Ep. 55 - Homestead of Horrors: The Bloody Benders

My Victorian Nightmare

Genevieve Manion

History

4.6 • 900 Ratings

🗓️ 11 August 2025

⏱️ 45 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

On today’s episode, Genevieve will be discussing The Bloody Benders, a Victorian era family of serial killers who were confirmed to have murdered at least 11 people in their Kansas home, but it’s estimated that that number was more likely closer to 20. She will also discuss a police officer’s deadly encounter with a ghost, as well as exactly how to perform a seance without a trained medium, according to a Spiritualist newspaper from the 1800s. Thank you to today's sponsor, Honeylove! Save 20% Off Honeylove at honeylove.com/victorian. Treat yourself to the most advanced bras and shapewear on the market. References for today’s episode: “IT SCARED HIM”- Helena Evening Herald, Mar. 1st, 1897. (Blurb) - The Brooklyn Citizen, Mar. 28th, 1897. “How to Form Spirit Circles” - The Spiritualist, Nov. 19th, 1869. “Bloody Benders” - Weekly Rocky Mountain Gazette, June 4th, 1873. “The Bloody Benders” - The Washington Post, Aug. 5th, 1880. https://blogs.loc.gov/headlinesandheroes/2024/10/bloody-benders/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloody_Benders https://www.wsaw.com/2024/05/29/150-years-later-archeologists-still-work-find-what-happened-alleged-violent-family-bloody-benders/ https://kansasalumnimagazine.org/magazine-article/bloody-benders-property/ https://www.legendsofamerica.com/ks-benders/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello and welcome to my Victorian nightmare. I'm your host, Genevieve Mannion,
0:09.1	and I'm here to talk about mysterious deaths, morbid fascinations, disturbing stories, and otherwise spooky events from the Victorian era.
0:19.6	Because to me, there's just something especially intriguing,
0:22.6	creepy, and oddly comforting about horror and mayhem from the 19th century. So, listener discretion
0:30.8	is advised.
0:44.0	Hello, friends, and welcome to this my 55th episode.
0:47.2	I hope that you had a glamorous week.
0:50.1	Mine was a little sloppy.
0:56.0	I had a lovely blackout dinner party with a couple of friends last weekend. I made the prettiest meal.
0:58.0	Lots of shrimps, lots of fresh veggies, lemon risotto, and the prosaico flowed.
1:04.0	I want to impress a couple that I invited, and when I want to impress people, I get ten times more nervous and have like a meltdown
1:11.6	during the day. I destroyed dessert. Luckily, I noticed in just enough time to make it a second time properly,
1:18.6	just panacotta. Easiest dessert in the world. It was like soup after five hours in the fridge.
1:24.6	It did turn out so perfect though the second time that I made it.
1:29.3	But anyway, I got all worked up. I had a good many glasses to calm my nerves, and I think folks
1:35.3	were impressed. The evening is a little spotty, but I do recall having an epic new wave
1:40.9	dance party all by myself after people left. Fairly typical weekend for me. It starts
1:45.8	scared. I do something that makes me more scared. Then I make something pretty that makes me feel
1:51.7	happy and feel very proud of myself and I end up dancing to Echo and the Bunnyman at some point.
1:57.0	I don't usually black out though. That is just for special scared occasions.
2:04.6	Okay, you officially have one more week to join the fan coven if you would like a present at my Victorian nightmare.com.
2:14.6	I'm sending out a big batch today. I finally got the bits and pieces delivered. Thank you everyone
	...

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