- I feel weird with earrings on. They're cute. You see, I used to have my ears stretched, so they're like cat butthole ears. So the only earrings I can wear are hoops, clip-ons. Shit like that. Why am I talking about earrings? I don't know. Who am I? I'm a new person. Earrings. Oh they move. Hi, how's it going? I hope you guys are doing well out there, staying safe, staying healthy. I know, it's like crazy
right now out there. Wild. I really don't even know what to say. I just hope you're staying safe. My name is Bailey Sarian,
and today is Monday, which means it's murder,
mystery, and makeup Money. (singing) If you are new here, hi, how are you? My name is Bailey Sarian,
and every Monday I sit down and I talk about a true crime story that's been heavy on my noggin. That wasn't a good one. Noggin. And I do my makeup, or
just get ready for my day at the same time. If you're interested in true
crime, and you like makeup, I would highly suggest you
hit that subscribe button, because I'm here for you every Monday. Last week we talked about Ted Bundy. Very interesting idiot. I don't know what else to say. Very sick, sick man. Today I was like, okay, I need to talk about a lady. A lady killer. We need a lady in here,
because it's dude after dude after dude, we gotta break it up. Break it up. So I got to Googling,
and a lot of you asked me how do I research my cases? I start with the Google search. I typed in weird serial killers. I want a weirdo. Like, I'm looking for the weirdos. Today I want to talk about a lady, and her name is Belle Gunness. Have you heard of her? Maybe. I hadn't, so I was very intrigued. Who is this woman? What'd she do? Apparently she did a lot, and apparently, allegedly, possibly, I think she got away with it. I think this bitch got away. So, if you're ever curious
as to what products I'm using I do list down in the
description box down below what I'm using, but other
than that, I will shut up, and let's talk about Belle, because I think Belle got away. But it's like, maybe you decide. It's up to you. Maybe. Whatever. I had a lot of coffee. Okay, so I'm gonna clip my hair back. I'm wearing earrings. (laughs) Okay, so Belle. Belle was originally, well
she was born Belle Paulson, and she was actually born
in a little town in Norway. Now, this whole story
takes place in the 1800s, the early 1900s, so you
know, with older stories, it's really difficult to find the truth, because things and stories tend to change throughout the years. Everybody has their own version. It's like a big game
of telephone, you know? So I'm gonna tell you
one story that I found, but I heard it went down differently through other sources. So the truth is in there somewhere, right? So, she was born in Norway. I think that is true. Anyways, so her father,
his name was Peter Paulson, and he was a traveling magician. Now, when Belle was a child,
she would participate, or just help her dad with his shows. Her mother was also
involved with it as well, and they would just put on performances, kind of like at a circus,
is what I was assuming. Because it said that Belle
would walk on a tightrope. To me, I'm like, is that a magician? Or is that a circus show? Either way, it just sounded
like they were performers. I don't think it really matters, but these are the things
that I do get stuck on. But what really was it? I don't know. It drives me wild. But I guess we'll never know. Anyways, so yes. So her father would do these performances, and she would participate in it as well. And then also her father
would help build stuff, like buildings, local
stores, stuff like that. Now, it was said that the family was very frugal. They were tight on money,
but also they would just save, save, save. So they would constantly
save any type of income they would make. They would pay for the essentials, but for the most part,
everything was saved. And because of this, the
family was able to retire when Belle was still a teenager. That was pretty exciting for the family. I mean, retiring sounds like a real hoot. With all this money that
the family had saved, they went on to purchase a little farm in Selbu, Norway, and were farmers now. Belle wanted to move onto a better life. She deserved better. She wanted, just a new life. So she's like, I'm gonna go to America. I'm gonna go to the United States. Anyway, so in 1881, Belle
decided she was gonna move to the United States in search for wealth. Money. So she did just that. So Belle moves to Illinois,
and while she's there she meets a Swedish man, and his name is Mads Albert Sorenson. Mads. His name is Mads. Yeah. Mads. And this is about two years
after moving to America. And she decides to get married to him. So they do. So the two of them are living in Chicago and they decide to upon
up their own candy store. Dream job, awesome. I love that. Candy store? Yes. So the two of them open up a candy store, and they both manage and work it. It seemed to be doing okay, because it had only been
open for a couple of months, and then it got really slow. Business really wasn't booming as much as they thought it was going to be. So they weren't making profit anymore, and it was becoming a
little bit of a problem, because they're losing money. Belle was out here to
get wealthy, you know? So she's getting, like,
shit this is not going according to plan. Time goes on, and whatever. It is what it is. I mean, maybe they can
turn a profit, come on. Anywho, so one night though,
a couple months after this candy store had opened,
a night a fire breaks out. The candy store is completely burned down. Belle is like, thank God. My prayers have been answered. Now, luckily nobody was hurt. To Mads, her husband,
he's a little irritated because that was all of his money he put into this candy store. Luckily, though, they had insurance on the building, awesome. So the insurance people come out because they file a claim
so they can get money, and because this fire seemed random and they thought it was
a little, I don't know, a little fishy, the insurance officials, they decided to investigate and find what the cause of the fire was. While insurance officials were looking for what caused the fire,
they didn't really have any luck finding anything,
so they were like, okay, well it must have just been an accident, and they paid Mads and
Belle their insurance claim. Now during this time, right after Belle and Mads got married, Mads had purchased two life insurance
policies in July of 1890. One was about to expire, and
the second one he purchased was gonna be the one that
continued on forward, but for two days, the
two insurance policies were both active, if that makes sense, at the same time. Yeah, it was like, for two days. Both of his policies were active. So, I mean, let's just
say, if for some reason Mads had died on one of those two days, I mean, that's a lot of
money you would get, right? So it was like, kind of like a jackpot. Anyways, so, well guess who dies? Yeah. It's Mads. He ends up dying on a day when both of his policies are active. Belle was questioned, obviously, like, what happened? And Belle said that Mads
had come home from work and that he had a really bad headache. All he wanted to do was just go lay down because his head was just pounding. And Belle said that she
just felt just awful, I mean, her poor husband
is just working so hard. Oh, he just has a headache. Let me take care of you, honey. Belle ended up giving
him some quinine powder for the pain, and then Belle
said when she came back into the room to check on
him, he wasn't breathing. He was dead. Belle was just shocked. He just had a simple headache. What the hell happened? Now, it would be ruled that Mads had died from heart failure, but his
relatives were like, no. There is no way he died of heart failure. They truly believed that
he, Mads, was poisoned. Aqua Tofana. Yeah. The family was like, he's been poisoned. There's no way he died. Now, they believed that he was poisoned because he wasn't ill at all. He lived a very healthy, happy life. There's just no way he would
die of heart failure, Belle. So it was a little strange,
and the family just wanted more answers, because I
mean, that can't be right. So naturally the family is
feeling a little suspish about the situation. Now, they go and they do
a little bit of digging, and they see that Belle
was able to collect two life insurance policies on Mad, because he had died on one of the days where he had both of
the insurance policies. I mean, what are the odds of that? But they see that Belle
had collected $8000, and she collected it the
day or so after his death, like, it was pretty quick. She went right for the money. Now, because of this, the
family was feeling like they wanted more answers, and
that Mads really didn't die of heart failure, or a
headache, or whatever the hell Belle is telling them. So the family, they had
asked for Mads' body to be exhumed, because they wanted to see what really caused his death. Now, for reasons unknown,
this never happened. His body was not exhumed. Belle had lost her place
of work, burned down, and her husband. Talk about a shitty week, you know? Then, because Belle seems
to have the worst luck ever, Belle's home that she shared with Mads, it burned down. It burned down. It was back to back to back. I mean, Belle is just
having the worst luck ever. Now, for good reason, the
insurance company is like, okay, okay Belle. What is going on? So they come out, and
they do an investigation, what caused the fire. Was it set intentionally? They come out, they question Belle, and they also just look to
see what caused the fire, but they found no proof of fraud, so the insurance company followed through paying out her insurance claim. So Belle just got money
for her husband dying, the candy store burning down,
and her home burning down. Hmm. So, Belle lost everything. Her husband, her job, her house. I mean, everything. And she was being questioned by people, you know, like, ooh. I must have been up to this. And she was sick of it, because she knew, deep
down, that she was innocent. So she decided that she was gonna move, because she needed to
get away from it all. She wanted to start again, a new life. So Belle decided to move,
and she ended up going about six miles from La Porte, Indiana. Anyway, so she purchases a farm out there. She comes from the
upbringing, her childhood. She knows how the farm goes. Her parents had one. She worked on it, and she thought okay, this would be a great
way to make some money. Now, while out there in Indiana, Belle would meet another man. His name was Peter Gunness. Just a few months after buying the farm, and in 1904, Belle and her husband Peter were working together at their new store that they opened up. It was a local market
where they would sell meat, market stuff. Now, Peter was mainly the
one who would work there. From my understanding, he
would work as a butcher. Everything's going great. Peter seemed to be well off. Once Belle had locked him
in, you know, got married, got that ring, she was like, okay, now we can open up a store together, and try and be wealthy again, because her first attempt
with the candy store was going downhill, so
she needed to redo it. Now, same thing, after sometime, sales just really
weren't doing that great. One day, Peter and Belle
were working together at the store, at the
market, and it was just a normal day, no big deal. Peter was organizing a shelf,
putting it all together, and somehow, a meat grinder
that was on the shelf, it somehow moved, due to
him trying to balance it, or something, she doesn't know. Belle doesn't know. But it moved. And it fell off of the shelf,
falls onto Peter's head, it crushes his head, crushes his skull, quote, thus ending his
existence, end quote. Peter dies a very awful death. A meat grinder falls on his head and crushes his skull. So the coroner's jury,
they questioned Belle, the only person who saw the accident. And they asked Belle,
can you please tell us exactly what happened? And Belle went on to
tell the coroner's jury that this meat grinder
just came off of the shelf, and it struck her quote, poor
husband's head, end quote. Now, since they didn't have any proof or any really reason to question this, Belle's statement was accepted as true, and his death was ruled as an accident. Now, it's said at the
time of Peter's death Belle and Peter, they had
three small children together named Philip, Myrtle, and Lucy. That is a name you just
don't hear anymore. Myrtle, Myrtle. I like that. Myrtle. The couple, they also
had an adopted daughter, and her name was Jenny Olsen,
and Jenny was 14 years old at this time, so technically
they had four kids. Belle continues now without her husband. She's taking care of the
children all by herself, which must be very difficult. And then she's also trying
to manage this store that she still has, and this farm. She's got a lot on her plate. September of 1906,
Belle's adopted daughter, remember, remember? I just mentioned her three seconds ago. Her name's Jenny. Jenny goes missing. Neighbors and locals, they
hadn't seen Jenny in weeks, and they thought, well
that's really strange. We normally see Jenny almost everyday. This would end up being
brought up to authorities. Police, they go out to Belle's farm, and they question her, like
hey, your neighbors and stuff haven't seen Jenny. Is she here? Can we see her, can we talk to her? Belle tells police that
Jenny was sent to Los Angeles to finish her education out in California. Now, when Belle told this to authorities, they honestly didn't
really think much about it. They didn't think to question Belle, because it was said that Belle
was not only intimidating, the way that she said things
was very confident and stern to the point where you didn't question it. I know you've met people like that, where it's like, they just say something with such confidence, or
the way that they say it, you don't even think to question it because why would you? Isn't that awful? I fall for it a lot. (laughing) Like in infomercials. They get me every time. Again, when Belle said this it was like, okay, well she must be
out there in Los Angeles, because Belle said so. Okay. Again, this was 1906, so I have no idea how they would even go
about solving mysteries back then, to be honest. Or how they would even locate people. How did they solve anything back then? Okay, authorities take her word for it. Jenny is in California. She's in Los Angeles going to school. Good for her. Great student. So as time went on, Belle
was feeling a little lonely, and she also just really needed help around her farm and her home, so Belle decided to
insert an advertisement, adversement, in the singles columns of one of the leading
newspapers of Chicago and other large surrounding cities. Belle put out an ad that
said quote, personal, dash, line, comely widow who owns a large farm in one of the finest districts
in La Porte County, Indiana, desires to make
acquaintance of a gentleman equally well-provided, with
view of joining fortunes. No replies by letter considered
unless sender is willing to follow answer with
personal visit, end quote. So Belle was trying to
find a well off man, a rich daddy. May 1907, a man named Ole B. Budsburg, he was an elderly widower, and
he was staying in Wisconsin, and he saw this adversement
Belle had put out. He wanted to meet Belle and
see what could come from it. He was pretty well off. He had money. He was alone. He thought hey, I should respond to this. I should go see her. He had two grown up sons, two adult sons. They were moved out on their own, doing their own thing, you know? So this man decided I'm
just not gonna involve them. I'm not gonna tell them,
because they'll talk me out of it. You know how that goes. So I'm just gonna keep my mouth shut and not say anything. I'm just gonna go out there
and see this Belle lady. So he just didn't tell his sons. So one evening, Ole
Budsburg, he left his home in Wisconsin and headed
out to Belle's farm. Sadly, he was never seen again. He never returned. Nobody saw him again. The end. Jeez Louise. The sons of Ole, they were
like, we haven't heard from our dad in quite some time. We need to go check in with him, see what he's doing. So they drive out to their father's home, and they realized that he's not there. And they started asking questions, asking neighbors and stuff, and luckily Ole had told a
neighbor where he was going, that he was going out to visit this lady from an adversement. So the sons are just
asking anyone and everyone and finally somebody said
that they had seen him when he was negotiating
the sale of a mortgage, at the La Porte Savings Bank, and they saw him draw out
money from his account, and this was on April 6th of 1907, and that was the last
time anyone had seen Ole. So another man named
Andrew, and he was living in South Dakota, but he also
saw Belle's advertisement. He was also communicating
with her, as well. Belle was keeping her
options open, which is fine. I'm not judging. So Andrew was writing Belle letters, and he decided before
going out there to see her, he wanted to get to know
her a little bit more, so Andrew was writing Belle letters, and planning to take a trip out there to go visit her. The more that they talked,
the more that Belle was trying to convince
Andrew to come out there and to live with her, stay at the farm, and open up a business out there with her. And this was sounding kind of interesting, or appealing to Andrew. Move with her, open up
a business, run a farm. Sounds good to me. Belle was impressed by Andrew's letters, and thought that they could
make a new life together, so Andrew decided to
head out to Belle's farm in January of 1908. His plan was to help maintain the farm and also make any
repairs that were needed. But he was gonna be the
handyman, and the lover. Andrew headed out there,
and he moved in with Belle. And then he was there for about two weeks when Belle had asked him to go with her to the savings bank in La Porte and get a $3000 loan for Andrew so that he could open up his own business. So they go, and the bank
won't approve Andrew's loan, but they did approve him
for a $1200 loan instead, and the bank would send
that money through the mail as a check. So Belle and Andrew go back to their farm, and they wait for the check to come. Now, Belle had her eyes
on that mailbox, okay? She was able to get her hands on the check before Andrew even saw it. So she was playing dumb. She was like, I have no
idea what's taking so long with this check. It's supposed to be
coming one day, they said. I don't know. And Andrew had no idea that
the check already came, and she took it, and she deposited $500 into the savings bank,
and then she took $700 and she deposited it into another bank. It was at the state bank. And she also paid numerous
large bills with it. So then a few days
later, Andrew disappears. Ugh, I know. Andrew's brother, he hadn't
heard from him in weeks, and normally he would
get letters from Andrew. Andrew had told his
brother that he was going to see this woman named Belle,
and told her the whole story. So this brother knew that
Andrew was at Belle's house. So he was like, I'm just
gonna write Belle a letter, and ask where he's at. Just ask her directly. So, the brother then
writes Belle and asks, do you know where my brother is at? I haven't heard from him and he's not responding to my letters. Belle told the brother
that Andrew had went and gotten a loan, and then
as soon as he got the money he took off and he went to Norway. I know. What? This is news to Andrew's brother. Belle also told Andrew's
brother that she was in shock as well, I mean, wow. It was just so random. I can't believe he
would do that, you know? Belle tells Andrew's brother,
hey you should come out to my farm so that you can
help me do an extensive search around the farm looking for Andrew, or looking for any clues. She is inviting Andrew's brother over. Don't go, it's a trap. Or she's trying to get with the brother. Either way, she's inviting him over, like come on over, help me look. I think he might be here. Maybe we can find some clues. It's a lot of land, and with your help, it would be easier for
us to cover this land and look for any clues. Great idea. Well. Let me tell you. Now that same day, April 28th 1908 at about three a.m.,
Belle, her home was burned to the ground, again. It's not funny, because this time a lot of people died. So when investigators got
a call about this fire that happened, and the house burned down they went out there to investigate. They go and they look at the home, and they see the charred
remains of a woman and three children. They were found inside the burned home. They took a closer work
at the children's remains, and they concluded that
they were the remains of Belle's children. They also find the remains of a woman. Investigators assume that this is Belle, because, I mean it's her kids, and the woman kind of resembled Belle, so they assumed she had died
along with the children. Upon further inspection,
they see that the head had been chopped off. Belle's head is removed. What the hell? And because of that, it
led to some questions, like who is this? Is this really Belle? And if it was Belle, somebody was angry. So investigators were
looking for any leads. And they come across this man named Ray, and Ray, at one time, had
worked on the farm with Belle, and he ended up leaving
due to not getting along with Belle, they had
arguments, they fought a lot, according to Ray, but
Ray would go on to say that he had a lot of dirt on Belle. He would also tell Belle that one day he was gonna expose her. But Belle would go
around and tell everyone that Ray was crazy, and that
nothing out of his mouth was something that you should believe. So she's spreading the word
that Ray is just crazy. That's why she fired him,
that's why she didn't want him working there, and
don't believe anything this crazy man has to say. Investigators would soon find
evidence that would prove Ray was at Belle's home
when the fire started. Oh shit. I tried to dig around a little bit, and I couldn't find exactly
what this evidence was, but something was linked to Ray to prove that he was in the
home when the fire started, so they say. Ray was questioned further,
and he would tell investigators that there were bodies
buried in the backyard of Belle's home. Oh shit. On May 5th, they, the
investigators, went looking, and they found five mutilated
and decomposed bodies buried in the backyard. Uh, what? Yeah. Five bodies were buried in the backyard. One of the bodies they were
able to identify as Jenny. Jenny Olson, the adopted daughter. Yeah, they found her in the backyard. So awful. It was believed that she was murdered because she knew too
much regarding the death of Peter in 1904. So the first body they find is Jenny, and then they find a second
body, and that body was Andrew from South Dakota. Remember, Andrew? They find him. The third was unidentified body of a man, and the fourth and fifth were the bodies of two eight-year-old girls. On May 6th, four additional bodies of men were also found buried in the yard. Yes, four more. Most of the bodies that were found had limbs removed in a way that indicated to authorities that the
amputations were performed by someone who was familiar with anatomy. They were cutting in the right places, they seemed to know what they were doing. The theory was that some of the bodies were just too heavy to carry or move. They were then cut up to
make them easier to move by one person. Also, authorities found burlap sacks and they had torsos, hands, arms, hacked from the shoulders down. They found human bones
wrapped in loose flesh that dripped like jelly. That's how they described it. I'm not trying to be gross. But they said it dripped like jelly. Many of the skulls had blunt trauma and gashes in the skulls,
which were found separated from the bodies. Belle what are you doing? This isn't farming. On May 9th, two more bundles of bones, decayed flesh, and clothing were found in their private graveyard they had built, but they were unable
to identify the bodies that they had found in
the private graveyard at that time. On May 14th, a few
bones of one more victim were found in the ashes in the cellar, and some in shallow graves
under the original hog pen. They also found more
bones near an outhouse, and also by the lake nearby. Yeah, I don't know what they were, I don't know what, who
was doing what with this. I don't know. The bones had been crushed on the ends, as though they had been
struck with a hammer after they were dismembered,
and then Quicklime, or calcium oxide, had been
scattered over the faces, and stuffed in the ears. It kind of sounds like
a chemist, or something, is doing this, right? A serious doubt arose as to
the actual fate of Belle. Now, it was suspected that
she, too, burned in the home, because they found a woman, a lady, they found a lady who looked like Belle who was burned with the children, but the head was cut off, which was kind of weird. They started thinking. They were like, hmm, it seems like Belle was up to no good. Like, she was doing some
shit here on this farm. They got to thinking that
Belle murdered her children and several others that
she may have lured in an unsuspecting woman into her home, someone who kind of looked like her. It wasn't her, but kind
of, they could be the same. They're thinking, well Belle
could have killed this woman, disfigured her remains
so that she could not be recognized, chopped her head off, messed up her, just her
appearance and everything, so they couldn't identify the body, and then Belle probably, maybe, allegedly, I need to say allegedly more, because I don't want ghosts from 1800 to come sue my ass. She set the house on
fire, and then escaped. It kind of sounds like something, right? Investigators are thinking
well Belle must have thought that they would believe the
charred remains of this woman were those of herself,
and that no further search would be made for her. Hello, that's like a great
idea in Belle's mind. Not in my mind. In Belle's mind. But, in the ashes of the home, they found a lower
jawbone from this woman. This was taken to a local
dentist for examination. Now, this is the only dentist in town, so if you're going to
get some teeth work done, you're going to this dentist. So this dentist would know what he did. Some of the dentistry work
was visible on the teeth, which were still connected to the jawbone. So they take it to this dentist, and this dentist looks at it, and he positively identified the work done as the work done for
Belle a year previously, and then on top of that, they found rings on the fingers of the dead woman. Those were also identified
as the property of Belle. And pieces she wore often. Of course, there was a
difference of opinion as to how Belle may have met her death. The theory of the
prosecution was that she was burned to death, but a doctor
who examined Belle's remains, his opinion was that her death was caused by contraction of the heart,
probably due to some kind of poisoning, and this doctor believed that this was the same
poison that was used to kill her other and
previous victims as well. Shortly after Belle's private
graveyard was discovered, the two sons of Ole, Ole, they came down to La
Porte because they thought maybe he had fallen
into this woman's trap. So they went down there,
and they were actually able to identify one of the bodies as that of their missing father,
so he was identified. And then on May 12th,
the surgical instruments with which the bodies were
probably dismembered with were found in the ashes,
and then on May 19th a woman from Wisconsin,
she arrived into town to inquire regarding her
brother who had left home to marry a rich widow in La Porte, but he was never heard from again. Unfortunately for her, most of the bodies were badly mutilated and decomposed. It was impossible to determine
if her brother's remains were in there, but it's
believed that he was a victim of Belle's as well. There was another man that went missing from Wisconsin, and it's
believed that he went down to go see Belle. He had taken a $1500 check with him, and his family went out
there to go see if he also was a part of this woman's trap. Unfortunately, again, they
were unable to identify his body, but it's
believed that he was also a victim to Belle, or
whatever was going on on this farm. His name was Henry, and
there's a couple of stories like this, it was put out
there in the newspapers about what was found at this farm, so people whose loved ones went missing and they believed went
there, they were coming out to the farm to identify,
hopefully, a family member or something, well not hopefully, but you know what I mean, right? So neighbors were saying that they saw Ray around the area, and
he was there that night that the fire started. But also they saw that after
the disappearance of Andrew, Ray was seen wearing an overcoat
which belonged to Andrew, and wearing some of his items,
just in general as well. And people thought it was
weird, but they also just didn't say anything, and on May 18th, a watch, which was in
the possession of Ray at the time of his arrest was identified as property of a man who left his home in 1907 to marry a widow in La Porte, but was never heard from again. So Ray was wearing items from the victims, so authorities go and
they question him further about this, like what the fuck? Are you the one responsible for this, Ray? Like, who did this? But Ray said that Belle gave him the watch as a gift for all the
work that he had done around the farm. Ray also said that he had no idea that it was a victim's watch, or coat, overcoat. It was just something that Belle gave him. So authorities ask Ray
what were his whereabouts on the night of the fire. Now, they had evidence linking Ray to the home that night,
but they didn't have a confession from Ray. And Ray claimed that he was in the company of a woman that night
until about four a.m. So authorities had to go out
and see if this was true or not and they find out that
Ray's not telling the truth. Ray. Eventually, after a lot of
pushing from authorities, Ray eventually confessed that
he had burned the home down, but denied that he had
committed any murders. Ray said that he and
sometimes a neighbor friend, they would dig trenches
around the farm for Belle, but they had no knowledge
as to what purpose they were going to be used for. They just did it because they needed to get paid by Belle. They didn't ask questions,
they just did it. On May 22nd, 1908, Ray
was charged for the murder of Belle and her family by means of arson. He pleaded guilty of
arson and was sentenced to two to 20 years in prison. Immediately after his
conviction, Ray's health failed rapidly, and he ended up
dying on December 30th, 1909. So not even that long
after he was sentenced, which sucks because
they could have probably got a lot more answers from him. On January 14th 1910, a
detective came forward and made a public confession
saying that Ray came to him after his arrest and
admitted that he helped Belle bury one of the victims,
and he also saw Belle chloroform another victim,
and then cut them up with a hatchet. Belle did this. Ray also confessed that
he chloroformed Belle and her family. Belle was pronounced
dead, but whether she died in the fire, or did indeed escape, remains a mystery. There were many reported
sightings of Belle in the Chicago area long
after she was declared dead. After the crimes came to
light, the farm became a huge tourist attraction. Spectators came from across the country to see the mass graves. Popcorn and souvenirs were
sold to all the people who came to check it out. Hey, dead people were buried here. Don't forget your popcorn! Hi! Wild times. The crime itself, though,
was acknowledged as a part of area history in the La
Porte County Historical Society Museum, and they
have a permanent exhibit dedicated to Belle Gunness, so in the end, Belle is
thought to have killed at least 14 people, most of whom were men she had enticed to visit her
on the promise of marriage, while some sources speculate
Belle was responsible for as many as 40 murders. A lot of the bodies that
were found on her property were not identified. They kept some of the
DNA in their systems, but it was never linked to people. Maybe it's changed now,
but from my understanding, a lot of them still remain a mystery. The question remains, was her death faked? Was she really responsible
for all these deaths? Was Ray the killer? What was the goal? So many questions, no answers. Who the hell was Ray? I don't know. Okay, so, kind of confusing. Sorry about it. This one striked my fancy because I don't think Belle died in that fire. No, no. Nay, nay. Belle seemed to be, I don't
want to call her smart, but she kind of seemed like it, right? She was getting away constantly with all this nonsense. If she killed her family and
burned down her house again she could leave and start a new life. Why wouldn't she? Plus she had all these bodies on the farm. What was she doing? Like, what was her goal? Just to get money? What was she doing with all this money? You guys. I have so many questions, and
there aren't many answers. The only reason she was connected to, or identified, was because this dentist had identified the work done on her teeth. How many teeth does he do? Does he do a lot of teeth? How sure is he? Was he paid off? We don't know. I think though that Belle got away. Anyways, I would love to hear
your thoughts down below. What do you think of Belle,
this awful woman who, I don't know what she was
doing, just getting money? Her poor kids, oh I forgot about them. Poor kids. Oh, Jesus. Do you think Belle's still alive? Well, not now. But do you think that she was still alive? I hope that you have
a wonderful day today, you make good choices. Please, please, please be safe out there. Please. I hope you have a wonderful
rest of your day ahead. Love and appreciate you guys so much. Oh my god yeah, I hit 800,000 subscribers. Oh, thank you so much. That's a lot. That's a lot of eyeballs, you know? It freaks me out. Thank you so much for subscribing and hanging out with me, man. Pretty cool. Now what? (laughing) Now what? Anyways, let me know who you
want to talk about next week. I will be seeing you guys later. I'm wearing earrings. Bye!
triflers need not apply!
any mfm fans?
im about 10 minutes in but can barely concentrate because her eyeshadow is so beautiful!
I have blisters, so it hurts to type, but I'm doin' it for the squad.
First of all, welcome to our new members!
Onto the video/case. As usual, Murderpedia is a great starting point for delving deeper into this case. There are also films about this case, which I might watch, because I liked this case. When Bailey was talking about the tightrope at the start, I thought it would be like the Grady Stiles case, but it wasn't.
I appreciate Bailey covering a female this week. It took me back to when she did Barbara Baekeland and Sante Kimes. I don't know if it's because I'm gay, but I find the female cases more fascinating than the male ones (sorry, fellas).
Overall, this case truly made me think of the American Dream, and the lengths people will go to in order to achieve it. Last week's case reminded me of that too. It's interesting how that's two videos in a row with a similar theme: ambition. Look at my English major brain go pre-coffee. Another point of interest for me is humanity's relationship with the macabre, with the farm becoming a tourist attraction in the end. Also, did Belle escape in the end? Hm ...
I also want to take a minute to appreciate Bailey's look in this video. Marathoning her videos in my spare time for about two weeks now (yes, I am slow) has confirmed she slays at creating and wearing smoky eyes.
... ok, I'm sorry, I still have so much more to type, but I need to stop now. I don't know how to convey I'm in pain without sounding dramatic. Take care, everyone. :)