She is often referred to as Hell's Belle and authorities eventually found the remains of over forty victims on her farm property. [12] With these discoveries, the perceptions of Belle Gunness, as reported in newspaper descriptions of a praiseworthy womandying in the fire that consumed her house, "in a desperate attempt to save her children"were reassessed. Bell Gunness killed more than ___ people over several decades. Belle Gunness was one of the first "Black Widows" and became a prolific serial killer. [30] It was published in the UK with the title Triflers need not apply [31]. Although he almost left, Helgelien became convinced that he couldnt do so without looking harder for Andrew. The story of Belle Gunness makes you wonder if some people don't really need motivation, some people . On April 28, 1908, a fire destroyed a family farm near La Porte, Indiana. Belle wore the finest clothing on those occasions, and her hair was adorned in the latest style. She is responsible for so many deaths that detectives have ceased counting the number of bodies discovered on her premises. She was the rarest of female psychopaths, a woman who engaged in wholesale slaughter, partly out of greed but mostly for the sheer joy of it. What is certain is that she murdered most of her boyfriends and her two daughters, Myrtle and Lucy. This is what is known, and what is suspected, about the number of victims serial killer Belle Gunness had. Sorenson died of cerebral hemorrhage that day. Come prepared to stay forever.. She was a giant of a woman, with a bloodthirst so strong it led her to kill upwards of 25 people. He was jealous of the many men who arrived at court his employer and had endured most of these attentive strangers up to this time. The local dentist then stepped in, stating that he could make an identification if any dental work could be found. 695A07, 1860-1877, s. 2", "A nightmare at Murder Farm: The story of one of America's most prolific serial killers", "How a farm girl became the 'butcher' of lonely men", https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q2MQ-QFQ8, "The Story of Belle Gunness, One of America's Most Prolific Serial Killers", "Corpses in the Pig Pen: The Tale of Indiana's Most Notorious Serial Killer", "The Belle Gunness Episode: Who was the Mistress of Murder Hill? After travelling to La Porte, Gurholt wrote his family, saying that he liked the farm, was in good health, and requesting that they send him seed potatoes. [7], Sorenson had purchased two life insurance policies. Among the known facts about Belle Gunness is that she was an imposing woman, very tall and 250 pounds and that only one child - her second husband's daughter Swanhild - survived her clutches. [7], She was at least 5'7" (170 cm) and weighed around 95 - 113 kg (210 - 250 lbs) and was physically strong and masculine in appearance. Another report in 1931 suggested that she may have been a woman known as Esther Carlson, who was arrested in Los Angeles, California, for poisoning August Lindstrom, a Norwegian-American man, on February 9, 1931, for his money. To their horror, they ended up finding Andrew Helgeliens head, hands, and feet, stuffed into an oozing gunny sack. As the investigation was ongoing, Asle Helgelien arrived in La Porte from South Dakota and told Sheriff Smutzer that he believed his brother, Andrew, had met with foul play at Gunnesss hands. It was reported that both the boat and carriage houses burned to the ground shortly after she acquired the property. Lamphere was found guilty of arson but acquitted of murder in the end. When he was just 18, Robinson went on a violent killing spree, during which he killed three young women and seriously injured two. Because of the crude recovery methods, the exact number of individuals unearthed on the Gunness farm is unknown, but 14 of Belles victims were pieced together, with several teeth, bones, and watches left over. On May 22, 1908, Ray Lamphere was tried for murder and arson. He pled innocent to all charges, his defense hinging on the assertion that the body was not Gunness. Biography.com In the span of two days, investigators found a total of 11 burlap sacks, which contained arms hacked from the shoulders down [and] masses of human bone wrapped in loose flesh that dripped like jelly.. Then, Joe Maxson came forward with information that could not be ignored. Standing six feet tall and weighing over 200 pounds, she was a physically strong woman. [1] Gunness is thought to have killed at least fourteen people, most of whom were men she enticed to visit her rural Indiana property through personal advertisements, while some sources speculate her involvement in as many as forty murders. On-site was County Sheriff Albert Smutzer, who had heard about Lampheres alleged threats. She then made her way to Chicago, Illinois, where she again worked as a servant for a time. Wikimedia CommonsBelle Gunness with her children: Lucy Sorenson, Myrtle Sorenson, and Philip Gunness. My heart beats in wild rapture for you, My Andrew, I love you. He died there of tuberculosis on December 30, 1909. We strive for accuracy and fairness.If you see something that doesn't look right,.css-47aoac{-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;text-decoration-thickness:0.0625rem;text-decoration-color:inherit;text-underline-offset:0.25rem;color:#A00000;-webkit-transition:all 0.3s ease-in-out;transition:all 0.3s ease-in-out;}.css-47aoac:hover{color:#595959;text-decoration-color:border-link-body-hover;}contact us! It remains unconfirmed when and where Belle Gunness actually died. Afterward, the locals said that Brynhilds personality drastically changed. After they had corresponded for several months, Moe travelled to La Porte and withdrew a large amount of cash. Lamphere was to wait for her at a designated place on the road after the fire was set. Norwegian born Belle Gunness immigrated to the U.S. in 1881. Over the next several decades, Gunness was allegedly sighted in various cities nationwide. An unknown man and woman are alleged to have disappeared in September 1906, the same night Jennie Olson went missing. Not Only Was Belle Gunness America's First Female Serial Killer, But She Just Had To Live In Indiana. But, for one reason or another, Gunness decided to emigrate from Selbu to Chicago in 1881. In fact, the farmhand did. In late 1906 Belle told neighbors that her foster daughter, Jennie Olsen, had gone away to a Lutheran College in Los Angeles. Belle Gunness was born as Brynhild Paulsdatter Strseth in Selbu, Sr-Trndelag, Norway on November 11, 1859. Maxson said there were many deep depressions in the ground covered by dirt. By now, Gunness had purchased a farm in La Porte, Indiana. [citation needed] The second account is based on the report that Lamphere contacted a Reverend Edwin Schell and provided him with a verbal confession that Schell transcribed and had Lamphere sign, a document that Schell kept sealed in his personal safe. Despite the arrest, Lamphere returned again and again to see her, but she drove him away. Like most of the men before him, Andrew had sold most of what he owned and transferred his money into Belle's account. When they finally discovered his destination, they wrote to her, and she promptly responded, saying she had never seen their father. But he awoke one night to a terrifying sight Gunness leaning over his bed as he slept. Of the remains found at the murder site, the bodies of Belles three children and several of her suitors were identified. But in reality, she was a serial killer who murdered at least 14 people. April 29, 2008 / 8:03 AM / AP. Answer: Chicago, Illinois Belle and Mads were married in 1884. Gunness claimed they were a Los Angeles professor and his wife who had taken Jennie to California. Some documented serial killers from history, we know very little about. In April 1902, she married Peter Gunness. We shall be so happy when you once get here, Gunness purred in one letter. Belle Gunness (also known as Lady Bluebeard, The LaPorte Black Widow, The Mistress . However, a neighborhood boy said he had seen Lamphere running down the road from the Gunness house just before the structure erupted in flames. The couple collected the insurance money and bought a new home. She wanted something more and soon began to look for new suitors by inserting the following advertisement in the lovelorn column of newspapers in large midwestern cities: Personal Comely widow who owns a large farm in one of the finest districts in La Porte County, Indiana, desires to make the acquaintance of a gentleman equally well provided, with view of joining fortunes. [6] When Lamphere was arrested, he was wearing John Moe's overcoat and Henry Gurholt's watch.[7]. By 1886, she was married to a man named Mads Sorensen, had somehow wound up with an unknown number of children (although whether they were the couple's natural children or foster children remains unclear), and the family was running a failing candy shop. Budsbergs sons had no idea their father had gone off to visit Gunness. When Andrew left home, he withdrew his life savings from the bank and was never heard from again. Helgelien became even more convinced of foul play when he went out to the ruins of Belles home and watched as the men digging for her head turned up eight mens watches, assorted bones, and human teeth instead. One man who helped her move in later claimed that he saw her lift a 300-pound piano all by herself. Ray Lamphere, the ex-handyman of Belle Gunness. When they failed to hear from him after that, the family contacted Gunness. On June 13, 1900, Gunness and her family were counted on the United States Census in Chicago, recording her as the mother of four children, of whom only two were living: Myrtle A. and Lucy B. In the belief that the headless corpse was, in fact, Belle Gunness, the remains were buried next to Belles first husband, Mads Sorenson, at Forest Home Cemetery in Forest Park, Illinois. Edgar Award Finalist: The true story of the female Norwegian immigrant who led a secret life as a serial killer in the early twentieth-century Midwest. The headless adult female corpse was never positively identified. 1908) left her native Norway in 1881, at the age of 21, to travel to Chicago. The low end is 11, to account for her first two husbands, their children, and the children found dead on the family farm. Usually accompanied by a handsome man, she was unrecognizable from the rough farm woman the locals were used to seeing. Peters infant daughter from a previous relationship died. Several other middle-aged men appeared and disappeared in brief visits to the Gunness farm throughout 1907. Belle Gunness probably murdered between 11 and 42 people. Belle Gunness was born Brynhild Paulsdatter Storseth in Selbu, Norway on November 11, 1859. Belle Gunness, the twice-widowed Norwegian American who placed the ad, was a murderer for profit. However the fourth, believed to be Gunness, was inexplicably missing its skull. I was not satisfied, Helgelien recalled, and I went back to the cellar and asked [one of Gunness farmhands] whether he knew of any hole or dirt having been dug up there about the place in spring.. He raced to town to get help, but by the time it arrived, the house was already in smoking ruins. Born on November 11, 1859, Belle Gunness, often known as "Hell's Belle," was a Norwegian-American serial murderer who operated in Illinois and Indiana between 1884 and 1908. However, by the time anyone suspected Gunness in their deaths, they'd been dead for decades and their suspected murderer had vanished. Harvey's first-known victim died in 1970, and it wasn't until 1987 that he pleaded guilty to killing 37 people most of whom he murdered while working in Cincinnati and London, Kentucky . A series of suspicious fires and deaths (mostly resulting in insurance awards) followed. Together, they owned and operated a confectionary store and before long, had four children: Caroline, Axel, Myrtle, and Lucy. She immigrated to the United States, where she lured her victims to her remote farm in Indiana. 35: Belle Gunness. One man, George Anderson, managed to escape with his life when he realized Gunness had murder on her mind. In February 1908, Belle hired another man named Joe Maxon to help her with the farm. And did Gunness really die in the farmhouse disaster? Belle Gunness had asked him to level dozens of soft depressions in the ground, which supposedly covered trash. [1] The pair exchanged many letters until a letter arrived that overwhelmed Helgelien, written in Gunness careful handwriting and dated January 13, 1908. Edward Bechly, a journalist, was given a secret assignment to acquire access to a confession and publish it, thus bringing a second, inconsistent Lamphere account to light. Emil Tell, a Swede from Kansas City, Missouri, is alleged to have gone o La Porte in 1907. [7] She moved to the United States in 1881. The most well-known letters that Belle Gunness wrote was to her final victim Andrew Helgelein. Belle Gunness was born Brynhild Paulsdatter Storset on November 11, 1859, in Selbu, Norway. Gunness is a rare female serial killer-for-profit, although she seems to have had other motives as well. One of these men was John Moe, who arrived from Elbow Lake, Minnesota. This letter was later found at the Helgelien farm. According to The New York Post, eight months after their marriage, Peter was dead. Belle Gunness stood six foot tall and had a hard look to her strong face. However, he had helped Belle bury many of her victims. Between 1902 and 1908, she lured a succession of unsuspecting victims to her Indiana "murder farm." Some were hired hands. Reporters described her home as a horror farm and a death garden. Curious onlookers flocked to La Porte, as it became a local and national attraction, to the point that vendors reportedly sold ice cream, popcorn, cake, and something called Gunness Stew to visitors. Not long afterward, their home and the store mysteriously burned down. Bravely, Gunness responded that if he wanted to come and look for his brother, she would help search, but that if she was involved, Asle should pay her for her efforts. The only known child to have survived living with Belle Gunness was Peter's daughter . When I hear your name mentioned, and this is when one of the dear children speaks of you, or I hear myself humming it with the words of an old love song, it is beautiful music to my ears. Belle insisted that a meat grinder had fallen on his head, crushing his skull. He did. [citation needed][14] However, a separate newspaper published a story with speculation regarding the second Lamphere confession. Lamphere was arrested and charged with murder, with his cries of innocence falling on deaf ears. She may have killed both of her husbands and all of her children (on different occasions), but she is known to have killed . For a while, Helgelien assisted police as they sorted through the rubble. Belle Sorenson Gunness (November 11, 1859 declared dead April 28, 1908) born Brynhild Paulsdatter Strseth was a NorwegianAmerican serial killer. Storset then married Peter Gunness, in 1901; a week later, his infant son from a previous marriage was dead under suspicious circumstances. In his statement, he revealed the details of Gunness crimes and swore she was still alive. Their life together seemed to be marked by tragedy. "[12], Ray Lamphere was Gunness' hired hand and on-and-off lover. One of the bodies belonged to Andrew Hegelian. Christie Hilkven of Dovre, Wisconsin, sold his farm and came to La Porte in 1906. Then, I did the planting.. One read: Personal comely widow who owns a large farm in one of the finest districts in La Porte County, Indiana, desires to make the acquaintance of a gentleman equally well provided, with view of joining fortunes. He then sent two of his deputies to dig into the debris digging for the corpses missing head and sent two others to arrest Lamphere. According to Harold Schechter, a true-crime author who wrote Hells Princess: The Mystery of Belle Gunness, Butcher of Men, Gunness knew exactly how to lure her victims onto her farm. [7], Belle married Peter Gunness on April 1, 1902. Belles husbands death netted her another $3,000 (about $81,000 today). When authorities dug around the hog pens and other places on the farm, they found the mutilated remains of several more men and children. Concurrently, Gunness had begun to develop problems with a farmhand named Ray Lamphere. He had brought more than $1,000 with him to pay off her mortgage, or so he told neighbors, to whom Gunness introduced him as her cousin. He confided to a neighboring farmer on one occasion: Helgelien wont bother me no more. But after Andrew Helgelien stopped answering letters, his brother Asle got worried and demanded answers. Daniel Rennie is a freelance writer residing in Melbourne, Australia. A different man came nearly every week to stay at the house. There, Gunness met her first known victim: her husband, Mads Ditlev Anton Sorenson, whom she married in 1884. Belle Gunness, one of the most successful murderers in Illinois. With so much going well for the Sorenson family, Mads even convinced Belle to foster a fifth child named Jennie Olsen. La Porte County Historical Society MuseumInvestigators search for more bodies on Belle Gunnesss farm after the initial discoveries in 1908. Gunness wrote back, telling Asle Helgelien that his brother was not at her farm and probably went to Norway to visit relatives. [6], After the fire at the Gunness homestead led to the discovery of bodies believed to be Gunness and her children, La Porte police authorities were contacted by Asle Helgelien, who had found correspondence between his brother, Andrew Helgelien, and Gunness; the letters included petitions for him to relocate to La Porte, to bring money, and to keep the move a secret. Belle Gunness (also known as Lady Bluebeard, The LaPorte Black Widow, The Mistress of Murder Farm, and Hell's Belle) was probably one of America's most prolific serial killers. This female serial killer was not only the worst in Illinois history; she was also one of the worst American serial killers ever recorded. Early clues pointing to an accomplice assisting Belle in her murderous schemes first surfaced when one Julius G. Truelson, Jr., the son of an upstate New York piano manufacturer, told Ralph N. Smith, LaPorte prosecuting attorney from the 2nd Judicial District, that he had arranged for Belle to kill his new bride. Story by Thomas Duke, 1910 . 3) What groups of people were Gunness' victims? ", "Female Indiana serial killer, the 'comely' Belle Gunness, loved her suitors to death", "Day Trip: Step into Historic LaPorte, Indiana; Visit 19th Century Courthouse, Museum, Miniature Horse Farm", "Potempa: Murderess Belle Gunness film starting production in LaPorte", "a book review by C. C. Harrison: In the Garden of Spite: A Novel of the Black Widow of La Porte", https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/317016/triflers-need-not-apply-by-bruce-camilla/9781405945455, Belle Gunness, the Lady Bluebeard: Narrative Use of a Deviant Woman, Only Belle: Bare Belle - En seriemorder fra Selbu, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Belle_Gunness&oldid=1141635952, Articles lacking reliable references from July 2019, Articles with unsourced statements from July 2019, Articles with incomplete citations from July 2019, Wikipedia articles needing factual verification from July 2019, Pages using infobox criminal with motive parameter, Articles needing additional references from July 2019, All articles needing additional references, Wikipedia articles needing page number citations from July 2019, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, Lillian de la Torre (1955). These filled-in holes, Gunness had told Maxson, contained rubbish. Belle Gunness was born Brynhild Paulsdatter Storset on November 11, 1859, in Selbu, Norway. He was last seen alive at the La Porte Savings Bank on April 6, 1907, when he mortgaged his Wisconsin land there, signed over a deed, and obtained several thousand dollars in cash. (Eerily, the symptoms of this disease were quite similar to poisoning.). [1] Lamphere stated that Gunness asked him to burn down the farmhouse with her children inside. Somehow, she convinced local authorities to hold a sanity hearing, but Lamphere was pronounced sane and released. [citation needed] In 2008, DNA tests were performed on the headless corpse in an attempt to compare the DNA in the corpse against a sample from a letter Gunness had sent to one of her victims, but due to its age the sample was not able to be properly tested. His widow, Gunness, collected on both policies $150,000 in todays dollars which she could have only done on that day. Belle also began. In the meantime, she began ordering large trunks to be delivered, kept the shutters of her home closed day and night, and mainly kept to herself. Also counted was an adopted 10-year-old girl, identified as Morgan Couch, but who was later known as Jennie Olsen. Gunness claimed that Sorenson had come home with a headache, and she had given him quinine. She would spike their coffee, bash their heads in, cut up their bodies, and put them in sacks, he explained. As a result, Coroner Charles Mack officially concluded that the adult female body discovered in the ruins was Belle Gunness. Belle also began posting notices in lovelorn columns to entice wealthy men to her farm, after which they were never seen again. [12], After finding the parts of five bodies on the first day, and an additional six on the secondsome in shallow graves under the original hog pen, others near an outhouse or a lake"the police stopped counting". As they began turning the earth, they found four bodies- skillfully sliced apart and wrapped in oilcloth. Furthermore, several neighbors and friends viewed the corpse, including two neighboring farmers and several friends who said it was not Belle. Hoping to find a clue related to his brothers disappearance, Helgelien and the farmhand began to dig up a pile of soft dirt in the hog pen. Little is known about her early life. Little is known about her early life. Whether Gunness died in the fire or escaped remained uncertain, although the sheriff blamed a Chicago American reporter for inventing the "escaped" story. The story of Indiana's first documented serial killer, Belle Gunness. While there, she was attacked by a man who kicked her in the abdomen, causing her to miscarry. In response to her letter, Helgelien rushed to her side in January 1908. La Porte County Historical Society Museum. Bert Chase of Mishawaka, Indiana, sold his butcher shop and told friends of a wealthy widow and that he was going to look her up; his brother received a telegram supposedly from Aberdeen, South Dakota, claiming Bert had been killed in a train wreck; his brother investigated and found the telegram was fictitious. The farmhouse had belonged to Belle Gunness, at the time simply believed to be a widowed Norwegian immigrant but now infamous for being one of the most prolific female serial killers in the United States. In the smoldering ruins workmen discovered four skeletons. She was nicknamed "Hell's Belle" after it was discovered that she was a prolific serial killer. How many are known? She kept his trunk and fur overcoat. The farm of Belle Gunness, where authorities made a series of grisly discoveries in 1908. [20] The inconsistencies between the two confessions, including the matter of the survival of Belle Gunness, remain historical issues that are not fully resolved. 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