Dr. H.H. HOLMES “Murder Castle’’ “America’s 1st serial killer” “Beast of Chicago” “Murder Castle’’ “Devil In The White City” Herman Webster Mudgett (5/16/1861--5/7/1896) Herman Webster Mudgett, better known as Dr. Henry Howard Holmes, was the first American known serial killer of the 19th century. He had several nicknames, Chicago is the main city that he made most of his crimes, "Beast of Chicago," During the 1893 Columbian Exposition, he persuaded victims into his specially constructed house as a hotel, and killed many of his victims in this elaorate home, which was later nicknamed the "Murder Castle.” He was apprehended in 1894, and hanged for his crimes in 1896.  IN 2003, Erik Larson wrote about Holmes in his book <The Devil in the White City>, which was later adapted for a feature movie. “America’s 1st serial killer” BY Stephanie FENG

H. h. Holmes Holmes’ parents were devout Methodists. Holmes’ father was from a farming family and worked as a farmer, trader and house painter. Holmes had 4 siblings, for all of them, he was the middle one. According to a fair amount of psychology studies, we knew that most of serial killers are psychopath with the special innate genes “…” And they often had very tough childhood. Holmes had a very wealthy and strike family, Especially his father, was a very traditional and religious man, Holmes had suffered from abuse at the hands of his violent father since he was a little boy. -------------------------- On professional psychologist opinions, Religious indoctrination灌输 through regular Bible readings can be dangerous to the mental health of children. It is not a coincidence that a number of serial killers had parents with strong religious convictions that were forced onto them. Some religious content can be extremely scary for children. Fear played a significant role in Holme’s young life. -------- Throughout his childhood and teenage life, because his unusually intelligent, study was a piece of cake for him. However, good grades in school didn’t make him become the favorite child as the middle one. H. h. Holmes

In 1877, Holmes graduated from high school and took teaching jobs in Gilmanton and Alton. In 1878, Holmes married Clara Lovering in Alton. On 2/3/1880, their first son, Robert Lovering Mudgett was born. In 1882, Holmes entered the University of Michigan’s Department of Medicine and Surgery and graduated in June 1884 after passing his examinations. While enrolled, he worked in the anatomy lab under Professor Herdman, then the chief anatomy instructor. Holmes had previous apprenticed in New Hampshire under Dr. Nahum Wight, a noted advocate of human dissection. In the 19th century, people often started to work and got married in an early age. So did Holmes. After graduated from high school, Holmes became a teacher in Gilmanton. A year later, he married Clara Lovering in Alton, and he was only 17. At the age of 19, Holmes had his first son with Clara. Yep, at that time, Holmes still used his original name. (And as an adult, Robert became a certified public accountant, and served as city manager of Orlando, Florida.) --------------- Here is something interesting: When Holmes was a boy, he always tortured animals, but because the bullies used a skeleton to torment, little holmes was scared of skeletons and doctor. However, it would appear that Holme’ fear was so great that in order to cope his brain literally went from fear to fascination. This drastic change in his perceptions of skeletons, eventually led him to medical school. ------------------------- even though Holems became a dad, When his son was only 2, he went to college and studied what he obsessed. His major led him to anther level of human dissection. Years later, when Holems was suspected of murder and claimed to be nothing but an insurance fraudster, he admitted to using cadavers to defraud life insurance companies several times in college. --------------------- H. h. Holmes

H. h. Holmes Housemates described Holmes was treating Clara violently. In 1884, before his graduation, Clara moved back to New Hampshire, and Holmes moved to Mooers Forks, New York. Later, he traveled to Philadelphia. In 1885, Holmes moved to Chicago, Illinois. He soon found work in a pharmacy, and using Dr. Henry H. Holmes as his infamous alias. In late 1886, Holmes married Myrta Belkhnap in Minneapolis, Minnesota. After he moved to Mooers Forks, a rumor spread that Holmes had been seen with a little boy who later disappeared. Holmes claimed the boy went back to his home in Massachusetts. No investigation took place and Holmes quickly left town, He later traveled to Philadelphia and eventually got a jobas a keeper at Norristown State Hospital, but quit after a few days. Subsequently, he took a position at the drugstore in Philadelphia, but while he was working there, a boy died after taking medicine that was purchased at the store. Homes denied any involvement in the child’s death and immediately left the city. He eventually took over the business, and was later rumored to have killed its original owner. ------- I didn’t get lots of info about Clara, but their marriage didn’t last forever. In late 1886, while Holmes still married to Clara, he married another woman. It may be a confusing story to follow, but Holmes never divorced his first wife Clara Lovering, and we don’t know what happened to her or what she thinks happened to Holmes.  Holmes had several other wives during his life, most of them disappearing mysteriously, but those are only the ones we know about. ------------ Clara Lovering (Homes’ first wife) H. h. Holmes

H. h. Holmes “Murder Castle’’ Holmes had a three-story building constructed nearby, creating an elaborate house of horrors.  If you think Holmes would end his relationship with women like this, then you are too naïve, because Holmes’ wild and crazy life just started. He was 25 at this moment. H. h. Holmes

H. h. Holmes “Murder Castle’’ The upper floors contained his living quarters and many small rooms where he tortured and killed his victims.  There were also trapdoors and chutes that enabled him to move the bodies down to the basement, where he could burn the remains in a kiln or dispose of them in other ways. During the 1893 Columbian Exposition, Holmes opened up his home as a hotel for visitors. Unfortunately, many guests did not survive in what became known as the "Murder Castle." Many of these victims—no one knows for certain the total number—were women who were seduced, swindled and then killed.  According to Dr. Davies, murder was a business to Holmes. Holmes didn’t see this as murder as such, but more like a business that required a ‘production line.’ By using thought and intellect rather than pure emotion. it is likely that he was able to convince himself that he was an entrepreneur, not a cold-blooded murderer. (We see this in the design of his “Castle.”, He had gas nozzles in the rooms along with peepholes to watch his guests’s demise. Holmes also had a laundry shoot type contraption to slide his victims down to the basement. He had all sorts of methods of murder such as a type of acid, a kiln, and his own weapons.) ------------- Holmes had a habit of getting engaged to a woman, only for his fiancée to suddenly "disappear." Other victims were lured there by the offer of employment. Dr. Davies says that Holmes’s ways of polygamy一夫多妻 may have stemmed from a feeling that what he had was not good enough, so he always attempted for more. Holmes also may have recalled examples of polygamy from the Bible stories. --------------- H. h. Holmes

FRENZIED GREEDY KILLING MONSTER While working in the Chemical Bank Holmes met and became close friends with Benjamin Pitezel. Holmes came out an idea for Pitezel that would fake his death to collect $10,000 from a life insurance company. However, Holmes killed his parterner, Benjamin, and after telling Mrs. Pitezel that her husband was still alive and in hiding, convinced her to let him travel with three of her five children, who also became his vitims. Holmes used Benjamin as his right-hand man for several criminal schemes; a district attorney later described Benjamin as "Holmes' tool” Holmes had concocted a plan to swindle an insurance company out of $10,000 by taking out a policy on himself and then faking his death. While Benjamin was hiding, instead of finding another corpse(dead body) to pretend Benjamin’s fake death, Holmes really killed Benjamin. ------------------- Dr. Davies says that Holmes killing methods progressed in severity and intention. It started out motivated by money, but Holmes became more interested and involved. 1  We can see an example of this in the fact that he just started to murder people for “fun. In my opinion, Holmes wanted to control death, just like he wanted to control his emotions. Power was important to him. Benjamin Pitezel H. h. Holmes

H. h. Holmes Alice Pitezel and Nellie Pitezel Holmes and the three Pitezel children traveled throughout the northern United States and into Canada. Holmes would later confess to murdering Alice and Nellie by forcing them into a large trunk and locking them inside.  He drilled a hole in the lid of the trunk and put one end of a hose through the hole, attaching the other end to a gas line to asphyxiate the girls. Holmes buried their nude bodies in the cellar of his rental house at 16 St. Vincent Street in Toronto. Alice Pitezel and Nellie Pitezel H. h. Holmes

H. h. Holmes The little teeth of Howard Pitezel. (Found in the ashes) Frank Geyer, a Philadelphia detective tracking Holmes, found the decomposed腐烂的 bodies of the two Pitezel girls in the Toronto cellar. After removing the bodies from their shallow graves, Geyer noticed that Nellie's feet had been removed.After discovering that Nellie had club foot, he theorized that Holmes had cut off her feet to prevent a distinctive identification of the body. He then followed Holmes to  Indianapolis, where Holmes had rented a cottage. Holmes was reported to have visited a local pharmacy药方 to purchase the drugs which he used to kill Howard Pitezel, and a repair shop to sharpen the knives he used to chop up the body before he burned it. The boy's teeth and bits of bone were discovered in the home's chimney The little teeth of Howard Pitezel. (Found in the ashes) Spade used by Holmes to bury Alice and Nellie. H. h. Holmes

H. h. Holmes Arrest & death Holmes' murder spree finally ended when he was arrested in boston on november 17, 1894, after being tracked there from philadelphia by the Pinksertons. On may 7, 1896, Holmes was hanged at Moyamensing Prison, also known as the Philadelphia county prison, for the murder of pitezel. Following the discovery of Alice and Nellie's bodies, in July 1895, Chicago police and reporters began investigating Holmes' building in Englewood, now locally referred to as "The Castle".  In October 1895, Holmes was put on trial for the murder of Benjamin Pitezel, and was found guilty and sentenced to death. Holmes gave various contradictory accounts of his life, initially claiming innocence and later that he was possessed by Satan. -------------------------------- Personally, I don’t believe that.  He was an intelligent man with a history of lying and the ability to think up complex systems of murder. Herman knew what he was doing. ------------------------- On May 7, 1896, Holmes was hanged at Moyamensing Prison, also known as the Philadelphia County Prison, for the murder of Pitezel. Before his execution, he was reported to have been in a jolly mood. Just like how Holemes had turned his childhood bullying from fear to fascination, he was able to cope with his execution by showing a fearless, even happy, mood. Even up to his death, it was necessary for him to be the one to control his emotions. NOBODY CAN CONTROL HIS FEELING BUT HIMSELF. H. h. Holmes

H. h. Holmes Holmes himself claimed credit for the deaths of 27 people but several “victims” were later found to still be alive.  It seems like Holmes was proud of his murder, and he had the imagination of killing people. H. h. Holmes

“The point is ladies and gentlemen that greed, for lack of a better word is good.”－－H.H. Holmes The story of H.H. Holmes is the most unique cases of serial killing in history. The sinister act of making a business out of murder is so difficult to comprehend, even more so than comprehending murder itself. People are intrested and what to know how this man’s mind worked. What drove him to this? As America’s first documented serial killer, Herman remains a mistery.  H. h. Holmes

I am…. Thank you !

Resources: https://www.biography.com/people/hh-holmes-307622 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H._H._Holmes http://mentalfloss.com/article/72642/9-things-you-didnt-know-about- americas-first-serial-killer-hh-holmes http://project.haleyjensson.uwgb.org/psychology/ https://healthpsychologyconsultancy.wordpress.com/2013/03/04/maki ng-of-a-monster-dr-herman-howard-holmes/ H. h. Holmes