Little Slaughterhouse on the Prairie (Bloodlands collection) by Harold Schechter

Little Slaughterhouse on the Prairie (Bloodlands collection) Reviews

• 
  Justin Tate

  I didn't even read the description before starting this. It was an Amazon freebie and only an hour on audio. I thought maybe it was one of those mashup books like Pride & Prejudice & Zombies. It is not. It's actually a well-researched true crime book detailing the Bender family serial killers that took place during the same time period that Laura Ingalls Wilder was having her adventures on the prairie. There are even rumors that Laura's father killed the Bender family after they were exposed. This mini book does a great job of presenting historical information in a crisp, concise way. I don't know if it's still free or not, but worth grabbing if it is!
• 
  Majenta

  Well-researched and mercifully short. 3 1/2.
• 
  Char

  I'm convinced that Michael McDowell based his story KATIE on the Bender family. This family would provides fodder for a lot of horror tales. The family that kills together stays together.
  Narrated by the excellent Steven Weber.
• 
  Sara

  True crime light, this is the short tale of a family of serial killers known as the Benders. It recounts their gruesome history in Kansas during the often idyllically portrayed ‘Little House on the Prairie’ period as they butcher numerous lonesome travellers at their seedy inn.
  
  This is short in length, and because of this it’s also rather light in detail. It’s a jaunt down History rather than an in depth character analysis with a broad overview of events told in a sensational way. There’s lots of loose ends too, with no definitive conclusion other than the Benders exposure and evasion. It’s interesting enough to someone like myself who isn’t an avid follower of non fiction crimes and hadn’t heard of the Benders before, but I doubt it would wet the appetite of a hardcore reader.
  
  Easy to read in one sitting as something a little different when the mood arises, but I doubt I’ll read the others in the series.
• 
  BAM the enigma

  OMG! Laura Ingalls and her family stopped for water at the Benders’ house!!!!
• 
  Mohammad

  هارولد شکتر پژوهشگر و متخصص نوشتن داستان‌های جنایی مستنده و نشر خوب تا الان سه جلد از مجموعه‌ی مشاهیر مرگ این نویسنده رو منتشر کرده. شکل روایتش شبه ژورنالیستی و صفحات کتاب‌ها پر از عکس و بریده‌ی جرایده. برای من جالب بود که هر کدام از این کتاب‌های کوچک حدود هفتادتا رفرنس داشت
• 
  Montzalee Wittmann

  Little Slaughterhouse in the Prairie discusses the crimes of the Benders that lived during the time of Laura Ingals Wilder. The Benders preyed upon single people stopping by and Laura said (outside of her books) that her dad had stopped to get water but didn't go inside, he might have died if he had! Great info in here about the crimes and investigation. It even mentions my little Missouri town of Shelbina!
  Narration is spot on!
• 
  Jenny (Reading Envy)

  I was looking for something scary to read on my Kindle and came across this short tale of a family of serial killers that lived down the road from the Ingalls family. I thought this was going to be a zombie retelling of Little House on the Prairie (not sure how I got that idea, just made assumptions) but instead got a well-documented true crime story, with pictures! It is chilling and bloody, still perfect for my mood at the time.
• 
  Juli

  I grew up reading the Little House books by Laura Ingalls Wilder. Pa playing his fiddle. Ma sewing. The kids playing in the great outdoors. Jack running behind their covered wagon. A great adventure! But, moving west and settling in mostly unsettled, still wild areas also held many dangers. Not just from weather and animals....from people, too. Little Slaughterhouse on the Prairie tells the story of the Bender family. The Benders ran an inn on the Kansas prairie. They offered travelers hot meals and a place to sleep, but served up murder and robbery as well. The family smashed in the skulls of many guests, stealing their belongings and disposing of the bodies. Sometimes they killed for the money solitary travellers carried....sometimes seemingly just for fun. Either way, the family was horrifying. It just wasn't safe to travel the Kansas prairie alone when the Benders were around.
  
  I had heard this story before. I grew up in Kansas and the tale of the murderous Benders is still told to this day. Schechter gives the facts in an interesting manner, touching not only on the crimes but on the disappearance of the family after their crimes were discovered. It's not known whether the family was quietly murdered by vigilantes or if they escaped off into the night to commit crimes elsewhere. None of the family members was ever seen again. At one point, a woman was put on trial for possibly being a Bender, but her identity couldn't be proven. Laura Ingalls Wilder even added to the mystery by saying she believed her father joined a vigilante group that killed the Benders....but the time lines just don't add up. Her family no longer lived in the area when Benders crimes came to light. It's a mystery that will never be solved.....the answers lost to time.
  
  Little Slaughterhouse on the Prairie is the second tale in the Bloodlands Collection from Audible/Amazon Originals. There are six stories of true crime in the collection. I love the mix of history and true crime story...so I'm enjoying the stories in this collection. Little Slaughterhouse on the Prairie is a short read....the audio is just under 1 hour and 20 minutes long. This is non-fiction so if documentaries on history/true crime are not interesting for you, it might be best to pass on this collection.Steven Weber narrates. He reads at a nice, even pace and his voice is easily understandable. I have partial hearing loss but was easily able to hear and understand this entire audio book. The kindle book version of this story uses Kindle-In-Motion....so the cover, some of the illustrations and text has animations. It adds a bit of entertainment to the story.
  
  The tale of the murderous Benders really brings home the fact that the Wild West was dangerous. People disappeared all the time -- accidents, illness, animal attacks.....and dangerous people. The brutality of their crimes is the reason why their story is still told today. Tricking solitary travelers into a hot meal at their table....only to sneak up and bash their heads in and throw the bodies out like garbage after stealing what little they owned. Horrific!
  
  I'm enjoying the Bloodlands Collection so far. Some of the stories are new to me....some are a refresh on crimes I already know about. Very well done!
• 
  Brad

  I have to admit that it was the title that sucked me in. I'm even a fan of
  Harold Schechter, but I don't know that I would have started listening to his Bloodlands true crime-ellas, had it not been for the macabre punniness of Little Slaughterhouse on the Prairie.
  
  And I am just going to answer the question straight off: yes, the Ingalls family make an appearance in this book. They lived in the same general community as the Benders at the same time. They may even have had some contact with the Benders (although that is pure speculation), so coming to Little Slaughterhouse on the Prairie for a peek at the Ingalls isn't completely disappointing.
  
  The book is, however, an extended true crime essay, so it is definitely not about the Ingalls. It is about the aforementioned Benders and the folks they killed -- mostly for money but also, possibly, for the thrill -- in their crappy little shack in the middle of the American mid-west in the decade following the US Civil War.
  
  There doesn't seem to be a whole lot of background information available on the Bloody Benders, which means we get a lot about their crimes, a lot about the pursuit of them once they left Kansas, and plenty of theories about where they might have gone, but we don't really get any insight into what made them. Perhaps a great playwright can take this moment and use it to stage a Bloody Bender play that looks for a deeper truth.
  
  Regardless, as short form true crimes go, Little Slaughterhouse on the Prairie is top notch. One of my favourite quick listens of all time.
  
  
• 
  Robin

  This true crime story is about the Bender family, a group of serial killers who lived halfway between Independence and Laura Ingalls Wilder's prairie home. Years after the murders became known, Laura wrote in a magazine article that there were many stories about living on the prairie that she couldn't include in her children's books...like three people who froze to death during the blizzard of Plum Creek...and the Bender Family Inn. The author pulled together various stories about the Bender family including accounts of people stopping at the Bender Inn and barely escaping with their lives. When the bodies were eventually discovered, the Bender family had disappeared from their homestead. Several rewards were offered, and vigilantes hunted for the family for years. There were reported sightings all over the country...from Michigan to New Mexico. Finally, sixteen-year-later, two arrests were made.
  
  I am not a fan of true crime. For some reason, I can read an account of a fictional murder and not flinch. But if I read about real murders, it freaks me out. The subject matter was interesting, but so much of it was speculation from the public. To this day this is an unsolved mystery. My rating: 4 Stars.
  
  
• 
  Nancy

  Fun and a fast true-crime story about the Bender family, a family of serial killers, that lived down the road from the Kansas homestead of Laura Ingalls Wilder. Laura Wilder even wrote of her father being called out on a vigilante mission to search for the Benders after their horrible lifestyle was discovered. Later that story was proven to not be true because the dates were off.
  
  This story reminded me of the beginning of Robert R. McCammon's book, "Speaks the Nightbird." Wonder if it is based on the Bender family.
  
  Very informative quick read.
• 
  Patrick

  WOW what a crazy story. And the Ingels of The Little House on the Praire fame lived nearby and actually stopped there to water their horses.
• 
  Ann-Marie "Cookie M."

  Somewhat interesting Kindle Short true crime story about a gruesome family of 19th century Kansas murderers who's legend has somehow become mixed with tale of Laura Ingalls Wilder.
  What really happened? Did the Benders really kill line travellers at their ramshackle inn in the 1870's?
• 
  Netanella

  Kindle Prime offered this series free with audible yesterday, so I snatched up the entire set to borrow. I know I'll be reading these instead of doing any real work this weekend...
  
  The murderous Bender family of the late 19th century are infamous for depraved killings on their homestead in Kansas. Ma and Pa Bender and siblings John Jr. and Katie ran a 'Grocry' and inn, really a one-room house divided into two rooms by a sheet hung down the middle. When a person traveling solo happened upon their lot, Katie would make sure to seat the traveler with their back close to this curtain. In this way, Pa and John Jr. could sneak up behind him and bash his brains in. There was a pit kept under the house in which the family would dispose of the bloody remains.
  
  The Benders called it Slaughter Day. Creepy. I enjoyed this short historic true crime, and used both the audible narration and old fashioned reading. I was unfamiliar with the connection with Little House on the Prairie and the Laura Ingalls Wilder connection. Nicely done.
• 
  Rachelle

  I first came across the depraved story of the Benders on the amazing true crime podcast My Favorite Murder, and it piqued my interest in learning more. This is an in depth telling about how the Benders settled in on what came to be known as Hells Half Acre, the killings and how the family scattered never to really be heard from again. Great one for true crime lovers.
• 
  Amy

  I had heard of the Benders before; I think from Pioneer Girl. I didn't really know the extent of their crimes. These people were evil!
  
  This is a short story available to borrow from Amazon; it's in the Bloodlands collection.
• 
  Deepu Singh

  Gave me goosebumps.
• 
  Laur

  Fascinating, captivating, interesting. A family turns mass-murderer's (working together)... slaying those who are innocent. Victims include men, women, and even a baby. They were atrocious. Why? Where they ever truly caught and brought to justice? This family were contemporaries to the Laura Wilder time period.
• 
  rose ✨

  it’s possible i’m just not a huge fan of the way harold schechter writes… it’s like he’s trying so hard to stay impartial and above it all and the result is well-researched but so dry. how do you make a family of serial killers operating down the road from little house on the prairie sound this boring?
  
  rating: 3/5 stars
• 
  Martin, I hate MTG

  A family of four move from Wisconsin to a southeastern part of Kansas in the late 1800s. This mysterious family, the Benders, sets up a grocery store/hotel/restaurant. Some visitors who check in, do not check out.
  
  For some reason, the family kills some people stopping by to eat. The guest would sit at a table with his back to a curtain and family members would strike the unsuspecting customer with a hammer and then slit their throats. There was no rhyme or reason for these random killings.
  
  The Benders left mysteriously and were never caught. Although there were possible sightings of the Benders all over the world.
• 
  Doug Phillips

  This is an interesting "Little" book. While it only has a very tangential relationship to a young Laura Ingalls Wilder and her family as they lived in Kansas, the true-crime aspect of the book kept me engaged throughout the story.
  
  As this is a relatively short read, it is easy to pour through it in one sitting. The author does present excellent sources referenced for his facts, and it is claimed that this would be the very first "serial" killing in U.S. history. To think that the Bender clan laid wait for victims and killed for the sheer enjoyment, puts me in mind of H.H. Holmes.
  
  I would not go so far as to say that this is the most shocking or bone-chilling recount I've ever read. However, it is a non-fiction work that often seems too unbelievable as to not be fiction.
  
  Enjoy. Now on to the next TBR in my stack.
• 
  Jena

  I’ve heard about the Bloody Benders before but this is by far the most detailed account I’ve read.
  
  The book is short but much of that may be due to the fact that the Benders, a family of serial killers who brutally murdered travelers in 1870s Kansas, were never caught. Most of their past is guesswork and where they disappeared to remains a mystery. No one even knows if they were truly related at all.
  
  What is known is that Kate, John Jr., Ma and Pa Bender murdered at least 20 people. Some were killed for their money, others seemed to have been killed for pure entertainment. The family Bible contains notes that seem to suggest a certain kind of relish in the killings.
• 
  Misty Marie Harms

  True crime story on the bloody Bender family. This family of serial killers lived in Kansas from 1872-1873. They owned a general store and small inn called, Wayside Inn, These pioneers welcomed unwary visitors with jackrabbit stew and a sledgehammer to the skull. Kate, the eldest daughter, lured the people in. It is a short, but excellent read.
  
  
  😻😻😻
• 
  Anne

  Interesting Story of Prairie Serial Killers
  
  This was a short true story about the Bender family of Kansas. I was not aware of this prior to reading this book and found it really interesting.
• 
  Stephanie ((Strazzybooks))

  Another of Amazon's Bloodlands collection, this told the story of the murderous Bender family who lived on the Kansas prairie. An interesting listen.
• 
  Quentin Wallace

  This is my favorite volume of the series. This deals with a family of serial killers, the Benders, who ran a primitive inn in Kansas back in the 1870s. The real life Ingalls family, of Little House on the Prairie fame, supposedly even stopped for water at the Inn, which much like HH Holmes hotel years later came to be known as a death house.
  
  The family preyed on travelers, robbing them and murdering them when they stopped for the night, or even just for lunch or purchases in some cases. The case is even more chilling because robbery wasn't the sole motive and the family apparently were just murderers who liked to kill. The family just disappeared one day, and while many accounts have been given over the years, no one is truly sure what became of them.
  
  I'm a huge fan of Weird Western fiction, having written some myself, so this one was especially interesting to me. The very idea is bone chilling, especially back in those days when things like this could go unnoticed for much longer than they would in modern times.
• 
  Teri

  This is a short story about the true crimes of the Bender family, known serial killers from 1871-1873. The "Bloody Benders" was a family living in Labette County deep in the prairie lands of Kansas. They build a makeshift store and inn for lonely travelers along the Osage trail between Independence, Missouri and Kansas. They would entice these travelers into the inn for dinner and kill them, disposing of their bodies in the night. After a few too many people went missing, loved ones started searching and came across the abandoned home of the Benders, who had disappeared.
  
  Schechter details the events that lead up to the discovery of the Bender home and the search of the Benders afterward, including the urban legends that live on. This is a quick read and is run to read as a "Kindle in Motion" that should be read via the Kindle app on an iPad or Kindle Fire to check out the fun moving graphics.
• 
  Brian

  A very quick listen, this tells the true story of a family of serial killers active in Kansas near where the Wilders lived in later years. Despite the ramshackle setup, travelers stopped and never left again. Never captured, their exploits remain of interest to this day. If you like true crime and have a couple of hours, I would give this a go.
• 
  April Taylor

  Like many true crime books, the beginning of this very short history lesson is a bit dry. But once it picks up, it’s a fascinating look at the family that actually predated H.H. Holmes as America’s first serial killers.
  
  The author relies heavily upon original newspaper sources, so there are a lot of quotes from people involved in the case. This may have required less writing, but it takes a deft understanding of true crime story structure to weave everything together into a compelling narrative.
  
  The Ingalls family is mentioned a couple of times, but the author is careful to point out the holes in at least one of their stories. In other words, this book should help dispel a popular myth. People expecting the book’s title to tie in more closely with the Ingalls family may be a bit disappointed, though.