Hell's Princess: The Mystery of Belle Gunness, Butcher of Men

by Harold Schechter

Belle Gunness was a lady fair In Indiana State. She weighed about three hundred pounds, And that is quite some weight. That she was stronger than a man Her neighbors all did own; She butchered hogs right easily, And did it all alone. But hogs were just a sideline She indulged in now and then; Her favorite occupation Was a-butchering of men. —Anonymous, “The Ballad of Belle Gunness”