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Hell’s Half-Acre : The Untold Story of the Benders, America’s First Serial Killer Family
Maybe someday
33
/100
I Index Overall Rating
Readers
4/100Critics
61/100Scholars
Author:
Susan Jonusas
Publisher:
Viking
Date:
March 1, 2022
In 1873 the people of Labette County, Kansas made a grisly discovery. Buried by a trailside cabin beneath an orchard of young apple trees were the remains of countless bodies. Below the cabin itself was a cellar stained with blood. The Benders, the family of four who once resided on the property were nowhere to be found. The discovery sent the local community and national newspapers into a frenzy that continued for decades, sparking an epic manhunt for the Benders.
What The Reviewers Say
Ms. Jonusas...traveled 'all over America' to research these events: visiting historical-society archives, combing through boxes of government records, scrolling through century-and-a-half-old newspapers, examining the testimony of long-dead lawmen and outlaws. Her efforts bring the frontier setting into sharp focus.
Jonusas paints a vivid picture of nineteenth-century Kansas, bringing the affected area and its citizens to life.
Jonusas places the story of the Benders in the context of Kansas’s turbulent history. Additionally, she discusses the sensationalist media coverage of the case as well as its impact in the present day.
Drawing on a wealth of primary sources, historian Jonusas debuts with an impressive and deeply unsettling account of the Benders.
