Belle Gunness, Much Scarier In Person Than She Looks In Her Photo
In 1884, Gunness married Mads Albert Sorenson.
They bought a candy store two years later, which did poorly.
A fire mysteriously destroyed the store and their house. They collected the insurance money and built a new home.
They had four children, two of whom died of acute colitis — which would exhibit the same symptoms as poisoning. The couple collected life insurance policies on the two.
In 1900, Albert died on the day that his two insurance policies overlapped. One doctor said he died of a form of poisoning, but his doctor had been treating him for an enlarged heart and listed the cause of death as heart failure.
Marriage To Peter Gunness
With his insurance money, she bought a farm in Indiana. In April 1902, she married Peter Gunness. Two weeks later, his infant daughter died of unexplained causes alone with Belle.
In December 1902, Peter died when a sausage-grinding machine fell off a shelf and hit him in the head. Belle convinced investigators that it was an accident. Of course, she collected a large sum from Peter’s death.
In 1906, Belle told neighbors her adopted daughter had run away. Later the girl’s body was found buried on the property.
Looking For Romance In The Personals
Belle began placing ads in the personals column and was soon seen with several men. One gave her $1000 to pay off her mortgage. There was a steady stream of men, and none ever left.
One brought a check representing his entire savings.
A few days after his arrival, he and Belle were seen depositing the check into her account. Another was supposed to be engaged to Belle, but he was gone a few days later, and Belle made a $1200 deposit into her account.
In 1908, Belle hired another handyman. He woke one night to find the room filled with smoke. Flames enveloped the house. When firefighters could safely get into the house, they discovered the headless body of a woman and the corpses of three children.
They were presumed to be Belle and her children.
A Missing Head
Authorities searched for the missing head and found eight men’s watches, assorted bones and teeth, and four bodies sliced apart and wrapped in oilcloth.
Following information about an odd request from Belle for him to bring wheelbarrows of dirt to the area where the hogs were fed. While digging there, they found bodies and parts of bodies. They could piece together 14, all of whom had come to court Belle and were never heard from again.
Since some remains were unidentifiable, the exact number of victims is not known.
There may have been as many as 40 or more.
The Takeaway
The farmhand was tried and found guilty of setting the fire that destroyed the house. He confirmed that it was not Belle whose body was found, but a woman Belle lured to the house on the pretense of hiring her as a housekeeper.
She then chloroformed the woman’s children, killed the woman, and while the farmhand set the fire,
Belle escaped. She was never found.
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