30 Photos That Show Us What the American Wild West Was Like

The Wild West harbored notorious outlaws and sinister serial criminals, with the Bender family etching their name into infamy. In the early 1870s, this enigmatic clan supposedly emigrated from Germany to Labette County, Kansas, where they orchestrated a chilling reign of terror, claiming the lives of potentially a dozen unsuspecting souls.

The sinister modus operandi of the Benders added a spine-tingling dimension to their gruesome tale. Victims would be lured into a macabre tableau, seated innocently before a curtain, oblivious to the lurking threat behind it. In a horrifying crescendo, one family member would unleash a hammer while another wielded a knife to sever their victim’s throat. The gruesome culmination saw the lifeless bodies plunged into a basement abyss, concealed beneath the very seat that concealed their doom.