Belle Gunness — The Lady Bluebeard — Killer Files

Alleged / reported perpetrator

Belle Gunness (born Brynhild Paulsdatter Størseth)

Status: fate unknown

Case overview

Belle Gunness (born Brynhild Paulsdatter Størseth, 1859; fate uncertain after 1908) was a Norwegian-American serial killer active in Illinois and Indiana across more than two decades. She used matrimonial newspaper advertisements to lure men — typically middle-aged bachelor farmers — to her farm near La Porte, Indiana,

Reported paranormal context

The site of the Gunness farm in La Porte, Indiana has been a subject of local paranormal interest since the 1908 excavations. The discovery of over a dozen dismembered bodies buried in the hog lot, garden, and trenches on the property left a lasting mark on the area. Local accounts describe an atmospheric unease around the former farm site. Belle Gunness herself has become a figure in Indiana folklore — her uncertain fate adding to the sense that something unresolved lingers at the location. No formal paranormal investigations of the specific farm site are documented in PRN's records.

Timeline

1908-01-01 · death
Andrew Helgelien arrives — last known victim
Andrew Helgelien, 49, of Aberdeen, South Dakota, arrived at the farm in January 1908 after extensive correspondence with Gunness. He was murdered shortly after arrival. His brother Asle's subsequent inquiry triggered the investigation.
1908-04-28 · arrest event
Farmhouse fire — four bodies found
At 3:30 AM on 28 April 1908, the Gunness farmhouse burned to the ground. Four bodies were found: a headless adult woman and three children (Myrtle, Lucy, Philip). Arsenic and strychnine were found in the stomachs of the woman and two children.
1908-05-03 · investigation
Excavation begins — victims unearthed
Excavation of the farm property between 3 and 29 May 1908 uncovered over a dozen dismembered and wrapped bodies, including Andrew Helgelien, Jennie Olsen Gunness, and numerous unidentified men and two unidentified eight-year-old girls.
1908-11-26 · trial
Ray Lamphere convicted of arson
Lamphere was found guilty of arson but cleared of murder. Before his death in prison, he testified that the headless body was not Belle Gunness, that she had faked her death, and that he had helped her board a train in Stillwell, Indiana.
1900 · death
Death of Mads Sorensen (first husband)
Mads Sorensen died under suspicious circumstances in Chicago. Belle collected life insurance proceeds.

Attack / sighting map

Explore geographic context on the PRN Map Explorer.

Media archive

image · historical
Spectators at the Gunness farm, 1908
Crowd gathered at the Belle Gunness farm after the discovery of victims.
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image · portrait
Belle Gunness portrait (Bain Collection)
Halftone portrait of Belle Gunness, Library of Congress Bain Collection.
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image · historical
Ray Lamphere, 1908
Ray Lamphere, Gunness farmhand tried in connection with the case.
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Reported paranormal activity

atmospheric · unverified
The former farm site near La Porte has been the subject of local paranormal lore since the 1908 discovery of mass graves. Reported phenomena are primarily atmospheric — a persistent sense of unease described by visitors — rather than specific apparition accounts. No formally published paranormal investigation of the site is recorded in PRN sources.
Area: Former Gunness farm site, La Porte, Indiana
visual · unverified
Local ghost lore reports glowing orbs and unexplained screams around the former farm; anecdotal tour accounts rather than documented phenomena.
Area: Former Gunness farm site, La Porte, Indiana
auditory · unverified
Local lore holds that a servant said to have died on the property still walks McClung Road; residents and a local police officer are reported to have been called out repeatedly to disturbance noises at an unoccupied house on the old farm grounds. These are folk accounts rather than documented events.
Area: McClung Road area near the former Gunness farm, La Porte, Indiana
atmospheric · unverified
Patton Cemetery in La Porte County is identified as the burial site of Gunness victim Jennie Olsen (aged 15), final suitor Andrew Helgelien, and her second husband Peter Gunness, according to La Porte County genealogical and paranormal records. Local accounts gathered by genealogytrails.com and Yesterday's America include reported discomfort and unease experienced by visitors at the graves of identified victims, distinct from the farm site itself. Pine Lake Cemetery is additionally noted in the same sources as containing a mass burial site for approximately ten unidentified male victims, with reported visitations by paranormal investigators. All cited as anecdotal and local lore.
Area: Patton Cemetery, La Porte, Indiana — burial site of victim Jennie Olsen and suitor Andrew Helgelien
atmospheric · unverified
The Hoosier Myths and Legends podcast dedicated Episode 5.9 (published 16 September 2024), titled 'The Haunted Belle Gunness Farm in La Porte, Indiana,' to collecting and examining the paranormal folklore attached to the farm site. The episode surveys local accounts of the farm's haunted reputation accumulated since the 1908 discovery of mass graves, including the reported atmospheric dread experienced by visitors and the unresolved question of whether Gunness herself died in the fire or escaped. Cited here as a named podcast source that has collated and transmitted this lore to a contemporary audience.
Area: Former Gunness farm site and surrounding area, La Porte, Indiana — as covered in Hoosier Myths and Legends podcast (2024)
auditory · unverified
Forest Home Cemetery in La Porte is reported in local paranormal accounts as a site of atmospheric unease connected to the Gunness case. Residents living near the cemetery have reported hearing sudden screams in the night, and Yesterday's America documents local reports of strange lights and orb phenomena in the vicinity of the graves. The cemetery contains the disputed Gunness grave — forensic uncertainty as to whether the headless body found in the 1908 fire was truly Gunness persists to this day, and this uncertainty is woven into local ghost lore suggesting Gunness herself may not be at rest there. Cited as local anecdotal and tour lore.
Area: Forest Home Cemetery, La Porte, Indiana — site of Belle Gunness grave and buried victims

Sources

Lady Bluebeard: The True Story of Belle Gunness — Lillian de la Torre, 1955Tier 3
Murder Castle: The True Story of Belle Gunness — Harold Schechter, 2016Tier 3
Bella Gunness and the Haunted Farm of an Indiana Serial Killer — Yesterday's America, 2022Tier 3
The Horrifying True Story of Belle Gunness — Jan Bondeson, 2012Tier 3
The Horrifying True Story of Belle Gunness — Jarod Wagner, 2022Tier 3
The Haunted Belle Gunness Farm in La Porte, Indiana (Episode 5.9) — Hoosier Myths and Legends, 2024Tier 3
Paranormal activity in La Porte County included in book on haunted Indiana cemeteries — La Porte Herald-Dispatch staff, 2021Tier 3