H. Holmes: A Man Of Deception

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.

    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

During the construction of the “Castle” Holmes hired a carpenter named Benjamin Pitezal as his assistant because Holmes deemed him to be unintelligent and easily manipulated due to alcoholism. The victims Holmes prayed on were generally young single woman with no social ties. Holmes used a variety of methods to kill the victims. After killing the individuals; Holmes stripped the corpses of flesh and paid an individual to assemble the bones into skeleton models to sell to medical colleges for money (Wilson & Seaman, 2011). When Holmes failed to pay his debtors he and his assistant went on the run. Holmes was arrested for fraud and bonded out, however while in his jail cell he bragged to another inmate about the insurance fraud who would later reveal the crime and link to the serial killers crimes. The pair moved state to state committing frauds and petty crimes. Holmes convinced Pitezal to fake his own death so the two could collect on a $10,000.00 in another fraudulent life insurance scheme (Schmid, 2006). Holmes turned on his assistant killing not only him, but three of his young children as well. Pitezals wife alerted authorities to her missing children and husband, she was informed the remains of her husband were discovered and the realization of what had occurred with her family was uncovered. Later the

He had several stores and a restaurant in the building. The third floor had rooms and offices to rent and it contained Holmes’s bedroom but it was the 2nd floor that had the horrible secret of the building. This floor had 35 rooms all designed as killing chambers, his victims would get caught up in this maze where doors lead nowhere and once they would turn a corner Holmes would surprise them and eventually kill them. Now the basement was worst of them all he had a chute that led down there so he could easily dispose of the bodies, it was like a medieval torture chamber, acid vats, quick lime pits and crematorium and this is where he would clean his victim’s bones and mount them and sell them to local universities and medical schools. Now, I have heard of some of the things that serial killers have done but this takes the cake, it made my stomach turn.

H. H. Holmes was born as Herman Mudgett on May 16th 1861, and lived in a rural town in New Hampshire. Holmes had a privileged childhood and expressed interest in the medical field. He grew up during the period of the civil war and newspapers were always filled with images of death on the battlefield. These images had a significant influence on Holmes and he used this as an outlet to practice his desire to become a doctor. Holmes would capture wild animals and begin experimenting on them by dissecting them with a pocket knife (Biography.com). This eventually evolved into Holmes entering medical school at the University of Michigan. This is where he studied and mastered the art of surgical dissection. Holmes graduated in 1884 at the top of his class as a surgical doctor (Dorfman). After college, Holmes moved around a bit until he settled down in the south side of Chicago Illinois where he worked for a

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.

A few months before the shooting James was seeing a psychiatrist from the university he had dropped out of, Dr. Lynne Fenton. Initially the reason why he was seeing her was to help with his social anxiety. James told his physiatrist that he wanted to kill people because of his failure in science but, she just thought it was a psychotic break. James was always having frequent homicidal thoughts. Fenton found this alarming enough that she violated Holmes' health privacy and contacted his mother.

Not only did Holmes murder adults, Holmes also murdered children for the simple reason that he could do it. Holmes also turned some of his victims into the displays used to show anatomy at school and hospitals. Even after delivering the skeletons, no one suspected they were acquired through

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).

On July 20, 2012, a major tragedy happened in Aurora Colorado during a midnight screening of the film The Dark Knight Rises. James Holmes willingly without showing no remorse entered the movie theater Century 16 at Town Center. He was resembling the Joker with red hair wearing a gas mask and body armor murdering 12 people and wounding 70 people. A jury found Holmes guilty on 24 counts of first degree murder, two counts for each of the 12 victims. Also, he was found guilty of 140 counts of attempted murder for the 70 people wounded (Biography, 2016). James Holmes’ life, upbringing, and behavior preceding the massacre, the significance of the case from a behavioral and security management perspective, the response time by the theater staff and law enforcement, the legal and ethical considerations in this incident and what learning outcomes are relevant to this case study will be some of the highlights covered in this case analysis.

Connor was crazy and ignored her. Later on in 1895, ¨it has been calculated that in just the Western portion of Michigan the following graveyards [had] corpses missing: Grand Haven, South Haven, Muskegon Holland, St. Joseph, The Bay, and Lakota¨ (Fresh start taken, 1895, p. 1, col. 3-4). These bodies had been brought to the castle, chemically treated, and then sent off to medical colleges in exchange for money. Jasper Richardson is an expressman in the town of Englewood, also testifies after he hears this that he had made many trips to Holmes’ house to pick up packages that were sent to physicians, medical students, hospitals, and various depots, but did not know what the boxes contained. Holmes, by a chance of luck, has dodged another bullet of getting caught sooner 5 years sooner than he should have because he had a faithful employee, Quinlan, who minded his own business. Quinlan ends up feeling so bad for this after he finds out the man Holmes really is, that he ¨commit[ed] suicide by poison in 1914 because he could not sleep and often had hallucinations¨ (Crime castle builder dead, 1914, p. 6, col. 5).

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was born in the year of 1859 in Edinburgh, United Kingdom. He fulfilled many jobs in his lifetime, such as physician, surgeon, ophthalmologist, and what he is most known for, a writer. Doyle began writing in 1886 and wrote a few short stories, but most of them failed. But in 1887, he publishes a story called “A Study in Scarlet” which is about a detective, Sherlock Holmes, solving murder cases using witty senses and intelligent mind. After the story publishes, the public is captivated. The whole city of London is begging Doyle to write more stories about Holmes and sending him mail everyday. In 1891, Doyle writes six Sherlock Holmes stories for a popular magazine. The public is dying to know who Sherlock Holmes could be based on because of how lifelike he is. Doyle then realizes that his inspiration for Holmes came from, Dr. Joseph Bell, his teacher and mentor at the University of Edinburgh. Bell was now being interviewed for every newspaper and magazine, there was and people began to call him Sherlock. Because in the stories Holmes is cold and has no heart, the media has now remade Bell as how Holmes acts. Although this is hurting Bell and his reputation, the Sherlock Holmes obsession is not ending. The stories are translated into many languages and sold around the world. Doyle writes his last story about Holmes in, “The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.” He dedicates the story to Bell when he died in 1911, since he was his inspiration for Holmes. Doyle