The Mistress of the Murder Farm of La Porte, Indiana.
The Mass Murderer that put the town of La Porte, Indiana on the U.S. map.
The story of Bella Paulsdatter Sorensen Gunness is one full of intrigue and one that captivated the attention of a large portion of the United States. The country at the time was going through a large scale societal shift from rural to urban communities and led to many fearing the destabilization of moral social standards. The moral social standards that was supposed to prevent people from falling into barbarism. This can clearly be seen with Belle Gunness when the fire at her farm revealed her crimes. The death of the Gunness household by the fire did not get that much public attention at first. However, that changed drastically when multiple mutilated bodies were discovered across the Gunness farm. The revelation that Belle Gunness had been a serial killer was a shock to the community; for it was a perversion of the gender norms that were prevalent across the nation at that time. This woman, one who desired only wealth, was a warped individual who became infamous across the country.
The crimes of Belle Gunnes were well hidden until her reveal in 1908. When her crimes were finally revealed to La Porte County, they were shocked that a serial killer had lived for years in their fair town. She murdered her husbands and countless suitors, taking their wealth with their lives. The fact that Belle Gunness also committed the crime of filicide, multiple times, was one of the many cultural shocks that drew thousands from across the nation. There had been many murders occurring at that time period but the fact that a women that was as soft spoken as Belle Gunness could commit such acts took everyone by surprise. Drawing massive crowds that constantly took everything they could find from the crime scene
Belle Gunness’s confirmed kill count is 16 with a further 12 possible victims, making a total of 28. This elevated Belle Gunness as the largest number of murders performed by a single women in the Midwestern United States. This killing spree both horrified and fascinated Americans across the nation and many came from the farthest states just to see Belle’s murder farm. This event would soon elevate the town to one of the most well known Indiana communities in the entire state.
Belle Gunness: circa. 1903. La Porte County Historical Society Museum. LaPorte Archives
Hinton, Paula K. “Just Like One of the Family: An Immigrant Murderess in Turn-of-the-Century America.” Ohio Valley History 6, no. 4 (2006): 27-47. https://muse.jhu.edu/article/573099/pdf
Lindberg, Richard C.. Heartland Serial Killers: Belle Gunness, Johann Hoch, and Murder for Profit in Gaslight Era Chicago, Dekalb, Northern Illinois University Press, 2011.
Langlois, Janiet L., Belle Gunness: The Lady Bluebeard, Blomington, Indiana Uiversity Press, 1985.
La Porte Historical Society Archives. La Porte Museum.
Schechter, Harold. Hell’s Princess: The Mystery of Belle Gunness- Butcher of Men, New York, 2018.
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Featured
The Queen of Black Widows
A women who lives in infamy. The tale of Belle Gunness expands far beyond the community of La Porte, Indiana. Her horrific crimes captured the imagination of many people that told of her murderess tales through both songs, documentaries and podcasts. Her dark actions created a rise of media outlets that immortalized her through both… Read more
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Museum Exhibit
This moment in history captivated many future generations of La Porte inhabitants. The La Porte historical society in the end decided to acknowledge Gunness’s crimes and the tragic fate of her victims by creating an exhibit about Belle. This exhibit is located in the La Porte County Museum and is open from Tuesday – Saturday… Read more
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Effects on the La Porte Community
The effects on the La Porte community was vast and immediate. The first reaction was shock. The town was confused at how such a person could have committed her crimes within their town. The community’s social norms were shattered as more bodies were found through the next week. The town instantly became famous across the… Read more
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Revelation of Crimes
Belle Gunness activities were becoming gradually more suspicious. The death of her husbands, step-children and the disappearance of the suitors made many neighbors distance themselves from her. The disappearance of Jennie Olsen in particular created a stir as the girls friends and relatives asked what became of her. No action was taken however, for it… Read more
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Letters of Love: Letters of Death
The most famous portion of Belle Gunness’s murder spree began when she sent an ad in the Norwegian lonely Hearts Paper in which she asked for a husband. She waited until men would answer her letters and thus she would write letters back to them multiple times. In those letters Belle Gunness wrote to her… Read more
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Married Life of Belle Gunness
Belle Storset first husband as a man named Mads Sorenson, a private detective that already had many children. It at first seemed that they would be able to live a peaceful life but strange circumstances soon began to plague the family and where her life of crime began. The first instances of Belle’s murder spree… Read more
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The childhood of Brynhild Paulsdatter Storseth
Belle Gunness, or Brynhild Paulsdatter Storset was was born in Norway on November 11, 1858, to Paul Pedersen Storset and Berit Olsdatter. Her father was a poor tenant farmer “husmann” on a farm near Selbu and also worked in the winter as a stone mason to make extra money for his family. Brynhild attended local… Read more
About the Author: The author is named Domenic Sirugo. A student at Purdue Northwest, he is studying to become a historian with a focus on ancient history. This is for the goal of learning and sharing the history of ancient societies that are the foundation of the modern world.
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Belle Gunness's Murder Farm 