Americas First Serial Killers

Holmes had been born into a wealthy New Hampshire family and was given the name Herman Webster Mudgett (America’s Serial Killers). “If Mudgett or his brother or sister were bad, their strict Methodist parents sent them to the attic for a full day without speaking or eating,. Mudgett’s father was especially abusive after he’d been drinking - which was often” (Spikol). However, his father was a wealthy and respected citizen and had been the local postmaster for nearly twenty five years (Taylor). It is surprising an important member of the community was a child abuser. The abuse of his father may be one of the

In the years leading up to the world fair, Holmes had been perfecting his “castle” that was built upon his pharmacy. His house, nicknamed the “Murder Castle”, was filled with mazes, trap doors, and multiple torture chambers, including an incinerator to burn the remains of his victims. With the promise of a warm, clean bed, he lured fair-goers and young women who moved to the big city alone to further their careers were attracted to the young doctor. Holmes had relations with some of his guests, at one point getting Julia Conner pregnant in 1891, but he used his new found “hobby” to dispose of the problem (Larson 146). Holmes was eventually charged with insurance fraud and stood trial for the murder of Mr. Benjamin Pitezel, he was estimated to have killed between 20 and 200 people (“H.H” 2). Even though he was only charged on one count of murder, once in prison he admitted to killing 27 people in his time in Chicago. Holmes was hung on on May 7th, 1896, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania for the homicide of Mr. Pitezel (“H.H.” 1-2). The disturbing legacy of Herman Webster Mudgett lived on in the form of H. H. Holmes as America’s first serial killer.

One of the most infamous serial killers and sex offenders in America and around the world is Jeffrey Dahmer. Jeffrey Dahmer is widely known for his killing, dismemberment, necrophilia and cannibalism. He killed seventeen males between the ages of 14 and 33. He was so well known the was even mentioned in a Katy Perry song. Fortunately his brutally gruesome killings were put to an end in 1994 when he was convicted and sent to prison.

    During the 1893 Columbian Exposition, H.H. Holmes was one of the first serial killers of America. Holmes would lure his victims into his building which he transformed into his “murder castle.” First he would manipulate his victims by coming off as a

Dr. H. H. Holmes has a passion for murder, and he hides his true personality behind an act of a charming man managing a hotel. Since Holmes uses his creativity to disrupt the lives of innocent people, he brings out the Black City of Chicago. As a result of Holmes’s passion for murder, he has to keep his psychotic talent secret. Only very few people know Holmes’s true lifestyle, and if they do, he kills them. Holmes weaves his way into to his victims’ lives to manipulate them for his personal benefit.. Even though the White City masks some of Chicago’s problems, evil still

Dr. H.H. Holmes is considered America 's first serial killer. The number of victims is estimated to be 27, and later discoveries of corpses revealed as many as 200. Holmes initially committed crimes such as fraud and forgery. In 1893 he built a three story building and named it the "castle" as a hotel, drug store, and commercial store fronts for the Chicago World 's Fair. Holmes used the windowless hotel to lure his victims in to torture and kill. He was arrested by Pinkertons for horse thieving in 1895. While the investigations for fraud and theft were ongoing police discovered his connection to his assistant Benjamin Pitezel, and three of his

In the fall of 1889, Holmes meets Benjamin Frelon Pitezel; He had a wife, Carrie and 5 children, Dessie, Alice, Nellie, Howard and infant son Wharton. He came to Chicago after traveling the Midwest for 10 years because he continually failed at keeping a job and he also had been arrested several times for crimes ranging from petty larceny to forgery, he also drank heavily. He was looking for a job and answers an ad for a carpenter for a building being built in Englewod. There he meets H.H. Holmes and they become friends. He becomes Holmes’s

Serial murder crime though rare, is not a a new phenomenon. This crime has been committed for centuries and will continue to be a crime that is committed throughout the world. It is unfortunate and scary that this is probably one of the most serious of crimes that cannot be prevented. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, serial murderers commit their crimes because they want to. Rehabilitation is not obtainable for serial killers due to their inability for remorse and empathy, or to see people as people and not objects(Knight 2006). This research paper will focus primarily on serial murder within the U.S. First and foremost, a legal definition provided by the U.S. Department of Justice will be presented to set forth the discussion of this research paper. As follows will be a detailed discussion explaining serial killer typologies with the use of examples of known serial killers in the U.S. Types of serial killers are: power oriented, mission oriented, visionary, and hedonistic, each typology will be clearly defined and explained. Some serial killers can have a mixture of each typology’s characteristic. Serial killers that will be discussed and used as examples to represent the content of this research paper will be, John Wayne Gacy, Ted Bundy, Robert Berdella, Jeffery Dahmer, and lastly the most prolific serial killer in American history, Gary Ridgeway. Problems with studying serial killing, are that because of rarity and access. Most of what we think

Since Holmes was not building a skyscraper and instead a three story hotel, he did not have the same issue. Instead, he faced another common problem: money. Though he was not poor, he was only a pharmacist and wished to be able to pay for the construction of a building that would cover the entire block. Just like Burnham, he came

Priest Holmes was a running back in the NFL. His career in the NFL was with to teams, the Baltimore Ravens and the Kansas City Chiefs. Some of his major achievements were first 1,000 yard rusher for Baltimore in 1998. He played in Super Bowl 35. These were just a couple of major achievements.

To clarify, Henry Howard Holmes known as H. H. Holmes was America’s first serial killer. As a child, Holmes was terrified of the doctor, however a few bullies from his school forced him to touch the real skeleton in their doctor’s office which started his obsession with human anatomy. When Holmes was a teenager he interned at his local doctor’s office and later went to Michigan State for a medical degree and became a skilled doctor. Holmes took out fake insurance policies on the bodies he used in medical school after pouring acid on their face so they were unrecognizable in order to afford college. In 1889 Holmes designed and built a hotel to assist his murders.

It is while in jail Holmes confided in a cellmate by the name of Marion Hedgepeth of the plan to defraud the insurance company. Hedgepeth agreed to give Holmes the contact information of a crooked attorney in turn for $500 dollars, promised to be paid once Holmes received the insurance payoff. It was several weeks after this event before Holmes and Pitezel arrived in Philadelphia, where they rented a storefront and posed as a patent dealer. It is here where Holmes murdered Pitezel with chloroform, burning his face, and setting the building on fire in an attempt to make it appear like a chemical laboratory accident. Once the body was discovered, it had to be positively identified by a family member in order for the insurance company to pay the

For example, as Larson tells a story of how "…Mudgett registered his name as Holmes" (page 44), because of this it demonstrates that H. H. Holmes changes his appearance from what his actual name was. Holmes only changed his name in order to work as a druggist and begin his numerous murders. As the story of H. H. Holmes continues, he lives a double life. Once life that he pretends to be, and the person he really is. Other characters like Mrs. Lawrence, began to get suspicious of H. H. Holmes, but they were never truly sure because many people saw him as a charming person, so his "…sympathy would [be] disarming" (page 125) causing people to lose their suspicion.

He had two children, one son and one daughter. He went out of sight for six years after abandoning Clara and his son. He would always somehow come up with some con as to where he was and what he was doing during the time of his victims' deaths. The police had always questioned him, but had never really pinned anything on him. No one wanted to believe that Holmes was an evil master mind. He was so handsome and charismatic. His tall stature and piercing blue eyes made women often swoon at the sight of him. He could also talk anyone into anything at the sound of his voice and the medical, knowledgeable jargon he used. He even got an old lady to give him her husbands pharmacy after his death sometime after he arrived to Chicago. Other sources said that he killed her and inherited the pharmacy without anyone knowing what happened. Either way the old woman should have been happy that such a noble man was running her pharmacy. He was always the perfect assistant, making sure that her money was going towards helping the company in any way. He would even meet up with venders, creating a stable environment for her and her dying husband. He eventually killed her but when others would ask he stated that she had moved to California, but had no forwarding address (Taylor, Troy).

In 1884, when Holmes was twenty-three, he started working in a drug store in the state of Philadelphia. Holmes worked well there, until the owner died and relinquished ownership to holmes. Interestingly, rumors went around that Holmes had actually murdered the owner to assume control. Afterwards, Holmes murdered his first victim, an old friend from medical school. His name was Dr. Robert Leacock, who holmes had killed in Chicago by injecting