pa and I arrived from the old country
we built a house and set up shop
ma and kate came in 71
we bought animals and planted crops.

but the crops didn't grow too well
and the animals were sickly too
but travelers pass on the osage trail
so kate thought up something for all of us to do

Sister kate welcomes them in
Pa beats them over the head.
Ma sells their things in Cherry Vale
its my job to bury the dead

can you shimmy like my sister kate?
she's a mystic and a schemer, a wheeler and a dealer
she's always been the clever one
spread flyers around saying she was a healer


they say a man must work hard
to earn his daily bread and keep
but the ground is so cold and hard in kansas
that I don't bury them very deep

9 bodies were buried in the orchard
body parts scattered around
Johnny Boyle was down in the well
(and there were several others that they never found)


Kate: "I use my guiles, to welcome them in"
Pa: "I beat them over the head."
Ma: "I sell their things in the next town over"
its my job to bury the dead


can you shimmy like my sister kate?
she's a mystic and a healer, seances on the side
no one shimmies like my sister kate
shell cut your throat, or bury you alive!


they call us Bloody benders
a gradeschool children's taunt
Bloody Benders Bloody benders
Labette county we haunt


they call us the bloody benders
we found another way to get by
we cut throats… of traveling folks
and send them to their home in the sky!


they call us the Bloody benders
a gradeschool children's taunt
Bloody Benders, Bloody benders
Labette county we haunt

they call us the Bloody benders
we found another way to get by,
Bloody Benders Bloody benders
People who stay at our inn tend to die...