The  Cherryvale  Bender  Museum

A chair or bench was always conveniently positioned near the curtain for a traveler. When a man whom they had marked as a victim entered this little area, his doom was sealed. While sitting at a dining table, the unsuspecting traveler’s back would be against the curtain outlining the back of his head. In a few moments John will swing his sledgehammer. It would crack against the flesh and bone of the hapless wayfarer’s head. With hardly a groan, he will plop his head on the table. Rushing from their hiding places, the family will deal another blow to the temple with a smaller hammer and drag the senseless body to the opened trap door, over which the insatiate monster in Kate will drew a knife across his throat from ear to ear. After stripping the victim of his clothing and valuables, the body will be dropped through the opened trap door into the pit or cellar beneath. Later at night, the carcasses will be removed for burial in the nearby orchard through a tunnel that exits behind the back of the Inn.  Postcard Cherryvale Museum Collection.