7-Minute Less Taken II: Bender's Inn (Cherryvale, KS)

They came seeking shelter on the Osage Trail—only to become whispers in Bender’s Inn.

In this tense, seven-minute edition of Less Taken, we travel back to explore the dusty frontier of the old Osage Trail, where weary travelers begin vanishing without a trace.

Every clue—discarded belongings, blood-soaked footprints, and frantic last-ditch messages—leads to one place: Bender’s Inn.


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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
This take and contains content that may not be suitable
for all audiences listeners discretion is advised. Less take Kansas,
early eighteen seventies. The frontier is raw settlers carving homesteads

(00:27):
from tall grass, stagecoaches spitting dust on unmarked trails, and
low stretched thin across endless plains. Something sinister stalks these lands.
Between eighteen seventy one and eighteen seventy three, travelers vanished
without a trace, and every path leads back to one place.

(00:50):
Vendors in perched on the edge of the old o
sage trail. Pall Bender wipes sweat and dust from his

(01:13):
brow as mall Laddle's thick stew into wooden bowls. John
Junior Titans, bootlaces by Deheartht and Kate straightens linen on
narrow beds. Lantern light spills through the front window, painting
the low ceiling parlor in an amber. Glow outside the

(01:39):
prairie wind presses against the walls, but inside, an uneasy
hush falls. The moment a newcomer steps across the threshold.
Kate's whisper drifts from the hallway. Rest here, You're safe now,
Yet safety here comes at a terrible price. Doctor William

(02:04):
Yorke arrives just before dusk, saddle bags heavy with provisions
and confidence. The promise of a cabin's warmth eases to
ache in his bones. In the candlelit parlor, Maw offers
fresh bread and gravy. Paw invites him behind a curtain
for a private room, reserve for a distinguished guest. York

(02:28):
settles into a high backed chair, running a handover its
polished arms. On the small table beside him sits a
curious contraption, a weighted lever attached to a hammer. He
leans in curiosity, peaked, unaware of mosk loved hand creeping
poor to mechanism. The hammer drops with a muted stud

(02:51):
against York's temple. His body slumps, eyes glassy in the
lamplight below the kitchen floor, John Junior lifts the worn

(03:14):
trap door and carries Kate's lantern into the dank cellar.
She stoops to shovel, loose earth and covering shallow graves
barely hidden by the overgrowth. The walls stained with dried
blood glint where lantern light catches them one by one.

(03:38):
The bodies, merchants, trappers, families, They all lied bundle like refuse. Upstairs,
Paul scrubs Crimson from the workbench, then shifts hidden latches
to conceal any hens of injury in the corridor. Another

(04:09):
stagecoach passenger arrives, hopeful for lodging behind a heavy curtain.
Fate awaits him a swift swing of moss hammer. A
single gasp cuts short, then silence, deeper than any Prairie night.

(04:48):
Rumors were in Topeka, respected travelers disappearing without a word.
At Kansas, Senators, please send search parties down the o
Sage trail. They force the bendor door open, fry up
the floorboards, and then swing open the cellar hatch. Lantern

(05:08):
beams dance around slick cellar walls outside, Shallow graves pock
mark the yard. Each grave they know a silent tomb
for a life to rast and for what reason? No
stones mark these resting places, only churned earth. By the

(05:29):
time the law men return with torches ablaze, the benders
have vanished into a rumor. Some swear vigilantes lynch them
in Colorado. Others whisper the escape to Mexico or Canada.
The clapboard walls, rought windows gape like empty sockets and
prairie grass reclaims the clearing. At dusk, the wind stirs

(05:52):
once more, carrying echoes of hammer blows and spades, strikes wildflowers,
nod at the un our graves, silent centuries, the horrors
that time can never fully bury. I'm Cum Humphries and
this has been the second seven minute Less Taken real

(06:15):
life horror stories from the Midwest. We're at Let's take
in Pod on Facebook, Instagram, and threads. Let's takeingpod dot
com for everything less Taken and merch See the show
notes for other sources and links. A quick note on
our storytelling. While we do our best to stick to
the facts, we sometimes take creative liberties to maintain narrative

(06:38):
cohesiveness and stick around later in the week for our
second roads Less Taken episode where we travel from Kansas
City over to Nebraska for our next real life horror story.
Once again, thanks for listening, Yess