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LJ Idol Week 5- Caught in the Web
Dec. 7th, 2020 10:01 amBelle always knew she would do whatever it took to survive. Born the youngest of eight children in a tiny village in Norway, Belle always felt cold and often hungry. She watched her parents lament the lack of food for all of their children and willed that once she left their house, she would never starve again.
Norway was not kind to Belle. She stood head and shoulders above the other girls and was tormented for her stature. She'd developed a tough exterior, but it wasn't until the miscarriage that she lost all sense of kindness or hope. She'd just left a village dance hall when a local man attacked and kicked her She had to deliver the tiny child too early, and the baby came out cold and silent. It was so easy- such a thin line between alive and dead. Belle made a deal with herself to raise enough money to immigrate to the United States, but before she left, that violent young man died mysteriously. One minute he was there, and the next, he was gone.
Belle did make her way to the United States, settling in the Chicago area and getting married. She was still cold and hungry. She and her husband tried their luck at running a candy shop, but it was hard work and the store made little money. In the US though, Belle had learned about insurance policies. She convinced her husband that they needed insurance for everything they owned- as a safety measure. They insured the candy store, their home, themselves, their kids. They were protected.
The fire at the candy store didn't seem suspicious at the time. Fires got out of hand in Chicago with some frequency, especially in the winter months. This meant that Belle and her husband lost their income, but there was a decent payout from the insurer at least. When that insurance check came in, Belle bought a large piece of beef and cooked it all day over a low heat with some carrots and onions and potatoes, and her belly was full, at least for a time. It couldn't last though, as the money started to dwindle, another fire broke out, this time at Belle's home. She held this policy with a different insurance company than she'd used for the store, so no one was the wiser about the duel fires, and the insurance proceeds rolled in. She roasted two chickens after that check paid out, with lemons and oil, until their skin was good and crunchy.
Her two infants died in quick succession after that. Both of them, of course, fully insured. Their cold, grey faces, much like the baby she'd lost in Norway. This was too much for her husband, who'd grown suspicious of the deaths. The fires he'd complied with. He'd seen no reason to feel badly for defrauding an insurance company. He loved his children though, and after the second one passed away, he'd seemed rather certain that Belle was responsible for it.
Belle had been toying with the idea of double insuring things going forward. The insurance money never seemed to last long enough to sustain her, but paying two premiums per month was also a decent expense that she didn't want to deal with. So, her next murder had to be more carefully planned and executed. She planned for her husband to have one day when his old life insurance policy was still in effect as well as a new life insurance policy she'd procured. This murder was necessary anyway. He had already approached her about killing the babies. He knew too much. Conveniently, he passed away on that special overlap day, and Belle had two insurance policies to cash in for her husband. This was a good deal of money.
Belle moved herself from the city to a farm in the countryside, where she could raise her own animals and crops. She wasn't afraid of a little hard work, but certainly didn't believe that farming would sustain her indefinitely. Almost immediately after purchasing the farm, most of the buildings adjacent to the home on the property burned down. It was just a small insurance payout, but every little bit helped.
With her small fortune, she attracted a new husband, a widower with two young children. Belle had no use for the baby, except to insure her and dispose of her. Her new spouse, unaware of her poor history with unexplained infant deaths, did not suspect anything. Belle knew that killing his older daughter would be more difficult, so she set her sights on her spouse instead. He had a penchant for drinking, so she let him get nice and stewed and then bashed him over the head. She blamed this death on a kitchen appliance falling off of a high shelf, and again the insurance money came right in. Belle never got a chance to collect money for the older step-daughter. An uncle came to retrieve her quickly after her father's death.
Luckily for Belle, she'd set the stage for an elaborate trap that would work far better than anything she'd scammed her way into so far. Belle wrote up an add to run in city newspapers around the American midwest. She proclaimed herself a wealthy widow looking for an equally wealthy husband to help with the maintenance of her property. Belle got many responses to this add, but made it clear that she'd only be interested in men who were willing to come visit her cash in hand.
And they did arrive, one after another. They brought cash from home or used a local bank to mortgage their own properties so that they could get their hands on cash quickly. Belle welcomed them into her home, but they'd never leave. Only one man was able to make his escape, after waking in the middle of the night to find Belle standing over him with a large tool of some sort. He quickly left the farm and got the next train out of town. Other men simply seemed to disappear. Many of these men never told their families where they were going, so Belle would have never been suspected of knowing them, much less murdering them. Other families contacted Belle and were told she'd never seen their loved one, or had no knowledge of him.
It's hard to calculate how many suiters Belle entertained. Not all of them made their way to the farm, not all were as intrigued of her promises of true love and fidelity. It is safe to say that dozens did meet their fate at that farm though, poisoned, beaten, dismembered, covered in lime and buried under the pig pen.
It was a clever web she'd set up, except for one squeaky wheel. A suitor's brother simply would not give up the hunt for his sibling, despite Belle's letters proclaiming that he'd left the farm and maybe travelled back to the old country. This man must have been very clear with his brother about where he was going and what he was doing, because the brother continued to write, over and over.
Belle started to try pointing fingers at her handyman at this point, telling locals that he was crazy, that he had threatened her life and the lives of her children, that he was a danger. This set the stage for her final act, collecting all the money she could and setting fire to her residence once again. The bodies of her children were found in the fire, but only one adult female was found- burned and beheaded in the basement. That body though, lacked Belle's stature, and was never fully identified. The handyman was charged with the murders, having been slandered for weeks before the fire. On his deathbed, the handyman confessed that Belle had murdered dozens of men, drugging and then beating them. He'd helped her dispose of the bodies because he was in love with her. He believed, to his dying day, that Belle had escaped, having lured some woman to the house under the pretense of hiring her as a housekeeper and then murdering her so authorities would think she'd died in the fire with her children.
No one knows what really happened to Belle after that fire. I imagine she continued to kill, though less prolifically, for the rest of her life.
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Belle Gunness is known as one of the most prolific female serial killers in the United States. Some of what I've written here is artistic license or folklore, but most of it is accepted as true. I've cut out some details to streamline the story, but her plot to murder potential suitors en mass is a fascinating story.
Norway was not kind to Belle. She stood head and shoulders above the other girls and was tormented for her stature. She'd developed a tough exterior, but it wasn't until the miscarriage that she lost all sense of kindness or hope. She'd just left a village dance hall when a local man attacked and kicked her She had to deliver the tiny child too early, and the baby came out cold and silent. It was so easy- such a thin line between alive and dead. Belle made a deal with herself to raise enough money to immigrate to the United States, but before she left, that violent young man died mysteriously. One minute he was there, and the next, he was gone.
Belle did make her way to the United States, settling in the Chicago area and getting married. She was still cold and hungry. She and her husband tried their luck at running a candy shop, but it was hard work and the store made little money. In the US though, Belle had learned about insurance policies. She convinced her husband that they needed insurance for everything they owned- as a safety measure. They insured the candy store, their home, themselves, their kids. They were protected.
The fire at the candy store didn't seem suspicious at the time. Fires got out of hand in Chicago with some frequency, especially in the winter months. This meant that Belle and her husband lost their income, but there was a decent payout from the insurer at least. When that insurance check came in, Belle bought a large piece of beef and cooked it all day over a low heat with some carrots and onions and potatoes, and her belly was full, at least for a time. It couldn't last though, as the money started to dwindle, another fire broke out, this time at Belle's home. She held this policy with a different insurance company than she'd used for the store, so no one was the wiser about the duel fires, and the insurance proceeds rolled in. She roasted two chickens after that check paid out, with lemons and oil, until their skin was good and crunchy.
Her two infants died in quick succession after that. Both of them, of course, fully insured. Their cold, grey faces, much like the baby she'd lost in Norway. This was too much for her husband, who'd grown suspicious of the deaths. The fires he'd complied with. He'd seen no reason to feel badly for defrauding an insurance company. He loved his children though, and after the second one passed away, he'd seemed rather certain that Belle was responsible for it.
Belle had been toying with the idea of double insuring things going forward. The insurance money never seemed to last long enough to sustain her, but paying two premiums per month was also a decent expense that she didn't want to deal with. So, her next murder had to be more carefully planned and executed. She planned for her husband to have one day when his old life insurance policy was still in effect as well as a new life insurance policy she'd procured. This murder was necessary anyway. He had already approached her about killing the babies. He knew too much. Conveniently, he passed away on that special overlap day, and Belle had two insurance policies to cash in for her husband. This was a good deal of money.
Belle moved herself from the city to a farm in the countryside, where she could raise her own animals and crops. She wasn't afraid of a little hard work, but certainly didn't believe that farming would sustain her indefinitely. Almost immediately after purchasing the farm, most of the buildings adjacent to the home on the property burned down. It was just a small insurance payout, but every little bit helped.
With her small fortune, she attracted a new husband, a widower with two young children. Belle had no use for the baby, except to insure her and dispose of her. Her new spouse, unaware of her poor history with unexplained infant deaths, did not suspect anything. Belle knew that killing his older daughter would be more difficult, so she set her sights on her spouse instead. He had a penchant for drinking, so she let him get nice and stewed and then bashed him over the head. She blamed this death on a kitchen appliance falling off of a high shelf, and again the insurance money came right in. Belle never got a chance to collect money for the older step-daughter. An uncle came to retrieve her quickly after her father's death.
Luckily for Belle, she'd set the stage for an elaborate trap that would work far better than anything she'd scammed her way into so far. Belle wrote up an add to run in city newspapers around the American midwest. She proclaimed herself a wealthy widow looking for an equally wealthy husband to help with the maintenance of her property. Belle got many responses to this add, but made it clear that she'd only be interested in men who were willing to come visit her cash in hand.
And they did arrive, one after another. They brought cash from home or used a local bank to mortgage their own properties so that they could get their hands on cash quickly. Belle welcomed them into her home, but they'd never leave. Only one man was able to make his escape, after waking in the middle of the night to find Belle standing over him with a large tool of some sort. He quickly left the farm and got the next train out of town. Other men simply seemed to disappear. Many of these men never told their families where they were going, so Belle would have never been suspected of knowing them, much less murdering them. Other families contacted Belle and were told she'd never seen their loved one, or had no knowledge of him.
It's hard to calculate how many suiters Belle entertained. Not all of them made their way to the farm, not all were as intrigued of her promises of true love and fidelity. It is safe to say that dozens did meet their fate at that farm though, poisoned, beaten, dismembered, covered in lime and buried under the pig pen.
It was a clever web she'd set up, except for one squeaky wheel. A suitor's brother simply would not give up the hunt for his sibling, despite Belle's letters proclaiming that he'd left the farm and maybe travelled back to the old country. This man must have been very clear with his brother about where he was going and what he was doing, because the brother continued to write, over and over.
Belle started to try pointing fingers at her handyman at this point, telling locals that he was crazy, that he had threatened her life and the lives of her children, that he was a danger. This set the stage for her final act, collecting all the money she could and setting fire to her residence once again. The bodies of her children were found in the fire, but only one adult female was found- burned and beheaded in the basement. That body though, lacked Belle's stature, and was never fully identified. The handyman was charged with the murders, having been slandered for weeks before the fire. On his deathbed, the handyman confessed that Belle had murdered dozens of men, drugging and then beating them. He'd helped her dispose of the bodies because he was in love with her. He believed, to his dying day, that Belle had escaped, having lured some woman to the house under the pretense of hiring her as a housekeeper and then murdering her so authorities would think she'd died in the fire with her children.
No one knows what really happened to Belle after that fire. I imagine she continued to kill, though less prolifically, for the rest of her life.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Belle Gunness is known as one of the most prolific female serial killers in the United States. Some of what I've written here is artistic license or folklore, but most of it is accepted as true. I've cut out some details to streamline the story, but her plot to murder potential suitors en mass is a fascinating story.
