What Happened at Murder Castle?

Most of us are born and raised to respect life. We are capable of experiencing a range of emotions such as love, anger, joy, shame, pity, and remorse. We live by a moral code and a general belief that we were put on this earth to do good. That is most of us. There are others who possess none of these traits or beliefs. People that walk the earth as if on a mission to spread pure evil and misery. The psychopaths. The serial killers. The people more frighting than Hollywood monsters. People like H.H. Holmes and the building he designed for one purpose: Murder. In this article, we examine the chilling life of a serial killer.

A Normal Start

H.H. Holmes was born Herman Webster Mudgett on May 16, 1861. He was the 3^rd of 5 children, having an older brother and sister and a younger brother and sister. His parents were both English immigrants who came to the U.S. and settled down in New Hampshire. His father farmed and painted houses for extra income while his mother ran the household. They were devout Methodists and nurtured their children in a loving home.

Herman graduated from high school at the age of 16. By the age of 17, he met a lovely girl named Clara and married her. They lived in New Hampshire and, two years later, Clara gave birth to their son named Robert. Herman, like the rest of his siblings, had a perfectly normal upbringing and was living a perfectly normal life. No one would have ever suspected that Herman Webster Mudgett would become America’s first serial killer.

A Shadow Begins To Form

H.H. Holmes was a highly intelligent and studious young man. His interest in the field of medicine had him relocate his wife and child so he could study at the University of Michigan, Department of Medicine and Surgery. While he was in school, he also worked in the anatomy lab where he apprenticed under Dr. Nahum Wight. It was Dr. Wight who taught Holmes the intricacies and techniques of human dissection. And, wouldn’t you know it – Herman was a natural.

Holmes didn’t just enjoy dissecting bodies in the lab. The cadavers were part of a bigger picture. Holmes understood that most bodies that were donated to science belonged to people who didn’t have family around to mourn them. It was this discovery that paved the way for Herman’s first spree of crimes: using the identities of the deceased to commit insurance fraud.

The Shadow Grows

The stress from work and school began to chip away at Holmes. He demonstrated violent and malevolent behavior and often took out his frustrations on Clara. He treated his wife so terribly that she left Michigan with their son, Robert, and returned to New Hampshire. Once Holmes graduated school, he moved to New York on his own. Clara and Robert would never see Herman again.

Holmes Succumbs To The Dark Side

While Holmes was in New York, he started exhibiting suspicious behavior. One such example was when he was seen traveling with a little boy who was not his son. The neighbors saw them on multiple occasions. One day the boy vanished. When asked, Holmes explained to the neighbors that the boy had returned home to his family in Massachusetts. Days later; however, Herman packed his belongings and headed for Philadelphia.

It didn’t take long for Herman to find a job. He acquired a position dispensing medicine at a pharmacy. Holmes delighted in the notion of holding people’s lives in the palm of his hand. Shortly after he started, a boy died after taking some medicine Holmes had dispensed. When confronted, Herman denied any involvement with the boy’s death, but he immediately left town and headed for Chicago. As an added precaution, he officially changed his name to Henry Howard Holmes.

A New Name And A New Life

It was August of 1886. Holmes found work at another pharmacy in Chicago, but there was something missing in his life. He needed a companion and found one in Myrta Belknap. Having a woman by his side would surely help him blend in among his peers. He married Myrta within the year, though he was still technically married to Clara.

Day in and day out, Holmes worked behind the counter of the Chicago pharmacy where he could stare out of the large shop’s window. He had a perfect and clear view of a vacant lot across the street. It was as if the plot of land was calling to him. Beckoning. Summoning. Holmes had no choice but to buy it and immediately start construction.

The Making of Murder Castle

H.H. Holmes had a vision for a multi-use building. Though it was only two stories high, the locals thought the exterior resembled something much more extravagant and nick named the building “The Castle”.

Phase one of the project included retail space on the ground floor (including a new drugstore) and apartments on the 2^nd floor. The plans were clear, but Holmes was about to encounter a major problem. Shortly after construction began in 1888, he got behind on paying his architects as well as the Aetna Iron and Steel company. Construction came to a grinding halt and lawsuits from the spurned workers began to pour in. Holmes was not deterred by the chaos. He was on a mission. The Castle must be built.

A deviously charming and witty man, Holmes was able to convince investors and other suppliers to fund the construction of a yet a 3^rd floor. This would be used as hotel space and promised to make the investors very wealthy.

Where Nightmares Are Made

When all was said and done, the building’s design was a reflection of Holmes’ own puzzling and disturbing character. It contained hidden rooms and secret passages. The hallways were intentionally confusing and were constructed to be maze-like. Many of them to jutted out to far ends of the property and some of them even led to dead ends.

Even more disturbing, select rooms were sound proofed. These rooms had hidden trap doors in the floors. Many rooms had chutes that dropped straight down to the basement where Holmes kept vats of acid and quicklime. He also had a crematorium-grade incinerator installed in the basement for good measure.

Though Holmes was a king in his new castle, he kept this business separate from his private life.

Holmes and his wife, Myrta, had their first child in 1889. They named their daughter Lucy and moved into a house in Wilmette, Illinois. Myrta and Lucy were alone for much of the time, as Holmes needed to attend to his business in Chicago. It wasn’t worth coming home each night when Holmes owned a perfectly good apartment building in the city. Having some distance from his family gave Holmes the freedom to operate as he pleased.

The Castle Claims Its First Victims

Julia Smythe, Ned Conner, and their young daughter, Pearl, were early occupants of one of Holmes’ apartments. Holmes gave Ned a job in his pharmacy, but this was just a ploy to spend more time with Julia. Holmes found her fetching and began an affair with her. When Ned figured out what was going on, he quit his job and left both Julia and Pearl behind. Holmes was frequently seen spending time with Julia and her daughter up until Christmas eve of 1891. That night, Julia and Pearl disappeared somewhere within the hotel and they were never seen or heard from again.

Three months after Julia and Pearl’s disappearance, a young woman named Emeline Cigrande was hired to work in the hotel. Holmes was very attracted to her and they soon became lovers. They spent the summer and fall in each others’ company, but their relationship came to an end in December when she, too, went missing in the hotel.

Then came Edna Van Tassel. She was yet another woman who took residence in Holme’s beautiful castle. Edna checked in, but she never checked out. Holmes was on a mission and things were moving much faster for him now.

If there were any reports of nefarious activity happening at The Castle, it wasn’t widely spread and the guests kept pouring in.

Holmes Makes A Friend

Benjamin Pitezel was a criminal, turned carpenter. Holmes met him at a chemical bank when Pitezel was showcasing a coal bin that he had developed. The men got to talking and Holmes, seeing the value in such a skilled person, brought Pitezel into his inner circle. Pitezel, enraptured by Holmes’ charisma and intellect, became his “right-hand-man” and assisted him in many fraudulent schemes.

The Castle Feeds and his Pockets Grow

In 1893, Minnie Williams took a job in the hotel as Holmes’s personal stenographer. Minnie was an out-of-work actress, but owned some property in Texas. Holmes, once again, used his charm to seduce Minnie. This time he wanted more than just an affair. This time he wanted everything that Minnie had to offer. Holmes had Minnie sign over the deed to her Texas property to someone named Alexander Bond. What Minnie didn’t know was that Alexander was one of Holmes’ many aliases. Holmes (as Alexander) signed the deed over to his new buddy, Pitezel. Later that summer, Minnie’s sister, Nannie, came to visit and spent time with Minnie and Holmes. Nannie affectionately referred to Holmes as “Brother Harry” in a letter she sent to her aunt in July. Sadly, both girls vanished on July 5^th of that year and were never seen again.

To add insult to injury, Holmes married yet another woman while still married to both Clara and Myrta in 1894. His third wife’s name was Georgina Yoke.

Shameless

Holmes was a clever (though evil) entrepreneur. He profited through the rental of his retail space, apartments, and hotel rooms. Holmes benefited from the multiple insurance scams he ran with Pitezel. He made money by conning his lovers out of their wealth. But he also found income in one last and gruesome way that only a psychopath could conceive of as a viable business model.

We know that once he was done with his targeted victims, he murdered them. What is down right diabolical is this: Though “Murder Castle” was equipped with an incinerator that could dispose of almost any type of evidence, Holmes used his medical industry connections to SELL the skeletons of his victims to medical schools. Any remains that could not be sold were tossed into the vats of acid in The Castle’s basement.

Murder Castle is on Fire!

The hotel was gutted by fire in 1894. The cause was arson. All the truth, lies, and horrors of what happened within its walls turned to ash and would remain hidden forever. The insurance company blamed Homes and put pressure on authorities to place him under arrest. The serial killer evaded the police by leaving Chicago and heading to Dallas where he stayed in Minnie Williams’ former property. Holmes continued with his scams in Texas until he was arrested for selling mortgaged assets. Holmes would consider this as only a minor setback.

While he was imprisoned, he was introduced to a crooked lawyer who would help him with his next insurance scam. Holmes attempted to fake his own death in the hopes of collecting $10,000 from the insurance company. When the insurance company refused to pay, he convinced his friend, Pitezel, to fake his death instead.

Pitezel’s Last Scam

The plan was for Mr. and Mrs. Pitezel, Holmes, and the crooked lawyer to split the profits three ways. To execute the plan, the three parties relocated to Philadelphia where they established Pitezel as an “inventor” in a laboratory. Holmes’ job was to find a cadaver to plant in the lab and pose as Pitezel. They would then rig the lab to explode, making the fake death of Pitezel look like an accident. Easy-peasy for the likes of three experienced con-artists. At the last minute, Holmes decided to deviate from the plan ever so slightly. He used chloroform on the REAL Pitezel, rendering him unconscious, and set his body on fire.

Holmes was able to collect Pitezel’s insurance policy and told Mrs. Pitezel that her husband was hiding in London. Her husband would resurface once the coast was clear. Holmes also convinced Pitezel’s wife to entrust 3 of her 5 children into his custody. Under what premise? Nobody knows.

Pure Evil

Holmes traveled all over the U.S. and some parts of Canada with his 3^rd wife, Georgina and 3 of the Pitezel children. Unfortunately for the two older Pitezel girls, Toronto would be the last place they would ever visit. One night, for reasons we will never know, Holmes put the two girls into a large trunk. The sick serial killer drilled a hole in the top where he inserted one end of a rubber hose and attached the other end to a gas line. The girls were asphyxiated and Holmes buried their bodies in the cellar of the home he was renting. All of this happened right under his wife’s nose.

From Toronto, Holmes moved to Indianapolis where he drugged the 3^rd Pitezel child and chopped up his body before he burned it in his fireplace. No one knows how he explained any of the children’s disappearances to Georgina.

Holmes Gets Arrested for What?

It was November when Holmes and Georgina moved to Boston. It was in Boston that he was arrested, but not for what you might think. The Boston authorities held H.H. Holmes on an outstanding warrant for the THEFT OF A HORSE in Texas.

While Holmes was being held in custody, Mrs. Pitezel learned that her two daughters and son were officially missing and hired a private detective to find them. When the bodies of the Pitezel girls were discovered in Toronto in 1895, the Chicago police were immediately suspicious of The Castle. What was left of the structure was thoroughly searched, but (though it was obvious that the building was built for evil) there was no evidence that could be used to convict him.

Confessions of A Serial Killer

It was October of that year when Holmes was tried for the murder of his friend and partner in crime, Pitezel. He was found guilty and sentenced to death. While waiting for his sentence to be carried out, Holmes was visited by a reporter for the Hearst press. They paid him $7,500 for an interview during which Holmes confessed to 27 murders and 6 attempted murders. In addition, he told the reporter that he was possessed by the devil. He said that since his incarceration, he could see satanic features changing within his own face and thought he looked quite like the devil himself.

Holmes was put to death by hanging on May 7, 1896 at he Philadelphia County Prison. He showed no fear and approached the hangman’s noose with a calmness that disturbed the prison workers. When they placed the noose around his neck and released the platform, Holmes’s neck did not break. Instead, he strangled, kicking and twitching for 15 minutes before the last bit of air escaped from his lips.

Holmes’ Parting Words

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

Did Holmes get what he deserved? Leave your comments below.

References:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H._H._Holmes https://www.prairieghosts.com/holmes.html