Little Slaughterhouse on the Prairie

By: Harold Schechter

Narrated by: Steven Weber

Length: 1 hr and 19 mins

Publisher's Summary

At a remote little inn not far from the Kansas homestead of Laura Ingalls Wilder lived the Bender family. These pioneers welcomed unwary visitors with jackrabbit stew and a sledgehammer to the skull.

In time, their apple orchard gave up its secrets - a burial ground for their mutilated victims, each stripped of their possessions. The devilish enterprise on “Hell’s Half-Acre” would earn the Bloody Benders an undying place in the annals of American infamy. But it was the mysterious fate of eldest daughter, Kate, that would make them the stuff of mythic campfire prairie tales.

Little Slaughterhouse on the Prairie is part of Bloodlands, a chilling collection of short addictive historical narratives from bestselling true-crime master Harold Schechter. Spanning a century in our nation’s murderous past, Schechter resurrects nearly forgotten tales of madmen and thrill-killers that dominated the most sensational headlines of their day.

©2018 Harold Schechter (P)2018 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Detailed retelling of horrific events

The subject matter of this book interested me, but when I saw that Steven Weber had narrated it, I knew I had to listen. It was excellently done. The details of what was done by this psychopathic family are presently in full and with sensitivity, even though many years now separate us from the brutality of their acts. I only wish they had been caught so they could have been made to answer for their crimes.

I have been to the area where these events took place, however, and people there are certain the Benders did not escape justice. The common belief is that they were caught by vigilantes who took care of the matter themselves. I hope this is true.

Excellent True Crime History

Great story about the crazy and violent Bender family in 1800's Kansas, check out the author's Badlands series for more true crime

True Life Crime

Audible recently started the plus catalog for those who have the Gold monthly and yearly and those who have the Platinum monthly or yearly. I have the Platinum yearly as I listen to a lot of books being a truck driver. As the first title listened to in this catalogue, I was introduced to those titles with an excellent story. At first I thought this was a horror fictional story playing off of the Little House on the Prairie. Not so! The author writes about true crime which has taken place in our history. I knew violence was a big part of life when America was settled across the Midwest and Western part of the United States. I was not prepared for something of this nature pertaining to a serial killer family in Kansas. As I’ve gotten older, I have taken a greater liking to history. I do also like fiction based upon history (historical fiction). This is not historical fiction. There are a total of 5 books in the Bloodlands series so if you have an Audible membership, do not miss the other 5 titles for free in the Plus Catalogue.

I Love These Mini Books

These short books by Schechter are perfect for a short drive or at home while I am beading or crafting or putting together furniture and want a beginning, middle, and end, rather than just part of a longer book.

Steven Webber is perfect for these; I have always enjoyed him as an actor, but that does not necessarily mean he/anyone will be a great reader. He is, though. I hope he enjoys performing books and continues to do so!

If you enjoy true crime, you will enjoy this. I am very knowledgeable about crime, but did not know much about this family of 19th century serial killers.

The Benders of Independence, Kansas is interesting, but the tale gets better after their murderous ways are discovered and the hunt is on for Ma and Pa and the 2 younger Benders (they were either brother and sister, husband and wife, or both).

Definitely recommend!

Dull

Really boring. Not captivating in the least. Only vaguely interesting. Not told in an interesting way.

beware of the bleeding kansas

liked very much, who would have thought!! serial killers in kansas. probably was alot more.

Quick historic true crime novella

I loved this for its telling of small snippet of frontier history and a true crime story. It was narrated wonderfully, had a bunch of historical facts. I recommend it for its length & if you love true crime & history check this one out!

The Badlands Collection

This is book 2 in the Badlands Collection of great short stories of true crime....Harold Schechter does an awesome job of recreating these stories of horror for us....All the stories in this collection are great and Steven Weber does a fine job of narrating.

Old Timey True Crime

This book reads like two hour Dateline Episode, but about murders that happened 150 years ago. Due to the age of the crime, you don’t get a lot of concrete, conclusive evidence. However, it’s pretty entertaining and the narrator was good. It’s not a literary classic, but it’s a fun book to do chores to.

very interesting

hearing this book made it real. I have a new respect for the natives of Alaska.