Tracker Pixel for Entry

​Eugene Butler Had a Secret

News | October 22nd, 2022

By Sabrina Hornung 

sabrina@hpr1.com

Niagara is a peaceful farm town of about 50 or so residents. It is located on Highway 2 in the westernmost stretch of Grand Forks County. One would never have guessed that it was home to a serial killer in the early part of the 20th century. To this day, the story of Eugene Butler and his skeletons in the cellar remains one of our state’s most notable unsolved murder mysteries.

On June 25, 1915 Leo Verhulehn planned to dig a cellar on his newly acquired property located between Niagara and Shawnee, but instead he dug up a pile of human bones.

Six skeletons covered by six feet of earth, five of which were adults, one a child. The remains were kept in a hole guarded by a trap door in the floorboards of the farmhouse. All of the skulls were pierced and split as if they had been struck by a sharp object. Leg bones were broken so they could fit in the shallow dugout.

To this day none of the victims have been identified. It’s not known if the victims were related. Were they hired help that the previous tenant no longer wanted to pay for? Were they transient farmhands searching for work? Was it a series of intimate encounters gone awry?

The perpetrator was the previous owner of the property, Eugene Butler, notoriously cheap and even more notoriously unstable. Neighbors remember him talking about how his housekeepers were costing him too much, but no one thought they would end up dead.

Butler homesteaded his land in 1882, but as he aged he grew more paranoid. He refused to let anyone take his photo for fear of losing his soul. He would wake up in the middle of the night prowling his land and perusing his home, convinced someone was trying to break in or trespass.

In 1906 he was sent to the asylum in Jamestown, North Dakota, where his paranoia grew increasingly worse. W.M. Hotchkiss, asylum superintendent, said Butler “was haunted by the hallucination that someone was after him.” It’s unknown if he was hallucinating or whether he was haunted by the victims buried beneath his floorboards. He died in 1912, three years before Verhulehn made his grisly discovery and was, of course, never convicted.

As if the miserly reclusive Eugene Butler going to the asylum hadn’t created enough of a stir in the community, it was found out that Butler had $6,000 in cash in his small house. That’s approximately $150,000 in today’s dollars. And he owned a considerable amount of land in Grand Forks County. The bodies in the cellar added even more mystery.

It’s believed that the crimes took place over a period of years; and oddly enough, no locals had been reported missing. It’s also believed that the victim’s clothes were burned to conceal their identities. The case file itself is missing and any record may have been lost or destroyed.

Once the story was made public in 1915, over 150 rubberneckers and curiosity seekers flocked to the farm and pocketed human bone fragments as ghastly souvenirs from the crime scene.

Recently in:

By Alicia Underlee NelsonLocal groups will speak out against current and projected federal budget cuts in downtown Fargo this Saturday, April 26. The Red River Valley chapters of Fearless and Indivisible will lead a protest from…

By Prairie Rose Seminolems.prairierose@gmail.com I was a child who walked behind my parents into classrooms and kitchens, spaces of song and prayer, where teachings lived in the air and settled on my shoulders. I didn’t yet have…

Saturday, April 26, 1:30-3:30 p.m.Rourke Art Gallery + Museum, 521 Main Ave., MoorheadThings are coming up rosy at the Rourke in a true feast of the senses during the third annual “Gallery in Bloom” exhibit. The pop-up…

By Sabrina Hornungsabrina@hpr1.com I feel like reading a newspaper is the equivalent of listening to music on vinyl. Not only is it analog, it’s an experience. I might be a little biased, but there's something about the rustling…

By Ed Raymondfargogadly@gmail.comThe wizards and kleagles in whites now wear blue suits and red tiesA hundred years ago, more than 30,000 members of the Ku Klux Klan from virtually every state in the Union wearing their white…

By Rick Gionrickgion@gmail.com Holiday wine shopping shouldn’t have to be complicated. But unfortunately it can cause unneeded anxiety due to an overabundance of choices. Don’t fret my friends, we once again have you covered…

By Rick Gionrickgion@gmail.com After a very inspiring conversation with Kayla Houchin of Sonder Bakehouse a few weeks ago, I decided that it’s an appropriate time to write a column about some of the sweet people who are involved…

Mooncats and Pert Near Sandstone play Empire TheatreBy Sabrina Hornungsabrina@hpr1.comThe MoonCats describe themselves as “Americonscious Campfire Folk.” They have a clear acoustic folk sound with a sense of whimsy — think…

By Greg Carlsongregcarlson1@gmail.comRyan Coogler goes big and bold with “Sinners,” a sweaty, bloody vampire movie set in 1932. The filmmaker stuffs this universe with enough ideas to serve a limited-series season of episodic…

By Raul Gomez Modern Man was a gentle soul. If you were down or just wanted a friend, he’d be there for you. I remember the first day I met Modern Man. It was Jeremiah Fuglseth and me. He wanted to write about this legendary…

By John Showalterjohn.d.showalter@gmail.comHigh Plains Reader had the opportunity to interview two mysterious new game show hosts named Milt and Bradley Barker about an upcoming event they will be putting on at Brewhalla. What…

By Annie Prafckeannieprafcke@gmail.com AUSTIN, Texas – As a Chinese-American, connecting to my culture through food is essential, and no dish brings me back to my mother’s kitchen quite like hotdish. Yes, you heard me right –…

By Sabrina Hornungsabrina@hpr1.comNew Jamestown Brewery Serves up Local FlavorThere’s something delicious brewing out here on the prairie and it just so happens to be the newest brewery west of the Red River and east of the…

By Josette Ciceronunapologeticallyanxiousme@gmail.com What does it mean to truly live in a community —or should I say, among community? It’s a question I have been wrestling with since I moved to Fargo-Moorhead in February 2022.…

By Alicia Underlee NelsonProtests against President Trump’s policies and the cuts made by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) are planned across North Dakota and western Minnesota Friday, April 4 and…

By Faye Seidlerfayeseidler@gmail.com In 2023, the Superintendent of Fargo Public Schools, Rupak Ghandi, gave a passionate plea to the Fargo School Board to follow federal law, because a recently passed state law would increase…