Beast of Chicago

Holmes was born on May 16,1861

H.H Holmes was a Democrat.

His real name was Herman Webster mudgett but he went by H.H Holmes.

Holmes was born into a financially wealthy family making him privileged. He was very intelligent and had interest in medicine. He practiced surgeries on animals.

He was a student at a medical school and would steal corpses and use them to make false insurance claims

H.H Holmes moved to Chicago in 1985 and worked at a pharmacy, which he soon took over. It was rumored he killed the owner

He constructed a three story building called the murder castle which was just a huge death trap.

He lived in the upper floors where there was many small torture rooms where he killed victims
There was also many trapdoors and chutes where he could send bodies to the basement to burn them.

-Holmes opened up the murder castle in 1993 as an hotel; many guests did not survive

According to sensationalist reports, the space featured soundproof rooms, secret passages and a disorienting maze of hallways and staircases. The rooms were also allegedly outfitted with trapdoors over chutes that dropped Holmes' unsuspecting victims to the building's basement.

The basement, claims said, was a macabre facility of acid vats, pits of quicklime (often used on decaying corpses) and a crematorium, which the killer used to finish off his victims. All of these descriptions, however, were described by what were likely overly embellished or even fabricated news reports in the 1890s.

Holmes would often engage women just to later on kill them.

He had a business partner named Benjamin Pitezel. Pitezel fakes his death to earn 10,000 dollars. Soon Holmes actually killed Benjamin. He convinced Pitezels wife that he was still alive and knew where he was so he could travel with them. He later killed her and her kids.

Holmes confessed to 27 murders but was only convicted of one. He killed anywhere between 20-200 people.

He was hung on May 7, 1896. He was one of America's first serial killers.

Holmes has always been one of my favorite serial killers to learn about. Not that I favor him but he was an interesting man. If you have questions or comments leave them here!