Monday, August 24, 2015

MEET THE FIRST FEMALE SERIAL KILLER!


The first 45 years of Tillie Klimeks life reads like a book entitled The Average 18th Century Immigrant. Polish born, Tillie immigrated to Chicago with her parents when she was four. Her life from there was relatively normal for a woman of her time; she got married, had four children, was widowed, and remarried. Appearances can be deceiving, however, and behind Tillies plain facade lurked a cold and calculating killer.

 


Tillie had always claimed to be a psychic, and predicted the deaths of neighborhood animals with stunning accuracy. A month after her first husband died in 1914 (reports are sketchy as to whether or not she predicted his death as well or if he died of natural causes), Tillie married a man named John Ruskowski. Shortly thereafter, Tillie predicted his death and three months after the wedding, John died. Tillie collected life insurance payments from each of her husbands, totaling over $2,000.

 

Ostensibly to recover, Tillie and her lover, Joseph Guskowski, traveled to Milwaukee. On the way home, Tillie confessed that she was responsible for her husbands deaths and proceeded to hint that she wanted to marry Joseph. Being a reasonable man, Joseph declined to propose. Prepared for this eventuality, Tillie threatened to turn Joseph into the police for violation of the the Mann Act, which forbid immoral behavior like premarital sex. Joseph in turn threatened to turn Tilly in for the murder of her two husbands. At an impasse, the two agreed not to involve the police and parted ways.  A few weeks later, Joseph met an untimely end, although Tillie didn't predict it this time.

 

Tillie didn't marry again for another 5 years, most likely because she was afraid of being caught after her argument with Joseph. In 1919, Tillie married Frank Kupezyk and moved to 924 Winchester, which is still known as "Old Lady Tillie Klimek's Haunted House. The marriage was not a happy one, and two years later, Frank took ill and was bedridden. As he lay dying, Tillie dutifully sat beside him almost the whole time; except instead of comforting him, she was knitting her mourning veil in anticipation of his death.

 

At some point during Franks illness, Tillie noticed a casket on sale for $30, which she eagerly told her landlady about. When the landlady asked why she wanted a casket, Tillie responded cheerfully, My man, hes got only two inches to live. Tillie bought the casket and stored it in her slightly disturbed landladys basement. Frank died shortly thereafter, but no one connected Tillie with his murder; Tillies psychic powers were legendary in the tight knit Polish community, so everyone just assumed she purchased Franks casket after foreseeing his death.

 

At Franks funeral, Tillie danced happily and even picked up Franks body and shouted in his ear. At the funeral, Tillie met Joseph Klimek, the man destined to be her last husband. A 50-year old widower, Klimek was suffering from loneliness and, as he put it, in need of a home.  A few weeks after the funeral Klimek called on Tillie and a budding romance ensued. The two were married a short time later and Frank found his loving home at 924 Winchester.

 

Shortly after the marriage began, Frank predictably became ill. This time, however, Tillies plot was interrupted by Franks brother John. Noting the odd symptoms of Franks illness, John had him examined by his personal physician. To the surprise of everyone (except perhaps Tillie and to a lesser extent, John), the doctor found that Frank was suffering from arsenic poisoning and Tillie was arrested for attempted murder.

 

When police discovered how many of Tillies husbands had died under mysterious circumstances, they become suspicious and initiated a full scale investigation. When Frank Kupezyks body was exhumed, traces of arsenic were discovered and Tillie was charged with his murder as well. The investigation didn't stop there, however; by the time policed finished, they discovered that with the help of her cousin Nellie, Tillie had killed 12 people, including several of her cousins. In addition to the dead, seven people came forward claiming that they became ill after eating Tillies cooking, including her nephew and several neighbors with whom Tilly had quarreled with.

 

Tillie was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison, the harshest punishment ever assigned to a woman in Cook County. Tillie proved to be a model prisoner and by all accounts actually enjoyed prison, as it gave her time to catch up on her spring sewing. She also professed to enjoy the food-although for obvious reasons, she wasnt allowed to cook. After a 13 year incarceration, Tillie Klimek died on November 20, 1936 at the age of 60.

I wonder if her deceased husbands were all waiting for her to arrive in hell!

Tuesday, August 11, 2015

Meet The First Serial Killer!




 H. H. Holmes
 
Herman Webster, Mudget, who you might know better as H.H. Holmes, was born on May 16, 1861 in Gilmanton, New Hampshire to a wealthy family. Although his parents were by all accounts devout Methodists, rumors persist that Holmes father was an abusive alcoholic, which could have fed Holmes already sociopathic tendencies; tendencies that manifested early in life and continued right up until his death in 1896.

 

As an adolescent, Holmes was fascinated by medicine, going so far as to practice surgery on animals. He may have also been involved in the death of a friend, but details are sketchy and this has never been proven. No matter what happened, we know that Holmes was eventually accepted to medical school at the University of Michigan.

 

While in Michigan, Holmes displayed an uncanny knack for coming up with cadavers that he donated to the University. The cadavers were most likely his victims, whose bodies he donated only after he defrauded life insurance companies by claiming to be the recently deceased beneficiary. Holmes was also known to mutilate and disfigure cadavers, although this must not have seemed too odd to professors, because they awarded Holmes with his doctorate degree.

 

After graduating, Holmes traveled to Chicago and began working in a small pharmacy. After the owner died, Holmes convinced the widow to sell the pharmacy to him before she moved to California.

 

After purchasing the store, Holmes built a three story hotel across the street. During the course of its construction, Holmes employed a variety of construction crews. The result was a hotel with curved hallways and oddly shaped walls. There were even doorways and stairs leading to nowhere. Guests staying in the hotel reported ominous feelings.

 

Holmes proceeded to hire a series of advertisements to lure young women into working at the hotel. As a condition of employment, the women had to take out a life insurance policy listing Holmes as the beneficiary (although Holmes offered to pay the premiums). Sadly, many of these women accepted this horrifying deal and disappeared into the depths of the hotel, never to be seen again. Not recognizing the danger of Holmes was not necessarily the young womens fault; most of them came to Chicago from small towns in the Midwest and thus naive to evil men such as Holmes. Of course, disappearances weren't limited to staff; many young women staying in the hotel also disappeared without a trace.

 

In 1893, Chicago hosted the Worlds Fair and the millions of people flocked to the City to visit. To Holmes, this throng must have appeared like a buffet of victims and he quickly opened up his hotel to guests. Like all serial killers, Holmes was smart and good-looking; one can almost picture him seducing a young lady by taking her for a ride on the worlds first Ferris wheel then buying her some newly invented drink containing sweetener and carbonated water (you know it today as diet soda).

 

It was the perfect set of circumstances for the perfect killer.

 

After the fair, Holmes abruptly left Chicago (many believe that this was due to a poor economy, but it could have been because someone finally noticed all the women in Holmes company). Holmes proceeded to meet up with an old friend, Benjamin Pitezel, and the two made their way across the country committing insurance fraud, stealing and reselling horses; one presumes that Holmes spent much of this time murdering people, although no one has ever linked him to any of these killings nor was there any evidence of Pitezels involvement.

 
Benjamin Pitezel

After the two men were arrested in Texas for horse theft, Holmes approached cell mate Marion Hedgepath with a plan for insurance fraud; Holmes explained the plan, which involved faking his own death, and promised Hedgepath $500 for the name of a lawyer to help arrange the deal and represent them if anything went wrong. Holmes and Pitezel were released soon after (Hedgepath was serving a much longer sentence for train robbery). After their scheme was foiled, the pair fled to Philadelphia. Undeterred, Holmes tried the scheme again, only this time he actually murdered Pitezel and three of his children for good measure. Holmes may have gone on committing fraud and killing forever if it hadn't been for that errant promise he made to Hedgepath, who was eagerly awaiting the promised $500.

 

Marion Hedgepath
 

Eventually, Hedgepath realized that Holmes had lied to him and informed the authorities. Holmes was tracked to Boston where he was arrested for horse thieving and insurance fraud. That might have been the end of it, but soon the authorities noticed that Holmes appeared to be getting ready to flee the country (in actuality, he had already stopped in Toronto once). When the authorities got suspicious and searched Holmes home, they found the remains of several women in his basement. Holmes eventually confessed to 28 murders, although many people estimate the actual number of victims as high as 200. In May 1896 H.H. Holmes was executed, bringing a conclusion to his reign of terror and ending the life of Americas first-and possibly most successful-serial killer.