[Southsider2k12]

http://www.abc57.com/news/local/Locals-try...-164361016.html

By Tony Spehar - tspehar@abc57.com

Story Created: Jul 31, 2012 at 1:14 AM EDT

LA PORTE, Ind. – Local filmmakers and historians are teaming up to try and make a feature film about one of La Porte’s most infamous residents, a serial killer who may have murdered over 40 men in the early 1900s.

Stephen Ruminski is a La Porte native and prospective filmmaker who has already made a documentary about the serial killer Belle Gunness. Gunness was a Norwegian immigrant who moved to La Porte at the turn of the century. She would come to be known by many names such as “Lady Bluebeard” and “Hell’s Belle” when it was discovered that she had been tricking men into moving in with her at her McClung Road farm and then murdering them.

“It’s something to put La Porte on the map and in the long run it will probably help the community,” Ruminski said of the movie. “The story itself is stranger than fiction to be honest.”

The story goes that Gunness would write personal ads in newspapers across the country seeking men to move in with her. In one case she wrote over 80 letters to one of her victims before he came to her farm.

Estimates say over 40 men from across the country (including Mishawaka and New Carlisle) agreed to bring all of their belongings with them to live with Gunness on her farm and were never seen again. Later, it would be revealed she was poisoning them and burying them on her property.

“No one really had a clue,” Ruminski explained. “They only knew because one of her victim’s brothers decided to follow up on where his brother had gone to.”

Gunness was presumed to have died (some believe she faked her death) when her house caught fire in 1908. But, the brother of one of her victims dug through the rubble and made a shocking discovery. In the coming days workers discovered body after body buried under what was left of Gunness’s house. The story quickly spread across the country and the world and put La Porte on the map.

“There’s articles from all kinds of papers,” Ruminski described. “I think the New York Times had a daily brief about the ‘murder farm’ in Indiana, the body count for the day.”

According to Ruminski, around 15,000 people flooded into La Porte to see the scene for themselves. But, over a century later many people outside of La Porte don’t even remember the case now. For over a year he’s been working with local historians trying to make a feature film about Gunness that would include filming at some historic sites in the city.

An attempt at online fund raising for the film came up short on Monday. Ruminski said he hoped to continue efforts in the future. He said he and his group would need to raise over $8,000 to fund the making of a short film that would be shown to potential investors and hopefully spark interest in the project.

More information about Gunness and Ruminski’s plan for a film can be found at www.bellegunnessthemovie.com/

[taxthedeer]

http://www.abc57.com/news/local/Locals-try...-164361016.html

Good grief, good thing cupid.com never existed in those days.

[Ang]

I'd be interested in seeing the film, however, I fail to understand why someone would want to "put LaPorte on the map" by making a documentary about a serial killer.
I guess murder and mayhem are interesting to people, but it seems to me that a psycho muderess would be somewhat of an embarassment vs. something to brag about.

"Hey, come to LaPorte, IN! We had one of the Nation's worst female serial killers here! And we didn't find out about it until she faked her own death!"

[Southsider2k12]

I'd be interested in seeing the film, however, I fail to understand why someone would want to "put LaPorte on the map" by making a documentary about a serial killer.
I guess murder and mayhem are interesting to people, but it seems to me that a psycho muderess would be somewhat of an embarassment vs. something to brag about.

"Hey, come to LaPorte, IN! We had one of the Nation's worst female serial killers here! And we didn't find out about it until she faked her own death!"

There is actually tourism that can come from it. For example the house from Amityville is a tourist attraction.

http://www.travelodestination.com/the-amit...ist-attraction/

[Ang]

I was at that house in Amityville long before it was a tourist attraction. I dated a guy from NY and his Uncles were neighbors to that house. We went over there for dinner once, and the Uncles took us to the house. It was vacant at the time, and we couldn't go inside, but we walked around the grounds...C-R-E-E-P-Y!!!! This was in 1988.

[Southsider2k12]

Maybe we in City could cash in? We could turn Marquette Mall into a ghost town!

[Ang]

Doesn't need much help from us to be a ghost town, but we could sure manage the place, huh?

[Southsider2k12]

Doesn't need much help from us to be a ghost town, but we could sure manage the place, huh?

We just need a few legends to get it off of the ground. Jilted lovers scorned, jealous rages, etc.

[taxthedeer]

I would love to see that movie.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belle_Gunness

[Ang]

I would love to see that movie.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belle_Gunness

Very interesting read....thanks for sharing.

[Tim]

Maybe we in City could cash in? We could turn Marquette Mall into a ghost town!

lol@ "turn into".