In Keeping with the Serial Killer Theme...H.H. Holmes

Perhaps the first serial killer known and documented in America was a man named. H. H. Holmes. Born in 1863 in New Hampshire as Herman Webster Mudgett, he later became H. H. Holmes and became America's first serial killer. During the World's Fair of 1893, he lured his unsuspecting victims to his elaborately constructed house of torture in Chicago. The structure was modified to his specifications which included lead lined rooms, gas jets so he could cook his victims to death, shutes that led to the basement so he could dispose of the bodies, and windowless rooms. The building covered and entire city block and was three stories and was named 'the Castle'. His victims were either cremated or dissected and sold to the medical institutions of the day. Though upon his capture, Holmes was only convicted for 27 murders, he is believed to have killed well over 100 people. When the World's Fair ended, Holmes left Chicago and began looking for more opportunities to increase his wealth and his victim count. He was eventually caught in an insurance fraud scheme along with his associate Benjamin Pitezel, (who he had killed along with three of Pitezel's children). Holmes was finally arrested in Boston by the Pinkerton Agency. After his arrest, The Castle was searched, uncovering evidence of some of the most gruesome crimes ever committed in American History. After a trial lasting only five days, Holmes was convicted of murder and then sentenced to hang from the neck until his was dead on May 7, 1896. The story of H. H. Holmes is perhaps one of the most disturbing, yet fascinating, serial killers in our history of macabre murders.

The interesting thing about serial killers is we seem to think they are a product of modern times, but as H.H. Holmes and Jack the Ripper have shown us, there have been serial killers as long as there has been an ample supply of victims....

The story of H.H. Holmes is the inspiration for AJ Grimes forthcoming book entitled 'The Quintessential Gentleman: A Lesson in Murder'. The book is told from the view of the serial killer, Harrison Merriweather, and what drives his obsession with the flesh and the feeling of the dead beneath his hand. As I have been privileged enough to read a small excerpt from the novel, it was slightly reminiscent in its style to the beloved Sherlock Holmes, but from a serial killers point of view.