Warning: Not for the faint of heart or those prone to nightmares
An unmarked grave in Forest Home Cemetery holds the remains of one of America’s most devious seria killers … or does it?
Belle Gunness was born in 1859 under the name Brynhil Paulsdatter Storseth. A local rumor claimed that when she was a young woman, a rich man jilted her and beat her, causing her to lose a baby. In 1881, Brynhild left Norway for America, changing her name to Belle along the way in order to sound less foreign. Belle was a tall, strong woman who was not afraid of work. Her many jobs included one in a butcher’s shop, a skill that would later prove useful.
Three years after arriving in the U.S., Belle married Mads Sorenson. The marriage was not blessed with children – some speculated that the beating in Norway had left Belle infertile. In 1891, Mads and Belle adopted baby Jennie whose mother, a neighbor, had died. Three years after adopting Jennie, a candy store that Belle and Mads owned in Chicago at Grand and Elizabeth Street burned to the ground. Jennie and Belle were the only two in the store at the time of the fire. It wasn’t a total loss, as the store was insured. Belle collected the insurance money.
Belle bought a house in Austin on Alma Street (now North Latrobe Ave.) with the money from the store. She also welcomed four more children into the home, even though no one saw her pregnant. (In the late 1800s, it wasn’t uncommon for people to abandon or give away unwanted babies.) Sadly, two of the babies in Belle’s care were soon dead. Serendipitously, both children had life insurance policies. Belle collected the money.
In April of 1900, the house in Austin caught fire. Belle collected the insurance money.
Later that year, Mads purchased a new life insurance policy. There was one day when his new policy and his old policy overlapped. On that day, July 30, Mads died after Belle gave him headache powder. An inquest was held, but no one was found responsible. Belle collected the insurance money … from both policies.
With this insurance money, Belle bought a farm in La Porte, Indiana, where she relocated with Jennie and the two other remaining children, Myrtle and Lucy. Within a year, Belle married the recently widowed Peter Gunness who had two children of his own, a 4-year-old and a 7-month-old. Five days after the wedding, the 7-month-old died while in Belle’s care.
Seven months after the wedding, Peter Gunness was found dead in the La Porte farmhouse. Belle said that a meat grinder and a pot of boiling brine had landed on his head. During the inquest, the death was ruled an accident. Belle collected the insurance money.
Peter’s 4-year-old was lucky. Her uncle, who distrusted Belle, came to the farm and took the little girl home with him. She was the only child to survive living with Belle.
Within a year of Peter’s death, another baby, Philip, showed up in Belle’s life. She was 43 and had been working in the field on the day she supposedly gave birth to the baby whom all the neighbors said did not look like a newborn. (Once again, no one remembered her showing any signs of being pregnant.)
Around this time, notices started appearing in Norwegian-language newspapers advertising a comely widow with her own farm in Indiana looking to meet a gentleman with whom to join fortunes. Naturally, men started showing up at the farm in Indiana, but no one saw them leave. Belle soon had a room full of trunks with men’s clothing that had been left behind. Belle said that the men had gone “out West.” Another person no one saw leave the farm was Jennie. Belle told everyone that Jennie had gone off to college in California.
One of the men who answered Belle’s ad was Andrew Helgeline. Andrew didn’t follow all of Belle’s instructions – not only did he tell his brother, Asle, about the rich widow he was going to meet in Indiana, he also saved all the love letters she had sent him. After two years of correspondence, Andrew Helgelien arrived in La Porte in January of 1908. One of Belle’s instructions that Andrew did follow was to bring lots of money. Belle rushed him to the bank to make the deposit – three thousand dollars (over one hundred thousand in today’s money). After the money was safely in the account, Andrew also disappeared.
After several months of not hearing from his brother, Asle wrote to Belle asking where Andrew was. Belle told Asle his brother had gone out of the country to see family. Asle didn’t believe Belle and wrote to the sheriff in La Porte who was unable to help find Andrew. In March, a frustrated Asle informed Belle that he was traveling to Indiana to search for himself.
On April 27, Belle went to the general store and bought two gallons of kerosene and toys for the three children. She visited a lawyer and made out a will.
On April 28, the farmhouse caught on fire. A hired hand and neighbors tried to get Belle and the children out of their bedroom, but no one opened the door when they pounded on it. Rescuers leaned a ladder against the upstairs bedroom window, but they couldn’t see anyone in the room. The fire was so intense, that it was hours before anyone could search the rubble. Finally, four bodies were found in the basement three young children and the corpse of woman with its head missing. Searchers looked and looked, but the woman’s head was never found.
Asle arrived to find everything in ashes. Undeterred, he combed through the wreckage looking for any evidence of his brother. As he was searching, he noticed piles of fresh dirt near the hog pen. He, and the others in the search party, started digging. Asle made a horrifying discovery – his brother’s body. The searchers didn’t stop there. As more and more of the piles were unearthed, dozens of dismembered bodies, horribly hacked apart, were extracted. Sadly, in one of these lonely piles, the remains of Jennie were found.
Some estimate that Belle slaughtered 20 to 40 people.
News of the “murder farm” and the “female Blue Beard” reached papers nationwide. The Indiana farm was mobbed with curiosity seekers. Thousands of people came out to gawk as the property was methodically excavated. Some even picnicked on “Gunness stew” which was sold by vendors.
Without a head, the woman’s body in the basement could not be definitively identified. Many believed it couldn’t be Belle because the corpse was too small. Others said that dental bridgework found in the ashes proved it was Belle. Still others speculated that it wouldn’t have been beyond Belle to plant her bridgework in the debris.
For years, people reported seeing Belle all across the country. These sightings routinely turned out to be false alarms, but, in 1931, a woman in San Francisco, Esther Carlson, seemed to be a feasible candidate. Esther was accused of killing Scandinavian men (and a woman) using some of the same techniques that Belle had used. Some say Esther bore a strong resemblance to Belle (including how she wore her hair) and she reportedly had a photo of three children who looked like Belle’s children. Frustratingly, Esther died before the theory could be either proven or disproven.
The mystery continues to fascinate people to this day. In 2008, Belle’s body was exhumed to see if DNA from the remains matched DNA on the letters she had sent or was a match to Esther. Sadly, the DNA from the remains was too deteriorated to make any final conclusions.
Here in Forest Park, lying in an unmarked grave, are Mads, Caroline, Axel, Myrtle, Lucy, Philip and the headless corpse of a woman who may or may not have been one of the most prolific female serial killers in the U.S.
References: Hell’s Princess: The Mystery of Belle Gunness, Butcher of Men, Burlington Daily News, New York Herald, The Indianapolis News, PBS, Chicago Tribune, Forest Park Review