Buried Bones - a historical true crime podcast with Kate Winkler Dawson and Paul Holes Horrors on the Homestead
Oct 29, 2025
Travel back to 1871 Kansas, where a family mysteriously disappears from their homestead. A search party uncovers chilling evidence, including bloodstains and a concealed trapdoor. Disturbing discoveries reveal multiple shallow graves, linked to a predatory family known as the Bloody Benders. Analyze their gruesome methods and the potential family dynamics behind the killings. The case raises questions of folklore, unsolved mysteries, and the eerie possibility of modern forensics shedding light on this dark chapter of history.
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Storefront On A Lonely Trail
- The Bender homestead doubled as a tiny grocery storefront on the Osage Trail, making it a magnet for travelers.
- That combination of remoteness plus steady traffic created a built-in victim pool for predators.
Hidden Knife And Stench In Cellar
- Searchers found a bloodstained paring knife hidden in the mantel clock and a dozen bullet holes in the cabin.
- They also discovered a foul smell coming from a trapdoor concealing a small cellar beneath the house.
Dr. York Found In Orchard
- Colonel York probed the orchard and discovered Dr. William York buried face down with skull fractures and a slit throat.
- Investigators later recovered three hammers from beneath the cabin stove linked to the blunt-force trauma.
