Here is day 11 of the 12 Nightmares Before Christmas. After the American Civil War, the U.S. government decided it would be delightful to shuffle the Osage Indians from Labette County, Kansas, to what would soon be the state of Oklahoma—because who doesn’t love a good game of human chess? As they cleared the land, they rolled out the red carpet for homesteaders, luring them in with shiny promises of opportunity. By October 1870, five families of spiritualists—because obviously, that’s who you want on the frontier—decided to stake their claim on this “untamed paradise.” As noted by the proclamation issued on May 17, 1873, this was far from paradise for many travelers. Several atrocious murders have been recently committed in Labette County, Kansas.

Join Jen and Cam on this episode entitled ‘Trail of Terror: The Bloody Benders and Their House of Death.’

Listener discretion by @octoberpodVHS

All music by our executive producer and editor @theinkypawprint

Sources:
https://blogs.loc.gov/headlinesandheroes/2024/10/bloody-benders/

https://www.aetv.com/real-crime/bloody-benders

https://www.kctv5.com/2024/07/04/kansas-bloody-benders-digging-clues-century-old-murders/

https://www.legendsofamerica.com/ks-benders/

https://www.ksn.com/news/crime/ku-researchers-dig-deeper-into-the-bloody-benders-site/

https://www.humanitieskansas.org/get-involved/kansas-stories/people/true-crime-in-kansas-the-mystery-of-the-benders

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/sale-kansas-land-where-bloody-benders-committed-their-crimes-180974121/


https://open.spotify.com/episode/13godpkiaP4Ile72PYAIL5

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloody_Benders