Hell's Half Acre by Susan Jonusas

Author: Susan Jonusas 

Title: Hell's Half Acre

Publisher: Scribner

Published: 2022

Pages: 368

Genre: True Crime 

 

     In 1873 the people of Labette County, Kansas made a grisly discovery. Buried by a trailside cabin beneath an orchard of young apple trees were the remains of countless bodies. Below the cabin itself was a cellar stained with blood. The Benders, the family of four who once resided on the property were nowhere to be found. The discovery sent the local community and national newspapers into a frenzy that continued for decades, sparking an epic manhunt for the Benders. The idea that a family of seemingly respectable homesteaders—one among the thousands relocating farther west in search of land and opportunity after the Civil War—were capable of operating "a human slaughter pen" appalled and fascinated the nation. But who the Benders really were, why they committed such a vicious killing spree, and whether justice ever caught up to them is a mystery that remains unsolved to this day. 

     When it comes to my love of crime books it does not merely stick to that of the fictional world. I have read a few books on the subject of true crime. Although I would say that most of my time spent on this subject has been devoted to tv shows or documentaries. But when I came across this book by chance my interest was peaked. The Benders were a family I had never heard of before, although I suspect that they may have in some ways served as the inspection for a slew of horror films that have come out over the years, even if they have not directly said so. After all most horror stories come from some sort of reality, even if they are turned up greatly for the shock and spectacle. So I figured it was worth devoting some of my time to learn about this evil family and their victims that history for the most part has come to forget. It's fascinating to me how much we like to look into the dark recesses of humanity as long as we can do it from the safety of our own sofas. 

     Jonusas has definitely done a great deal of research in putting this book together. It cannot have been an easy task in hunting down all the documentation for this. One could not imagine the west as it was then known was the greatest place for storing paperwork. Luckily a great many of the events that take place were clearly documented throughout American newspapers as the Bender's crimes came to light and their horrific deeds shocked and tantalized the great American public. But then as she says herself, not all the newspaper accounts at the time can be trusted. After all, they did have papers to sell and as is still the case the more shocking and gruesome the headline the quicker they fly off the shelf.  So with this in mind, the author starts her work with a summing up of a little of what took place in that small cabin. It helps to catch us all up as I would imagine not many people know a great deal about the family. we then move back to when the family first set up home in what was then a little more than a wilderness. Throughout the course of further chapters, we see how they adapt as the town grows and more travels cross paths with the Benders. Here we get a crossing over the lines of what is known and what is suspected. She gives us conversations that for some might seem like the most likely to have taken place. But I can't imagine they can be held as being the literal truth of things.  But what it does do is give a more real face to people who are long since dust in the wind. 

     What the Benders got up to can only be described as horrific and throughout the course of this book there is nothing that might give you cause to give them sympathy. At some point, they clearly made the decision that it was easier to kill people and then rob them instead of just straight up robbing them. But it is also strange that a whole family would go along with this. I suppose we are used to lone killers doing evil things. Serial killers after all are the subject matter of so many books that I fear I could not count them all. So to us readers, it does seem all the more horrific that not one member of the family did anything to stop it. There is not much time given over to describing the actual killings themselves but then who we get this information from as most ended up beneath the floorboards.  She does however give us great details about the state of the cabin as some travelers and friends came and went but also what happened when the crimes were uncovered. The sheer stench of the place and the animal life that scavenged off the dead must have been one of the worst things many who went in there must have seen. But what we can do is surmise a great deal of what took place to these people if they had so little thought for what was happing beneath the floorboards. But what the author has done is given us a great overview of the life and crimes of the Benders to the best of her ability. After all, these crimes happen a great many years ago and it's not like there is anyone left to ask for first-hand accounts from. 

     As true crime novels go this seems to be to me one of the better ones and because it has a more narrative style to its text it feels more like someone telling you a story of these events rather than reading facts and police reports. So what we get is something a little easier to pick up and continually read. Sometimes with true crime novels, you must put it down and take a step away to clear your mind of such horrible things. But in part, this may be down to the reported motives behind their crimes. But that withstanding there is still a couple of moments that still take you aback. So in the end I have come to learn about this wicked family and crimes which were things I had no knowledge of before. Jonusas has done a great job in producing a book she can easily be proud of.