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 books and song.
An example of this is the ballad text by Max Egly:
Belle Gunness lived in In-di-an; She always, always had a man; Ten at least went in her door– And were never, never seen no more. Now, all these men were Norska folk; Who came to Belle from Minn-e-sote; They liked their coffee, and their gin; They got it–plus a mickey finn. And now with cleaver poised so sure; Belle neatly cut their jug-u-lur [sic]; She put them in a bath of lime, And left them there for quite some time. There’s red upon the Hoosier moon; For Belle was strong and full of doom; And think of all them Norska men, Who’ll never see St. Paul again.
These songs were used for generations by both children and adults as a warning. To not judge a book and falsely assume that gender norms hold sway for everyone.
The list of books that are recommended: The Mistress of Murder Hill by Sylvia Shepherd, Belle Gunness: The Lady Bluebeard by Janet L. Langlois, Heartland Serial Killers by Richard C. Linberg
Visit the LaPorte County Community Museum for the Belle Gunness exhibit as well as a more in depth history of Belle Gunness and her farm.
Belle Gunness and her step-children: circa. 1907. La Porte County Historical Society Museum. LaPorte Archives
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 (10am to 4:30pm). You are always welcome to come to the La Porte County Museum and learn about key individuals that are connected to Belle Gunness and her farm.
Address: 2405 Indiana Ave., Suite 1 La Porte, IN 46350
(219) 324-6767
Admission Fees: Adults: $5.00 Seniors: $4.00
*Children Under 18 Years, La Porte County Historical Society Members, Time Traveler Affiliates, School Tours – FREE
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 Mid-west for Belle Gunness crimes had created a morbid fascination and a desire to see the ‘murder farm.’ Many traveled from all over the state of Indiana and even from out of state to see the corpses with their own eyes. A large festive gathering was made next to the Gunness estate where the tourists enjoyed everything from snacks to a baseball game while they waited to be allowed on the farm.
There was also a sense that something historic had just occurred and so people wanted to be at the center of events. They began writing there names on the barn in order to prove that they were there. These tourists also raided the farm for anything connected; some even attempted to steal the victims bones as souvenirs.
The town had become famous for its serial killer and most began to give Belle a new title: Lady Bluebeard, the Queen of Black Widows.
La Porte Courthouse: circa. 2018. South Bend Tribune
Crime Scene with Crowd: circa. 1908. La Porte County Historical Foundation. LaPorte Archives
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 was inconceivable to most of the community that she was actually a mass murderer. The police never committed an investigation of Belle’s activities and were more focused on the coming local elections than finding these ‘missing’ individuals. Though she was exemplary in convincing others in the community, it was the brother of one of the victims that finally revealed her crimes to the world. That man was called Asle Helgelein and he was suspicious of Belle Gunness because of the letters she sent to his brother Andrew.
The most well-known letters that Belle Gunness wrote was to her final victim Andrew Helgelein. Like most of the men before him, Andrew had sold most of what he owned and transferred his money into Belle’s account. The night he visited Belle’s farm was the last he would have. However, Andrew defied Belle on one account; he told his brother Asle abouth Belle and that he was going to see her. Asle began to grow concerned when his brother did not reply to any of his messages. He wrote to Belle asking where his brother was. It was at this point that Belle knew that she could not hide her crimes for long and tried multiple times to deflect Asle growing suspicions about her.
Belle Gunness was now facing multiple problems, the relatives of her victims were beginning to trace the disappearances to her putting her in a difficult spot. On April 27, 1908, Belle quickly wrote her last will ad testament with George Link, the clerk of the circuit court. In that will it was stated that she was leaving everything that she owned to her three remaining step-children. Excluding the ‘alive’ Jennie Olsen from the will. That same night the Gunness household was in a festive move with Belle treated her remaining children to fun games until she sent them to bed for the night. Joe Maxon, who replaced Lamphere as Belle’s farm hand, woke up at four in the morning and soon realized that the house was on fire. He tried to get inside the building and warn Mrs. Gunness but there was no sounds coming inside the house except the roaring of the fire. More neighbors came trying to save the people trapped inside but to no avail. They contacted sheriff Smutzer and told him that he suspected Ray Lamphere of starting the fire. Soon after the bodies of the Belle Gunness and the children were found and the police closed in on Ray Lamphere.
Ray Lamphere was arrested and was accused of both the arson and murder of the Gunness family. To the community, particularly the law enforcement officials, this was a simple case. He was rejected by Belle and sought revenge by killing her. This changed when Asle Helgelein came searching for his brother and discovered not only his brothers corpse but also the bodies of Belle’s other victims as well. This revealed Belle’s crimes to the world and shattered most people conceptions of who Belle Gunnes really was.
There is still some debate on Belle Gunness’s final fate. Some say that Ray Lamphere was simply framed by Belle Gunness as a scapegoat and she left the burning farm leaving the corpses of her step-children behind her. There is some evidence to this as the woman found in the basement was smaller than Belle was reported to be. Another theory is that Ray Lamphere did set the fire wanting to take revenge on Belle. After making sure she would not escape he set the fire during the night in the hope to kill Belle. This would assume that Belle did die in the fire. It is currently assumed that she escaped but this is still unknown.
Ray Lamphere was tried for Arson and murder while many tried to prove his innocence. Ray Lamphere was convicted and sent to jail where he died a year later.
Andrew Helgelein: circa. 1903. La Porte County Historical Society Museum. LaPorte Archives
Crime Scene, Where 9 of the Bodies were Found: circa. 1908. La Porte County Historical Society Museum. LaPorte Archives
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 victims professing her love and stating that she wanted a happy-married life on her beautiful farm. However, in those letters there were small messages telling them to sell what they had and also to not tell anyone that they were coming to see her. Strangely men came, one after another, bringing all they had seeking to marry this well-to-do Norwegian woman. Belle would take them to the bank and had them deposit their wealth into her account at the bank. When the tellers asked about these men she introduced them as cousins, brothers or husbands. Belle would then kill them, hide the bodies in the various holes scattered across the farm and then covered these areas with lime.
This continued when two separate events finally began to cast doubt on the La Porte widow. Jennie Olson became very suspicious of the dissapearence of so many of Belle’s suitors during the night, and the fact that they always left their possessions behind them. Belle had become to open with the possessions, such as a fur coat, that she used from her victims and this led to doubt in Belle’s step-daughter. Realizing that Jennie was suspicious, Belle decided to kill her. Belle told Jennie that she would leaving for school in California. Jenie disappeared soon afterward telling people that the schools ‘headmaster’ picked up her step-daughter. Jennie’s true fate would not be known until the revelation of Belle’s crimes.
The second was her handy-man of the farm, Ray Lamphere, was beginning to realize the disappearances of the men and family members that Belle had relations with; and it was due to this that Belle fired him. He continued to hang around the farm and kept an eye on the household for long periods of time. Belle Gunness turned to the authorities, telling them that Ray Lamphere was stalking her on her property, asking for their assistance. In this she was partially successful. She managed to cast doubt on her former farmhand, but not enough to get him incarcerated. Belle Gunness had once again manipulated the community to believe she was in the right.
Ray Lamphere: circa. 1906. La Porte County Historical Society Museum. LaPorte Archives
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 begins here as when these children began to mysteriously die. The Sorenson children suddenly became ill, likely through some sort of poison, and passed away. Then Mads Sorenson, at the age of 46, suffered a series of convulsions and died in 1900. Leaving only one Sorenson child alive, a young girl by the name of Jennie Olson. These death, combined with a fire that burned down the family shop in 1898, helped inspire Belle Gunness to gain vast amounts of wealth through insurance policies.
After the morbid ending to most of the Sorenson family, Belle moved both herself and her 3 remaining step-daughters to La Porte Indiana where she met with a man named Peter Gunness. The man had a daughter named Jennie S. that suddenly died suddenly when she was alone in the house with Belle in attendance, April 8, 1902, one week after Belle and Peter were married. Peter died 8 months later when he was struck over the head with a meat grinder that supposedly fell from a shelf. Just like before Belle Gunness got the insurance he carried, some 3,000 dollars, and continued to think of more ways to increase her financial standing.
The first set of murders was not random or by accident. They were consistently planed to make these deaths look as naturally as possible while she got large amounts of life insurance money from each one. Belle Gunness had successfully killed off both of her husbands and most of her step-children. It was then, that the legend of Belle Gunness became reality.
These crimes continued to remain hidden until her crimes were revealed in 1908. When the massive reveal came the entire La Porte County was shocked that a serial killer had lived for years in their fair town. The fact that Belle Gunness committed the crime of filicide, multiple times, was one that main 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. Yet even after she killed her step-children she concocted another plan to gain more wealth. Belle Gunness would soon put an ad in the paper asking for Norwegian men for their hand in marriage, while planning to kill them before they even arrive.
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 school where she received good grades and was by her teacher to be, “a clever pupil who behaved well.” She continued her education until she reached the age of 18, when she left her home to work on a farm for three years before leaving for America.
When she was 22 years old , Brynhild left Norway on September 8, 1881 on the ship ‘Taso’ to go to Chicago. She arrived in America with the financial help of her sister and brother-in-law, Nellie and John Larson, who were already living in Chicago at the time. After working as a housemaid she decided to get married and changed her name from Brynhild to Bella Peterson. Her name would once again change to Belle Sorenson, after she married Mads Sorenson in 1898. Through marriage she finally managed to escape the poverty she faced in her homeland. However, her name soon changed again and history would remember her to be “Belle Gunness.”
Belle Gunness's Murder Farm 