H. H. Holmes

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H. H. Holmes Full Name: Herman Webster Mudgett Alias: Dr. Henry Howard Holmes H.H. Holmes Alexander Bond The Beast of Chicago Doctor Death The Devil in the White City The Torture Doctor The Arch Fiend Origin: Gilmanton, New Hampshire, United States Occupation: Owner of the Worlds Fair Hotel Serial killer Con artist Hospital keeper (formerly) Drugstore employee (formerly) Pharmacist (formerly) Doctor (formerly) Criminal Skills: Genius-Level Intelligence Medical Knowledge Charisma stealth Combat proficiency murder and torture methods Knowledge of traps Hobby: Dissecting animals Scamming people Killing people Goals: Steal money and get rich Create a "murder castle" to torture and kill people in it (successful) Get away with his crimes (failed) Crimes: Serial murder Torture Fraud Arson Forgery Rape Adultery Familicide Domestic abuse Cruelty to animals Kidnapping Theft Misogyny Type of Villain: Greedy Serial Killer

“	I was born with the Devil in me. I could not help the fact that I was a murderer, no more than the poet can help the inspiration to sing — I was born with the 'Evil One' standing as my sponsor beside the bed where I was ushered into the world, and he has been with me since.	„
	~ H.H. Holmes

Henry Howard "H. H." Holmes (born Herman Webster Mudgett; May 16, 1861 – May 7, 1896), was the first recorded American serial killer, at least in the sense we now associate the word - he was active in 1891-1894 and confessed to over 27 murders, though his true body count may of been considerably larger.

H. H. Holmes is especially infamous for designing a "castle" which was overrun with many rooms designed to torture and kill his unwitting victims, the design of this structure was as ingenious as it was evil and Holmes was said to have hired numerous workers in the building of it so that only he would know the full layout of the terrible maze.

Holmes was hanged on May 7th, 1896 and was granted his final request to be buried in concrete to prevent people digging up and dissecting his corpse, as he had done to many of his victims. He killed for at least 1 person but its believe that he killed more than 200 people and he was active between 1891-1894 but its believe that he was active between 1886-1894.

Biography

Holmes was born in Gilmanton, New Hampshire, in 1861, son of Levi Horton Mudgett and his wife, formerly Theodate Page Price, two English immigrants. The third among four siblings, Holmes was named Herman Webster Mudgett at birth, a name which he discarded later in his life. growing up in an affluent family, Holmes enjoyed a privileged childhood but unfortunately his father was an alcoholic who was severely abusive, both physically and mentally towards his wife and children (his other siblings, Ellen, Arthur and Henry, also earned their father’s wrath), even towards Herman. In addition, Holmes’ mother was said to have had a terminal illness that traumatized the family. However Holmes' father was not the only contributing factor in his abusive upbringing since Holmes was also bullied and harassed in school for his unusually intelligent mind he had since infancy, good grades and slightly odd demeanor. In an attempt to scare Holmes, bullies forced him to stand face to face with a human skeleton and place the skeleton's hands on his face. Holmes was initially frightened, but then, he found the whole experience to be fascinating, later crediting that it cured him of his fears. The experience eventually resulted in Holmes becoming obsessed with death and body parts, and he later began to dissect animals as a hobby.

He graduated from the local high school in 1877, at the age of 16. Two years later, he went to the University of Vermont but left it midway as he was not satisfied with the curriculum there. Finally, Henry joined the University of Michigan and was involved in a scam of stealing cadavers from the laboratory, performing experiments on them and claiming insurance money for them. After leaving the university, Holmes earned a doctor's degree from the University of Michigan and spent the next two years moving from job to job and running small scams.

His early criminal career was based on fraud and forgery, including a cure for alcoholism, real estate scams, and a machine that purported to make natural gas from water.

On 8 July 1878, he married Clara A. Lovering of Alton, New Hampshire. On 28 January 1887, he (bigamously) married Myrta Z. Belknap in Minneapolis, Minnesota; they had a daughter named Lucy. He filed a petition for divorce from his first wife after marrying his second, but it never became final. He married his third wife, Georgiana Yoke, on 9 January 1894. He was also the lover of Julia Smythe, the wife of Ned Connor, one of his trusted associates. She later become one of his victims.

He managed to secure a Chicago pharmacy by defrauding the pharmacist, and built a block-long, three-story building on the lot across the street. He called this building "The Castle," and opened it as a hotel for the World's Columbian Exposition in 1893. The bottom floor of the Castle contained shops, the top his personal office, and the middle floor a maze of over one hundred windowless rooms. Over a period of three years, Holmes selected female victims from among his hotel's guests, and tortured them in soundproof and escapeproof chambers fitted with gas lines that permitted Mudgett to asphyxiate the women at any time. Holmes had repeatedly changed builders, to ensure that no one truly understood the design of the house he had created who might report it to the police. Once dead, the victims' bodies went by chute to the basement, where they were either sold to medical schools or cremated and placed in lime pits for destruction.

Following the World's Fair, Holmes left Chicago and apparently murdered people as he traveled around the country. He was arrested in 1895 when he was discovered with the body of a former business associate, Benjamin Pitezel, and three of his children.

The same year, Holmes's "castle" in Chicago burnt down on August 19, revealing the carnage therein to the police and firemen. His habit of taking out insurance policies on some of his victims before killing them may have eventually exposed him regardless. The number of Holmes' victims has typically been estimated between 20 to 100, and even as high as 200. These victims were primarily women, but included some men and children.

Holmes was put on trial for murder, and confessed to 27 murders (in Chicago, Indianapolis and Toronto) and six attempted murders. He was hanged on May 7, 1896, in Philadelphia. It was reported that when the executioner had finished all the preliminaries of the hanging, he asked, "Ready, Dr. Holmes?", to which Holmes said, "Yes. Don't bungle." The executioner did "bungle," however, because Holmes' neck did not snap immediately; he instead died slowly and painfully of strangulation over the course of about 15 minutes.