NEED TO KNOW

Widow Belle Gunness used personal ads in the early 1900s to lure men to her Indiana farm with promises of love and marriage

When her farmhouse burned in 1908, police dug through the ashes — and found hacked-apart remains buried beneath the hog lot and garden

Along with approximately two dozen dismembered bodies, a decapitated woman’s corpse was found in the ruins — but rumors that Gunness faked her death lingered, and DNA testing in 2008 proved inconclusive

For lonely bachelors in early 1900s America, a matrimonial ad from a prosperous Indiana widow seemed like the chance of a lifetime.

“Comely widow who owns a large farm in one of the finest districts in La Porte County, Indiana, desires to make the acquaintance of a gentleman equally well provided, with view of joining

See Full Page