Little Slaughterhouse on the Prairie cover art

Little Slaughterhouse on the Prairie

Bloodlands collection

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Little Slaughterhouse on the Prairie

By: Harold Schechter
Narrated by: Steven Weber
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About this listen

At a remote little inn not far from the Kansas homestead of Laura Ingalls Wilder lived the Bender family. These pioneers welcomed unwary visitors with jackrabbit stew and a sledgehammer to the skull.

In time, their apple orchard gave up its secrets - a burial ground for their mutilated victims, each stripped of their possessions. The devilish enterprise on “Hell’s Half-Acre” would earn the Bloody Benders an undying place in the annals of American infamy. But it was the mysterious fate of eldest daughter, Kate, that would make them the stuff of mythic campfire prairie tales.

Little Slaughterhouse on the Prairie is part of Bloodlands, a chilling collection of short addictive historical narratives from bestselling true-crime master Harold Schechter. Spanning a century in our nation’s murderous past, Schechter resurrects nearly forgotten tales of madmen and thrill-killers that dominated the most sensational headlines of their day.

©2018 Harold Schechter (P)2018 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved. Americas Essays Murder True Crime United States Crime Fiction Nonfiction Great Plains Serial Killers True Crime
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WELL. I'd heard of the Bloody Benders. I was very familiar with the Little House on the Prairie series. I had no idea the two happened in the same county at the same time.

The Benders are the main story, and Schechter distinguishes well between known facts and speculation. There was quite a lot of information I'd never heard before - including that the Benders crossed paths with the Ingalls family. THAT took some digesting.

It seems extraordinary that one family could live in a human slaughterhouse, murder at least eleven people in less than a year, then disappear without a trace. I think it's most likely they were caught and quietly killed by locals. No similar killing sprees happened subsequently, and they don't seem like the type to reform. It would also explain why Laura described Pa as being completely certain they were dead. It's now known he couldn't have been a member of the posse (as Laura believed), but he could have heard first hand accounts from friends.

I found the narration a shade too quick - had to set it at 0.95. Overall an engaging and informative listen.

Prairies and wagons and murderers, oh my!

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You could be forgiven if you thought you were reading fiction. Another bloody episode from history.

Another Bloody Episode

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In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.