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 women’s
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 World’s 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 world’s
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 Pitezel’s
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 America’s
first-and possibly most successful-serial killer.
No comments:
Post a Comment