a present@myvictorianightmare.com I'm sending out a big batch today. I finally got the bits and pieces delivered. Thank you everyone so much who have joined. And of course you can still join after the 18th. Just won't have any more presents left to send. It's been a rollercoaster. You guys live in some wild sounding towns. Braintree, Massachusetts Broken Arrow, Oklahoma Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania. It's fun seeing where all of you guys are from. It really seems like folks from like every state in the union joined the uk, Switzerland, Canada, Germany, Sweden. It warms my heart. It feels like I have friends far and wide. So thank you for joining. And just so you know, I'm noticing that a few folks don't realize, but you can listen to the show ad free and the witchy Fan coven content in just about any platform you wish. You don't have to listen through Patreon if you just go to my patreon page@patreon.com myvictorianightmare if you join, you'll see three icons under the show art icon for YouTube, Instagram and you'll see a little podcast icon. If you click the podcast icon it will give you options to listen to the content in Spotify, Apple Podcasts and other places too. So just FYI. And as always, thank you for rating the podcast on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Thank you for your comments. I just gotta quickly share one that I got this week that made me joker smile for like a half hour. Gina in Time on Apple Podcasts wrote quote genevieve, the host is like the regal madam of a parlor of oddities we all want a ticket to see. Her voice is the perfect mix of sinister and sultry drawing you straight into the story. She tells each tale with such elegantly morbid, haunting detail that I can practically see the gaslight flicker. And just when you are fully immersed, she slips in these clever old time radio style moments that pull you right back into the scene. It's chilling in the best way. End quote I don't know what I've done to deserve a review like this, but I really wish some of you folks would start your own podcasts so that I could listen to you. What a beautifully written piece of poetry that review is. It is so truly touching to hear that people appreciate this creepy stuff that I love so dearly. Thank you so much for that sweetheart. And thank you everyone for listening. Let's talk about my new HoneyLove silhouette bra and shapewear. I am a curvy gal and with great curves comes great responsibility. I can't wear underwire because it digs into my skin and I refuse to hand wash bras too, so the wires eventually break through and spear into my armpits. But if I don't have a proper lift, it's a disaster. Not only do I look like a mess, I don't even want to talk about the dewiness of the situation. So I was skeptical when I heard honeylove's bonding structured bras don't have underwire but do give a great lift. Now I've heard this promise more times times than I can count on. Flimsy bralettes that I've thrown in the trash. But their bras actually lift pleasantly. They don't dig in, they just fit smoothly. They're an independent woman founded brand designed by women who actually wear their bras. Their products are so beloved by their customers that their most recent release, the Cloud Embrace bra, sold out in days. I also love the shapewear. It doesn't dig in in weird places like your bottom and it isn't thick so you don't see it like bunched up through your dresses. It's like it enhances your curves instead of squeezing them. And best of all for me, it's easy to get out of. You're not going to have to do that Houdini style shapewear escape act. At the end of the night, treat yourself to the most advanced bras and shapewear on the market. Save 20% off honeylove@honeylove.com Victorian Use our exclusive link to get 20% off honeylove.com Victorian to find your perfect fit. You'll find that link in the show notes after you purchase, they'll ask you where you heard about them. Please support my show and tell them that I sent you Experience the new standard in bras and shapewear with Honey Love. Okay for you today, dear listener, we will be introducing ourselves to the Bloody Benders, a Victorian era family of serial killers who were confirmed to have murdered at least 11 people, but it's estimated that that number was more likely closer to 20. As many body parts were found buried on their property that didn't belong to any of the other full bodies that were also excavated. So yeah, we'll be spending some time with these charming folks. But first it is time for our weekly segment with their own eyes where I share with you the personal haunting accounts of petrified Victorians. And I have a very spooky one for you today that is spooky not only because of the ghost, but because the most seriously wild coincidence coincidence I think I have ever encountered on this show was encountered while digging into the details of this story. But I will get there. But first, the spooky Ookie ghost sighting. This article comes to us from the Helena Evening Herald, March 1 edition, and it is called it scared Him. A few weeks ago he was in robust health, but today he is tottering on the grave. Strange case which puzzles doctors and pleases the spiritualists of the Missouri metropolis. That was just the headline. The article reads, inspector William H. Williams of the St. Louis Police Department is suffering from a severe attack of what the physicians diagnose as the grip. But whatever the ailment, the officer declares that it it is his last illness and that when he again leaves the Four Courts building, it will be in a coffin that he has caused to be prepared, carried by four men whom he has already designated as pallbearers. He is a tall, robust man, rather handsome, 40 years of age, and two weeks ago was the picture of health. An intimate friend of his was therefore dumbfounded when the inspector said to him one afternoon, james, I am not long for this world. I received a warning last night and I know it will come true. Thinking the inspector was joking, this friend, who is Detective James Smith, laughed at William's remarks and told him he had taken one too many. But a few days later, Mr. Smith noticed that his friend's face was growing pale and that instead of the man of steady nerves, which had always been, there was a noticeable tremor. So one afternoon he approached him and asked what he meant by the remark. A few evenings before, as he spoke, the perspiration stood out on his forehead in great beads. Smith took his hand, but it was not feverish. In response, the inspector said that on the night when he had received the first warning, he had not noticed anyone in the room, but had heard a voice exclaim, prepare for death. It will come within a month. His first thought was that it was a practical joker, that he searched the apartments but found no one. Usually he could fall asleep immediately after being awakened, but on this night he laid awake and the words haunted him. The eccentric punctuation had been different from any he had ever heard before, and the phrase rang in his ears. Nor did the uncanny feeling pass away when day broke. I went to sleep early last night, he continued, for the remembrance of the first visitation had passed away in measure soon after midnight. It was 10 minutes to 1. I was awakened by the noise of clanking chains. The sound was perfectly audible, but it was not very loud at all. It was someone dragging chains as they walked. I was not dreaming, I know, for I sat up in bed, pinched myself, and felt the pain. The noise continued for several minutes, as if a person was groping about in the room next to mine in an effort to find something, and it was soon evident that success had met his or her efforts and that the doorknob was the object of the search. For a moment later my door was opened and in walked a figure clad in white. I tried to scream, but could not. I tried to rise from the bed and grapple with the uncanny visitor, but I seemed to have been missing. Mesmerized, I could only lie still and wait. The specter walked to the side of the bed and, reaching out an arm, exclaimed, prepare for death. You are about to be numbered with the dead. The figure then disappeared slowly dragging chains along the floor with a rattling sound. It did not open and close the door as upon entering, but melted away when it was gone. I sprang to my feet and ran to where it had vanished, but found nothing but the solid wall. I tried the door. It was locked as I had left it. On retiring after the revelation, Mr. Williams told Mr. Smith that he would follow the ghostly warning. That afternoon Williams handed him a list of those whom he wished to be his pall bearers, and also told Smith that he had left orders with an undertaker for a coffin and he had made a will which he had left at a lawyer's yesterday. The scoffers were dumbfounded when they heard that the Inspector Williams was confined to his bed and that he had a very high fever. His fever keeps up and his pulse is very rapid. His friends at the forecourts say that he. He has aged Greatly during the last few days. The spiritualists of St. Louis are manifesting great interest in the case, as indeed are the spiritualists all over the country, particularly in Chicago. End quote. Okay, you better believe I dug to the center of the earth to find out if he actually died, Miss. Poor man. There weren't a lot of William H. Williamses in the news in March of 1897. I found this exact story written up in a number of papers. So I doubt it's entirely fabricated because there are too many specific details. Like it would be very bold to print an entirely fabricated story about a policeman from a specific precinct. But here's where things get very, very strange. I couldn't find his obituary, but I found a tiny blurb in the same month, in the same year, March 1897. At the end of the month, that article was published at the beginning the month, about a woman recently widowed, a Mrs. William H. Williams, who had started a hat business to take care of her family in light of her husband's very recent death. And I was like, this must be his widow. But I kept reading to confirm the location. Mr. Williams's ghostly encounter happened in St. Louis, Missouri. I read a little down the paragraph and Mrs. William H. Williams lived not in Missouri, but in the house that I lived directly across from for 13 years in Park Slope, Brooklyn. I moved just three years ago and it doesn't make any sense. Like I said, there were not many William H. Williamses making news in 1897. And in the same month of that man's potentially dying after being told he was going to die by a ghost, a woman with the same husband's last name as her husband die only states away, but literally where I used to live. Even though the situations are so far away, I just feel like they have to be connected somehow. Maybe she moved to Brooklyn shortly after her husband died of ghost. Or maybe this is is just one of those crazy coincidences. Like how the death of Elisa Lam mirrors the whole plot of the movie Dark Water. Elisa Lam tragically had like a bipolar episode and drowned in a water tower at the Cecil Hotel. That movie made before her death has shocking similarities to the situation, but it's not related in any way. Okay, maybe this is nothing like that, but you get where I'm going with this. I hope. Like so many situations on this show, I hate that I can never know. I am still like all goose pimply about this though. Okay, before we get to the bloody benders, won't you follow me into the seance room where I Share with you the goings on in the Spiritualist society of the 1800s. Within this article from the Spiritualist newspaper, 1869 volume, we will learn exactly how to perform a seance without a trained medium. This article is called how to Form Spirit Circles, and it reads. Number one. Let the room be of a comfortable temperature, but cool rather than warm. Let arrangements be made that nobody shall enter it and that there shall be no interruption for one hour during the sitting of the circle. Wet, damp and foggy weather is bad for the production of physical phenomena. Number two. Let the circle consist of four, five or six individuals about the same number of each sex. Sit round an uncovered wooden table with all the palms of the hands in contact with its top surface. Whether the hands touch each other or not is usually of no importance. Any table will do just large enough to conveniently accommodate the sitters. The removal of a hand from the table for a few seconds does no harm. But when one of the sitters breaks the circle by leaving the table, it sometimes, but not always very considerably, delays the manifestations. Number three. Before the sitting begins, place some pointed lead pencils and some sheets of clean writing paper on the table to write down any communications that may be obtained. Number four. People who do not like each other should not sit in the same circle, for such a want of harmony tends to prevent manifestations, except with well developed physical mediums. It is not yet known why belief or unbelief has no influence on the manifestations, but an acrid feeling against them is a weakening influence. 5. Before the manifestations begin, it is well to engage in general conversation or in singing, and it's best that neither should be of a frivolous nature. A prayerful Ernst feeling among the members of the circle is likely to attract a higher and more pleasing class of spirits. Number six. The first symptom of the invisible powered work is often a feeling like a cool wind sweeping over the hands. The first manifestations will probably be table tiltings or wraps. 7. When motions of the table or sounds are produced freely to avoid confusion, let one person only speak and talk to the table. As to an intelligent being, let him tell the table that three tilts or raps means yes, one means no, and two mean doubtful, and ask whether the arrangement is understood. Then say, if I speak the letters of the Alphabet slowly, will you signal every time I come to the letter you want and spell us out among message? Should three signals be given, set to work on the plan proposed, and from this time an intelligent system of communication is established. Number eight. Afterwards, the question should be put are we still sitting in the right order to get the best manifestations? Probably some members of the circle will then be told to change seats with each other and the signature signals will be afterwards strengthened. Next, ask who is the medium? When spirits come asserting themselves to be related or known to anybody present, well chosen questions should put to test the accuracy of the statements as spirits out of the body have all the virtues and the failings of spirits in the body. End quote. Their system of saying letters and waiting for a wrapping when they get to a letter sounds like much more time consuming than using a Ouija board. The first Ouija board wasn't patented until the late 1800s. This article was written in the 1860s, but people had been using similar spirit boards for as far back as 1100 AD in China. Perhaps it hadn't quite come into fashion yet in the mid-1800s in the UK where this article was written. Anyway, now that you all know the right way to perform a seance, I look forward to hearing how your own seances play out in the near future.
- [21:57]
Ryan Reynolds
Hey, it's Ryan Reynolds here for Mint Mobile.
- [21:59]
Medical Professional
Now.
- [21:59]
Ryan Reynolds
I was looking for fun ways to tell you that Mint's offer of unlimited Premium Wireless for $15 a month is back. So I thought it would be fun if we made $15 bills, but it turns out that's very illegal, so there goes my big idea for the commercial. Give it a try@mintmobile.com Switch upfront payment.
- [22:20]
Genevieve Mannion
Of $45 for a three month plan equivalent to 15 per month required new customer offer for first three months only. Speed slow after 35 gigabytes of networks busy taxes and fees extra. See mintmobile.com okay, let's discuss the bloody Benders. My main references are a Library of Congress article as well as a Wikipedia article. All of my other references can be found in the show Notes In October of 1870, a family of spiritualists decided to homestead in the township of Osage in northwestern Labet County, Kansas. This family of four were the Benders. It's never been officially established where these folks came from. There was John Bender Senior, a 60 or so year old man who spoke little English who some believed could have been German, Norwegian or Danish. Again, it's unclear. He was described as a repulsive, hideous brute without a redeeming trait, dirty, profane and ill tempered. His wife whose name was either Kate, Almira or Elvira. Every source says something different. Even Wikipedia has her listed on the side of the page as Kate Sr. But when she's Described in the history section. She's called Elvira. There was a woman named Elvira Hill who was accused of being one of the members of this family, but was proved not to be. It's quite confusing. I'll just refer to her as Elvira, but that's only because that's the name that I found her to be most often referred to. She was 55. She also spoke little English and was so unfriendly that her neighbors called her quote unquote, she devil. It is also quoted that old Mrs. Bender was a dirty old Dutch crone. Her face was a fit picture of the midnight hag that wove the spell of murderous ambition about the soul of Macbeth, end quote. That quote was from a 1903 book about criminality written well after the murders. It wasn't a prophetic, particularly poetic description of the woman made by like a neighbor. She wasn't well liked is what I'm trying to convey here. Regardless, there was also John Jr. He was about 25 years old, handsome, auburn hair and a mustache. He spoke English fluently but with a fairly thick German accent. He was prone to laughing loudly, ominously and aimlessly, which led folks to believe he may be somewhat developmentally disabled. And there was Kate Bender, who was about 23. She was attractive, cultivated and spoke English fluently but with a slight German accent. She was a self proclaimed healer and psychic. She would advertise her supernatural healing powers to neighbors. She also conducted seances and gave lectures on spiritualism. She was a proponent of free love, just like Mary and Percy Shelley and many other spiritualists of the day. Quick side note, it may seem kind of random that folks who believed that they could speak to ghosts also pretty much across the board, also believed that the government and church shouldn't be involved in romantic unions. It might seem kind of like a random pairing of ideologies, but these were free thinkers in general. Spiritualism was a concrete departure from Anglican Protestant beliefs. So it is very much rooted in that wanting to divorce the church from matters of the heart. Just as many of these folks were creating their all new religious the Mormons, Baptists, Adventists, Methodists, etc. Many of these folks who identified with these Christian religions were all also spiritualists. Okay, back to Kate. Unlike many spiritualists, she publicly claimed in her lectures that murder might be a dictation for good. That in what the world might deem villainy, her soul might read bravery, nobility and humanity. It is also unclear if Kate and John Jr. Were siblings. They said they were, but many believed them to be secretly married because they were quite publicly touchy feely. But it is also possible that they very well were siblings, but with benefits. Kate apparently boldly proclaimed that carnal relationships between siblings was within her right and anyone else's. In her lectures she said in one of them, quote, shall we call, confine ourselves to a single love and deny our natures their proper sway. Even though it be a brother's passion for his own sister. I say it should not be smothered. End quote. So, I don't know, it sounds like she was using spiritualist lectures not just to espouse spiritualism per se, but self confessions of serial killing and incest. Long story short, these are the folks we're going to be spending the rest of the episode with. The Benders family built their cabin to have only one room that they separated with a canvas wagon cover into two rooms. The back end was their living quarters and the front part was used as like a general store of sorts where they sold dry goods. They also had a dining table there in the front part as well as the kitchen. Huh. Imagine living all in the same room with your family of four serial killers. One of which has an insanely ominous laugh. These were different times. People had to contend with all manner of blood soaked incestual inconvenience, I suppose. And if you would follow me through this dark and spooky moonlit apple orchard, I want to show you something. Something. It is October, 1872. There is a crisp autumn breeze in the trees. And although it is rather dark and spooky, you can catch the hues of orange and yellow on the leaves as they fall. And of course I brought some hot cider. I saw that glimmer of hope twinkle in your eye. Of course, I wouldn't forget the hot cider on a Victorian autumn orchard walk on our way to a murder house. I didn't spike it with whiskey though. We're going to need every single one of our wits about us this evening. This orchard was planted by Kate and Elvira just north of their home, which is just over there. And we're coming upon their two acre vegetable garden. Now that we're here, I don't think that they will mind if I help myself to a little square. Squash the murderers. Yeah, I'm just gonna do a little karate chop here. Wait, what's that? Oh my God. It's just a scarecrow from hell. It's a scarecrow from hell. Obviously. Perfect. Let's not go any further. You can see their cabin has two windows. One where we can see the kitchen area, one where we can see their living space. There's a woman sitting at the table. A woman named Mrs. Fitz. Kate is serving her a meal. It seems Mrs. Fitz was traveling alone along the great Osage trail today. Brave woman. In a time like this, that trail was known for its danger. Not somewhere you'd want to be caught alone at night, but a trail folks had to take to make their way through the county. As a matter of fact, the Benders built their home right here for this very purpose. To provide a convenient location for folks to stop in and spend the night. Kate seems a bit fidgety, doesn't she? Mrs. Fitz is starting to look uneasy. And although it is very, very dark park, you can just see by candlelight, three figures hovering in the other window. Remember, the two rooms are separated by thick canvas. I don't think Mrs. Fitz knows they're there, but she appears to be sensing that something isn't right. The three are slowly approaching the front area. And it looks like. Looks like one of them just sneezed. Okay, back up. Get down. Mrs. Fitz is making a break for it. Stay down and I'll tell you what's happening. Mrs. Fitz is out the door and running for the hills, literally like an oiled gazelle. She must be the fastest woman in the west. Go, Fitz, go. Because the three Benders just took off after her and she's leaving them in her dust paw. Bender is hanging back, already out of breath, holding a huge claw hammer in his hand. Here, let's sneakily sneak out of here. Keep your head down and I will tell you about the ones who didn't get away. Luckily, Mrs. Fitz did indeed escape Mr. Bender's claw hammer. But many, many did not. What was intended for Mrs. Fitz this evening was a well rehearsed, well practised, brutal murder and theft, it is assumed, not confirmed outright, but from testimony of people who escaped, and there were a few more, the investigation of the Bender home and from the consistent causes of death discovered when examining found victims, it is believed that the Bender's M.O. for killing their house guests generally began with a seat at the dining table. The seat of honor for the guest was positioned with its back toward the canvas and over a trap door into the cellar. With the victims back to the canvas, Kate would distract them with the meal and conversation, while the other Benders would stay silent, hiding behind the canvas. John Jr. Or his father would then wait for the right moment to emerge from behind it and strike the victim in the head with a hammer on the right Side of the skull. Either Kate or Elvira would then then cut the victim's throat to ensure they didn't survive. The dying person would then be dropped through the trapdoor to bleed out on the basement floor rather than in the kitchen down there. They would be searched, stripped of any valuables on their person, then buried on the property. Most victims were buried in the orchard. Some of the folks who escaped said the canvas appeared to be covered in old, dried blood, and so they refused to sit near it. A man named William Pickering refused to sit there, and Kate threatened him with a knife. He, like Mrs. Fitz, made a break for it and escaped. There were two men who came to the house specifically to experience Kate's spiritualistic healing powers, which she advertised all over town. They stayed for dinner, but also refused to sit near the gnarly, bloody canvas, as one would, and experienced the same reaction from Kate. She became very aggressive and went. Mr. Bender quickly emerged from the canvas. They skedaddled. Toot sweet. The Benders would then sell the goods that they stole from their victims. Their horses, saddles, clothes, any other possessions. It's Wednesday, Adams. I see you're trying to distract yourself from your own banal thoughts. Let me help. Here's a recording thing made of my latest Root canal Wednesday. Season 2 is now playing only on Netflix. In May of 1871, the body of a man named Jones was discovered in a nearby creek called Drum Creek. His throat had been cut and his skull had been been bashed in. The owner of the creek was suspected and questioned, but he convinced the investigators that he wasn't the killer. Eight months later, two more men were found in the creek with the same injuries as Mr. Jones. And not too long after, people were coming to the town looking for lost loved ones who had made it through the area but never arrived at their destinations. The reports of folks going missing were becoming so common that the area was developing a reputation that there must be a killer or killers on the trails, and they should be avoided altogether by travelers. Vigilance committees, meaning deputized townsfolk, made a number of arrests of folks on the trails who they suspected were murdering travelers, but all were questioned and released. However, many men suspected by these groups were run completely out of town on suspicion that they were the killers. In the winter of 1872, too, a man named George Newton traveled through Bender county with his infant daughter Mary Ann, looking to resettle in Iowa, and never arrived at his destination. A kind neighbor of his went out in search of him and his daughter along the same route that they Took, but also never arrived at his destination. This man happened to be the brother of a Kansas state senator. The man who went missing was named Dr. William Henry York. His brother, Colonel Alexander York, a civil war veteran, lawyer, senator, Heard of the disappearance of his brother, along with a whole other bunch of folks in that county. So he rounded up 50 men to create a search party along the route. They questioned every traveler along the trail and visited every single home along the way. On March 28, 1873, he came a knockin at the Bender home. They said his brother did stay there, but he left and perhaps was killed by natives. They even asked him to stay for dinner. Ballsy. I wonder if they sat him by the bloody canvas or if they tidied up real quick. They didn't dare drop colonel York down that trapdoor. They made him some fried chicken, and off he went. But he and his men didn't get far before they ran into a neighbor who told them to make their way right back there. Elvira had recently threatened threatened this neighbor with knives. And by this time, accounts of those who escaped the house was starting to spread. Colonel York traipsed right back up to the house with his 50 men. He told Kate that he wanted to interview Elvira about the knives situation, But Kate said she couldn't speak English. The colonel continued pressing anyway, and Elvira blurted out in quite coherent English that the woman who accused her was a witch who cursed her coffee. Senator York's spidey senses were starting to get a little bit tingly, as were the spidey senses of all of his men. They had interviewed the neighbors of the benders, the roaches, and stories between the families about folks coming and going Were suspiciously similar and yet not lining up. These folks, the roaches, by the way, Would later be charged as accomplices. At this time, neighboring communities were making accusations about the Osage community. That's the benders and a small group of families who homesteaded there. Quite spread out, but still a part of the same community they called osage. Many of the colonel's men felt confident enough to hang the Bender family on the spot. But the colonel said that they needed more evidence. A town meeting was called. 75 folks from the surrounding area showed up to discuss the disappearances and talk to the colonel about what they thought was going on. While they were no doubt enjoying coffee and donuts at the town meeting, A man named Billy toll, driving cattle past the bender property, Noticed the house appeared abandoned and the farm animals were all unfed. After the colonel heard about this he took a group of a hundred men back to the house to investigate, and they found nothing but rumbling goat tummies and an acrid, overwhelming stench. I really hope someone took it upon themselves to feed the poor little goats before they traced the terrible smell emanating from a trap door that had been n shut quite recently. The door was opened and a large stain of clotted blood was found covering the floor beneath. It was quickly suspected that bodies would likely be found nearby. They smashed up the basement floor, but didn't find any bodies there. They determined that the smell was coming from the blood alone, but the spidey senses of that colonel were tickling so hard, he had the entire house lifted out and moved so that they could dig entirely under the house. But still no bodies were found. However, the men fanned out and probed the ground around the garden and orchard, and in not too much time, the body of Colonel York's brother was found. He was one of the first to be found. He had been buried face down with his feet barely even below the surface in the orchard, with his throat cut and his skull bashed in. They continued to search and found nine other bodies in and around the orchard. Before nightfall the next morning, they found eight more, including one in the well of the property, along with several body parts. All but one of the victims had the same injuries, the cracked skull and slit throats. One victim, however, a young girl, was found to have no injuries at all, and it's believed that she may have been strangled or buried alive. The group of men recovering the bodies became so incensed that they repeatedly hanged a neighbor of the Benders named Brockman who had come to gawk. They strung him to a beam in the house until he was unconscious, then revived, interrogated about what he knew of their crimes, how hanged, again revived and again interrogated. He was hanged three times, then released to stagger home. He didn't give them any useful information. As so often happened when this kind of thing happened. In no time, the property was swarmed with gawkers and souvenir hunters. Three thousand people, including reporters, folks from as far as New York and Chicago, and descended and picked the entire house apart. People took the bricks, the stones that lined the cellar, the lining of the well where the body was found. The Benders took as much as they could before they fled. But one thing was found and taken by a souvenir hunter. It was a journal of sorts, written in German. And one of the folks there was able to translate. Translate two passages, one of which was January 8th, big slaughter day and further down. Perhaps their final sign off. Quote, hell departed, end quote. Senator York himself put up a reward, which would have been about $25,000 for the Bender family's arrest. But sadly, they were never caught. They sure were hunted though. Their wagon was found abandoned just outside the city limits about 12 miles north. It was determined that the family bought train tickets to Texas and likely traveled to an outlaw colony in New Mexico, from whence any lawmen who dared to enter never return. So they didn't even try to find them there. However, newspapers wrote about folks still trying to trace them here, there and everywhere. Some folks claimed to see them in different parts of the country. Some even claimed that they found them and killed them. One vigilante group claimed to shoot three of the family members but burned Kate alive. Other vigilante groups claimed to shoot them all to death. One claimed to shoot them and bury them on the prairie. In 1884, an elderly man matching John Senior Bender's description was captured in Montana after murdering a man in Idaho. The victim had been killed with a blow to the head with a hammer. While authorities were waiting for proof of positive identification from Kansas, this man matching John Senior's description ripped his foot out of his leg irons and slashed it in the process and bled to death. Despite never having his identification officially verified, this man's skull was displayed in the a saloon in the town of Salmon until prohibition forced it to close in 1920. Apart from Senator York's brother, a man by the name of Mackenzie, a couple by the name of the Longhors, and a man with the last name McCrotty, all of the other found victims bodies were unclaimed. They were buried at the foot of the apple orchard and there is a memorial plaque near the burial site to mark their grave and acknowledge that the historical significance of the events that transpired there. My God, it's just so tragic and it's so heartbreaking to know that so many people's families likely never found out what happened to their family members at all. There is no good news to be found in this story, but here is something to make you feel a little better. In 2024, an archaeologist named Bob Miller bought the land where the Benders home stood in hopes of attempting to find any clues that may help them learn what happened to the benders, learn what happened to the people who were killed. If there were perhaps even more than were uncovered. Archaeologist Chris Horde said, quote, it's an important site, especially because good people lost their lives here. It was a makeshift graveyard for a while. To do this work here is a way of honoring those people, the people that lost their lives here. End quote. Personally, I always find it so beautiful when scientists archaeologists use their skills to try to tell the stories of folks long gone who had their voices silenced. Show us that these people's lives weren't eliminated by monsters. They are still here. They may still have stories to tell by what they left. Such a kind gesture to extend a hand backward in time for anyone who may have been lost to find and hold foreign if you enjoyed this podcast and would like to hear more, please rate the show on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Please leave me comments and to directly support my show and listen ad free. Join the fan coven@myvictorianightmare.com Come be kind to yourselves and I will see you in your nightmares.