# The Bloody Benders: America's First Serial Killer Family

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/weird-darkness-paranormal-true-crime-stories-475827/the-bloody-benders-america-s-first-serial-killer-family
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/weird-darkness-paranormal-true-crime-stories-475827/the-bloody-benders-america-s-first-serial-killer-family.md
Podcast: [Weird Darkness: Paranormal & True Crime Stories](https://stenobird.com/podcast/weird-darkness-paranormal-true-crime-stories-475827)
Published: 2026-07-18T00:00:02+00:00
Episode link: https://weirddarkness.com/bloodybenders
Audio file: https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/api.spreaker.com/download/episode/73032970/wd20260717_bloodybenders_withcrosshaints.mp3
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/weird-darkness-paranormal-true-crime-stories-475827/episodes/the-bloody-benders-america-s-first-serial-killer-family
Duration seconds: 3808

## Resource

Travelers on the Kansas trail stopped at a lonely inn run by a family of Spiritualists — and the ones who sat in the seat nearest the curtain were never seen leaving it. 🎵 Stick around to the end of the episode for a CROSSROADS HAINT song about the Benders! READ A DEEP-DIVE ARTICLE ABOUT THE BENDERS: https://weirddarkness.com/bloody-benders EPISODE BLOG PAGE (includes sources): https://weirddarkness.com/bloodybenders READ or DOWNLOAD the full transcript of this episode: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/yckuftrv FEATURED STORIES IN THIS EPISODE: When you think of monsters in America, you probably think of Bigfoot in the American Northwest – or perhaps the Chupacabra in the South. Maybe you think of Dogman in the upper Midwest. But people don’t typically think of the American lakes and shores, where we have our own collection of monsters and sea serpents. (American Sea Monsters) *** As the saying goes – don’t do the crime if you can’t do the time. But once in a while the punishment goes far beyond what the crime calls for. (Cruel and Unusual Punishments) *** Marilyn Monroe was found dead of a drug overdose on August 5, 1962. And while the facts of her death are shocking, her troubling childhood wasn’t pretty either. We’ll look at the life and death of this Hollywood bombshell. (The Troubled Life And Shocking Death of Marilyn Monroe) *** We’ll take a look at, not the very first serial killer - but the first serial killer FAMILY in America! The bloody Benders! (America’s First Serial Killer Family) CHAPTERS & TIME STAMPS (All Times Approximate)… 00:00:00.000 = Show Open 00:01:45.702 = American Sea Monsters 00:15:00.217 = The Troubled Life and Shocking Death of Marilyn Monroe *** 00:36:04.254 = Cruel and Unusual Punishments *** 00:46:15.542 = America’s First Serial Killer…

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## Transcript

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