Henry Howard Holmes
Morgan Lipford
Period 3
Miss Firmani
1 March 2018
Many wonder, what drives people to kill others? The answer to this question is, no one really knows, people have their own motives and satisfactions that others will never understand. Henry Howard Holmes, sometimes referred to as the "Beast of Chicago," was one of the America's first serial killers. Believed to have killed somewhere between 20 and 200 people, he killed many of his victims in a specially customized home, which was then later nicknamed the "Murder Castle," because of all the crimes committed inside. Because of his crimes, many people were influenced around the world. His murder castle was opened to the public in 1893, and that is when his killings became more usual. The first American Serial Killer, H.H. Holmes created a structure for future American serial killers throughout the world.
Henry Howard Holmes was born on May 16, 1861 in Gilmanton, New Hampshire, into a wealthy family. As a young boy Holmes was constantly bullied because he was just known as “that weird kid.” Because of his experiences being bullied so much at an early age, Holmes became obsessed with death. It is also believe his parents were physically and mentally abusive towards Holmes. And with this it somewhat proves that serial killers are more likely to have gone through physical and verbal abuse in their childhood. Instead of being traumatized by these events, he was intrigued, and only fed him into being psychotic even more. As he started to grow up, he started off dissecting dogs, cats, or any homeless animal he could find. His cravings and his experiments of animal killings, were just an early stage for what was to come. Because of his curiosity of human bodies, he attended the University of Michigan Medical School. There, he stole corpses from medical laboratories. He would burn or disfigure the bodies and place them where they would be found as accident so he could collect the insurance money from the corpses and claim they were his relatives. On the outside, he appeared to be a genuine and caring man, but underneath the surface was a manipulative, businessman who used his mind and charm to succeed in his scams. “I was born with the devil in me. I could not help the fact that I was a murderer” (Mudgett, Herman W.).
Today’s serial killers are nothing new to society. Jeffrey Dahmer, John Wayne Gacy and Ted Bundy did shock our nation with their brutal and unbelievable crimes. However, none of them were as prominent as H.H. Holmes. A man who designed and built a building with torture rooms that would serve as his playhouse. This complex became Holmes decoyed Murder Castle. The home contained soundproof rooms, secret passages and mazes of hallways and staircases. The rooms were also made with trap doors over chutes that captured Holmes’ victims to the basement. In the basement, it had things like acid vats, pits of quicklime, and a crematorium, things to get rid of the decaying corpses.
Holmes lured many visitors to his lair (Murder Castle Facts). He succeeded this with the promise of cheap stay ins. Holmes was caught soon after he fled Chicago, shortly after the end of the World’s Fair in 1893. He was arrested in Boston for the murder of his assistant, Benjamin Pitezel, and two of his children. It is believed he did this because he could never get too close to one person for obvious reasons, and if they knew too much, he would kill and then some. After this, Holmes had seduced Pitezel’s wife. He had been collecting his former assistants insurance money and living with his widow and three of their children. Police discovered the body of one of the children he had murdered, and this led to Holmes’ arrest. While in jail, waiting for his trial, Holmes wrote an autobiography, Holmes’ Own Story. In this book he wrote, “I could not help the fact that I was a murderer, no more than the poet can help the inspiration to sing.” After a while in prison, Holmes was hanged for his crimes.
While Holmes had a designed home for his killings, nowadays, people use kidnap and other methods to satisfy their cravings. As Holmes was very influential with his crimes and killings, Ted Bundy, was a serial killer, rapist and a necrophiliac. Holmes and Bundy are similar to the fact that they were not only serial killers, but they went through some sort of abusive when they were children. Bundy eventually became fascinated by knives (Ted Bundy Biography). However, when Bundy came to the serial killer life, he was driven by the fact of one of his first girlfriends. He would find women who resembled her, rape them, and then kill them.
“I was born with the evil one standing as my sponsor beside the bed where I was ushered into the world, and he has been with me since.” (Mudgett, Herman W.). While may have come to the realization that, people have their own motives and satisfactions to kill others, it is shown most serial killers come from a rough childhood. The “Beast of Chicago,” had many motives and reasons to kill others, which sparked ideas all across the world.
Works Cited
Mudgett, Herman W. “Holmes' Own Story: Holmes Confessed 27 Murders, Lied Then Died.” Good Reads, www.goodreads.com/book/show/32932084-holmes-own-story.
“Murder Castle-Facts & Summary.” History, History.com, www.history.com/topics/murder-castle.
“Ted Bundy Biography.” Biography, A&E Television Networks, www.biography.com/people/ted-bundy-9231165.