H.H. Holmes Hotel

A conman, Jack the Ripper, the Devil himself; H.H. Holmes is known to many by a lot of names. Most notoriously though, he is considered to be America’s first serial killer.

Though he confessed to committing a total of 27 murders at the end 19th century, it is estimated the actual total may have been more than 200.

The majority of these murders took place at the castle, remembered now as the H.H. Holmes Hotel, he had built in Illinois, which, fortunately for him, ended up being close to where the World’s Fair was held in Chicago in 1893.

Holmes deceptively offered the hotel/mansion as a place for attendees to stay for the event, though this plan was for his own benefit as he planned to murder those who were looking for a place to stay.

Who is H.H. Holmes?

Born Herman Webster Mudgett in Gilmanton, New Hampshire, Holmes became a doctor after graduating from the University of Michigan’s Department of Medicine and Surgery.

Having taken a particular interest in anatomy and human dissection, the seeds for his future murderous lifestyle had been planted.

After falling under suspicion for the disappearance of a young boy and potentially poisoning and killing another, Holmes went on the run and changed his name to Dr. Henry Howard Holmes.

He ultimately started his life over in Chicago, IL, where he was hired to work at a drugstore. Holmes did so well at his new job that he eventually bought the store and became its owner.

Shortly thereafter, he purchased an empty lot across the street from the store and began building his house of horrors, the H.H. Holmes Hotel.

The “Murder Castle”

The first floor of the building was a retail space, including a new location for the drugstore, with the other two stories containing a variety of rooms.

One of the ingenious techniques Holmes employed when constructing his mansion was to fire contractors after they completed a portion of the building. Claiming their work was subpar, this not only allowed him to not pay the workers but it also resulted in nobody, other than Holmes himself, knowing the exact layout of the building.

This allowed him to have stairs and hallways that led to nowhere to disillusion his guests, secret rooms, soundproof rooms, chutes and trapdoors in the rooms and hallways that emptied out into the basement, rooms with hinged and false partitions, secret passages between rooms, and airtight rooms that could function as gas chambers for his unsuspecting victims.

What is believed to be the layout of H.H. Holmes Hotel.

The basement was filled with surgical tables and medical tools to dissect the bodies of his victims to sell their organs and bones on the black market and to medical institutions.

For the parts of the bodies that were not disposed of in this way, the basement also contained acid vats, quicklime, and a crematorium to effectively destroy the remaining evidence.

The Murders

Once his hotel was up and running, Holmes began to seduce his female guests that would ultimately become his victims. Among his early murder victims were Julia Smythe (who left her husband to be with Holmes) and her daughter Pearl, Emeline Cigrande, Edna Van Tassel, and Minnie and Annie Williams.

Holmes was able to swindle the deed to Minnie’s property from her with the assistance of Benjamin Pitzezel, who served as Holmes’ right-hand man for a string of his crimes.

In July of 1894, Holmes was suspected of committing arson at his mansion of murder and so he fled to Forth Worth, which is where the property he had received from the Williams sisters was located.

Just as when he originally arrived in Chicago, Holmes began building a new castle and employed the same technique of hiring and firing contractors to help keep the layout of the building a secret.

That same month, however, Holmes was arrested for the first time for selling mortgaged goods. Though his incarceration was brief, it set up what would ultimately lead to his downfall.

Catching America’s First Serial Killer

While in jail, Holmes disclosed to Marion Hedgepeth that he was planning to take out an insurance policy on himself, then fake his death to collect $10,000.

Holmes promised Hedgepeth $500 if he was able to name a lawyer who could be trusted to aide him in this endeavor. At the suggestion of Hedgepeth, Holmes enlisted the assistance of Jeptha Howe, who agreed to help him.

After the insurance company became suspicious of Holmes and refused to pay the money, Holmes turned back to Pitezel for him to fake his death and make the insurance claim instead.

Little did Pitezel know that Holmes actually would ultimately kill him in order to ensure that he would receive the money.

Holmes took things a step further and tried to make it seem as though Pitezel had killed himself to avoid suspicion being cast on Holmes. After collecting the insurance money, Holmes convinced Pitezel’s widow to give him custody of three of their five children, whom he went on the run with and later murdered.

Despite eventually obtaining the money he desired, Holmes never came through on his promise to pay Hedgepeth $500, which resulted in him tipping off the police in exchange for an early release.

This information, coupled with Pitezel’s widow enlisting the police to track down Holmes and her missing children, led to Holmes ultimately being arrested in Boston on November 17, 1894.

The Devil in Chicago

During his trial, Holmes first claimed innocence, then admitted to murdering 27 people (though some of those named were in fact still alive), and eventually claimed to have been possessed by Satan.

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.

Holmes was hanged on May 7, 1896 and his coffin was encased in cement and buried 10 feet underground at the request of Holmes as he feared grave robbers would dig him up and sell his body parts to medical institutions as he himself had done to so many others.

Is the hotel still standing?

While Holmes was on trial, his Illinois mansion was mysteriously set aflame; it survived and was renovated but then ultimately torn down in 1938 and with it, all the undiscovered secrets about this house of horrors, known now as the H.H. Holmes Hotel.

There hasn’t been a serial killing scheme like that of H. H. Holmes’ hotel since, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t travel smart to stay safe while traveling.

–

Hungering for more true crime? Take a look at the famous murders that changed America.