Holmes Murder Castle: Injustice In Chicago In 1893

Herman Webster Mudgett, a.k.a Dr. H. H. Homes was a notorious criminal in the 1800's. He is well known for his big insurance schemes and the murder castle he constructed, where he "killed at least 27 women during the World's Fair in Chicago" (Brown 2015). He took delight in pulling off scams with cadavers. He also enjoyed mutilating animals when he was young and as an adult, he began mutilating corpses. He had a rough past that leads him to be very sadistic. Holmes went through many obstacles in life that lead him up to this point.

H.H. Holmes personifies the stereotypical murder. Throughout his killing spree, Holmes pretended to be a gentleman, even marrying some of his victims. When Holmes was interrogated later, he described himself as Satan.(6) Using a friendly outward appearance, Holmes was able to escape suspicion when the victims’ family questioned disappearances. Holmes gave those families false hope that the victims would be found, or had just run away and had not died. When in reality Holmes had brutally murdered each one and hid all of evidence.

After being in the small store for a while Holmes decided he should start expanding, he saw an empty lot across from his store and decided to purchase it and start building his three story tall, Block long, hotel that soon became known as The Castle by the neighborhood, little did the know it was going to be the death of as many as two-hundred poor souls. Holmes imediently hired a crew to start his masterpiece, but Holmes fired the crew and hired a new one a week later. Holmes kept doing this until his

The case that shocked Chicago ravaged the front pages of newspapers, was the talk of the town, and became infamous throughout Illinois and the U.S. The savage and questionable murder of a young, sweet boy proved all anyone could talk about in summer 1924. The media went haywire when the details about the murder and motive seemed different than any before. Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb committed a murder so violent and brutal that their excuse committing it was simply because they wanted to commit the perfect crime. The Leopold and Loeb trial contained so many nuances, twists, and turns that the media rightfully dubbed it the “Crime of the Century.” The trial Chicago v. Leopold and Loeb of 1924 brought together America by bringing awareness to capital punishment in the justice system.

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.

HH Holmes did plan the event, as a matter of fact he planned the event for over 5 years. In 1885 Holmes got a job working at a drugstore, when the owner of the drug store passed away he left his wife in charge of the drug store. Holmes convinced the widow to let him take over the responsibilities and duties of the store. Soon the widow went missing and was never seen again. Holmes said she moved to California but it was never verified. After Holmes became owner of the drugstore he bought an empty lot across the street. He built and designed a 3 story hotel called the “castle”. Holmes hired and fired construction crews so that no one would have a clear idea of what he was creating. Holmes placed ads in newspaper in 1891 offering jobs for young

Just across the street from the pharmacy, Holmes built a block long three story building, “The Murder Castle”, and opened it as a hotel during the World's Colombian Exposition in 1873. Neither his hotel nor

Like Jack the Ripper, most of Holmes' numerous victims were females. Some of them worked for him as stenographers in his pharmacy or hotel, and others he courted and later married. However, unlike the infamous British serial killer, Holmes did not kill face to face. He preferred "being near enough to hear the approach of death in the rising panic of his victims" (349). It was in those moments that "his quest for possession entered its most satisfying phase" (349). For Holmes, choosing how his victims died, be it "[filling] a room with gas and [letting] the guest expire in her sleep, or [creeping] in with his passkey and [pressing] a chloroform-soaked rag to his face" (349), was a measure of his power; the ultimate form of establishing dominance over the

“After the fair he intended to burn the building to collect the insurance and, as a happy dividend, destroy whatever surplus “material” might remain in its hidden storage chambers, although ideally, given other disposal measures available to him, the building by then would contain nothing of an incriminating nature” (85). This allows the reader into the mind of Holmes and create an understanding that Holmes had no interest in the innocent people that were going to be hurt because of him. Assuming the role of architect once more, Holmes hired carpenters, in which they started remodeling the second and third floors of his building. Once again Holmes’s method of segregating tasks and firing workers proved successful. Holmes had already used this method of firing workers by claiming that they had done an inferior job, and his true intention succeeded since Holmes did not pay the workers for the job they

The Chicago World Fair was an extraordinary attraction during the contrasting Gilded Age as innovations were constantly forming and shifting the world into a new age of technology. Celebrating Columbus's discovery of America, millions of people and many familiar faces such as Helen Keller, Jane Addams, Thomas Edison and etc., came together in the “White City” to witness a dream-like fantasy. Furthermore, the fair was an impactful influence that was formed by the architect, Daniel Burnham, and created a proud unification within the country. However, the fair was also the making of one of the first serial killers in America, H.H Holmes. Holmes trapped people inside his “hotel” and committed murder to an estimated count of 200 people. The unimaginable

Holmes recorded in his journal his plan of entering the town’s large midnight premiere of The Dark Knight Rises armed with an assault rifle, pump action shotgun, a semi-automatic pistol, gas grenades, body armor, and ample ammunition to massacre the entire four-hundred person screening of the film. Holmes also considered an airport as his target, but with the tighter security, he selected his local Century 16 movie theater. Out of “hatred for mankind,” much like Frankenstein’s monster, Holmes entered the theater casually and unarmed, then proceeded to set his self proclaimed “mission” into effect. The movie began, and several minutes into the opening action sequence, Holmes left the screening room through an emergency exit, propping the door open so he could re-enter the densely populated room. He traveled to his car, where he stored his wide array of equipment, suited up, and made his way back into the theater. Before re-entering fully however, Holmes placed headphones in his ears playing music, to drown out the inevitable screaming that would come from his next act. He opened the exit door and threw smoke grenades into the audience to confuse and frighten them. Many believed the smoke to be special theatrical effects since it was the town’s special premiere of the film. Then

Designed as though it were inspired from an Edgar Allan Poe tale, the castle contained a Labyrinth of secret passageways, false partitions, trap doors, windowless rooms, stairs that led to nowhere, and a concealed greased chute for dumping bodies that led directly to the basement. This three story house of horrors, however, was guised as an ordinary commercial space. Innocent enough was the third floor of the castle which was divided between apartment rentals, offices, and Holmes’ own living accommodations. And, like the unassuming third story, the ground floor was complete with retail spaces that offered blacksmith services, a jewelry store, barbershop, pharmacy, and restaurant. However, it was the second story for which Holmes had advertised

One of the many excitements in the news during the late sixties was the “Chicago Seven” Trial. People read about this crazy trial and the outlandish events that took place in the courtroom from the defendants wearing judicial robes to crude names and accusations directed towards the Judge. Who could we possibly expect to act so unruly in a place of order and justice? Why, the “Chicago Seven” of course. The events that led up to this trial all began with Democratic Convention of 1968 which took place in Chicago, Illinois.

"Red Rooms" are purportedly secret underground websites where people can watch the live murder of a captured victim. Although Red Rooms tales are a fairly recent trend, first widely appearing in 2014 and largely picking up interest in 2015 (Figure C) they can be seen as the evolution of prior murder myths and speak to societal fears both contemporary and old.

Many authors can write beautiful works, but not many can so masterfully craft a story that audiences around the country beg for a resurrection from the dead. Yet when Sir Arthur Conan Doyle killed history’s most famous detective, Sherlock Holmes, readers across England were so hooked on his addictive style that they demanded he find a way to raise the dead (Hodgkinson). Holmes remains to this day one of the most influential characters in the world of mystery, and Doyle perfected Holmes’ voice in the twenty years he wrote about him (Fall River Press 1). From 1891 to 1921, the sleuth’s stories appeared in The Strand Magazine in London, giving access to the greatest number of people possible. However, despite the overwhelming popularity of