Bloody Bender Family

[W. Gray]

Two of the Bloody Bender family victims were from Howard County (now Elk and Chautauqua).

If I can recall correctly, one of them had traveled on horseback to Independence to get a loan on his farm, but was turned down. There was no bank in Howard County at the time.

He must have really needed a loan because he then headed northeast to Osage Mission, where he was successful in getting his loan.

On the way home he stopped for an overnight stay at the Bender Wayside Inn, never to be seen again--at least until his body, minus the newly acquired funds, was dug up by law enforcement officials.

Another victim had a nine year daughter with him. I have read accounts that after his body was placed in a grave, his daughter was thrown in and buried alive with him.

[W. Gray]

Quoted from the November/December issue of True West magazine:

Scare master John Carpenter, who created the Halloween franchise, wants to make a picture about the Bloody Benders, a German family of serial killers who ran a general store and saloon in Mound Valley, Kansas, in the early 1870s. When the brother of one of their many victims, a cavalry officer, came to investigate, the Benders disappeared and were never heard from again. Many have speculated what happened to them. It sounds like a perfect Carpenter movie.

[farmgal67357]

Two of the Bloody Bender family victims were from Howard County (now Elk and Chautauqua).

If I can recall correctly, one of them had traveled on horseback to Independence to get a loan on his farm, but was turned down. There was no bank in Howard County at the time.

He must have really needed a loan because he then headed northeast to Osage Mission, where he was successful in getting his loan.

On the way home he stopped for an overnight stay at the Bender Wayside Inn, never to be seen again--at least until his body, minus the newly acquired funds, was dug up by law enforcement officials.

Another victim had a nine year daughter with him. I have read accounts that after his body was placed in a grave, his daughter was thrown in and buried alive with him.

Would that Osage Mission be what is now called St. Paul? Just wondering......you post such great stuff!
Lisa

[W. Gray]

Thank you and yes, it is. Osage Mission was renamed to Saint Paul in the 1890s.

In 1870, Saint Paul was a town located in Howard County (Chautauqua County portion) southeast of Peru. The town disappeared sometime in the 1880s. It was a speculative adventure with the founders locating on what they thought would be a railroad right-of-way. The railroad never came through.

[farmgal67357]

I thought maybe it was the same place. They have an Osage Mission museum across the highway from the big Roman Catholic church, which is pretty awesome too!
Lisa

[W. Gray]

The June 2012 issue of Wild West magazine carries a six page article titled, "The Bloody Benders' Grim Harvest," by David McCormick.

In this article, when it was discovered that the Benders were missing from their homestead, folks in the neighborhood area believed the Bender family was a victim of whoever was causing a number of people to disappear. When the 160-acre claim was searched looking for the family members, someone discovered several depressions indicating graves. When none of the family bodies were found in the subsequent digging (along with their buckboard found abandoned at a train station) suspicion shifted to the Benders themselves.

People in the area who were friends with the Benders, including a man who had courted the Bender daughter, were mistreated by vigilante investigators trying to find out where the Benders were. A group hanged the daughter's unlucky friend with a rope to the point of unconsciousness, revived him, and then repeated the process several times without getting any information.

After many bodies were dug up, the Thayer, Kansas, newspaper reported 3,000 people roaming on the burial grounds on one Sunday a week later. These sightseers eventually picked the grounds clean of the house and dug up the trees on the property.

This author states that nine people were unearthed from the Bender property with another four found buried on an adjacent property. Another man's body was found in a sitting position in an abandoned well.

Although not all of the bodies of people known to be missing were found, the estimated total Bender Family victims is over 20.

[W. Gray]

http://whatculture.com/film/john-carpenter-wants-amy-adams-to-star-in-his-bloody-benders-gothic-western.php

Information regarding the upcoming Bloody Bender family movie.

Script writing began in May 2011. I have not yet found when shooting begins or the projected release date.

And, there seems to be some question whether a studio will agree to release it.

[farmgal67357]

Wow, John Carpenter? That's a big name in the horror genre. Should be interesting!
Lisa