H Holmes Research Paper

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

But he later escaped from jail and was on the loose. They finally tracked him down after he escaped and was arrested once again in Boston(H.H.Holmes 3). When Holmes was arrested the second time he admitted to the fraud and then was shipped to Philadelphia PA (Larson 2). Holmes was put through several trials until he finally admitted to the crimes he committed. On March 9,1896 Holmes was convicted to be killed after confessing his crimes at the trial (Benzkofer 3). He died on May 7, 1896 after being hanged to his death(Benzkofer 4). After Holmes death, his “Murder Castle” was remodeled into a tourist attraction called “Holmes Horror Castle”. But it burnt down soon after opening to the public(H.H.Holmes 4).

After Graduating he moved to Chicago where he started learning the trades of the pharmacy, where also he started to engage in many shady businesses under his better-known name, H. H. Holmes. When he first came in to Chicago he found a local drug store on the corner of Wallace and 63rd Street owned by Dr. E.S Holton and his wife who lived in the upstairs level of the drug store. The older man was dying of cancer and Mrs. Holton knew she would be left alone to run the store, Holmes saw this as his window of opportunity and used

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).

According to Darcia Helle, in her blog titled The Monstrous H.H. Holmes and His Murder Castle Inc., throughout the construction of his hotel, Holmes formed a relationship with the carpenter, Benjamin Pitezel. Together, Pitezel and Holmes came up with an interesting life insurance scam. While it seemed to work out, Holmes eventually turned on his partner and killed Benjamin Pitezel. Following his criminal pattern, he took out a life insurance policy on Pitezel prior to his death. Due to the insurance companies increased suspicion, a detective was hired to look up who had taken out the insurance money, and this is where Holmes is first found and caught. At first, Holmes was only charged with life insurance fraud. The police did not yet know the extent of his criminal record. However, according to the online article by the National Museum of Crime & Punishment, when Holmes was arrested he appeared as if he was ready to flee the country, which furthermore increased the suspicion of police (H.H. Holmes, 2015). This increased suspicion led to the search of Holmes’ Chicago home and the realization that Holmes was more than just an insurance fraud.

He built his “Murder Castle” with a series of “stairways to nowhere”, “hallways that ended in dead ends”, gas jets built into hotel room walls, a “wooden disposal chute”, and a “person-sized kiln in the basement”. (Suddath) When H.H. Holmes was questioned about the gas tanks he was having put in the basement, he started a rumor that he had found a new process for the manufacturing of gas. He claimed to “have placed a large vat and iron tank in the back of his cellar for experimenting purposes”. (The San Francisco standard) His scheme was so successful the company even paid him to find the process. When Holmes couldn't figure it out, the gas company gave up on him and no further questions arose. When he was questioned about asbestos he had put in the walls, since it was thought to “deaden the sound of dying men”, he explained that it was a great way to keep the cold out and fireproof the hotel. (Mudgett, Mrs. Pitezel Finds her Children 156) When investigators found many bones around the hotel, Holmes “explained that they were beef bones” and that “the flat had been used as a restaurant during the World's Fair.” (Mudgett, Confesses 27 Murders 269) It was said that “he had an excuse for everything.” (The Salt Lake herald) H.H. Holmes knew who he needed to keep close and who he needed to get rid of. During the construction of his hotel, he fired his crew every week so he wouldn't get caught with all of the oddities going

Who was behind the mystery of H.H. Holmes? The people who was behind all of this was of course H.H. Holmes and several other people. What did he do? H.H. Holmes had killed a lot of people for no real reason. He had mainly put them in different parts of his castle. When did the mystery start? The mystery has actually started in the 1800s and it ended around the 1900s. Where did this all start at and end? Some people have started to say that it began in South America. When the mystery was finally solved it had finally ended in Pennsylvania. How did this all start? It all started with the nickname that he got. The nickname he got was Dr.Death, he got this nickname by killing all of the innocent people. H.H. Holmes got killed by getting hanged this happened because he had killed to many people and he had also killed one of his close friends. Why is this still unsolved?

After graduating he moved to Chicago, Illinois where he found work in a pharmacy where he also used his new name Dr. Henry H. Holmes, he eventually took ownership of the business after the original owner “disappeared”. He started construction of his infamous “Murder Castle” which was a three story building with hidden staircases that lead to nowhere, trapdoors and chutes that lead to the basement where the real horror took place he even burnt his victims in a kiln that he had made. In 1893 during the Columbian Exposition he opened his home like a hotel for people that were traveling from other states for the exposition some made it out fine but others never left, this whole time he had joined forces with Benjamin Pitezel to pull off one of the biggest scams they have ever done for $10,000 unfortunately while traveling and committing other scams and frauds it landed Holmes in jail where he ran into Marion Hedgepeth who knew him under the name of H.M. Howard he let him in on the insurance scam with Pitezel but never honored the agreement so Hedgepeth tipped off the police but before he was apprehended he killed Pitezel, convinced his wife he was still alive but in hiding and took three of the children to ultimately kill them. He was finally apprehended and charged with insurance fraud, later he stood trial for

As mentioned, Larson portrays a good side and an evil side in each plot line of the book. He connects two different characters to each side. H.H. Holmes, the antagonist, of this book reflects the evil. Holmes acts evil by elaborately killing ten different people. Holmes creates alibis for each person he kills. Holmes describes his alibis to the police to cover his catastrophic killings. Holmes told the lie that Minnie Williams went to Europe, and took Howard, Nellie, and, Alice Pietzel to go see their dad in hiding. The protagonist, Frank Guyer, solves the murder of the missing people, and proves that Holmes killed them. Guyer sent Holmes to court, and the court ruled him guilty of murder. Even though the

When questioning Holmes’s motives, one can first examine biological theories. Did crime run in his family? Did he have a bad childhood? Or maybe he was just born with a gene that would somehow trigger him to be a criminal eventually in his life. It’s very possible that he could have suffered an abusive childhood, causing him to grow up and seek a way to somehow enact ‘revenge’ for his own pains.

Holmes decides to convince Pitezel to take out a very large life insurance policy to scam an insurance company by staging Pitezel’s death and substituting another corpse in his place, which he assured Pitezel he would had no trouble getting ahold of. In all reality, this was Holmes’ way of getting out of the predicament he had put himself in by trusting someone too much. In November of 1893, Holmes and Pitezel leave Chicago to travel across the country and commit frauds along the way. In July of 1894, Holmes attempts to swindle another pharmacy in Saint Louis, Missouri, just as he had done when he first got to Chicago. This time, on the other hand, it does not work out for Holmes. Holmes, for the first time ever in his criminal career, he is behind bars. While in jail, he meets Marion Hedgepeth, whom he shared a jail cell with. Holmes shares the insurance swindle plan with Hedgepeth, who “gave Holmes the name of a twisted attorney that could put over an insurance swindle” (Hounded to death by ghosts of the castle he built, 1914, p. 19, col. 1-7). Holmes promises Hedgepeth five hundred dollars for the hook up with the attorney if the attorney can make the plan happen. Holmes ends up being bailed out of prison by his third wife, Georgianna Yoke, after Holmes told her false reasons why he was arrested in the first place. Once again, Holmes has received another lucky charm where he could have been in jail for much longer, and perhaps put away forever.

John Marsh was the first Harvard graduate and was the first to practice medicine there. He was born in South Danvers, Massachusetts in 1799 and passed in Pacheco, California in 1856

H.H Holmes was a very smart man, but he threw his whole life away. He could of did something with himself and made himself Out to become something, but he didn't. His childhood wasn't very good at home but, He was a good child. H.H Holmes got straight A’s When he was in school. When he became an adult and his adulthood started forming that's when everything started to turn for him. People thought he was a good man, and did everything right until all of his secrets starting coming out. You would never think someone would make their house into a “Murder castle” but H.H Holmes did.

Herman Webster Mudgett was born on May 16, 1861 in Gilmanton, New Hampshire. As a child, Herman was bullied, at one point being forced to touch a skeleton in a doctor 's office (hhholmes.weebly.com). Herman was very intelligent from a young age. He began to dissect both living and dead animals. After graduating high school, Herman went to the University of Vermont to study medicine. He then transferred to the University of Michigan, because he was interested in their human dissection program. Holmes and his friend Benjamin Pitizel conducted a plan to collect insurance money from fake family members. Holmes stole bodies from his medical school. He was accused by the school of stealing bodies, but there was no solid evidence against the accusation (History.com). When he finished medical school he went to New York to be a doctor’s apprentice. He was presented

His victims were killed and tortured in various gruesome ways, and their corpses were used in grotesque experiments and subsequently sold to black markets and universities. Holmes, like so many other serial killers, had a troubled childhood. Dr. Holmes was born to Levi Horton Mudgett and Theodate Page Price, under the original name of Herman Webster Mudgett, in Gilmanton, New Hampshire in 1861. His family was affluent, and he was considered very privileged for his time. He was also a very bright child who quickly surpassed his classmates academically. Despite his studiousness, Holmes lived a troubled life. His father was an abusive alcoholic, despite being a strict Methodist. If home life was not bad enough, Holmes suffered severe bullying in school, due to the other students’ jealousy of his intelligence.