“I was born with the devil in me. I could not help the fact that I was a murderer, no more than a 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”

Born May 16, 1861 in Gilmanton, New Hampshire Devout Methodist parents, violent alcoholic father Affluent family, privileged childhood Classmates forced him to view and touch a human skeleton after discovering his fear of the local doctor. Meant to scare him, but he was fascinated with death. He appeared to be unusually intelligent at an early age He expressed an interest in medicine, which reportedly led him to practice surgery on animals Some accounts indicate that he may have been responsible for the death of a friend. Had multiple wives at the same time, fathered at least two children Graduated from University of Michigan’s Department of Medicine and Surgery in 1884 (This is when he began criminal activity) Moved to Chicago to begin career in Pharmaceuticals, started going by H. H. Holmes 1893 built 3-story block-long hotel called the World’s Fair Hotel (AKA the Murder Castle) It was a maze of dead end hallways, trap doors, torture chambers, doors only openable from outside He changed builders constantly so only he knew the full design of the house BACKGROUND:

CrimeDateVictim(s)Punishment Stole corpses from University of Michigan to collect insurance money Approximately unknownNone Various insurance scams 1880’s-1890’sUnknownNone Murdered Dr. E. S. Holton’s wife 1886Mrs. HoltonNone Performed hundreds of illegal abortions Approximately 1893 Hundreds of women, patients who died None CRIMES

CRIMES (CONTINUED) CrimeDateVictim(s)Punishment Murdered two railroad heiresses to inherit property Approximately 1894 Heiress sistersNone Murders in Murder Castle 1893As many as 230 people Confessed to 27 murders Horse TheftJuly 1894UnknownArrested, briefly incarcerated Murdered Benjamin Pitezel September 2, 1894 Benjamin Pitezel Executed by hanging Murdered Pitezels 3 children Approximately 1894 Howard (8) Alice (15) Nellie (11) None

The separate murders of the Pitezel family: Benjamin, Alice, Nellie, Howard Holmes killed Benjamin in order to collect $10,000 in life insurance Escorted Alice to identify the body, she later went missing Holmes later took Nellie and Howard who then went missing (The bodies of the two girls were found in a Toronto cellar, Howard’s was found burned in an Indianapolis chimney) Charged with the First Degree Murder of Benjamin Pitezel MOST RECENT CRIME (1894)

Pitezel and Holmes agreed to fake Pitezel’s death, Holmes’s former cell mate, Marion Hedgepeth, tipped off police Police searched The Castle, finding murder chambers and dozens of skeletons Holmes confessed to 100 murders, recanted and confessed to 27 Missing persons reports of the time indicate he could have killed up to 230 people, mostly blonde women The bodies of the Pitezel children were recovered EVIDENCE

Sentenced to death by hanging Executed at Moyamensing Prison in Philadelphia on May 7, 1896 SENTENCE

The Anomie Theory best describes H. H. Holmes because he adapts to culturally defined goals through innovation. Innovation in the Anomie Theory is when cultural goals are accepted but achieved through illegal means, (crime). Holmes would commit crimes with the goal of getting money from it. Holmes disfigured stolen cadavers from his university to collect on life insurance policies. He convinced numerous women to make him a beneficiary on their life insurance policies, then killed them and took the money. He killed his bosses at the Pharmacy in order to get money to build The World’s Fair Hotel. The bones of the victims in his Murder Castle were put together and sold to medical schools, and their organs were also sold through his medical university connections. Holmes also did enjoy killing, but most of his (possibly 200) murders were committed with money in mind. ANOMIE THEORY

Books: The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson Depraved: The Definitive True Story of H. H. Holmes by Harold Schechter Documentaries: H. H. Holmes: America’s First Serial Killer (2003) Slaughtered at the Murder Hotel (2013) TV Shows: “Supernatural” No Exit (2006) CULTURAL REFERENCES