Killer Stories with Harvey Guillén - “The Midwest Black Widow” - Belle Gunness

Episode Date: September 18, 2017

Norwegian immigrant Belle Gunness was one of America's deadliest black widows. Suitors answering her personal ads seeking romance found themselves at the wrong end of Belle's meat cleaver. Join Greg and Vanessa as they investigate the motives behind Belle's prolific murders. Was early-life trauma to blame? Or did simple greed drive Belle to kill? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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I'm Jordan Sillers. Season 2 is out now with new episodes every Thursday. Listen on the IHart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, I'm Greg Poulson, and this is serial killers. Today we're going to take a deep dive into the life of Belgounis, a black widow if ever there was one. I'm here with my co-host, Vanessa Richardson. Vanessa's not a licensed psychologist or psychiatrist, but she's done a lot of research for this show. Hi, everyone. We'd like to ask a quick favor. Would you leave a five-star review of serial killers on your favorite podcast directory?

It seems so simple, but it really helps us out. It really does. And don't forget to subscribe while you're there, because a new episode comes out every Monday. You can also find us on Facebook and Instagram at Parcast. And on Twitter at Parcast Network. Due to the graphic nature of this killer's crimes, listener discretion is advised. This episode includes dramatizations and discussions of murder and assault that some people may find offensive. We advise extreme caution for children under 13. We all know the story of Little Red Riding Hood.

Sweet young girl and a red cloak packs up a basket of goodies to take to Grandma's house. But before she leaves, her mother warns her to stay on the path and not dilly-dally in the dangerous woods. But Little Red Riding Hood disobeys and meets a wolf who asks where she's going. Little Red Riding Hood reveals all, so the wolf takes a shortcut. When Little Red Riding Hood gets to Grandma's house, she finds a surprise. Grandma doesn't look like herself. She has big eyes, big ears, and big teeth. Grandma's not Grandma at all.

She's a wolf. Well, in this story, it's easy to point the finger at the bad guy, the wolf in grandma's clothing. But I wonder, what about a story in which the sweet and alluring character, the Little Red Riding Hood, if you will, is actually the true villain? The one who deceives us all, who uses her feminine wiles and promises of companionship to ensnare unsuspecting men and kill them for profit.

This version of the story is much more tantalizing, because we have to look beyond the surface and question social constructs that say a woman would not be capable of meticulous and horrific crimes, that only men would do such things. Today, I ask you to open your eyes and to sail your ears to the story of Belgones, a female serial killer who murdered between 13 and 42 people,

mainly men, from the late 1800s to 1908 in Port County, Indiana. Her motive operation was simple yet structured. She'd lure men to her house with the promise of marriage and property. When they arrived, she would prepare dinner for them. During the meal, she would either drug the men, then proceed to bludgeon them in the head with a meat cleaver, or simply poison the food with strychnine. Then she would butcher and dismember the bodies,

and feed the remains to her hogs, then bury the bones in the barn. She did this for several years, racking up quite the sum of money as men were disappearing left and right. It wasn't until a disastrous fire that destroyed her farmhouse that any of her indiscretions began to come to light. And despite this momentous event, there is a debate as to whether Bell escaped this fire or died within it. Why? Because certain remains have never been identified. And so, folk stories have emerged about Bell, that she survived and fled Indiana. to hunt in a different territory under the guise of a new identity.

In the story of Belganis, the wolf is irrelevant. Little Red Riding Hood has the darkest emotives. Instead of pulling out baked goods from her basket of goodies, she discreetly pulls out poison and a meat cleaver, all the while smiling coyly and falsely promising to be a devoted wife and homemaker. And we all believe her. First of all, I have to say that I get very intrigued. when we were discussing a female serial killer.

This, of course, is because they're much rarer than male serial killers. According to an article from psychology today, women make up only 15% of serial killers, while men fulfill the other 85%. Why is this? Well, for starters, male serial killers often kill for sexual gratification. But when it comes to female serial killers, it's rarely ever about killing for sexual pleasure.

According to psychiatrist Joni E. Johnston, who published an article called Female Serial Killers, silent but deadly, sex and pleasure are likely to be much farther down on the motivation list for female serial killers than men. Johnston writes, we females tend to take a more pragmatic approach to killing people off. Female serial killers kill for profit and power. Profit and power. Well, can we see if that checks out? Well, we've covered serial killer Eileen Warnos on this show.

She'd solicit men and shoot them at close range and steal whatever money they had on them. She killed seven men in cold blood. She didn't premeditate the individual killings. She had a pattern, and she took targets of opportunity. She did this to support herself and her girlfriend. Well, there's the profit part. But as we analyzed the trauma of Warnos' childhood, we discovered that she found out her parents weren't actually her parents.

But her grandparents, she was sexually abused and gave birth to a baby boy when she was only 14 years old. She immediately gave him up for adoption. When her grandparents died, she and her brother became wards of the state. Warnos eventually became a runaway and turned to prostitution and then murder. What she experienced essentially turned her against men, and she constantly felt the need to assert power over them. And get revenge in a sense.

Well, there's the power part of the equation. Yes. And we'll see some similarities between Warnos and Bell once we begin our analysis into Bell, especially when it comes to negative experiences with men. But there's also a lesser-neous. known female serial killer who murdered men for profit that provides an interesting case study. Her name is Blanche Taylor Moore, and she's known as the Black Widow of North Carolina. Moore was not only a mother, but she was also a deeply religious, highly regarded person of the

community. But she definitely had conflicting parts of her personality. She was known to quote scripture while also discussing graphic sexual topics in the same conversation. She was raised by a Baptist minister who was a raging alcohol. Halligan Gambler, who eventually forced her into prostitution so he could pay off his debts. So it makes sense that she would retain her religious bent while also being promiscuous and then eventually turning to murder. It seems like she learned how to use her sexuality for money directly from her father. Experiencing prostitution against her will likely set her on a criminal path. And like Warnos, established her hatred towards men. And while I agree that female

serial killers often murder for profit and power, there are several who kill for other reasons. For example, there are a slew of female child murderers like Dagmar Overby, a Danish woman who murdered as many as 25 children from 1913 to 1921. While her motive isn't entirely clear, it's been suggested that she received money from parents looking to give up their infants for adoption. However, once the adoption by Overby was complete, she'd often kill the children to get rid of them. Well, then you have female serial killers who murder other women. Right. This often stems from hatred or jealousy, usually involving displaced anger. But if we look at several female serial killers collectively, we will see that profit is primarily the driving factor. Fresno state criminologist

Eric Hickey interviewed 64 serial killers in the United States and found that to be the case. In his previous research, he discovered what we've already addressed, men, on the other hand, primarily kill for sex. But why? Well, Marissa Harrison, author of the article, The Psychological Difference between Male and Female Serial Killers, says it boils down to what's called evolutionary psychological theory. According to this theory, women pursue resources and security, like money, because they have limited reproductive potential, meaning a limited number of Ova. But men, because they essentially have unlimited reproductive potential, i.e. lots and lots of sperm, they pursue numerous sexual opportunities.

Well, this would explain why most male serial killers are driven by sexual desires. Exactly. And if a person has a traumatic childhood or experiences things that would skew that sexual drive into darker territory, it makes sense that those men who become serial killers channel that drive into violent sex, torture, and ultimately murder. In this way, sex and murder become entwined, and for a serial sexual killer, the act of murder is what makes sex more satisfying. So now that we've addressed a common motive for female serial killers, we can continue to examine this factor as we learn about Belgones. Who was she? Where did she come from? And where did she end up? Well, only two of these questions can be answered for certain. As you'll see, the last

question isn't so easy to answer. But let's start from the beginning. Bell Gunnis was actually born Brinhild Paul's dadder Storseth on November 11th, 1859 in Selbu, Norway. She was the youngest of eight children, who all grew up on a small farm with little money. There isn't a ton known about her early years, but there is one story that has made the rounds and can provide a great deal of insight into her developing emotional and psychological states. In 1877, when Belle was 18 years old and pregnant, she attended a country dance. While there, she was attacked by a man who kicked her in the stomach. Apparently, the kick was so damaging that she miscarried the child.

It's believed that her attacker, who had come from money, was never prosecuted by authorities in Norway. This incident and the fact that he was never punished supposedly marked a huge turning point in Bell's life. Her personality immediately changed. Can we talk about this for a moment? Of course. To me, it's a defining moment in Bell's story. Such an event would be so traumatic in a world. woman's life. First of all, because of the vicious attack. But then not only was Bell violated physically, it was to the point that she lost the child she had growing inside her. This loss can be

so emotionally and psychologically damaging to a woman. It really is as if losing a part of oneself. In a strange way, this may have been the point of which Bell lost her ability to be maternal, as we'll see later on that she not only killed her male suitors, but she also killed some children. So could this experience of miscarrying due to an attack have actually had the opposite effect on Bell? Instead of making her desire a child more and feeding that maternal instinct, the loss of her unborn child actually made her less maternal? And so much so that she would actually kill children without remorse?

I think that's definitely a possibility. It's as if the experience caused a repulsion towards children, in her mind at least. And it could have also been a defense mechanism, fearful that she, could lose another child, she turned off that part of her brain, the need or want for another child, and the need for a man to provide her with one. This translated to her harming children when the occasion called for it and killing men who came under her spell. Well, following the incident, Bell went to work on a farm and stayed there for three years in order to earn enough money to leave the country. Bell, whose sister Nelly had emigrated to America years earlier, decided to do the same.

She arrived in 1881 with a more Americanized name to replace her Norwegian name Brinhild. And so she became Bell. Because Bell grew up very poor, she sought money and opportunity in America. That probably was her primary reason for moving there. And she found plenty of opportunity. A story will continue in a moment after a brief message. Own it all. Pay off your home, travel for life, drive a Ferrari.

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$1 Best Western gift card. Life's a trip. Make the most of it at Best Western. Visit bestwestern.com for complete terms and conditions. Now, our story continues. It's interesting to think that Bell was a prolific serial killer, more specifically a Black Widow serial killer who killed men for their money. And yet, she didn't have to work very hard to find her victims.

This was in part due to her alluring physique. Now, when I say alluring, I don't mean the curves and movement of, say, Jessica Rabbit. What was considered attractive back then is not necessarily what gets the fellas whistling today. Bell was six feet tall and weighed about 280 pounds, but when she tightened her corset, she was able to boast a 48-inch bust. My, my. And some curvy 54-inch hips. At this time in history, curvy was the most desirable look in a woman. That was the ideal. Lillian de la Torre, author of The Truth About Bell Gunness, wrote, Bell lived at the time of the corn-fed politician and the billowy beauty.

In those days, men aspired to the bulk of William Howard Taft, who was about to become president of the United States. Ladies whose facades were not naturally as full and flowing as Bells, stuffed their corset covers with ruffles and wore droop-fronted shirtwaists. When she donned her ruffled silks and put her diamonds in her ears, men thought her well worth a second glance. Well, that clears a few things up. Nevertheless, Bell was big-boned and physically strong, even stronger than most men, if you can believe it.

This would come in handy when she was lugging around the bodies of her male victims. But like you said, she didn't have to work hard to attract men. In fact, Belle had all her victims come to her. She would first let out a wide net with her personal ads in the lonely hearts columns, and then the men would all flock to her. There is a psychological, even biological component to this. If you think about it, men are hunters, right? But women are gatherers.

Male serial killers tend to stalk their victims. Take Canadian serial killer Paul Bernardo, the male half of the Ken and Barbie killers, a serial killer duo which we have covered on our show. Bernardo would actually drive around in his car, stalking and videotaping young girls as he trolled for his prey. He'd even scope out bus stops looking for vulnerable runaways or women who were arriving in abandoned areas late at night. He'd then pounce, take the girls back to his house, and he and his wife Carla would torture, rape, and kill them in the basement. South L.A. serial killer, the grim sleeper, also one of our subjects, would drive around offering rides to sex workers.

Once they were in the car, he'd shoot them at close range, sexually assault them, take polarites of them, then deposit them in the dark alleys or near dumpsters. Male serial killers are prowlers, but female serial killers tend to entice their victims, spinning a web of seduction that eventually entangles an unsuspecting fly. Well, Bell's first fly was a man by the name of Mauds de Lev Anton Sorensen. She met him in Chicago in 1884, and they were soon married. Two years later, they opened a candy shop together. But business wasn't good.

A year later, this shop mysteriously burned down. Hmm, I'm guessing it probably wasn't an accident. Well, let's just say that Bell and Sorensen collected insurance. on it, which covered the cost of another home. This would not be the only time that insurance was collected by Bell. Now, it's believed that Bell and her husband had four children together, Caroline, Axel, Myrtle, and Lucy. But in the 1900 United States Census in Chicago, another child was listed in the household,

Jenny Olson, who Bell later referred to as her foster daughter. Caroline and Axel sadly died when they were infants, supposedly of acute colitis, This condition affects the colon, causing lower abdominal pain, cramping, as well as nausea, fever, and diarrhea. However, these symptoms can also be representative of various kinds of poisoning. Caroline and Axel both had insurance policies, and Bell and her husband received money when the children passed away. Hmm. So has that ever been confirmed whether the two children died of acute colitis or poisoning? No. But thinking about Bell's method of killing by a poisoning, there's a strong possibility she killed the young children. Or maybe at the very least, when she and her husband received insurance money from their deaths,

it gave Belle an idea that she could secretly and quietly kill her loved ones and reap the monetary benefits. That could have been the case. Another death would soon follow. On July 30, 1900, Bell's husband, Maude Sorensen died. The first physician to examine the body believed he had died of strychnine poisoning. Strychnine is a white odorless crystalline powder that can be taken by mouth, inhaled, or mixed. in a solution and given interveniously. It's a very strong substance, and only a small amount is needed to have severe and even fatal effects on animals and humans. It's now primarily used as a

pesticide, mainly to kill rats. Lovely. So that's what Sorensen died of? Well, that was one theory. The other discussed by his family doctor was that he had an enlarged heart, which ultimately led to heart failure and his eventual death. But apparently the day of his death was also the that two, that's right, two life insurance policies on Sorenson overlapped. That means double the payout. And Bell applied for the money literally the day after Sorensen's funeral. Wow, she didn't waste any time. She received about $8,500 from the insurance companies, which today would be worth about $200,000. Bell's first husband, Maude Sorensen, is considered her first confirmed victim. It was the start of a trend that marks Bell's M.O., one that seemed to work quite well for her

for some time. But shortly after his death, Bell met a widower named Peter Gunnis, who was also from Norway. They moved to Leport and married in April of 1902. Bell used the insurance money from her previous husband's death and bought a farm. Now, the house on this farm had a legend of its own. It was notoriously known in the neighborhood as the old Maddie Altic place. Maddie Altic was a woman from Chicago who used the house as a brothel.

It's believed that she garnered protection from big-time. Chicago politicians and crime bosses, Michael Hinky Dinkena and Bathhouse John Coughlin. At the time the brothel was up and running, it was referred to as the farm, and it was a popular destination for Chicago businessman. But there is some speculation that the farm was also used for human trafficking. So this location has dark roots. Oh yes. And its bad reputation may have been one of the reasons Bell was able to get it for such a bargain. But sadly, the darkness would only continue with Bell. Just one week after she and Peter tied the knot, while Belle was home alone with Peter's infant daughter, something tragic happened.

The baby died of uncertain causes. Uncertain causes? What could that be? She just stopped breathing? It means the child just died, and no one could ascertain how. Her death, however, was soon overshadowed by another tragedy. Eight months later, Peter had also died. It was apparently an unfortunate accident. According to Bell, Peter was reaching for his slippers next to the kitchen stove when he was accidentally scalded with brine. Later she changed her story saying that part of a sausage grinding machine fell from a shelf and hit Peter on the head. This of course resulted in a terrible head injury. Ouch. You said it, but not for Bell. She earned around $3,000 from her second husband's death. But the people of Laporte started to talk. They weren't so sure Peter's death

was an accident. And it was someone's firsthand testimony which would further trouble the townspeople. 14-year-old Jenny Olson, Bell's foster child, was overheard telling a classmate, My mama killed my papa. She hid him with the meat cleaver, and he died. Don't tell a soul. That's pretty incriminating, right? You would think. But when Jenny was brought before the coroner's jury to testify, she denied ever having said that. And Bell, ever the charmer, convinced the coroner that no foul play had taken place. Which, of course, was a total lie. Then, in May of 1903, Bell gave birth to a son named Philip.

Prior to his death, Peter had impregnated Bell. But I don't believe the child was planned. Three years later, Jenny Olson, who had claimed her mother killed her father, was sent to a Lutheran college in Los Angeles. Or was she? That's what Bell told her neighbors when they asked where Jenny was. But this was not the truth. Jenny's remains would later be found amongst the numerous others buried on Bell's farm.

With the threat of Jenny gone, Bell went back to what she did best, luring men and quickly disposing of them to cash in on the insurance money. That same year, Bell posted an advertisement in the personal sections of all the Chicago Daily Newspapers. It read, Comeley Widow, who owns a large farm in one of the finest districts in Leport County, Indiana, desires to make the acquaintance of a gentleman equally well provided with view of joining fortunes. No replies by letter considered unless sender is willing to follow answer with personal visit.

Triflers need not apply. An early 20th century Craigslist ad, if I ever saw one, and very pointed. Can we analyze this for a moment? What's the subtext here? Well, a few words are strategically included, the phrase, finest districts presents her location of residence as a well-respected and alluring place to live. Then there's the phrase joining fortunes, which implies they will share their money,

and each will have more than what they started with. But the sentence saying that no replies by letter considered unless sender is willing to follow answer with personal visit is the most telling. This woman means business. She has no time to mess around. She's looking for a husband who will come in person and not send a useless letter as his reply. She's actually weaving a grand web starting with this ad. Getting men to her doorstep is her prime goal. Then she can take care of the rest. It's quite chilling if you think about it that way.

Isn't it? She's so methodical. Now I have to ask, was any of this wording suspicious at the time? The fact that she's pretty upfront about her intention involving money. I think it was pretty common back then. We have to think that even in the late 1800s, people often did marry for money. marriages were even frequently arranged by family members in order to ensure financial stability. And we have to acknowledge that it wasn't as if Belle was offering nothing. She had quite a sum of money to her name. But she did intend for the men who came into her life to help her pay off her mortgage, so she wasn't just accepting them for their charming looks and good personality.

Well, the ad worked. She received several replies. One of them was from John Moe, who arrived from Elbow Lake, Minnesota, with upwards of $1,000 in hand. he disappeared within a week. Next was George Anderson, also from the Midwest, a town called Tarkio in Missouri. Like Bell, he was also an immigrant from Norway. After his arrival, Bell prepared dinner for him.

As they ate at the table, Bell mentioned her mortgage and that she needed help paying it. And Anderson said he would help her, but only if they married. That seemed to be the plan and the logistics would be figured out. In the meantime, Bell offered him a bed for the night. But something happened in the middle of the night that changed everything for Anderson. Anderson woke up to find Bell standing over him and holding a candle. It's reported that she had a strange, sinister expression on her face. At the sight of his open eyes, Bell apparently fled from the room,

and Anderson followed suit. Except he went much farther than the room. He left the entire house completely and took a train back to Missouri. He must have been really spooked. Wouldn't you have been? Early enough, Anderson would be the only one of Bell suitors that ever left the farm. The others would meet their fate there and never get a chance to leave.

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But there was something else that kept appearing on Bell's doorstep as well. large trunks. Let me guess. One's big enough to fit a human body? That's right. And they didn't go unnoticed. Driver Clyde Sturgis, who delivered these trunks to her, would later say, quote, the heavyset woman would lift these enormous trunks like boxes of marshmallows.

End quote. But this wasn't all. Farmers passing her house at night could find her digging in the hog pen. That's right. Digging. The next suitor to disappear was Old Bee, Bull. Luddsburg. He was an elderly widower from Wisconsin. The day he went to Leport Savings Bank to mortgage his Wisconsin land in exchange for several thousand dollars was the day he would last be seen alive.

His two sons, Oscar and Matthew, discovered that he had gone to visit Bell. So they decided to write to her asking where their father was. Bell's response? She told them she had never met him. That was just the tip of the iceberg for Bell in 1907. It was a busy year for her. In December, a man by the name of Andrew Hegelian, a farmer and bachelor from Aberdeen, South Dakota, wrote to her. After many letters sent between them, Bell wowed Andrew with a letter that convinced him to come to visit her immediately. It said,

To the dearest friend in the world, no woman in the world is happier than I am. I know that you are now to come to me and be my own. I can tell from your letters you are the man I want. It does not take one long to tell when to like a person. And you I like better than anyone in the world. I know. Think how we will enjoy each other's company.

You, the sweetest man in the whole world. We will be all alone with each other. Can you conceive of anything nicer? I think of you constantly. when I hear your name mentioned, and this is when one of the dear children speaks of you, or I hear myself humming, it will be the words of an old love song. It is beautiful music to my ears. My heart beats in wild rapture for you.

My Andrew, I love you. Come prepared to stay forever. That is a pretty gushy letter. A little over the top, right? But you have to imagine that writing letters was a common form of expressing love back then, and people treasured them. Well, nowadays, people are lucky to get a text not completely made out of emojis. Well, it's maybe not quite that bad now, but writing love letters has become a forgotten art. Well, let's take a look at this letter for a moment.

Obviously, she appeals to his need as a man to be desired and loved. Yes, well, that's a given. She also appeals to his ego. I like you better than anyone in the world. By this, she's saying he's in a class of his own. She also promises solitude. We will be all alone with each other. That must get his mind racing with possibilities.

Then she appeals to his passionate side with, My Heart Beats in Wild Rapture for you. Right. What man wouldn't want to hear that? We have to understand the profile of the Black Widow serial killer to really appreciate this letter and its intent. We know that the Black Widow Killer gets her name from the poisonous spider

who devours her mate after mating. You know, after the man has fulfilled what she sees as his singular purpose, providing her with children. The Black Widow serial killer targets grieving, lonely, vulnerable men. This is what she looks for. Well, many of her victims were recent widowers.

That's right. And lonely immigrants looking for a relationship to find someone with whom they could set down roots. Once she establishes her target, the black widow appeals to the man's wants and needs. As demonstrated in the letter, this includes feeding his ego, making him feel wanted and desired,

and offering him a partnership. This is what she's communicating to Andrew via the letter. Everything he wants is right there in ink, on paper. It's concrete. So it's no shock that Andrew hurried to her side that same month. And he didn't come empty-handed. Andrew arrived with his entire savings in the form of a check, $2,900 to be exact.

And just a few days later, he and Bell were at the savings bank in LaPort depositing that check. And only a few more days later, Andrew was gone. She was waste no time at all. And it was only a few months later that trouble would start brewing. While men were trickling in and quickly disappearing from the Bell farm, there was a man behind the scenes who may have been privy to what really happened to them. After her second husband died, Bell hired a farmhand to help her take care of the property in 1907. His name was Ray Lamfair.

He was a lean and curly-haired 30-year-old carpenter, and he fell madly in love with Bell. Was it a case of unrequated love? It seems so. What could he offer Bell Gunniss? She was employing him, and he was basically a lowly farmhand. Well, Ray became jealous of the male suitors that came around, and finally expressed his frustration.

Or at least that's how it went according to Bell. He made several scenes, which caused Bell to eventually find him. fire him on February 3rd, 1908. But she didn't leave it at that. She soon went to the Leport courthouse, claiming that L'Amfer was on the verge of insanity and a menace to the public. She convinced the authorities to hold a sanity hearing.

There, L'amfer was pronounced sane and released. But only a few days later, Bell returned to the sheriff to complain about L'amfair, this time saying he was a danger to her and her family, that he had trespassed on her farm and engaged in an argument with her. She no longer felt safe. even in her own home. While the drama continued to unfold between the two,

Lamferre made a comment to another farmer about Bell's latest suitor, Andrew, who had since disappeared. Hegelian won't bother me no more. We fixed him for keeps. Well, what could this mean? Did Lamferre have a hand in Hegelian's disappearance, or was he an accomplice to Bell? And if so, was this the only man he helped her kill, or were there others? It seems that Lamfer had really become the archetype of a doting man doing the dirty work for the woman he loved. And if this were the case, Bell was using

Lamfair, taking advantage of his feelings for her. Not even her employee could escape her treacherous web. In addition to the events with Lamfair, Bell was in for another challenge. Alsa Hegelian, the brother of Bell's latest victim, Andrew, began to worry when he hadn't heard from his brother in some time. So also wrote a letter to Bell asking where he was. She responded, telling also that Andrew was not on. on her farm. Perhaps he went to Norway to visit the family, but also wrote back thinking this was not the case. Andrew wouldn't do that without notifying anyone. Also believe that Andrew was still in the port. And so, Bell wrote him back, saying that he could arrange for a citywide search for

Andrew and she would gladly help, but a search would cost quite a deal of money. Was he willing to cover all costs? The stress of the landfair drama and the looming threat of her victim's brother coming to town to investigate were just the setting events, leading to what would be a much bigger catastrophe. On April 28, 1908, the Bell Farm burned to the ground. And Bell Gunas was nowhere to be found. Had she perished in the flames, or had she fled? Was it an accident or was it intentional arson? Perhaps Lamferre, a scorned man. Or was it the work of Bell herself? This wasn't the First time a building she owned went up in flames. Remember the candy store she owned with her first husband? As many questions as there were ashes, but through the fire can come clarity.

Under the ashes were the secrets of one Bell Gunniss and the remains of countless victims that were about to be unearthed. Little did anyone know that the Bell Farm was more accurately a highly populated graveyard. Next week we'll take you through the investigation into the remains found at the Bell Farm. which revolves around the mystery of a headless corpse, which many say was that of Belle herself? But was that the case? Or was it one of her victims? We'll also explore how the fire affected Ray Lamfair

as he becomes a prime suspect in the fire and the several murder cases the fire helped to illuminate. Thanks again for tuning in to serial killers. If you want to listen to any episodes of serial killers, you can find them all on iTunes, Google Play, SoundCloud, Stitcher, and Spotify, or in our website, parcast.com. Spelled P-A-R-C-A-S-T-T-com. And if you like what you hear, please leave a five-star review

or tell us what you think on social media. We're on Facebook and Instagram as at Parcast and Twitter at Parcast Network. It seems simple, but it really helps our show. Join us next Monday for Part 2. Have a killer week. Serial Killers was created by Max Cutler and developed by Ron Cutler. It is a production of Coddle. Cutler Media and is part of the Parcast Network.

It is produced by Max and Ron Cutler, sound design by Ron Shapiro with production assistance by Joel Stein, Carly Madden, and Maggie Admeyer. Serial Killers is written by Jessica Mallow and stars Greg Poulson and Vanessa Richardson. Our amazing voice actor is Sammy Nye. Want to hear something spooky. Some Monster, it reminded me of Bigfoot. Monsters Among Us is a weekly podcast featuring true stories of the paranormal. One of the boys started to exhibit demonic possession.

Stories straight from the witnesses' mouths themselves. Something very snake-like lifted its head out of the water. Hosted by me, your guide, Derek Hayes. Somehow I lost eight whole hours. Listen now on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. A beloved 75-year-old man washing up getting ready for bed is brutally beaten and killed. Despite an exhaustive investigation, the killer avoids arrest and then strikes again.

I'm Global News crime reporter Nancy Hicks. You might listen to a lot of true crime podcasts this year, but they're not crime beat. Search for and follow the award-winning podcast Crime Beat on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and wherever you find your favorite podcasts.