Further Reading for Belle Bunness
Hell’s Princess: The Mystery of Belle Gunness, Butcher of Men by Harold Schechter
Man alive, is this woman awful! Belle Gunness was born Brynhild Paulsdatter Storset in mid-1800’s Norway and made a reputation around the grim north as a terribly rotten individual before immigrating to the United States, posting up in Chicago around the same time as Last Podcast favorite, H.H. Holmes and began killing every dude that had the inexplicable urge to bed her down.
Gunness is what true crime fans calla Black Widow killer. Most Black Widow killers are pretty tame, though. Their body counts may be high at times but their methods of killing aren’t terribly interesting. The central motivation is money, insurance scams, and Gunness was no different. Her killing spree seemed to be centered on marrying a dude, killing him, and then collecting on the insurance money but where your average Black Widow kills with poison, Gunness was fucking Leatherface, practically. Her victims died in colorful ways and in spite of the extremely dubious circumstances, Belle always got away with it, utilizing the flimsiest of excuses.
In 1908, Belle’s home was consumed by flames and she was said to have died in it, but such was her reputation that sightings of Belle continued after her reported death. The actual total of kills is unknown, but it is reasonable to believe that Belle had murdered at least 14 people, some of them here own children.
Episodes: 374 & 376
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