The Bender family ran a small inn for travelers along the Osage Mission Trail in Kansas, but they suddenly abandoned their homestead in 1873 — then the bodies of people who had gone missing turned up buried on their property.
Public DomainPortraits of the Bender family members.
In the 19th century, the American government had found itself in possession of a lot of land out west, but the land was relatively empty. To fix this problem, the government began offering plots of land to anyone who was willing to move out and farm it.
One family who took them up on this offer was the Benders. The Bender family built a small house on the Osage Trail in Labette County, Kansas in the fall of 1871. Eventually, the father, John Bender Sr., turned the house into an inn to give weary travelers a place to rest.
For many of those travelers, however, the Benders’ home would be their final resting place. When the gruesome extent of the Benders’ crimes came to light, their misdeeds earned them the name “The Bloody Benders” — and for good reason.
The Formation Of Labette County Provided The Perfect Cover For The Benders
Before there ever was any Labette County, Kansas, the region was primarily inhabited by people of the Osage Nation. Around the 1840s, Euro-American settlers, including trades and merchants, began establishing trade posts and integrating into the local communities, often through marriage with Osage or Cherokee individuals.
Among these settlers was the French-Canadian fur trapper Pierre LaBette, for whom the county would eventually be named.
Kansas Historical SocietyThe Bender family’s home in Labette County.
Labette County was officially established on Feb. 26, 1867, and in the years following the Civil War, the U.S. government actively encouraged more westward expansion. During this post-war period, the population of Labette County grew rapidly. According to a report from the Kansas State Board of Agriculture, between 1870 and 1878, the population of Labette County grew from 9,973 residents to 17,190.
But not everyone who moved to Labette County during this time had good intentions. There were, of course, tensions between settlers and the Native Americans who had already inhabited the land, but during this turbulent time of expansion, the Bender family established a presence — and carried out their gruesome killings.
The Bender Family’s Odd Habits Hint At Something Darker
Kansas Historical SocietyAn advertisement referring to Katie Bender as a healer.
There were some early indications that the Benders were a little strange. The community they settled in was founded by a group of spiritualists, who believed in some rather unorthodox things. For instance, spiritualism taught that the spirits of the dead continue to live on after death — and spiritualists often practiced séances to contact these ghosts.
Kate Bender, who was probably John’s daughter (whether or not the Benders were actually blood relatives is disputed), quickly gained a reputation as a psychic and healer who could talk to the dead. Even in a community of spiritualists, her sermons on the value of free love were considered a little odd. John, meanwhile, had a tendency to laugh aimlessly, which led many to think he might be mentally ill.
Kansas Historical SocietyThe Bender family farm.
Elvira Bender, in particular, was so unfriendly that other members of the local community referred to her as a “she-devil.”
Kate was by far the most social member of the Bender family, which made her the perfect face for the family inn. The Benders’ inn was a modest, one-room cabin divided into two sections by a canvas wagon cover. The front are functioned as a general store and dining space for travelers, while the rear served as the family’s living quarters. They also maintained a two-acre vegetable garden and an apple orchard adjacent to the property.
Its location along the Great Osage trail meant it was strategically positioned to attract travelers — and also the perfect place to carry out their murderous scheme.
The Bloody Benders’ Murderous Plot
Kansas Historical SocietyA pit on the Bender property that was once hidden beneath a trap door.
The Benders’ modus operandi was particularly gruesome. They would invite travelers to dine with them, seating guests at a “place of honor” — directly over a trap door.
Kate would then distract them with conversation while one of the other Benders approached the curtain. With the victim’s head outlined through the thin cloth, one of the Benders would smash their skull with a hammer. The body would then be dropped through the trap door into the basement.
Once the body was in the basement, the Bloody Benders would strip it of any clothes and valuables and bury it in a mass grave. Money was certainly part of why the Bloody Benders decided to start killing their victims. But many of their victims were poor, which suggests that the family simply enjoyed killing.
Their victims’ corpses were often buried on their property, mostly in their apple orchard, and they kept the scheme going for a few years before people started to notice. But the Benders’ killing spree did eventually come to an end in 1873.
William Henry York’s Disappearances Puts An End To The Bloody Benders
As people continued disappearing after visiting the Benders’ home, the surrounding communities began to grow suspicious. Certainly, there had been rumors circulating about the Benders, and some visitors to their inn reported feeling uncomfortable or as if they were in danger. One man, William Pickering, for instance, refused to sit near a stained wagon cloth — and was subsequently threatened by Kate Bender with a knife, prompting him to quickly flee.
Kansas Historical SocietyThe mass graves of the Bloody Benders’ victims.
Similarly, a Catholic priest, Father Paul Ponziglione, claimed to have seen one of the Bender men concealing a large hammer, which made him uneasy and led him to leave under the pretense of tending to his horse.
Then, after one family went missing in the area, their friend, Dr. William Henry York, came to the area to ask if anyone had seen them. After Dr. York himself went missing, his brother, a Colonel in the military, came to the Benders’ inn asking about his brother.
The Benders told Colonel York that his brother had probably been killed by the Native Americans in the area. But York’s investigation uncovered several people who claimed that the Benders had threatened to kill them. When York returned to the inn to confront the Benders, he found it deserted.
York’s party then searched the building for any sign of what happened.
That’s when they discovered the trap door to the basement, which was covered in bloodstains. After digging around the property, the investigators found 11 bodies, all murdered by the Bloody Benders. A manhunt was immediately launched for the murderers.
Kansas Historical SocietyThe reward offered for the Benders
The Benders’ wagon was soon found a few miles away from their home. The family themselves had disappeared. Some thought they might have been killed by vigilantes, and others that they had left the country. And in spite of numerous sightings over the years, no one ever discovered where they had gone.
The Bloody Benders quickly passed into legend as America’s first serial killer family. And their story remains a ghastly part of Kansas folklore to this day.
After learning about the Bloody Benders, check out the story of Edmund Kemper, whose tale is almost too gruesome to tell. Then read about Carl Panzram, another gory serial killer.
