Around two decades before Agatha Christie was born, on the other side of the Atlantic, another country was undergoing a great change. The civil war was over & things were once again progressing in the United States of America. Many honest people moved into new lands, to create a better future for themselves, by sheer grit, hard work & determination; but the Bender family, who would later be known as the Bloody Benders - were not one of those. They would later have the ignoble distinction of being America’s first serial killer family.
Unfortunately, with time & in absence of modern documentation, the real story of Bloody Benders has got mixed with different folklore and legends surrounding them so much so, that it has become difficult, to separate fact from fiction. Here we have attempted to depict the facts as they happened & the shock waves that were created because of it.
The Homestead Act of 1862, had paved the way for the development & westward expansion of the United States. To make the Kansas Territory freely available for the European settlers, the native Americans (the Osage Indians, in this case) were moved from their residence in Labette County to Oklahoma.
America’s first family of serial killers were among the families of new settlers that arrived in the area in & around the township of Osage in northwestern Labette county in October 1870. The Bender family, who took possession of an area of 160 area, facing the Osage Trail, were certainly an odd collection of personae, but not even in anybody’s wildest dreams, could anyone around have any idea of the evil, these ordinary-looking people were capable of committing.
The Bender family consisted of 4 members. Father – John Bender (60 years old), the mother – Elvira Bender (55 years old) & 2 children – Kate Bender (23 years old) & John Bender, Jr. (25 years old). The male members of the family – John Bender, Sr. and Jr. were the first to arrive. Only after they prepared a cabin and barn in the area, did the women arrive.
With time, the Bloody Benders house complex boasted of a cabin, barn, a well, a two-acre vegetable garden, and an apple orchard. The Bloody Benders house location was very important, as travelers moving to the west would pass through this area, which was relatively unknown to them. This would provide the Bloody Bender Family with perfect opportunity & setting, for the crimes that they would later commit.
A family ideally should be a closely-knit group of affectionate people, but the Bloody Bender family was anything but that. John Bender, Sr. was a 60-year-old, 6 feet tall short-tempered, cruel & violent man with a repulsive character who could barely speak English. Described as a brutish character by people who knew him, and his unintelligible speech further added to his repulsive persona.
At around 55 years old, Elvira Bender was also was not friendly but rather wicked & the fact that her English though better than her husband, was far from perfect, didn’t help the situation. Onlookers described that her communication with her husband took place mostly in German. Because of her nature, she was also sometimes referred to as a She-Devil by people who knew the Bloody Bender Family.
The son – John Bender, Jr. who was around 25 years old spoke good English but with a German accent. He was also described as a half-wit by people around, as he had this strange habit of bursting into laughter, in the middle of speech for apparently no reason.
The daughter – Kate Bender who was around 23 years old, was good-looking and the only member of the family who could communicate fluently in English, without any accent. She had a friendly nature but wrote and distributed flyers describing herself and her mother as believers of spiritualism. She also maintained that she could talk to dead spirits and had the powers to heal the sick with her psychic powers. She was the only member of the family, who had some popularity in the area.
However, Kate Bender also had her streak of weirdness when during giving her lectures on spiritualism, she would advocate concepts like – free love & having multiple partners, which were very unconventional for the times she lived in. Besides sometimes during her lectures she also said facts like - that murder might not be a bad thing & might be a brave and noble act!
So, it was quite understandable when the few people living nearby were apprehensive about the Bender family & avoided them. However, being an outcast family living in the middle of nowhere did have its share of advantages, especially while dealing with travelers passing through – who had no idea of what they were getting into.
As described earlier, people looking for a new life in the American west passed through an area, pretty close to the Bloody Benders house & they did not know the nature of the Bloody Benders. These weary travelers just wanted a place where they could get some food & rest for the night before they moved forward towards their destination.
Bender Family house provided all the mentioned facilities and essential supplies to move forward & so seemed like a prayer answered for those people, passing through difficult terrain. However, they were grossly mistaken, a mistake that would prove fatal for them.
America’s first family of serial killers, notoriety probably starts with actions that started in the year 1871. It was in May 1871 that the first of dead bodies attributed to the dastardly actions of America’s first serial killer family was discovered.
In Drum Creek, Kansas the body of a man called Jones was found, with his throat cut and skull crushed – injuries that would later be the hallmark of the deadly injuries inflicted by the Bloody Benders. Unfortunately, no actions were taken in the case, keeping the terrain in view or probably believing it to be an isolated case – a misjudgment which would later prove to be very costly.
The next misfortune occurred in February 1872 when 2 more dead bodies of unidentified men were found, with similar injuries as before. By the next year (1873) reports of people going missing in the area had become so common, that most people passing through started to avoid the trail, but not all were so cautious!
The horror story concerning America’s first serial killer family took a critical turn, when 2 travelers – George Newton Longcor and his young daughter - Mary Ann, coming from the Town of Independence, Kansas, and heading to Iowa in winter of 1872, to start a new life, disappeared in the now notorious area, without any trace.
The disappearance of the father-daughter duo would soon be noticed by one of their neighbor and friends – Dr. William Henry York, a well-known Independence physician. Dr. William Henry York, who knew about the route that Mr. Longcor and his daughter would take, came searching for them in spring of 1873.
Unfortunately, the good doctor too would also disappear, but this time it had set in motion a chain of events, which would unmask America’s first family of serial killers. Finally, the Bloody Bender family had bitten off more than what they could chew.
Unlike many other previous victims of the Bloody Benders, Dr. William Henry York was not a man, who would just disappear without causing any ripples. His disappearance caused a shockwave in his family and in his two brothers, to be more precise.
Of the 2 brothers in question – Alexander York, was a member of the Kansas State Senate & Col Ed York, was a well-known military officer. The brothers knew about the travel plans of Dr. William Henry York & would not take his missing lying down.
A search team of around 50 good men was soon gathered, who would set out under the leadership of Col Ed York, to search for the missing doctor. The team traced the travel path of the doctor and making inquiries along the way soon reached the Bloody Benders house location on 28th March 1873.
Inquiries were made to the Bloody Bender family members if they had seen Dr. William Henry York or had any idea about his whereabouts. Strangely the Bender family admitted that not only they had seen the doctor but he had also stayed with them, before leaving. The Bender family implicated that maybe the Native Americans were somehow responsible for the disappearance of the doctor.
The team would stick around the area, making further inquiries, when they came to know about a woman who had fled in terror from the Bloody Benders House, after being threatened by Elvira Bender. This brash display of violent behavior along with the known personality of the Bloody Benders was enough to raise suspicion and Col Ed and his team decided to visit the Benders Family.
The search team led by Col Ed York would return to meet the Bloody Benders on 3rd April 1873. Initially, Elvira Bender pretended that she couldn’t speak English. However, when persuaded with the charge of threatening an innocent woman with a knife, Elvira Bender blurted out in anger that her actions were a reaction to the primary action of the so-called victim, who supposedly was a witch and was trying to cast a spell on Elvira.
This display of her true colors and skill of English language was enough for the search team to suspect that some foul play was going on in the Bloody Benders house. Kate Blender realized that things were going out of control & asked Ed York to come later when she would tell him more about his missing brother by using her spiritual powers.
The search team by now were sure that the Bloody Bender family members were guilty and deserved punishment. However, Ed York acted like a gentleman & to not punish innocent people decided to search for more evidence first.
All these activities didn’t go unnoticed by people living in the Osage area, who were both confused and paranoid of each other. To sort out the matter, a meeting was held in the local schoolhouse, which was attended by many local people, including – the duo of John Bender Sr. and Junior.
A decision was taken that after getting a search warrant, all houses in the area would be searched. However, with the focus now shifted to the entire community, no one thought of watching the Bloody Bender Family, a mistake that would be very detrimental in carrying out justice.
About 3 days after the township’s meeting, a neighbor of the Bender family while passing through the Bloody Benders house location, observed that the property appeared to be abandoned and animals of the Bender family, unfed and roaming around.
The news was conveyed to the search team hunting for the missing people; but alas fortune favored the Bloody Benders & the search for the Bender Family & the property would have to be postponed for a few days, because of bad weather.
When the search team finally arrived at the Bloody Benders house, they found it to be empty of food, clothing, and other personal possessions. It was obvious that the Bender family had finally escaped. There were no other signs, except for a horrible smell coming from the floor.
The smell was located to be coming from a shut trap door that was well hidden below a bed. Once the trap door was opened, a small room was found underneath. There were no dead bodies around but the floor was stained with clotted blood, & was the source of the foul odor. The floor of the room made up of stone slabs was again broken down by sledgehammers to search for bodies, but it provided no fruitful result.
Not finding any bodies below the floor of Bloody Benders house, the search was extended to the immediate surrounding vegetable garden and apple orchard. Probing the ground with a metal rod would soon lead to the discovery of Dr. York’s body which was buried face down in a shallow grave. Soon many multiple other bodies were also found buried in the area.
All the bodies had similar injuries of sustaining head injury probably by a hammer & had their throat slit, except for a young girl – Mary Ann, who although had multiple minor injuries but died possibly because she was buried alive. Besides intact dead bodies, many other cut human body parts were also found, indicating that the Bloody Bender family had gone on an unprecedented and unprovoked killing spree that sent shivers down the spine of all present.
Very few of the bodies were claimed and the rest were laid to final rest in other places, but the vast majority of the bodies were reburied at the base of a small hill approximately 1 mile from the Bloody Benders orchard.
The Bender family house consisted of a barn with a corral & a cabin. A wagon cover was used to divide the cabin into two rooms (two halves). The smaller room at the back was used by the Bloody Bender family for living purposes. The front room had been turned into a general store, where dry goods & other essential supplies were sold to the travelers passing through the area.
The front room also contained the kitchen and dining table where people passing through could have the meal they were offered. Later those who wanted to take some rest also had the choice of spending the night in the same place. It appeared that the Bloody Benders had created a small paradise for tired souls in the middle of nowhere. But then appearance can be deceptive!
The Bender family murder followed a definite pattern. The visitors to the Bloody Benders house were made to strategically sit at the dining table in such a manner that, they would be seated above the trapdoor with their back was against the curtain dividing the room.
As Kate Bender would distract the guest with her charm and good looks, one of the men would sneak up from behind the curtain and hit the unsuspecting victim with a hammer on the right side of the head. The final assault would be committed by one of the women, by slitting the victim's throat, thus killing them.
Later the body would be dropped down through the trap door into the cellar below, where it would be stripped and all valuable possessions removed by the Bloody Benders. Once done, the body would be disposed of by burying it somewhere in the property - commonly in the nearby family orchard.
The modus operandi of the Bender family murders was pieced together by joining together the evidence of injuries found on the dead bodies along with the testimony of some of the extra cautious targeted victims. These were those who managed to escape before the Bloody Benders had the opportunity to carry out their nefarious intentions and later after coming to know about the Bender family murders came forward to tell their own stories.
Once the Bender family Murders were discovered the crowd who had gathered around to experience the nightmare, went mad with anger. As the Bloody Bender family were nowhere to be found, they vent their anger on another person named Brockman – who was the family friend of the Bloody Benders.
Brockman was hanged from a beam till he lost consciousness. Later he was again revived and interrogated about the whereabouts of the Bloody Benders. On not getting any definite answers, he was again hanged. This was done 3 times, after which Brockman was allowed to go; and he staggered to walk away like a drunken man.
The Benders family murders had sent a shockwave across the country and high a reward was declared for anyone, who could bring the Bloody Benders to justice. Soon a massive hunt for the Bloody Bender family was started by both law enforcement agents & vigilantes.
Detectives working on the case discovered that Benders had traveled to Thayer (12 miles from the Bloody Benders house location) in Neosho County, Kansas in their wagon; where they brought train tickets for their onward journey, after ditching their wagon.
The events that are described after this point are hard to confirm. It is widely believed that Kate Bender and John Bender Jr. separated from their (so-called) parents before going towards an outlaw colony present between Texas and New Mexico, a dangerous area where law enforcement wouldn’t follow them. Afterward, it was reported by a detective who had supposedly followed them, that John Bender Jr. had later died of a stroke.
The older Bloody Bender family couple, were believed to have headed towards St. Louis, Missouri. The hunt for Benders continued, as many vigilante groups claimed that they had apprehended the Bloody Bender family and managed to kill them, but no definite proof for the same was ever given nor the cash reward declared for the same ever collected by anybody.
For many years after the incident, quite a few criminals apprehended for other crimes were accused of belonging to the Bloody Bender family. Charges were brought against them for the Bender family murders but nothing could be proved conclusively & finally, they were allowed to go, because of lack of evidence. The fate of America’s first family of serial killers would remain a mystery forever.
The Bloody Bender family were a weird group of people & a lot of information about them was either speculation or came to knowledge much later. There was very little documentation about their past or where they came from & even the real nature of the relationship between the Bender family members was questionable.
Most of the people believe that the Bender Family were originally from Germany, although a few also suspect that they may have come from the Netherlands. Some reports mention that that the name of the family members was also not real. For example, John Blender Sr.’s actual name was supposedly John Flickinger, however, that is rather hard to prove.
Similarly, it is claimed that Elvira Bender’s real birth name was – Almira Hill Mark, and she had multiple previous marriages, before taking the Blender alias. She reportedly killed all her previous husbands before moving on. Kate Bender was supposedly one of the children from these marriages and was originally named – Eliza Griffith.
John Bender Jr.’s real name was supposedly John Gebhardt and many think that his habit of laughing unnecessarily was just an act of hiding his real evil nature. The regular stories show the relation between John Bender Junior & Kate Bender was that of siblings. However, others believe (according to neighbors) that they were a married couple. However, there is no evidence to confirm this marriage & it may have been a non-ceremonial marriage or a common-law marriage.
As the story of Bloody Benders spread, innumerable people flocked to the Bloody Benders house location hunting for souvenirs. The property was looted as people took things away. Even the passage of time didn’t dilute the infamous acts of the Bloody Benders. All the publicity led to the formation of the Bloody Benders Museum in Cherryvale in 1961.
The Bloody Benders Museum hosted 3 hammers recovered from the Bloody Benders house, which supposedly were used by the Bloody Benders for criminal activities. The museum would later be closed in 1978 when a fire station was built on the site. The artifacts related to Bloody Benders including Bloody Benders pictures would later be shifted to Cherryvale Museum, where they remain to this day.
The story of Bloody Benders was once again in news in recent times, when the property belonging previously to America’s first serial killer family came up for sale in 2020. With all evidence of past horrors now gone from the area, maybe slowly the land will heal again.
The Bloody Bender family has gone done in history as America’s first family of serial killers, whose descent to infamy wouldn’t be forgotten anytime soon. Although it is difficult to predict the exact number of victims, killed by the Bloody Bender family, the remains obtained from the site point to an estimate between 11 to 21 victims.
All the evidence available points to the fact the Bloody Bender family would have gained very little financially from the murders, so it is now believed that they killed their victims purely for the thrill of it. However, their existence also raises the question, that how many similar crimes may have never been brought to justice, because authorities of earlier times didn’t have access to modern tools, extending from CCTV, hi-tech communication devices to DNA analysis. The answer to that is something we will never know.
Although many would believe that with the availability of sophisticated pieces of equipment & modern resources in the hands of legal authorities, we live in a much safer world. However, time and again we come across stories in various media outlets, which forces us to reconsider our opinions. Evil actions of men & women, make it appear as if the Bender family still lives among us, with different identities; or as if sometimes they spring up from history books laughing at us, saying that evil never dies.
Although it is more than a century & a half, since the Bloody Benders disappeared into oblivion, it is still very important to remember their story, which is now a part of history. The reason is that real life is very different from the fairy tale version, where good always triumphs over evil.
In real life, good can only win if it can recognize evil in time; even if it is hiding behind the façade of a neighboring family, at which nobody would look twice. As evil almost always hides deceptively behind soft innocence. So, keep a sharp lookout for the persona of Bloody Benders, they may be out there with a different name & in different bodies, waiting for unsuspecting victims to walk into their trap.