DARK HISTORY WITH DEVEN: The Black Widow of La Porte

Deven is back and fills us in on a some of Indiana’s dark history, and La Porte, where love infamously went to die…

In the early nineteen hundreds many men came to La Porte, Indiana looking for love, most never left.

Belle Gunness portrayed an ordinary image, a widowed farm owner, a mother, a physically imposing woman who worked hard and kept to herself. Beneath the façade was one of America’s deadliest serial killers. And she may have gotten away with it.

Belle was born in Norway in 1859 and came to the United States looking for a better life. Instead, she built a fortune out of death.

Her first husband Mads Sorenson died in 1900 on the only day his insurance policies overlapped. Belle collected both policies. Her second husband, Peter Gunness, died eight years later under bizarre circumstances. Belle claimed a meat grinder fell off a shelf, crushing his skull. Authorities investigated but no charges stuck. Belle collected his insurance policy too.

Belle placed lonely hearts ads in newspapers across the mid-west, promising companionship to well-off bachelors. Her letters were persuasive, urgent and always included the same instructions: come alone and bring cash. Suiters arrived at her farm carrying their savings and expecting marriage. It’s believed that Belle poisoned, bludgeoned and or butchered them. The farm was becoming a graveyard. Friends and family asked after these men. Belle claimed they had changed their minds, moved on or disappeared.

In April 1908, Belle’s farm burned to the ground.

Inside the devastation, investigators found the bodies of her three children and a headless female corpse, believed to be Belle. But the body was smaller than her known size and as they searched the property, they discovered human remains scattered across the grounds: limbs, torsos, bones and watches still tucked into pockets. There were fourteen confirmed victims. Some estimates pushed the number far higher.

Belle Gunness was declared dead. But not everyone believed it.

Ray Lamphere, her former farmhand, stated Belle planted another woman’s body in her place, staged the fire and vanished with her money.

If what Lamphere said was true, one of America’s most prolific serial killers wasn’t dead.

She just walked away. Leaving a farm full of bones and a country wondering how many men had answered her ads.

Deven VanKirk was raised in the Midwest and has lived all over the eastern half of the US. He’s been a horror fan for as long as he can remember. He enjoys hiking and camping, when he’s not reading or writing. Currently he resides in Florida with his wife, son, and two dogs.

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