Belle Gunness [serial killer]

Calvin

Welcome to the infamous edition of the Headstones and Microphones where we use AI to step into the past through a researched, first-person simulation done through creative story telling of history's most infamous people. Now, let’s meet our guest.

Calvin

"Welcome to the podcast. Let’s start at the absolute beginning, where the public narrative hasn’t yet distorted who you were. When and where were you born, and what was your given name?"

White Female Guest

"Hi Calvin. I was born on November 11, 1859, in Selbu, Norway. My given birth name was Brynhild Paulsdatter Størseth."

Calvin

"What was your hometown and home life like as a child?"

White Female Guest

"My hometown of Selbu was a small, rural farming community, and my early home life was defined by extreme poverty and hardship. I was the youngest of eight children born to Paul and Berit Størseth. Resources were incredibly scarce for a large family like ours, and we struggled just to survive the harsh Norwegian winters."

Calvin

"Was there a story behind your name, or a nickname that stuck with you?"

White Female Guest

"When I finally saved enough money to leave Norway and immigrated to America through Castle Garden, I decided to leave my old life behind completely. I changed my first name from Brynhild to Belle. Of course, decades later, when the horrors hidden beneath my farm were unearthed, the newspapers gave me much darker nicknames. They started calling me Hell's Belle and Lady Bluebeard."

Calvin

"What were you like as a child, and how many years of schooling did you actually attend?"

White Female Guest

"Growing up in poverty, my focus was largely on hard labor rather than long years of education. I attended the local village schools just enough to fulfill my basic academic and religious requirements, and I was confirmed in the Church of Norway in 1874. I was a strong, quiet, and incredibly determined girl who spent far more time working the fields than sitting at a school desk."

Calvin

"What’s a decision that changed everything for you, but felt small at the time?"

White Female Guest

"The decision that changed everything was choosing to move to Chicago to join my sister, Nellie, who had immigrated a few years before me. At the time, it just felt like a standard journey for a poor immigrant girl looking for a better life. But that move introduced me to the world of American commerce, life insurance, and the realization of how easily a person's life could be converted into quick, untraceable cash."

Calvin

"Let's talk about your early run-ins with the law. Before the world knew your name for your most infamous actions, what was your very first arrest or interaction with law enforcement, and what were the consequences?"

White Female Guest

"Interestingly enough, I managed to completely avoid being arrested by law enforcement during my entire criminal career. Even when my candy store in Chicago mysteriously burned down, or when my first husband, Mads Sørensen, died of a sudden cerebral hemorrhage on the exact day his two conflicting life insurance policies overlapped, the authorities only muttered and gossiped. My husband's brother strongly suspected foul play and tried to demand an investigation, but the insurance companies paid out five thousand dollars, and the law ultimately dropped the matter without ever detaining me."

Calvin

"At what moment did you realize your name would never be forgotten?"

White Female Guest

"The moment my name was locked into history was in May of 1908. After my farmhouse in La Porte, Indiana, burned to the ground, investigators started digging up the hog pen. When they began pulling up the remains of more than a dozen dismembered men who had answered my lonely-hearts advertisements, a massive national media frenzy erupted. Journalists from all across the country swarmed the town, and suddenly, everyone in America knew my name."

Calvin

"Did fame make you more dangerous, or did it simply expose who you already were?"

White Female Guest

"The national spotlight didn't change me or make me more dangerous; it simply stripped away the facade of the hard-working, respectable Norwegian widow that I had built for myself. I had been operating in the dark for decades, collecting insurance payouts and robbing suitors. The media frenzy simply brought my private business dealings into the blinding light of day."

Calvin

"Who do you believe betrayed you first: a person, society, or your own instincts?"

White Female Guest

"I was betrayed by a person: my farmhand and on-and-off lover, Ray Lamphere. He became incredibly jealous and unstable when I began bringing other suitors to the farm. I fired him, but he kept lurking around the property and threatening me. His erratic behavior and the looming threat that he would expose my operation are what ultimately forced my hand and brought everything crashing down."

Calvin

"What was your most unique habit or a random fact about you that would surprise people?"

White Female Guest

"People are always deeply shocked by the sheer physical brutality of my methods. Most female killers of my era stuck strictly to quiet poisons like arsenic or strychnine, but I was fully capable of slaughtering my victims like livestock, using a meat cleaver to butcher and dismember the large men who came to visit me."

Calvin

"What did the public never understand about the pressure you were under at the time?"

White Female Guest

"The public never understood the intense, frantic pressure I faced in early 1908. I had successfully lured Andrew Helgelein to the farm, and he brought his entire life savings of three thousand dollars. But his brother, Asle Helgelein, noticed that Andrew's letters had completely stopped. Asle kept writing to me, demanding answers, and even threatened to travel to La Porte to find his brother. Balancing his impending arrival while trying to manage a jealous ex-lover like Ray Lamphere was incredibly stressful."

Calvin

"Did you have any known rivalries that defined your career?"

White Female Guest

"My primary adversary at the end was Asle Helgelein. His relentless pursuit of his missing brother is what truly destroyed my anonymity. It was his stubborn insistence that forced the local La Porte County Sheriff to keep digging up my property long after the fire department thought the case was closed."

Calvin

"What personal battles were you fighting privately while the world was watching?"

White Female Guest

"Privately, I was fighting to protect the vast fortune I had systematically stolen from those men. As the local suspicions in La Porte grew and the law began to circle closer, I had to spend my private hours figuring out how to move my money, secure my assets, and plan a permanent escape before my secrets were dug up."

Calvin

"What was your darkest moment, and was there ever a time you wanted to walk away from it all?"

White Female Guest

"My darkest period was the spring of 1908, when I realized that running the farm had become completely unsustainable. Rather than wanting to walk away and surrender, that immense pressure solidified my resolve to execute one final, drastic exit plan to ensure the law would never put me in a cage."

Calvin

"What truth was hardest to escape when you were alone at night?"

White Female Guest

"The hardest truth to face was that no matter how clever or meticulous I was with my letters and my pig pen, a single slip-up or a single suspicious relative from out of town could unravel a lifetime of profitable work in an instant."

Calvin

"When the law finally closed in, how exactly were you brought to justice? Walk me through the final arrest, the charges that ultimately stuck, and the legal outcome of your trials."

White Female Guest

"The justice system never truly got its hands on me. I was never arrested, never placed in a cell, and never stood trial for a single murder. Instead, Ray Lamphere was the one arrested and charged with arson and the murders. The jury ultimately found him guilty only of arson, and he died a few years later in the Indiana State Prison, leaving the law without anyone to officially punish for the slaughter on the farm."

Calvin

"What’s the craziest rumor ever told about you, and what part of your story has been exaggerated the most?"

White Female Guest

"The craziest rumors revolved around the body count. Some newspapers wildly claimed that I had murdered upwards of forty or fifty men beneath that soil. While I was certainly prolific, the sensationalist press completely exaggerated the scale of the graveyard to sell more copies."

Calvin

"What is the biggest misconception people have about your life?"

White Female Guest

"The biggest misconception is that I met a gruesome end inside that burning house. The searchers found a headless female corpse in the ashes, but that body was significantly smaller and lighter than my actual stature. While the coroner officially claimed it was me, the physical discrepancies left a permanent cloud of doubt over whether I actually perished that night."

Calvin

"What would surprise people most about your ordinary, human side?"

White Female Guest

"People view me as a cold, unfeeling monster, but to the neighbors in La Porte, I was seen as a deeply devoted mother. I adopted and took care of several children over the years, including Myrtle, Lucy, and Philip. I baked for them, bought them nice clothes, and maintained a seemingly normal, domestic household."

Calvin

"When, where, and how did you pass away?"

White Female Guest

"According to the official legal record, I reportedly died on April 28, 1908, inside my burning farmhouse in La Porte, Indiana. However, because the headless body found in the ruins did not match my physical dimensions, my actual, definitive date and cause of death remain one of the greatest unsolved mysteries in American history."

Calvin

"Was your downfall caused more by your own flaws or by the world changing around you?"

White Female Guest

"If it was a downfall, it was caused entirely by the people I chose to trust. I underestimated the jealousy of Ray Lamphere, and I underestimated the fierce determination of a family member like Asle Helgelein. My own arrogance in thinking I could control everyone around me is what ultimately brought the fire to my doorstep."

Calvin

"What scared you more: getting caught, losing power, or being forgotten?"

White Female Guest

"The thought of being caught by the authorities and stripped of my freedom and my wealth was my absolute greatest fear. I would have done absolutely anything, and sacrificed anyone, to ensure that I never had to answer to the law."

Calvin

"When you look back now, do you see yourself as the villain, the hero, or something in between?"

White Female Guest

"The world explicitly views me as an absolute villain, a black widow who utilized romance to slaughter unsuspecting men for monetary gain. I don't pretend to be a hero, but I always saw myself as a survivor who did exactly what was necessary to secure wealth and security in a world that offered no charity to a poor immigrant woman."

Calvin

"Do you have any closing remarks about the interview or the stories you shared that you would like to share with the listeners before signing off?"

White Female Guest

"Just remember that a lonely-hearts ad is only as safe as the person who wrote it. Be careful who you trust when you are looking for love, because you never truly know what is waiting for you at the end of the driveway."

Calvin

"And that wraps up another conversation from beyond the grave. Thanks for joining us on The Headstones and Microphones Podcast. Remember—Do better with the life you have been given and choose to do good in this life. Please help spread the word by sharing and following the pod."