Morbid - Episode 69: The Bloody Benders

Episode Date: May 31, 2019

This is just good, old western fun. By fun, we mean complete carnage and horror. Come back to the 1800s with us as we travel to early America’s humble beginnings where one family systematically butchered travelers who mistook their predatory existence for kindness. The Bloody Benders is a trip worth taking, but just don’t sit at the table when they forcibly suggest it to you. Don’t do it. Sources: https://www.legendsofamerica.com/ks-benders/ https://allthatsinteresting.com/bloody-benders https://the-line-up.com/the-bloody-benders Head over to MurderApparel.com and use our code MORBID for a special weirdo discount! See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hey, Prime members, you can listen to morbid, early, and ad-free on Amazon music. Download the app today. You're listening to a morbid network podcast. Whether you're running errands on your daily commute, or even at home, you can enjoy all your audio entertainment in one app, the Audible app. As an Audible member, you can choose one title a month to keep from the entire catalog. This includes the latest bestsellers and new releases. Plus get full access to a growing selection of included audiobooks, audible originals,

and more. If you've been wanting to form good habits, break bad ones, and improve motivation, atomic habits written and narrated by James Clear is a great lesson. It'll reshape your mindset on progress and success by helping you develop strategies to transform your habits. New members can try audible free for 30 days. Visit audible.com slash wandery pod or text wandery pod to 500-500 to try audible for free for 30 days.

That's W-O-N-D-E-R-Y-P-O-D. Audible.com slash wandery pod or text wandery pod to 500-500 to try audible for free for 30 days. Angie has made it easier than ever to connect with skilled professionals to get all your home projects done well. Just bring them your project online, or with the Angie app, and answer a few questions. With Angie, you can book instantly at an upfront price, or request and compare quotes from multiple pros, so you can find the best price for your project.

So the next time you have a home project, just Angie that and start getting the most out of your home. Download the free Angie mobile app today or visit Angie.com. That's ANGi.com. Hey weirdos, I'm Melina, I'm Ash and this wicked morbid. It's super morbid. It's creepy. This one's pretty morbid. This one is super morbid. I mean, I know they all are, but.

But it's also just like, it's like good old fashioned fun. It is. It's like old timey. It is. It's old timey. It's western. It's gonna make you wanna dress up and that like in those old newspaper,

and take those old timey photos. That's what I was trying to say. I think where you all hold fake like rifles and and you wear the feather boas, even though I'm sure that nobody typically wore those back then, like as regular fashion. But do it. But do it.

Do you? So yeah, today we're going to be covering the bloody benders. The bloody benders. And they might call it Again, this is a really fun one guys It's of course it's awful because people died but it's also really fun Before we jump into the fun though

We have some Bid-Nass Bid-Nass Some Bid-Nass that's scary Our Bid-Nass It is our Bid-Nass And we're making it your Bid-Nass Because you're here

Mm-hmm So we just wanted to quickly update you on that case we mentioned last week from Amesberry Mass Chusets. A 13 year old girl named Chloe Ricard was dropped off. She's from Amesberry Mass Chusets. She was dropped off at Lawrence General Hospital, already dead and just dropped off and left. And it was this big mystery, what happened?

It's still kind of a mystery, what happened. But the update on this is that a 47-year-old man has been arrested. And he has been charged with something along the lines of distributing drugs to a minor. And also assaults. So, I know full details have been released yet, but he also apparently had a 16 year olds in the car as well, and he's charged with two counts of both of those things. And these girls were in his apartment

for at least the night before in the whole day. Okay, that is very strange. So it's really scary. It's getting creepier by the moment. And hopefully we get more details soon. But when we do, we'll tell you as soon as we find out. Wow. There's a lot of questions I have in my mind right now, right? So that's that's kind of a spooky awful update.

But do you know what else is spooky and awful? What else is spooky and awful? It's actually spooky and awesome. Spooky and awesome. What could it be? It's our shirts on Murder Apparel. Our shirts on Murder Apparel. Mm-hmm.

So guys, if you didn't already know, we have paired up with Murder Apparel and they made us a shirt. They did. And it's so fucking rad and you should go check it out on their Instagram. You really should. Their Instagram handle is Murder a Paral,

which is M-U-R-D-E-R-A-P-P-A-R-E-L. And that's on Instagram. And if you click the little link in their bio, it will take you to their shop where you can find our shirt and other wicked cool shirts that they have, I literally have like three of them. And if you use our code Morbid- b i d at checkout you can get 25% of 25. Is it good that I never know how much percent off you get? I believe it's 25. I think it's

25. 20. 20. 20. Also, I don't know if they're still doing this, but the other day if you use the code kill 30, you could get 30% off of everything. Whoa. They always do stuff like that too. Yeah, they have to go follow them. They have cool incentives. Yeah. And it's worth it because they are red to the extreme.

Right, right, right, right. So go check them out and get our shirt. Do it. And yes, so I think the last tiny bit of business is just that our mini soad will be released this Saturday. So look out for that. And we are going to be on a new recording schedule. So now you're getting an episode, your full length is probably going to be coming in the beginning of the week from now on. And your mini will be towards the end of the week. So you'll get, you know,

the week will be nice and flushed out with morbid. And we're still gonna try to give you extra episodes when we are able to. Absolutely. Because it's just like really fun to be like, here you go guys. Just like quickly let it like, woo, here you go. And we love you. I love all of you. It's true. We do every single one you. I love every last one of you. You're the best. So I think we should just jump into the bloody benders. One, two, three. Let's go. Totally on the same page. Yeah. The bloody benders were a family who in 1870 moved out to what is now Cherry Vale. Sounds good. Cool. Kansas. To follow the spiritualist religion. John Bender Sr. was the father.

The mother was called Ma. Her name was Elvira. Elvira, Mistress of the Dark. Literally. And then there was a son and a daughter named John. Sometimes called Thomas because why the fuck. Because that's the same. John Thomas.

Yeah. It's very similar names John Thomas. Yeah. It's very similar names. Thomas. You know. I sometimes call my husband Thomas. That's weird. And then there was Kate.

Just Kate. Just Kate. Kate Bender. No one knows for sure whether or not Kate and John slash Thomas were brother or sister or if they were married. And if they were married, nobody really knows which one of them is mom, pause kid. That's often confusion. Yeah. Totally. Like are you guys brother and sister? Are you husband and wife? And if they were married, nobody really knows which one of them is mom, pause kid. That's often confusion.

Yeah, totally. Are you guys mother and sister? Are you husband and wife? What is married? Like what's going on here? It seems like it could be. It's weird. So, mom and pause spoke mostly German is like the...

Yeah, that's what I wanted to say. That's what people thought, but then other people were like, was that German? Yeah, and some said like Holland, you know. So like a German-ish language. But the younger Bender's new English and spoke it fluently. So shortly after moving out to Kansas, they built a home that they used as a general store and in and their house. As we all do. Multi-purpose house.

Yeah, that's smart. Yeah. So the grocery store slash in was in the front of the family's house. And then the living quarters, like for them, we're in the back. And they used Canvas curtains to separate everything. So I'm trying to like picture in my head

because I haven't seen a picture of the house before of like how big it was. I saw, actually, I have the dimensions of it. And I'll mention it at some point because it's very tiny. Yeah, because I'm like, how was it in a store and your house? It's literally just like a box. It's like, it's very small. In fact, will post pictures.

I posted one picture on the Instagram today. They have a lot from this crime scene, interesting, which is odd for the 1800s, but it's great. They do have a lot of pictures of the house, and it's just this little shack. So it's not actually an inn. It's just somewhere where one person could spend the night.

It's like one person will roll through, and they could spend the night there, and maybe get a meal. Okay. So back to the family. Kate was the one in the family who really stuck out to people. Okay. So like we said, there was always people like traveling, staying at the house,

blah, blah, blah. You know travelers be traveling. And Kate was the one that they were super interested in. She was tall and beautiful. It's believed that she had red hair. Yeah. And an outgoing personality, much like yourself. Yeah. So outgoing.

So outgoing. The life of the party everywhere I go. It's like, it's my hair. And the other benders didn't really talk as much as she did. And not only was she beautiful, she was also gifted with the ability to communicate with the other side. Wow, yeah.

That's quite a gift. I mean, I wish sometimes that I had that, but then I'm like, do I want that? I want it, but it feels like it would be great responsibility. I feel like it would also be moderately burdensome. And in a dash of terrifying, 100%. Just a dash.

Like just, didn't I, didn't I bring up Ghost Whisperer last week? Yes, you did. Yeah, like I used to think. I was thinking at all. When I was little, like that'd be so cool. But then I was like, well, I wouldn't want to wake up at night with like a ghosty in my face. Yeah, you don't want a sixth sense of it. No, I don't.

That was hard to say. I've heard Ghosts in the house before though. Yeah. But don't want a sixth sense it. No, I don't. That's hard to say. I've heard ghosts in the house before though. Yeah, but anyways, Kate was beautiful and gifted like me. Just kidding. Like Elena. She had red hair. She was beautiful gifted and outgoing like Elena. You know. And she was well known by the townspeople as a psychic medium and she even had her own spiritualistic traveling show. Wow. Where she would go from like little town to town in Kansas doing sayances, healing people's illnesses and contacting people's dead loved ones.

Um, but she was charging a hefty fine to do this for people. I mean, if you're going to communicate with dead people, which it's like, are you communicating with them or this is skiing? She's definitely not. I can guarantee you. Feel as though you're lying Kate. Feel slightly scheming Kate. Slightly scheming. Now just to go into how this crazy bunch of weirdos got their own house. Let me know. Bunch of weirdos got their own house. Let me know. Let me know. So in the mid to late 1800s, the US government was like all of a sudden lousy with land out

in the mid, like western part of our new-ish country at that point. So to help fill this land up, the Homestead Act was put into motion and signed it to law by President Abraham Lincoln. You might know him. No. I've You might know him. No, I've never heard of him. I know you have to be really into history to know who that is. Yeah. Yeah.

It was signed into law by him during the Civil War in 1862. So basically this act stated that any adult citizen or intended citizen who had never born arms against the United States government could claim 160 acres of surveyed government land. That's hefty ass acre, I'm saying. You couldn't just move onto this land in squat or just like contemplate the vastness of the universe in a big open space. Why? Like they wouldn't let you just do that. You had to quote, improve upon that land given to you. You had to do this by building a dwelling and also by farming on this land, like make your lazy ass useful. Yeah, that seems fair though. Yeah, they're just like make it be useful. Right. We're going to give you

this land just be useful. Do something with it. Yeah. So after five years on the land, the original filer would be entitled to the property and you really only had to pay like a small fee to do that. I was like, it was still a lot of years. The title could also be acquired after only six months. If you wanted to just pay the government $1.25 per acre. Which back then, that was a lot of money back then, I feel, what it is now, obviously. Now, after the Civil War, Union soldiers

kind of got like a special thing where they could deduct the time they had served from those requirements. Right, so that's kind of cool. Unfortunately, this act wasn't super, like, it wasn't the great thing it seemed to be completely, because very few farmers and like laborers and the people of that ilk

could afford to build a farm or get, you know, the tools to farm. They couldn't afford a seed or livestock or anything that you needed to actually make a running farm. Yeah. Because it's not like you can just plant things and be like, well, hope that works out. I guess we're farming. It's like it's a big to-do. And not a lot of people could afford that, so it's like it did kind of limit a lot of

people. Most of the land went to cattlemen, minors, lumbermen, and railroads, which is not what they were looking for. They wanted home centers, people to do farming. Of the 500 million acres that were given by the general land office between 1862 and 1904, only 80 million acres actually went to home stitters. That's interesting. Yeah, so it didn't do exactly what it was supposed to do, but it was an awful, it just wasn't perfect.

It was like a solid idea. Now, like we said, one of the families who took them up on this offer was the Benders. That's how they got their home. Okay. In 1870, John and Elvira built their small house on the Osage Trail in LeBette County, Kansas, which like Ash mentioned is now Cherryville, Kansas currently. The spot is about a two-hour drive southeast of Wichita along US 400 in LeBette County. You know where that is right. Yeah, exactly. You pinpointed it right?

I did. I googled Maps did in my brain. Yeah, you just dropped a pin. So the family, like like Ash said, the family decided to turn the new home into a general store and in and also their living quarters overachievers. They really are. And the general store, an inn, and also their living quarters. Overachievers. They really are. And the general store sold things like liquor, tobacco, gunpowder, food to travelers, horse feed, and then that inn was just for not a ton of people to say that. It was really like one to two people at a time to just kind of rest for a little while

before they moved on. Mm-hmm. Like renting a room. Exactly. It was just like a quick little hostel stay. The community they settled in was founded by that spiritualist group, like that. That religion was kind of a thing in that area. So that's the spiritualist religion is what Kate was doing. It's the, these people believe they can speak with the spirits of the dead. They're super into sayances and mediums, they do all that stuff. And that's why Kate Bender was super into it. They're in the perfect spot for it. Right. Exactly. Right in the hub of that. Like I was saying before, the Bender Home store in, you know, all around everything was just one room.

That's so crazy to me. Yeah. And it was actually 16 by 24 feet in size. I'm really bad at measurements, to be honest with you. Not a lot. No. No. How much is this room that we're in right now?

I have no idea. Cool. Whatever. Keep going. Basically, there was a counter in the front. Like you said, that was the selling area. There was just one counter. That's it in the front. And then in the back where you said the living area was,

there was just a, quote, rude bed. A rude bed. That's what I read. That's amazing. What about it was so rude. It was super rude. You walked into the room and it was like don't sleep here It only tipped like 5% Then salted you every morning when you woke up. Yeah, you look like shit today. It didn't get up for elderly people It was a rude bed. There was also a table, a stove, and three chairs back there.

So one person had to stand up for dinner? I was gonna say so not even enough for the whole thing. Wow. Ma or Pa or John Thomas? Or John Thomas. According to a really fascinating article, which I'm going to read a couple excerpts from here and there. Y'all.

In the weekly Kansas chief from May 22nd, 1873, the canvas cover was white, and this is important later. I know it seems like a very trivial detail, but the article was titled, quote, the devil's kitchen exclamation point. Further particulars of the butcher bender's den exclamation points. I just like that old-timey newspapers were like, they weren't like, here's the headline.

They were like headline exclamation points. I love that. And they got really hyperbolic about it and great. I wish they were still like that. I know, I love it. Like the Butcher Bender's Den, the devil's kitchen. The devil, like if I saw, I'd buy a newspaper. Yeah, that's what, I would pick up that paper and be like,

what's that about? Yeah. Um, so like we said, this house was along the Osage trail. So it's important to know why this was like a great place for them to set up the shop for what they were ending up doing. Because there was like a lot of travelers for. Yeah. Well, the Osage trail was very well traveled through back then. Uh, It was originally a Native American Trail, and it's now where the Midwest is in the United States. It was later called the Santa Fe Trail. The trails were originally created with the migrations of Buffalo herds, which is interesting,

and these trails were traveled initially by Osage Indians. Now, back in the day, this trail was a dangerous place because like just on its own. Why? No, it's just because of the vendors, spoiler alert. Travelers went missing all the time, mostly due to disease. Like the organ trail.

I was just gonna say, like people die in a dysentery and like, you know, flat tire wagon. And having to forge rivers and all that. So it was also bandits. Because remember, this is like the whole West. I love it. Native Americans. There was run-ins with Native Americans

who were rightfully pissed. So they were like, why the fuck are you still here? Yeah, lots of robbery and the like. It just wasn't a very easy place to come. So the benders set up shop at the right place for what they wanted to do. Exactly, because they knew a lot of people were going to be going down this trail.

It's kind of like setting up shop in the middle of Times Square. It's like, you're just... Makes sense. You're going to get something. Yeah, somebody's going to roll by. So in 1873, citizens of LeBette County became concerned all of a sudden, because although a lot of people do go missing on that trail, there was like kind of an inordinate amount

of missing persons in that community. Okay. So, in the neighboring counties, we're also starting to experience a lot of losses. And they were like, huh, where are these people going? Like they can't all be just dying on the trail of Dissentary. Yeah. Dissenteri. Yeah. Dissenteri only claims so many lives per year. It does.

It does. It really does. And this was all kind of a slow build over a few years of missing people. And then a couple of cases shook people up a bit and started this whole ball rolling. The first was the disappearance of a man named George W. Lonker, who went missing while traveling

from independence on his way to Iowa? He was traveling with his infant daughter. Oh, so she also went missing. Hate it. Next, a prominent name went missing. In March 1873, Dr. William York, who was a well-known and well-respected physician from Independence, Kansas, went missing after getting off a train in the area and was last seen near the Bender House of Horrors. He was there because he was George Lanker's neighbor and

was investigating he and his infant daughter's disappearance. So he was that guy's the first guy's neighbor and he was like, where did he go? And then he went and he was around there. He went to go look for him. Now he's missing. Shit. Yeah. The weekly. The weekly.

No, this is like something's going on. Something stinky. Something peculiar. Something peculiar. The weekly Kansas chief called Dr. York, quote, a man of family, friends and reputation. And that's why people suddenly were like, wait a second. The issue for the benders later became that Dr. York was not only prominent himself, but he had also has two well-known and respected brothers as well. Colonel Edward York and Kansas Senator Alexander

York. Oh, shit, they must be the wrong fam. Yeah, they always, and you know what? Serial killers and dumbasses of the like always end up doing that one that you're like, like really? That was bad. That was a bad move. That was a bad move. Well, and it's always good because they get caught. It is.

But you're just like, you're dumb. Yeah. So when Dr. York went missing, Colonel York was like, oh hell no. He immediately led an investigation into LeBette County upon hearing of his brother's disappearance. He was like, no, we're not just letting this go. No. So the benders were one of the family's questions about this case. When questioned, they said they had no idea where anything about this. And in the words of the weekly Kansas chief at the time, quote, the old hag sat mum and gloomy pretending she could not understand or speak English. Old

bender said nothing. Kate, she of the evil eye, denied all knowledge of the lost, and the younger male villain fooled them with a well-made-up story. He said about that about that time Dr. York went missed. He, Bender, had been shot at in a lonesome place near Drum Creek one evening and it must have been by those that killed the doctor. That would make a good romance novel book. We shot at in a lonesome place with Fabio on the cover. In Drum Creek. I do like that.

It has a nice flow. It's very poetic. It is. And you know what? It's a very good cover up story to be like, we're here. We shot at. The day that dude went missing, I got shot at.

They know this lonesome place. We're no one new. So maybe it was by the same people that clearly shot that doctor, even though we don't have this body that doctor May have also been in the low in some place. He was and he was gone now Well now the townspeople became so concerned that they had a town meeting at the Harmony Grove Schoolhouse about this whole should bang both male benders were at these meetings. They were the fucking Golden State killers of their time.

Yes. Yep, they attended the meeting. At this meeting, the townspeople decided that they would form like a coalition and search every single home in the area to find these missing travelers. Apparently weather conditions or something super old-timey stopped them from immediately beginning this... Dissentary. Like, Dissentary, weather. Smallpox. Yeah, just like an oxen died or something. Something stopped them.

I believe what I read was weather, that they couldn't immediately start this search. So, when Colonel York, Dr. York's brother, and the rest of the search volunteers arrived again to get more information from the vendors, they immediately noticed upon walking up to this farm that the animals left on the farm were all wandering around starving, and some of them were dead. And they were like, and they were like, clearly these animals have been neglected, which

is weird. And awful. So the wagon was also missing, and it appeared that no one had been on the farm for a while, three weeks to be exact. Oh, shit. You can get pretty far in three weeks. Yeah, and what they did was they left the second that Dr. that Colonel York left. They packed up a piece.

Oh. So they were like, they're going to come check our house and we got to get a fuck out of here. Oh, they knew. They knew they were like, they're gonna come check our house and we gotta get the fuck out of here. Oh, they knew, they were like, word caught. Right. So they busted open the door to the house, slash door, slash in. Slash butcher or. Butch or baker, candlestick maker.

And we're knocked on their asses immediately by a super, gnarly smell. Oh. They said it was like, you could like touch the air. Gross, gross, gross. Like when your dog farted earlier in my face, a belly fat. So the rest of the place seemed like it looked pretty normal inside. They said nothing was missing except for some food, clothing, some bedding.

And they were like, why the fuck does it smell so bad? We didn't. They were like when they, so when they finally tracked down the location of where the smell was emitting, it was coming from a trap door in the floor of the cabin, beneath one of the chairs seated at the table. When they opened the trap door, they found that the cellar beneath was the source of the smell. Oh no. And it was because it was covered in congealed blood. Ew. in congealed blood. You. Like a thick layer on the floor

of just straight up clotted congealed funky-ass smelling blood. Like Elizabeth Boucherie's house. Exactly. Did I say that right? Yeah, Boucherie, good job. Yes. Snailed it. Thank you. So they were like, huh.

That's sticky. Literally. That's strange, guys. I will say that is strange. So obviously, they were like, what the fuck? And the group immediately got up a ton of people together to lift up the cabin from its foundations and dig into the ground. Oh, God.

They found nothing. So the searchers went searching in the surrounding land and they started focusing in on the orchard, which was freshly plowed, but uneven. Huh. Neighbors were saying, huh, that orchard always seemed freshly plowed. They were always plowing that damn orchard.

Which is weird. And they were like, I know that they are farmers, but that's a lot of plowing. Right. That orchard does not need that. Like, it could take a day off. Yeah, they were like, I know that they are farmers, but like, that's a lot of plowing. Right. That orchard does not need that. Like, it could take a day off. Yeah, they were like, you need chill. So, they went to town digging and the volunteers first unearthed Dr. York's body

based down in a pretty shallow grave. The back of his head had been smashed and his throat had been slit. Ooh. Soon, they found seven more bodies that night. Very different orcered. And one more the following day with similar injuries and it became pretty clear that the benders were a serial killing Texas chains on massacre style clan of heathens. Very casual. Even though none of that stuff had been invented yet, they were all thinking that. It was based on that.

They were all thinking that. It appears that at least from everything I read, all the sources I found, at least 12 bodies were officially found in graves in the Bender's orchards. But because of the complete lack of friends expect then, there could be as many as 21. That's what they're concerned. Like looking off of missing persons, reports and stuff.

The bodies were in various states of Decom and were able to be identified mainly from clothing, jewelry, and other certain markings. The orchards and gardens where the murder victims were found were known immediately after that as hell's half acre. Oh, can I still know that? We're known immediately after that as hell's half acre. Oh I just want to quickly read a couple of excerpts from the Kansas sheet The weekly Kansas sheet. I feel like this is gonna be fun because these I first of all I love how they speak like and like the old

All-timey. Yeah. Yeah, it's really cool they speak like in like the old time. Yeah, it's really cool. So first I'm going to tell you a couple of the bodies that they were able to identify and how they described them. So they did find Dr. York, like we said, they also found George W. Longcore. I think Longcore, is that what I said? I said it. I think it's spelled like seven different. I've seen it long-distance. I've seen it long-distance. I've seen it long-distance. I've seen it long-distance. I've seen it long-distance. I've seen it long-distance. I've seen it long-distance.

I've seen it long-distance. I've seen it long-distance. I've seen it long-distance. I've seen it long-distance. I've seen it long-distance. I've seen it long-distance. I've seen it long-distance. I've seen it long-distance.

I've seen it long-distance. I've seen it long-distance. I've seen it long-distance. I've seen it long-distance. I've seen it long-distance. I've seen it long-distance. I've seen it long-distance. I've seen it long-distance. I've seen it long-distance. I've seen it long-distance. I've seen it long-distance. I've seen it long-distance. I've seen it long-distance. I've seen it long-distance. buried in one grave. He, as all the other men, had the back of the skull crushed in and

broken in his throat cut, and the body stripped of nearly all its clothing. The child was placed at the father's feet without a bruiser mark of violence and with all its clothes on, even the hood and mittens, and many judge that the infant had been buried alive. Oh my God. Yes. That is so fucking horrific. I'm really hoping that that's just like, here say. Not true, but it was in. It was in. It's in the newspaper.

It was reported widely. Oh, cool. And it's true that they found that, I mean, that infant had no markings or bruises. I can, the other thing that could have happened is maybe suffocated, which is still not awesome at all. I'm just saying better than buried alive. Yeah, I hate the thought of anything buried alive.

There was also somebody named LG Brown, who was from Cedarville Howard County. He had recently traded horses near Ladour, and was supposed to have had about $60 with him. He was recognized by a silver ring on his finger, which was identified by his friend, Johnson, with whom he had traded horses. Oh. This is all just so pure.

It is. These people just pure the like, we just traded horses once. Yeah. I know that guy. The next one is W. F. McRoddy, lived in her Cedarville. He was en route to Independence to contest a land claim. One report says that he had a large sum of money on his person and another judged to be more reliable that he had a small sum. And that's

it for him. Like somebody was like he had so much. He was rolling in cash when he went up there and then another one was like he's just comfortable. I think he's had like a couple dollars. I don't know. Everybody's shale. You know when people say that about money, they're like, we're not rich. We're comfortable. We're just comfortable. Only rich people say that. It's true. That's those are the only people that are comfortable. Yeah. Hi, I'm Lindsey Graham, the host of Wondery's podcast American scandal. We bring to life some of the biggest controversies in US history, presidential lies, environmental disasters,

corporate fraud. In our newest series, we look at the Kids for Cash scandal, a story about corruption inside America's system of juvenile justice. In Northeastern Pennsylvania, residents had begun noticing an alarming trend. Children were being sent away to jail in high numbers, and often for committing only minor offenses. The FBI began looking at two local judges, and when the full picture emerged, it made national headlines.

The judges were earning a fortune, carrying out a brazen criminal scheme, one that would shatter the lives of countless children, and force a heated debate about punishment and America's criminal justice system. Follow American scandal wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen ad-free on the Amazon Music or Wonder App. What makes a person a murderer? Are they born to kill or are they made to kill? I'm Candice DeLong and on my podcast Killer Psychy Daily, which you can find exclusively on Amazon Music, I share a quick 10-minute rundown every weekday on the motivations and behaviors of the criminal masterminds you read about in the news.

I have decades of experience as a psychiatric nurse, FBI agent, and a criminal profiler. On Killer Psychie Daily, I'll give you my expert perspective on cases like the mysterious New York City drugings, Breaking Down Lori Valow, a.k.a. Mommy Doom stays motives, and what drove Caitlin Armstrong to murder? I'll also bring on expert guests who add even more insight into these criminal minds. I promise you won't regret adding these 10 minutes

to your morning routine. Hey, prime members, listen to the Amazon Music exclusive podcast Killer Psychie Daily in the Amazon Music exclusive podcast killer psyche daily in the Amazon music app. Download the app today. The next person is Henry F McKenney from Hamilton County, Indiana, was on the road to locate at hit independence where his sister Mrs. J Thompson resides. He had but little money and was on foot and had been missing since December. Wow, sorry Henry. Sorry Henry. That's my favorite name. That is a great name. Next one is Peter Boyle. He resided in Howard County. His body was so mutilated as to be

hardly recognizable. But his poor widow identified him by his peculiar shirt, which her own hands had made for him. Oh, God! He had started on foot for Osage sometime last December. That hurts my soul. So those are the ones that were able to be identified. But it also has a, I just want to read one more little snippet that was of interest to me. Here says, where the murdered now sleep?

And it says, with the exception of Dr. York and Henry F. McKenzie, GW Longer and daughter, whose families took charge of their remains and buried them at independence. The bodies of those found in the garden graves were quietly taken by silent men who knew them not, yet longed for vengeance on their assassins to the base of a high mound about a mile to the southeast of the devil's kitchen And there a second time return to the earth to sleep until the final resurrection Wow, that is beautiful Isn't that just like that was like the end of a fucking Harry Potter novel? Because you just like wow

What about all these people that nobody knew who they were and then it's like let me tell you very politically What we did with them and it's like, and men who knew them not brought them. And they're like, wow. And then it said to sleep until the. Until the final resurrection, which I don't know what that means. It's like, like when God comes back into it. I'm into it. I'm into the whole thing.

I love it. I think it's beautiful. So I just wanted to put that out there because I think it was really interesting. Now, the benders buried their dead pretty far into the earth, some seven feet in. Oh, wow. That's even more than like fucking like professional. You think like six feet under. And it's really hard. Like seven feet. That's a basketball. That's a basketball player into the earth. That's a large man. An anthropologist, forensic anthropologists are pretty certain that there are definitely more bodies buried there,

even today. Even deeper, I bet, than seven. And just even today, that's simply just not been exhumed. Oh, God. This is why their body count is definitely more than 12 bodies that they were able to originally dig up. Because remember, they weren't professional crime scene investigators or friends again. They were just volunteers.

People skilled in locating and removing human remains at that crime scene. They were just stunned dudes that arrived on horseback and lent a hand to dig up whatever graves they could. Right. And at one point, they said they were just sticking metal rods into the ground to try to see if they had anything. Right. So there's for sure. There's no way they got everybody out there. So what show? Right. So you're probably wondering what the hell happened in that house? What's going on? That's exactly what I was wondering. Let me tell you. Please do. So what would happen is when one came to stay with the bloody benders, is that guests were

urged to sit at the table for a meal. No thanks. This table sat the victim right against the separating curtain, which, like we said, was white. The reason it's important that it was white was this made it easy for someone standing behind that curtain to make out the victim shape, especially their head. Okay. Now, because light would shine through the curtain and make the shadow of the person's form, one or more of the benders, usually the male benders, were behind that curtain, and then would take a sledgehammer or a regular hammer to beat the victim's skull in from behind the partition.

They would then drop the person through that trap door in the floor that was located directly under the table. They had sat the mat. And now that they had been dropped down in the cellar, the female benders were there to pick the stunned and bleeding person up off the ground, whose head was now crushed and slit their neck for good measure. This is like very sweetie Todd, very sweetie Todd, and just very like efficient, like super efficient.

They were like a well oiled machine. Their body was then stripped of anything valuable, and then they were the left crumpled on the cellar floor bleeding profusely. Until they took the mountain barrier them in the garden. So that's why there was all that conjured blood? Exactly. Because that's where they would just bleed out. According to the article I mentioned earlier, there was evidence that some of their victims actually fought back even though they were taken completely by surprise. They found no less than a dozen bullet holes in the sides of the home and the roof that let investigators to believe that some men or women had shot furiously to stop the torture.

Yeah. Because they were clearly like mis-aimed like a lot of... Like, they were just shooting everywhere, which is even sadder. Like I said, there are a lot of photographs from this scene. Like not obviously crime scene photos because nobody, no bodies were left where they were. But it's kind of like rare and awesome because there's a lot of photos of the grave sites and there's these hills in the distance.

And the hills were bare and prairie basically back then, but now if you go today, they're filled with trees and all that. The hills came to be known as the Bender Mounds because some speculated that the killers may have actually stood on those mounds as lookouts to like, to like, like, scouting- Lou, you know, a person?

Yeah, which is even creepier. So all of these claims were backed up by a couple of living witnesses as well. Oh, shit. One man whose name was Mr. Wetzel heard this whole thing. And he said there was a time where he had been at the inn. He stopped there. He declined to sit in the designated spot near the curtain.

But he said they really wanted him to sit at that spot. And he was like, no, like you just got a really weird feeling. Why do you want me to sit there so bad? He said him saying no to this, made my bender so fucking angry and abusive towards him. And he said that he saw the male benders come from behind the cloth while she was getting pissed and like herling abuse at him. Jesus.

And he and whoever he was with, because he said he was with someone else, he said they immediately were like, we're fucking leaving. Like they left immediately. Yeah. Like it gives me the like, spooks. And another traveler named William Pickering told almost the same exact story.

He was like, I'm not sitting there. Yeah, he was like, I said I wasn't sitting there. Mobbender got real pissed, and then I saw the other two come from behind that curtain. Like they were sitting there. What do you think their motive was with all this? Well, that's what's really scary because it's kind of half robbery, half the interest I like to. Yeah.

Which, so it was calculated that the bender stole $2,600 from one of the victims. Oh, wow. That's a lot of money. 1,900 from another. How many of these people have all this money? Well, they're traveling like long distance. That's a lot of money. 1,900 from another. 30 people have all this money. Well, they're traveling like long distance. That's a lot of money from back then. And usually they're going to like buy land

or do something else. Damn. $37 from another person. $0.40 from another. $38 in a quote, good team in wagon from one man. Wow. And from Dr. York, they only got $10, a pony and a saddle. Well, then it's like where,

like you would think that people would be like, where are all these animals coming from? Well, that's the thing, but it was a farm. So they had animals anyways. So nobody was really, oh shit. But because they weren't getting, I mean, they got 40 cents off of one person. Yeah, like come on.

So it kind of appears that they just liked doing this, which is so much scarier, but they just liked being a family of serial killers, like Texas Chainsaw Massacre. So what happened to the benders? Well, the bloody benders. Let me tell you. So like you said before, Colonel York did all this investigating to find out where his brother was and they found all the shit. And a manhunt was launched to find the whereabouts of the Bender family and a $500 reward was

offered by the sheriff to anyone who apprehended them. So their wagon was found soon after this manhunt happened or like was going down. Only a few miles from their house. And, but the family was never found. Like they weren't in the wagon. It's that's so creepy. So some people think that maybe they were killed by like townspeople who knew of all the awful crimes that they'd committed.

I wouldn't be surprising. No, but other people have a theory that they like escaped the country somehow, but no one has ever found them. So like, yeah, they could be alive right now. No, I know I'm kidding. That was a joke. For a second I was like, no. I said some dumb things, but that was a joke. I would have taken the cake. That would have absolutely taken the cake. I thought this sarcasm was like heavy in my voice. I've done things, but that was a joke. That would have taken the cake. That would have absolutely taken the cake.

I thought this sarcasm was like heavy in my voice. Oh no. Maybe I'm just tired and I was like, whoa. No. I know you look immediately. I saw your eyes and I was like, dude, I'm kidding. You feel like no one really can. Oh.

Well, there's like a couple, like you said, like there's a couple of theories and like legends have come out of it now, where they are, what they did, like what happened afterwards. So there was determined in some way that they might have taken a train from Thayer to Shenute. Now I don't know where these people, they should know. Shenute.

In that Kate and John Jr. got off in Shenute and traveled by train South to Red River. There is where they said, where it is said that they joined Ma and, you know, Ma and Pah and all of them. Tom. Tom, who had apparently gone through St. Louis. Now detectives thought that they traced the benders through Texas and New Mexico. Okay. That's the last kind of thing. They were active, thought that they traced the benders through Texas and New Mexico. That's the last kind of thing.

But there was, in 1890, two women who were thought to be fugitives were arrested in Michigan. They were brought back to Kansas, but they were released after it was said they were not the bender women, because originally they thought they were. But others people believe they were definitely the two bender women because originally they thought they were. But others people believe they were definitely the two bender women. So it's just one of these things where it's like, it's almost like the whitey bulger thing, like the sightings of whitey bulger everywhere that were happening. And so it's just kind of become like a legend. Well, because I think I bet people want so badly for like just to know and they want to be the person that's

like, oh yeah, oh yeah, like I know I did. You wanted to be the person that's like, I saw her. Oh yeah. Like I know I did. You wanted to be, you know, before Whitey Bulger was caught and then murdered in prison. You wanted to be like, I saw Whitey Bulger. I know it was him. You know what I mean? Like it's just one of the most rare if you did or not.

It's like a sensation. So obviously these crimes at the time, they would now and they definitely at the time created like just insanity and sensationalism and all the newspapers at the time, they would now, and they definitely at the time created like just insanity and sensationalism and all the newspapers at the time. And I just wanted to say a couple of like the headlines and like quotes from a couple of the newspapers back then because it's interesting.

Hey, me with it. One of them said quote, all together the murders are without a parallel. That was in the Chicago Tribune. The Minneapolis Star Tribune said there were over 3,000 people at the crime scene with more trains arriving. Wow. And there was a book published in Philadelphia pretty soon after the murders happened called the Bender Hotel Horror in Kansas. And they described, quote, large numbers of people arrived upon the scene

who had heard of the diabolical acts of bloody murder and rap, rapacious robbery, hardened men or moved to tears. Repacious robbery. I know. So much alliteration. For real. A LeBette County history published in 1901, like some 28, I think it was years after the crimes, actually had a section that was titled the Bender Slotter Pen. Wow. And just going back, like just a point out, a couple of things, if John and Kate plus eight, oh my god, yes, if John and Kate Bender, it also just occurred to me that that was same. So that's good. If they were actually husband and wife and not brother and sister, like they were passing themselves off to be, it seemed strange to a lot of people. It might seem strange that they didn't have kids because at that time,

you would have kids. You didn't do anything else. So, according to legends, the couple did have at least one child, but shortly after birth, Kate and John Jr. murdered the infant with a blow to the head. But why? I just don't understand what the point of that would have been. Because why do you want to take care of a baby when you're busy murdering people? But then you could raise another murder or have like extra hands on deck. But that takes a long time. They just don't think that they were like, ain't nobody got time for that. What's creepier than a kid murder?

But I think they were such a well-oiled machine that they were like, we don't need to have this down to a science. We don't need to add like a weird little like cog in here. That's what they thought. I know that's what I'm arguing the point of raising a child murderer. You know, you're like, I'll leave now. It seems like it would be a great idea. I'm like, I'm just saying like, you should just just train that little thing to murder

people. It's fine. I'll see myself out now. It's fine. So that would suck if that was real. And according to the serial killers in psychopedia by RJ Parker, before marrying John, Al Vira Bender allegedly had several other husbands who all weirdly died of mysterious head injuries.

I'm just saying. I mean, who knows? This podcast should just be called. I'm just saying. I mean, who knows? This podcast should just be called, I'm just saying. I'm just saying and who knows? That's bananas. So, and it's just like, that's just a legend, just like the two women who they thought were the bender women, but turned out not to be the legend too.

It's like rumor has it. You gotta put it out there. So the house that these murders took place, the Bender House, was pulled apart by people who wanted to take parts of the house as souvenir. Damn. I feel like were you there? Like I totally would have been. I would have been like pulling away like the people.

No, no, no, I just said I would have been, but I meant to say I wouldn't have been. You know, like wait a second. I'm like, I would have been like pulling away like the table. No, no, no, no, I just said I would have been, but I meant to say I wouldn't have been. You know, like, wait a second. I'm like, I would have been not there. I would have been anywhere else. I just feel as though things have energy attached to them and I do not want the bad juju of the Bender House in my house. See, I'd be like lugging that table on my back.

I'd be like, see you later, guys. I would never stay in your house. Or I would take stay in your house. Or I would take that like trap door, door off the hinges and take that. That would be a good one. I wouldn't do any of that. That would be a good one.

I would stay away from that. Well, some people even took rocks from a well where one corpse of a victim was discovered on the property. No, thank you. Which I think that's pretty cool. I'm busy with rock. You can just be like, this is a rock. It was in there.

No, busy that day. A set of three hammers from their home is actually right now part of a Bender exhibit at the Cherryvale Museum about eight miles from the site of their home. See, I would go to the museum and like see it. Oh, for sure. But I don't want to have it.

I mean, no, both. I mean, I would go to the museum and like see it. Oh, for sure. But I don't want to have it. I mean, no, both. I mean, I'll respect anybody who does. I mean, I'll respect anybody who does. I'll respect anybody who does, like, live your best life. Take what you want, have your things. I just don't want them. I mean, count me in. I'm in.

They also, there's a blood-stained knife that has been part of the state's collection for 90 years. And the knife was actually found by Dr. York's brother. In the house. Yeah. And his wife gave it over to the state. The knife supposedly had been hidden in a mantle clock clock in the house. Wow. That's the tail. That's the legend. That's the legend. Now there is right now at a rest area at the junction of US 400 and US 169 north of Cherryville. You can read a historical marker that tells you about the Bender's crimes.

Oh, that's cool. And another historical marker in the area says it best. And this is what we'll end on. Let me know. Quote, the end of the Benders is not known. The Earth seemed to swallow them as it had their victims, end quote. And that was the story. The story benders. Yes. Those fly. Yes. Very slick. Very slick. So yeah, I hope you enjoyed that

1800s romp. I hope you dug it. That romp through the the whole west of the 1800s. Wasn't that hot? Cal, boy. That was fun. Cal, gal. Cal, gal. Cal, gal. Um, so yeah, so hope you enjoyed that and now we're gonna thank some patronisists. Hey, I'm gonna read them today and we're gonna have to come up with things. Okay, so the first one, we would like to thank. Ali, is that Mike Pence Benedict? Guess what, Ali Benedict, it is Mike Pence.

Ah! Ali, thank you so much. Thank you, girl. And that is not Mike Pence, don't worry. No, it's not. The next person, Patronis, we would like to thank is Brett Green. Brett Green, the grass is always greener where you are.

It's true. Thank you. Thank you, Brett. The next person we wanna thank is Chadwick Galetta. Chadwick Galetta, what the fuck? You have a cool name. That's a great name. Thank you Chadwick Galetta. Thank you Chadwick. Chadwick, Galetta, what the fuck? You have a cool name. That's a great name. Thank you, Chadwick.

Galetta. Thank you, Chadwick. Chadwick. You had a professor, Chadwick, didn't you? I did, and she was great. Yeah. Thanks, Chadwick. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

The next person we're going to thank is MJ Hart. MJ Hart, are you like the MJ in the Kardashian family? Oh, hate that you did that. I know I was waiting for you to stab me in the face. Hate it. MJ Hart. I heart you. I don't even, MJ from the Kardashian family.

MJ's the grandma. Oh, why do you know that? Because I- That's awful. Are you kidding me? She's on the show. I don't hate you. It's MJ.

It's MJ. Thank you, MJ. Thank you so much, MJ. You are not affiliated Thank you, MJ. Thank you so much, MJ. You are not affiliated with the Cartaget. She's at all and I know this. I know this too. I'm just saying. Uh, the next person we want to thank is Jade Catherine.

Jade Catherine. That's beautiful, man. Isn't that really pretty? Yeah, thank you, Jade Catherine. I was writing it down and I was like, love you, bro. Yeah, that's not flows. That's what your cool is fuck. She is.

I know it. I just I know. Thank you, Jade. Thank you. The next person we want to thank is Dion Ledesma. Dion Ledesma, you are a Le Diamond. Doesn't she sound like she is some old-timey psychic from New Orleans?

Dion Ledesma. She's just like fancy. Like she was like the fantastic Ladesma. I don't know. Oh, now that you said it like that totally, but then where I thought you were going with that originally was that she was like on an old-time soap opera.

With that too. Dion Ladesma. Yeah. She's starring on an old-time like Spanish soap opera. Both of those work. Yes. Thank you, Dion. Thank you, Dion.

The next person we're gonna thank is Mark Govani. Mark Govani, Go Uli. Govani. Yeah, go Mark. We can get you to go, Vani. Thank you, thank you, Mark. The next person we're gonna thank is Mystery Barton. Whoa.

Like who, Barton? If your name is mystery. Is literally mystery. I just, oh, I don't even know. I want to high five a mom and your dad. I just want to retire now because that's great. That's so cool. Even if it's not, that's a great pen name.

So thank you, mystery. And the last person we're going to thank this week is Shannon von Munster. Shannon von Munster, you know how we feel about last names that have von or von. It's true. I love you, Shannon. And it's von Munster. So you belong.

Yeah, you're a monster. Here you are. You've come to the right place. You have. So thank you, Shannon. Thank you. And thank you to all our paternesses. Guys, thank you to everybody who donates, who listens, who loves us.

You guys the best. Peace, love, positivity. And I don't know if you guys have noticed, but thanks to your donations, we sound a little better recently. I think we sound great. So without you guys, we couldn't have improved to this and we would still sound like we were podcasting underwater. Yeah, so thank you. Thank you so much. And you know what, guys? We hope that you love us enough

to follow us on Instagram at... Morbid Podcast. Follow us on Twitter at... A Morbid Podcast. Join the Facebook group. Morbid colon a true crime vote. Whoa, a true crime podcast. Send us an email. Morb a podcast, and she mailed that.

Check out the lovely co-host, that Elena designed if she knows how to say it without dying first. More of a podcast.com. And donate to the Patreon if you're feeling so inclined. Patreon.com slash more of it podcasts. We hope you keep listening and we hope you keep it weird. But that's aware that you join a family and of travelers

and you go to their house, but it's like not just a house. It's also like a general store and an inn and you sleep there and they're like, sit in this fucking chair and you sit in the chair and then John Thomas Paul face vendor comes around the corner and hits you in the head and then all of a sudden you're in a basement and now you kick it out and shit your dead and I just hope that you don't keep that weird.

Keep it that weird. Don't do it. Bye. Bye. Hey, Prime members, you can listen to Morvid, Early, and Add Free on Amazon Music. Download the Amazon Music app today, or you can listen Add Free with Wondery Plus and Apple podcasts. Before you go, tell us about yourself by completing a short survey at Wondery.com slash survey.