e-branch
Login
My List - 0
Help
Home
My Account/Renew Loans
Community Info
KidSearch
New Catalogue!
Search
Advanced
By Format
By Number
My Searches
Can't Find it?
Find Magazine Articles & more
Problems?
Search:
Title Starts with...
Title Keyword(s)
Author/Performer/Name (Last,First)
Author/Performer/Name Keyword(s)
Subject Starts with...
Subject Keyword(s)
Series Starts with...
Series Keyword(s)
Anyword/Anywhere
List Name Keyword(s)
Refine Search
> You're searching:
Halifax Public Libraries
Item Information
Copy / Holding Information
Booklist Review
Library Journal Review
Publisher Weekly Review
Table of Contents
More Content
More by this author
Jonusas, Susan.
Subjects
Bender family.
Serial murderers -- Kansas -- Labette County -- History -- 19th century.
Frontier and pioneer life -- Kansas.
Kansas -- History -- 19th century.
Browse Catalog
by author:
Jonusas, Susan.
by title:
Hell's half-acre : t...
by call number:
364.15232 J81h
Search the Web
Jonusas, Susan.
Bender family.
Serial murderers -- Kansas -- Labette County -- History -- 19th century.
Frontier and pioneer life -- Kansas.
Kansas -- History -- 19th century.
MARC Display
Hell's half-acre : the untold story of the Benders, a serial killer
family
on the American frontier / Susan Jonusas.
by
Jonusas, Susan.
Viking, 2022.
Call #:
364.15232 J81h
Subjects
Bender
family
.
Serial murderers -- Kansas -- Labette County -- History -- 19th century.
Frontier and pioneer life -- Kansas.
Kansas -- History -- 19th century.
ISBN:
9781984879837 (hc)
Description:
xxii, 345 p. : ill., maps ; 24 cm.
Bibliography:
Includes bibliographical references (p. [327]-332) and index.
Summary:
"In 1873 the people of Labette County in Kansas made a grisly discovery. Buried on a homestead seven miles south of the town of Cherryvale, in a bloodied cellar and under frost-covered soil, were countless bodies in varying states of decay. The discovery sent the local community and national newspapers into a frenzy that continued for over two decades, and the land on which the crimes took place became known as 'Hells Half-Acre.' When it emerged that a
family
of four known as the Benders had been accused of the slayings, the case was catapulted to infamy. The idea that a
family
of seemingly respectable homesteaders -- one among thousands who were relocating further west looking for 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 what became of them when they fled from the law is a mystery that has remains unsolved to this day -- not that there aren't some convincing theories. Part gothic western, part literary whodunnit, and part immersive study of postbellum America, Hell's Half-Acre sheds new light on one of the most notorious cases in our nation's history while holding a torch to a society under the strain of rapid change and moral disarray. Susan Jonasus draws on extensive original archival material, and introduces us to a fascinating cast of characters, including the despairing families of the victims as well as the fugitives that helped the murderers escape. Hell's Half-Acre is not simply a book about a mass murder. It is a journey into the turbulent heart of nineteenth century America, a place where modernity stalks across the landscape, violently displacing existing populations and wearily building new ones. It is a world where folklore can quickly become fact, and an entire
family
of criminals can slip right through a community's fingers, only to reappear at the most unexpected of times"--Publisher.
Genre:
True crime.
Holds:
0
Copy/Holding information
Location
Collection
Call No.
Item type
Status
Due Date
Cole Harbour Public Library
Adult Nonfiction
364.15232 J81h
Adult books
Checked in
Add Copy to MyList
Borrow By Mail
Adult Nonfiction
364.15232 J81h
Adult books
Checked out
Jul 25, 2024
Add Copy to MyList
Horizon Information Portal 3.24_8902M
© 2001-2013
SirsiDynix
All rights reserved.