This story starts in the 1870s, when too many people are reported missing on their travels. The Bender Family is reported to be America’s first ever serial killer family. Join me as I figure out why their nickname is the “Bloody Benders.” SOURCES: Brown, Travis. “The Bloody Benders|America’s First Family of Serial Killers” Crimehub: A True Crime Podcast, August 2022. https://open.spotify.com/episode/39bv8qSmCG2dRC21ke87CM?si=98f55e06fd0b4f51 [Podcast] February 27, 2023.
Farley, Todd. “How a serial killer family got away with murdering seven men and a baby” The New York Post. March 26, 2022. https://nypost.com/2022/03/26/how-a-serial-killer-family-murdered-8-and-got-away-with-it/ Accessed February 27, 2023.
Kansas, Troy. “The Kansas Horror” The Kansas Weekly Chief. May 15, 1873. https://www.newspapers.com/image/79743338/?terms=Bloody%20Benders&match=1 [Archived Article] Accessed March 3, 2023.
Katz, Brigit. “The Kansas Homestead Where America’s First Serial Killer Family Committed Its Crimes is Up For Sale” The Smithsonian Magazine, February 4, 2020. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/sale-kansas-land-where-bloody-benders-committed-their-crimes-180974121/ Accessed 27 February 2023.
Lifson, Amy. “Reading Laura Ingalls Wilder is Not the Same When You’re a Parent.” National Endowment For the Humanities. July/August 2014. https://www.neh.gov/humanities/2014/julyaugust/feature/reading-laura-ingalls-wilder-not-the-same-when-youre-parent Accessed February 28, 2023.
Redd, Wyatt & Serena, Katie. “How the “Bloody Benders” Made Murder the Family Business” All That’s Interesting, October 18, 2021. https://allthatsinteresting.com/bloody-benders Accessed February 27, 2023.
Schechter, Harold. “Little Slaughterhouse on the Prairie” Bloodlands Collection. June 28, 2018. https://www.amazon.com/Little-Slaughterhouse-Prairie-Bloodlands-collection-ebook/dp/B07CSX8SRW Accessed 27 February 2023.
Urqhart, Alaina & Ash Kelly. “Episode 69: The Bloody Benders” Morbid Podcast, May 2019 https://open.spotify.com/episode/6IkZvhCTG1a6hB3Xro9vXs?si=a01bc58198524b1d [Podcast]. Accessed February 27, 2023. EDITING BY: mellowtonin on YouTube
