Bender Mounds, Kansas by Kathy Alexander. One of the families was John BenderSr. and John BenderJr., who registered 160 acres (65ha) of land located adjacent to the Great Osage Trail, which was then the only open road for traveling farther west. Today, Smalley descendants continue to live in the Neodosha and Cherryvale area. According to contemporary newspapers, Elvira was born Almira Hill Mark (often misreported as "Meik") in the Adirondack Mountains; she married Simon Mark, with whom she claimed to have had 12 children. The old Bender property was haunted, and the rumors of the locals began to fly. Rabbi has a tailor-made response for each situation, but the active reminder of reality for black Americans in 1950 definitely adds to the tension of the episode. Cherryvale, Kansas Museum Deputy Sheriff Dick, along with Mrs. McCann, escorted the pair to Oswego, Kansas, where seven members of a 13-member panel confirmed the identification and committed them for trial. The parts did not belong to any of the other victims found and are believed to belong to at least three additional victims. 1315) December 1872: Various body parts. In its first three days of opening, it attracted more than 2,000 visitors. Dr. York had two brothers, one living in Fort Scott and the other in Independence. Leona Laurie is a Senior Contributor for Geek Girl Authority and co-host of the Marvel-Us podcast. [5], When York repeated the claim, Elvira became enraged, said the woman was a witch who had cursed her coffee, and ordered the men to leave her house, revealing for the first time that "her sense of the English language" was much better than was let on. It was a story about the infamous Benders and about one man who got away. The owner of the Drum Creek claim was suspected, but no action was taken. Those most often reporting glowing apparitions on the property were those who came to the site in search of some long-lost souvenir of the grisly murders. HISTORICAL MARKER Their murders were carried out by use of a canvas curtain that divided the house into two rooms. 23) February 1872: Two unidentified men found on the prairie in February 1872 with crushed skulls and throats cut. A place to discuss Lawrence Kansas happenings and news. A roadside sign now marks their murderous exploits. McCrotty, and John Geary, as well as an unidentified male and female. The breastbone had been driven in. KANSAS HISTORICAL MARKER THE MELLON MOUNDS On this spot stood the Mellon Mounds, named for the infamous Mellon family, who lured unsuspecting travelers into their home, fed them and then dispatched them with a hammer. ", "Young Bender, seen when excited, recalled the grave-robbing hyena at once to mind. The search of the cabin resulted in the recovery of three hammers: a shoe hammer, a claw hammer, and a sledgehammer that appeared to match indentations in some of the skulls. Buried in the apple orchard. His habit of laughing aimlessly led to him being described as a half-wit, though many afterward believed this was simply a ruse to disguise his clever nature. Dismembered parts of several other victims were also discovered but could never be identified. . And everything is in color! She alleged that her father, "Pa Ingalls," joined in a vigilante hunt for the killers, and when he spoke of later searches for them she recalled, "At such times Pa always said in a strange tone of finality, 'They will never be found.' Bender Property Digging, sketch in Harpers Weekly, June 7, 1873. In the end, it was Kate who was primarily blamed for the numerous bloody murders that, even at her young age, was the inspiration for the crimes. The lonely hills meander across what is now U.S. Highway 400, where travelers whoosh by in comfort at 65 mph. He takes Satchel to a quirky (to say the least) boardinghouse, owned by feuding, deaf, elderly sisters. In her lectures she publicly declared that murder might be a dictation for good; that in what the world might deem villainy, her soul might read bravery, nobility, and humanity. As word of the grisly murders spread, more and more travelers came forward to tell their own stories of a narrow escape, including one gentleman named William Pickering. but many still live in fear of their bloody hammer. CHERRYVALE The chain of low hills known as the Bender Mounds extends in a diagonal seven miles northeast of here, islands of limestone and scrubby trees over level fields where this time of year soybeans have just been harvested. After the Benders escape, one detective, who had closely followed all the leads, said that he had traced Gebhardt to the outlaw country along the Texas/New Mexico border, where he had found that the criminal had died of apoplexy. Another group claimed they had caught the Benders while escaping to the south and lynched them before throwing their bodies into the Verdigris River. 10) December 1872: John Greary. Born July 30, 1848," "John Gebhardt came to America on July 1 18? On March 28, 1873, Colonel York arrived at the Benders' inn with a Mr. Johnson, explaining to them that his brother had gone missing and asked if they had seen him. 2023 Geek Girl Authority. As they make their way up to the top floor, they peer in the open rooms of the other tenants. As the boy listened, the men continued to talk, relating the tale of how the judge had lost his ear. Satchel tries looking for Rabbi, but a short conversation with the hospital man and a glimpse of the preacher and his mother folding a flag in their underwear (night wear?) The "Bloody Benders" were a German family of four that settled a claim in southeastern Kansas in Labette County. Near here are the Bender Mounds, named for the infamous Bender family--John, his wife, son, and daughter Kate--who settled here in 1871. the mellon mounds kansas murders Blakeslee, 75, became intrigued by Etzanoa after scholars at UC Berkeley retranslated in 2013 the often muddled Spanish accounts of their forays into what is now Kansas . Prairie Ghosts, Byways & Historic Trails Great Drives in America, Soldiers and Officers in American History, Washington-on-the-Brazos, Texas Declaring Independence, Stanley, Ks Extinct but Still Here (LOK), Black Bob Reservation in Johnson County (LOK). , Fedmyster Google Doc , Gladiator Lucilla Character Analysis , Fran Mccaffery Daughter , The Ranches At Royal Pines Livingston Tx , Crooked Stick Golf Club Membership Cost , Mart Bus Fitchburg To Gardner . As Calamita advances on him, Rabbi tries to grip his gun well enough to shoot. He does not deliver his usual parting words to Satchel. Fixed: Release in which this issue/RFE has been fixed.The release containing this fix may be available for download as an Early Access Release or a General Availability Release. Also one of the victims was the neighbor of the person who wrote Little House on the Prarie. This is blatantly a reference to the Bender Family, a family of serial killers from late 1800s Kansas. Many stories say that one vigilante group actually caught the Benders and shot all of them but Kate, whom they burned alive. She also conducted sances and gave lectures on spiritualism, for which she gained notoriety for advocating free love. Contemporary newspapers reported his name as either "George W. Longcor" or "George Loncher," while Mary Ann is similarly reported as being either eight years old or 18 months old. These hammers were given to the Bender Museum in 1967 by the son of LeRoy Dick, the Osage Township trustee who headed the search of the Bender property. 11) December 1872: Red Smith. Satchel asks to keep Rabbit, and Rabbi refuses until he learns that its the boys birthday. The petite auburn-haired beauty desired notoriety and often advocated free love and justification for murder in her lectures. Their murders were carried out by use of a canvas curtain that divided the house into two rooms. On October 31, 1889, it was reported that a Mrs. Almira Monroe (a.k.a. East/West may *look* like a detour into surrealist Midcentury Italian cinema when it opens, but the minute the wind starts blowing through black and white Kansas you know where you are. Location. A terrible smell inside the abandoned inn also met them. At this point the customers felt uneasy and decided to leave, a move that almost certainly saved their lives. Benders Mounds Cemetery in Kansas - Find a Grave Cemetery They were never caugnt. He then cautiously looks through a window, where he sees Calamita standing over a wounded Omie, gun drawn. In 1870, five families of spiritualists settled in western Labette County, about seven miles northeast of where Cherryvale would be platted a year later. Ransom, the trains conductor, said that John, Jr., and Kate disembarked at Chanute and took the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railroad train south to the Red River country near Dennison, Texas, which was then the terminus of the railroad. I believe I read this year that the land where the house once stood got sold to someone. She and her brother John often attended Sunday School nearby Harmony Grove and were readily accepted in the community. Relocating to Independence from, 7) December 1872: Johnny Boyle. So provocative was the Bender family tale that the Bender Museum was created in Cherryvale in 1961. rpp program apartments newport news. FARGO Recap: (S04E09) East/West - Geek Girl Authority 0 coins. Is Rabbi really dead? Site of 1870s 'Bloody Benders' serial killings is for sale | The However, by the time the men arrived at the Benders cabin very early the next morning, they found them gone. [1][2] A knife with a four-inch tapered blade was reportedly found hidden in a mantel clock in the Bender house by Colonel York. 37 20.932 N, 95 31.668 W. Marker is in Morehead, Kansas, in Montgomery County. [1][2][3] Despite York's strong suspicions regarding the Benders since his visit several weeks earlier, no one had watched them, and it was not noticed for several days that they had fled. Fact or fiction, no one knows, but Ive always enjoyed the tale and hope you will as well. The for the guy who discovered Pluto? They return to their room, where Rabbi informs Satchel that theyll be leaving that night as he counts his money. A number of researchers question the ready acceptance of the affidavit's authenticity and suggest that the county was unwilling to accept the expense of boarding the two women for an extended period. Kate soon gained notoriety as a self proclaimed healer and spiritualist. McCrotty. John Bender, Jr. was actually a man named John Gebhardt. One of these families was the Benders, comprised of John Bender, Sr.; his wife, Almira; son, John, Jr.; and daughter, Kate. According to the Pittsburgh Dispatch, the daughter of one of the Benders' victims, Mrs. Frances E. McCann, had reported the pair to authorities in early October after tracking them down. mellon mounds kansas murders - indutecma.com The Bloody Benders - Serial Killers of Kansas THE KANSAS MURDER TRILOGY by Melvin Litton offers three stand-alone novels that spring from the heartland and mark three pivotal moments in our nation's life: the fall of Saigon and the loss of faith in the post-war construct, 1975; the brink of the Space Age and Civil Rights era, 1960; and the Great Depression, 1934. the mellon family kansas. Though most of us know of Dodge Citys wicked ways, the deadly gunfight of the Daltons in Coffeyville, and the many outlaws and gunfighters who spent time in the Sunflower State, few are aware of a family of mass murderers, living a supposed quiet life near the small town of Cherryvale. A cult-like group, the families, chose from several available claims and began to make their homes. They then began to follow a wagon trail left by the Benders that took them down as far south as Tulsa, Oklahoma, before circling back into Kansas. The Benders are believed to have killed about a dozen people, including one child. Find links to our programs, locations, partners, staff members, and communications. are enough to drive him back into his own room, where he bars the door with a chair and falls asleep again with gun in his hand. [citation needed], Coordinates: .mw-parser-output .geo-default,.mw-parser-output .geo-dms,.mw-parser-output .geo-dec{display:inline}.mw-parser-output .geo-nondefault,.mw-parser-output .geo-multi-punct{display:none}.mw-parser-output .longitude,.mw-parser-output .latitude{white-space:nowrap}372056N 952910W / 37.349N 95.486W / 37.349; -95.486, According to one of the myths that has grown around the murders, after dinner, Colonel York was sitting in the front room when he noticed a gold, List of fugitives from justice who disappeared, List of serial killers in the United States, "The Bloody Benders Serial Killers of Kansas", "The Bloody Benders, Kansas, ca. Hey babe, nice melon mounds. All Rights Reserved. There is a lot of weird details, like the two children, Kate and John Jr Bender possibly being husband and wife, or the parents Elvira and John Sir being two nobodies who merely said they were family. Word of the gruesome murders spread fast, and thousands of people flocked to the site, including news reporters from as far away as New York and Chicago. Anyway just had to mention this, bizarre crimes and female killers are my specialty and outside appearing in Red Dead 2, the Bloody Benders don't get a lot of attention. Phone: 620-624-3885 Fax: 620-626-7629 Manager: Nora Rubio Email: Email Mead Lumber of Liberal Hours: Cemetery. An American Indian legend claimed any twister approaching Topeka from the southwest would have its tail clipped off by Burnett's Mound, a sacred burial ground. Fortunately, Rabbi returns in time to shut down the likely police shooting and receives a warning from the officer about keeping his colored boy out of sight in a town like that. These include the 2012 murder of Quan Donnell, the 1996 murder of Michelle Hutchinson, the 2013 murder of Juan Solis, and the 2016 murder of Robert Williams, among countless others. Serial killer music is a genre unto itself. Mrs. McCann's story came from dreams about her father's murder, which she discussed with Sarah Eliza. The Bloody Benders Historical Marker For all these deaths, the Benders gained only about $4,600, two teams of horses and wagons, a pony, and a saddle. With the victim's back to the curtain, Kate would distract the guest while John Bender or his son came from behind the curtain and struck the guest on the right side of the skull with a hammer. melon mounds liberal kansas And then, in so many words, Scalia said that nothing in the Eighth Amendment requires that jurors considering "mitigating evidence" that could . Kansas Historical Society Historical Markers - hmdb.org [1][2][3], The area was already widely known for "horse thieves and villains, and vigilance committees often "arrested" some for the disappearances, only for them to be later released by the authorities. Markers of the Kansas state historical markers program administered by the Kansas Historical Society and Kansas Department of Transportation. [2] The elder Benders did not leave the train at Humboldt, but instead continued north to Kansas City, where it is believed they purchased tickets for St. Louis, Missouri.[1]. It is in Morehead in Montgomery County Kansas. The family includes Andrew Mellon, one of the longest-serving U.S. Treasury Secretaries, along with prominent members in the judicial, banking, financial, business, and political professions, as well as a famous recluse, Cordelia Scaife May . 'Bloody Benders' property goes up for sale in Kansas | CNN Instead, we downshift hard into the side story ofSatchel (Rodney L Jones III) andRabbi (Ben Whishaw) on the lam, withConstant Calamita (Gaetano Bruno) on their tail. A trap door, nailed shut, was discovered on the cabin floor. Catch up here! It said the plaque was erected by the Kansas City historical society. Benders Mounds Cemetery Labette County , Kansas , USA - *Estimated location First Name Middle Name Last Name (s) Search this cemetery More search options Search tips About Photos 0 Map About No location information available Add Location Cemetery ID: 2728705 Members have Contributed 6 Memorials 100% photographed The Version table provides details related to the release that this issue/RFE will be addressed. One arm was broken. No documentation or definitive proof of their relationships to one another, or where they were born, has ever been found. Records of the incarceration back up this affidavit. Much folklore and legend surrounds the Benders, making it difficult to separate fact from fiction. From the first grayscale frame, its clear that were arent in Kansas City anymore. It says this home used to be run by the infamous Mellon Family, who lured travelers in before killing them with a hammer. By the time a deputy from Cherryvale arrived, identification was impossible due to decomposition. The media speculated that some of the victims had attempted to fight back after being hit with the hammer. This one would make a great show/movie, but we keep seeing remakes and reboots. Afterward, she reportedly remarried several times, killing those husbands and three of her older children so they could not testify against her. In Rabbis absence, Satchel discovers a Jack Russel terrier hiding in the wardrobe in his room. The legend was debunked on June 8, 1966, when an EF-5 twister churned its way across the city, cutting a diagonal swath of destruction from S.W. She maintained carnal relations with her brother, and boldly proclaimed her right to do so in the following words found in her lecture manuscript: "Shall we 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. sdsu basketball recruiting 2021vice president internal student council. Other bodies found in the garden were those of Henry McKenzies mutilated remains, three men by the names of Ben Brown, W.F. They werent even a true family the only ones related were Ma and Kate Bender. The digging continued the next day; nine other bodies and numerous dismembered body parts were found, including a woman and a little girl. Menu The house sits alone in a barren landscape composed of post-harvest fields coated halfheartedly with snow. Though most were led to believe John and Kate were sister and brother, others said that they sometimes passed as man and wife. what happened to johnny rodriguez country singer $38 (2023: $860) and a wagon with a team of horses missing. Mrs. Bender, a heavyset woman, was so unfriendly and had such sinister eyes that her neighbors began to call her a she-devil. To add to her fierce look, Ma Bender claimed to be a medium who could speak with the dead and boiled herbs and roots that she declared could be used to cast charms or wicked spells. She is fun enough. The family consisted of John Bender, his wife Elvira and their son John Jr. and daughter Kate. When he wakes alone again in the morning, Satchel takes Rabbit for a walk down the lane to where a man has finished building a cryptic billboard featuring a white man in a suit and hat smiling expectantly in front of a ranch style house. A Catholic priest said he fled when he saw one of the Bender men concealing a large hammer. Uncovered: Unsolved Kansas Murders Cherryvale, Kansas In 1967, three of the Bender hammers were gifted to the museum by the Dick family. Whenever he is asked a question about himself, Satchels response is that he is hungry. Standing over six feet tall, John was a giant of a man who, because of his piercing black eyes set deeply under huge bushy brows, earned him the nickname of old beetle-browed John. His ruddy face, mostly covered by a heavy beard, sullen expression, and long hair often led to him being described as a wild and wooly-looking man.. But if your not from Kansas it's a fairly obscure story. When neighboring communities started to make slanderous insinuations, the Osage Township called a meeting held at the Harmony Grove schoolhouse in March to see what, if anything, could be done. Daughter Kate was the friendliest of the bunch, speaking good English with just a slight accent and bore cultivated social skills. The Benders then stripped him of his clothes and went to bury him when the man suddenly awoke. [19], The Ingalls family, made famous in the books and television series Little House on the Prairie, lived near Independence, and Laura Ingalls Wilder mentioned the Bender family in her writing and speeches. So yeah, kind of obscure. As Active Shooter incidents have increased, employers are tasked with training employees on how to escape, hide, or fight. They were not pursued, as lawmen following outlaws into this region often never returned. John Bender, Sr. chose a 160-acre section on the western slopes of the mounds that continue to bear their name today. The Bender cabin was ripped apart by gruesome souvenir hunters right down to the bloody bricks that lined the cellar. William Pickering said that when he had refused to sit near the wagon cloth because of the stains on it, Kate Bender had threatened him with a knife, whereupon he fled the premises.