And who is "he"? Well, none other than H.H. Holmes, America's first serial killer.
In The Beginning
Born in Gilmanton, NH, on May 16,1861 with the given name Herman Webster Mudgett, Holmes grew up with a father who owned a store and was postmaster. Both his parents descended from the first English settlers in the area.
Soon after graduating high school, he married the first of three wives, Clara Lovering. His college career began at age 19, when he enrolled at the University of Vermont--Burlington, eventually graduating, in June 1884, from the University of Michigan Department of Medicine and Surgery.
Holmes' life of crime began while he was in school in Michigan--with an insurance scam. He would steal cadavers and collect the insurance money on the policies he took out on them, claiming they were killed accidently. After leaving Michigan his travels took him around New York and Philadelphia, scamming store owners and building a career as a suspect in various disappearances.
Then came Chicago, the site of his most active years. First, he changed his name to Dr. H.H. Holmes, then scammed a store owner right out of her business.
The "Murder Castle"
Across the street from his store, at 601-603 West 63rd, Holmes built a massive three story, 163 foot long, 50 foot wide hotel, which local people called "The Castle". It was the official hotel for the 1893 Chicago World's Fair, with hotel, office, and retail space.
Holmes used the hotel to kill his victims by building rooms with various torture devices like metal walls embedded with blowtorches for incineration, or a special solid brick room with a trap door in the ceiling--people would fall in and that's it. He had another room with gas pipes to be opened and victims would asphyxiate in their sleep. This was clearly not a normal guy.
Most of his victims were women, including his second and third wives and many female employees.
In The End
Holmes left Chicago in 1893 and disappeared, eventually finding himself in Fort Worth, Texas, where he endeavored to build another Castle. Soon abandoning the project, he travelled throughout the US and Canada, finally winding up in St. Louis, where, after all he had done, he was arrested for the first time after being involved in a horse swindle.
When he got out after posting bail, a long series of other cons, swindles, and murders are attributed to him, including the murder of a long time criminal and supposed new partner whom he had met during his short time in jail.
In 1894, his life finally caught up with him when he was arrested again on suspicion of another horse swindle and insurance scam, this time in Boston.
He confessed and was sent to prison in Philadelphia for the insurance scam. At the same time, the authorities in Chicago were investigating his activities there, and in 1895, he was found guilty of murder of his one time associate Benjamin Pitezel, and was hanged in Philadelphia on May 7th, 1896.
Before the sentence was carried out, however, Holmes confessed to killing 30 people in Chicago, Indianapolis, and Toronto--even though several were in fact still alive.
It's hard to say how many were killed, but most estimates range from 20 to 200.
In The Beginning
Born in Gilmanton, NH, on May 16,1861 with the given name Herman Webster Mudgett, Holmes grew up with a father who owned a store and was postmaster. Both his parents descended from the first English settlers in the area.
Soon after graduating high school, he married the first of three wives, Clara Lovering. His college career began at age 19, when he enrolled at the University of Vermont--Burlington, eventually graduating, in June 1884, from the University of Michigan Department of Medicine and Surgery.
Holmes' life of crime began while he was in school in Michigan--with an insurance scam. He would steal cadavers and collect the insurance money on the policies he took out on them, claiming they were killed accidently. After leaving Michigan his travels took him around New York and Philadelphia, scamming store owners and building a career as a suspect in various disappearances.
Then came Chicago, the site of his most active years. First, he changed his name to Dr. H.H. Holmes, then scammed a store owner right out of her business.
The "Murder Castle"
Across the street from his store, at 601-603 West 63rd, Holmes built a massive three story, 163 foot long, 50 foot wide hotel, which local people called "The Castle". It was the official hotel for the 1893 Chicago World's Fair, with hotel, office, and retail space.
Holmes used the hotel to kill his victims by building rooms with various torture devices like metal walls embedded with blowtorches for incineration, or a special solid brick room with a trap door in the ceiling--people would fall in and that's it. He had another room with gas pipes to be opened and victims would asphyxiate in their sleep. This was clearly not a normal guy.
Most of his victims were women, including his second and third wives and many female employees.
In The End
Holmes left Chicago in 1893 and disappeared, eventually finding himself in Fort Worth, Texas, where he endeavored to build another Castle. Soon abandoning the project, he travelled throughout the US and Canada, finally winding up in St. Louis, where, after all he had done, he was arrested for the first time after being involved in a horse swindle.
When he got out after posting bail, a long series of other cons, swindles, and murders are attributed to him, including the murder of a long time criminal and supposed new partner whom he had met during his short time in jail.
In 1894, his life finally caught up with him when he was arrested again on suspicion of another horse swindle and insurance scam, this time in Boston.
He confessed and was sent to prison in Philadelphia for the insurance scam. At the same time, the authorities in Chicago were investigating his activities there, and in 1895, he was found guilty of murder of his one time associate Benjamin Pitezel, and was hanged in Philadelphia on May 7th, 1896.
Before the sentence was carried out, however, Holmes confessed to killing 30 people in Chicago, Indianapolis, and Toronto--even though several were in fact still alive.
It's hard to say how many were killed, but most estimates range from 20 to 200.
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