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December 4, 2017

H. H. Holmes: America’s First Serial Killer

Herman Webster Mudgett, commonly known as H. H. Holmes, was born in 1861 in New Hampshire.1 Mudgett was born into an affluent family and lived a very privileged life as a child. Many thought that Mudgett was unusually intelligent as a child; Mudgett showed an interest in medicine, which was one of the first signs of his psychotic behaviors, for Holmes practiced surgery on many helpless animals.2 Mudgett began his criminal life with petty acts of fraudulence and scams. One criminal act that Mudgett committed is haunting. Holmes stole corpses while as a medical student at University of Michigan in order to perform experiments on the bodies.3

This is a photo of Herman Mudgett, also known as H. H Holmes, America’s first serial killer. | Courtesy of Google Images by the Dallas Morning News

Holmes later became one of America’s first serial killers. Mudgett is most commonly known for his brutal killer tactics in a specially constructed home nicknamed the “Murder Castle.” What flaws did he make? Who would commit such crimes? We are going to find out… Through criminology, specialists investigate the criminal’s mind, and acts of crime. What were the possible motives of H. H. Holmes and the flaws he made in his murders?

Mudgett was said to be an affluent, privileged child; although, there is more evidence to look for in his childhood years to show the cause of his crimes. Holmes’ mother was said to have had a terminal illness that traumatized the family. Many serial killers encounter psychological trauma early on in their life that creates a mental disorder leading to their twisted thoughts and actions. Mudgett’s mother’s illness could have been a possible cause for his psychotic behavior. Another could be that Mudgett’s mother was unable to be saved from her illness, so he wanted to join the medical field due to his hatred of doctors.

Mudgett was an extremely intelligent man, which makes him an even more terrifying figure. In 1885, Mudgett moved to Chicago and came across Elizabeth S. Holton’s drugstore at the southwest corner of South Wallace Avenue and West 63rd Street in Englewood, where he found work at a local pharmacy, and where he began using his infamous name, Dr. Henry H. Holmes.4 He worked at the pharmacy for about two years, and eventually took over the business. Holton said he proved himself to be a hardworking employee, and eventually bought the store.

This sketch is of interior of the notorious Holmes “Castle” that shows the design of the castle of death, including all trap doors and secret rooms. | Courtesy of Google Images by Movie Pilot 2016

With the money collected as the new owner of the local pharmacy, Holmes purchased an empty lot across from the drugstore, where construction began in 1887 on a two-story mixed-use building, with apartments on the second floor and retail spaces, including a new drugstore on the first floor.5 When Holmes declined to pay the architects or the steel company, they sued him in 1888. In 1892, he added a third floor, telling investors and suppliers that he intended to use it as a hotel during the upcoming World’s Columbian Exposition, though the hotel portion was never completed. Furniture suppliers found that Holmes was hiding their materials, for which he had never paid, in hidden rooms and passages throughout the building.6 Their search made the news, and investors for the planned hotel pulled out of the deal when a jeweler in the building showed them the articles.7 When the third floor caught fire on the night of August 13, 1893, only a few people were in the building, all employees and long-term residents. Holmes had taken out insurance policies on the building with at least four companies, all of which promptly sued rather than pay. During the 1893 Columbian Exposition, Holmes opened up his home as a hotel for visitors. Unfortunately, many guests did not survive what became known as the “Murder Castle.”8

This is an exterior photo of the Hotel of Horrors that Holmes used as a hotel to trap his victims | Courtesy of Google Images by The Line Up 2016

Many of these victims were women who were seduced, lured into the “Murder Castle,” and then killed. Other victims were lured there by the offer of employment.9 Holmes did not live in Chicago for long, because many people began to catch on to his trail. With insurance companies pressing to prosecute Holmes for arson, Holmes left Chicago in July 1894 to construct another “castle” along the lines of his Chicago operation.10 If Holmes would have kept out of the many building issues of the Murder Castle, he might have been able to get away with more killings in Chicago.

In July 1894, Holmes was arrested for the first time, on the charge of selling mortgaged goods in St. Louis, Missouri.11 He was bailed out, but while in jail he met a convicted outlaw named Marion Hedgepeth, who was serving a 25-year sentence. The two planned a wild scheme to deceive an insurance company out of $10,000 by taking a policy out on Holmes and then faking his own death to receive the money. The plan became too elaborate and involved too many people, which meant a greater split of money among the group. Holmes became outraged and killed a member of the group, Benjamin Pitezel, and his entire family. Frank Geyer, a Philadelphia detective, found the decomposed bodies of the two Pitezel girls in the Pitezel house cellar after co-wrokers were suspicious that Mr. Pitezel had missed two days of work.12 After removing the bodies, Geyer noticed that one of the girl’s feet had been removed. After discovering that the girl had club foot, he theorized that the killer had cut off her feet to prevent a distinctive identification of the body.13 Holmes was reported to have visited a local pharmacy to purchase the drugs that he used to kill another member of the Pitezel family, and a repair shop to sharpen the knives he used to chop up the body before he burned it.14 The boy’s teeth and bits of bone were discovered in the home’s chimney. Holmes’ murder spree finally ended when he was arrested in Boston on November 17, 1894, after being tracked there from Philadelphia.15 In October 1895, Holmes was put on trial for the murder of Benjamin Pitezel, and was found guilty and sentenced to death.16 By then, it was evident that Holmes had also murdered the Pitezel children. Following his conviction, Holmes confessed to 27 murders in Chicago, Indianapolis, and Toronto.17 Holmes gave various contradictory accounts of his life, initially claiming innocence and later that he was possessed by Satan. On May 7, 1896, Holmes was hanged at the Philadelphia County Prison, for the murder of Pitezel family and countless other murders.18

This newspaper clipping of H. H Holmes describes the questioning of Holmes motives | Courtesy of Google Images by Did You Know Facts 2016

All in all, Holmes let his impatient manner and greed get the best of him. If Holmes had been able to keep to himself, he would have been able to get away with more than he did. His motives were unclear, but the illness of his mother and his unhealthy interest in medicine have a strong correlation with the monster that was created in Chicago. Serial killers are a breed of monsters, and understanding the minds of a different breed is almost impossible. Relations and inferences can be made, but no one will ever understand why one would commit such crimes to another form of life.

  1. David Goldman, “Castle of Horror: The Gruesome Story of H.H. Holmes,” Biography 7, no. 5:28 (2003): 787.
  2. David Goldman, “Castle of Horror: The Gruesome Story of H.H. Holmes,” Biography 7, no. 5:28 (2003): 789.
  3. David Goldman, “Castle of Horror: The Gruesome Story of H.H. Holmes,” Biography 7, no. 5:28 (2003): 793.
  4. George M. Ebehart, “New Publications,” College & Research Libraries News 64, no. 10: (2011) 680.
  5. George M. Ebehart, “New Publications,” College & Research Libraries News 64, no. 10: (2011) 681.
  6. George M. Ebehart, “New Publications,” College & Research Libraries News 64, no. 10: (2011) 681.
  7. George M. Ebehart, “New Publications,” College & Research Libraries News 64, no. 10: (2011) 681.
  8. Salem Press Encyclopedia Research Starters, 2016, s.v. “Mass and serial murders,” by Phyllis B. Gerstenfeld.
  9. Salem Press Encyclopedia Research Starters, 2016, s.v. “Mass and serial murders,” by Phyllis B. Gerstenfeld.
  10. Salem Press Encyclopedia Research Starters, 2016, s.v. “Mass and serial murders,” by Phyllis B. Gerstenfeld.
  11. Salem Press Encyclopedia Research Starters, 2016, s.v. “Mass and serial murders,” by Phyllis B. Gerstenfeld.
  12. Salem Press Encyclopedia Research Starters, 2016, s.v. “Mass and serial murders,” by Phyllis B. Gerstenfeld.
  13. J.P. Shalloo, “Criminology,” Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology (2004), 333.
  14. J.P. Shalloo, “Criminology,”, Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology (2004), 333.
  15. J.P. Shalloo, “Criminology,” Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology (2004), 334.
  16. J.P. Shalloo, “Criminology” Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology (2004), 334.
  17. J.P. Shalloo, “Criminology,” Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology (2004), 334.
  18. J.P. Shalloo, “Criminology,” Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology (2004), 334.

Abigale Carney

I am a Criminology major in the graduating class of 2021 at St. Mary’s University in San Antonio, coming from El Paso, TX. I am a student athlete for StMU, and I devote most of my time to softball outside of school. I am blessed to say that I spend my free time with my friends, family, and teammates.

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Recent Comments

92 comments

  • Johnanthony Hernandez

    Interesting article, I remember being a kid when I saw a documentary on H.H. Holmes and while at the time didn’t understand much of what they were discussing in it, I do remember thinking how a person could do such things. Now that I am older, it is interesting to think that he was reacting to trauma that he had sustained from his mother’s metal illness could have been the cause of his murders. When I was taking criminal justice classes one of my professors told us that while mental illness may not always be present in serial killers it is H.H. Holmes may have fall into the category as one who had a mental illness that drove him to do what he did.

  • Luis Morales

    I have always found the story of H.H. Holmes to be a peculiar one. The fact that he grew up with wealth and had many opportunities in life, he still became America’s first Serial Killer. What I never knew though was that he tried scamming people when it came to the architectures of the murder castle. Great story about America’s First Serial Killer.

  • Austin Pena

    Interesting to read on how they attributed his childhood trauma to the crimes he would later commit on in life. If that was the case then we can see why they use this same storyline with many of the killers of today and maybe it should be taken more seriously. But the article was well written with great details and flowed nicely so it was easy to follow.

  • Iris Henderson

    H.H. Holmes was a seriously disturbed man to commit all of the murders that he did. I didn’t know that on top of his murders in Chicago and Indianapolis, he had committed murders in Toronto as well. Also, I was unaware of the fact that he was being sued by companies and that is what helped to discovering and capturing him.

  • Kayla Lopez

    I have heard a lot of stories about H.H. Holmes, and yet despite this fact, this article contained some information that I did not know about. I did not know about his mother and the fact that she had a terminal illness and he had to watch it slowly take over. This was a very well written article that was easy to follow.

  • Didier Cadena

    I’ve always found the story of Holmes to be really interesting, because of how he was considered the first American serial killer. I became aware of his case because of a documentary on him that I saw, so it was nice to see an article on him. I wouldn’t say that his childhood should be blamed for why he committed his crimes, but it would have been common to blame that for what he did. The article does a great job telling his story with great detail, while still making it interesting to read.

  • Natalia Carroll-Long

    I found this article to be very fear enduing. It gets me very paranoid to know that people are capable of doing such things. Imagine you’re trying to get married and, it turns out, your boss is the equivalent of a real life saw. I don’t trust people to begin with and this just seals the deal. It gets me thinking about how Holmes could have made it worse by torturing them. I really value lives and so things like this also upset me.

  • Hector Garcia

    I remember reading about Dr. HH Holmes and his spree of killings in my criminology class. It was interesting to read about Dr. HH Holmes childhood and how his mother’s illness would lead to the killings in the “Murder Castle”. I was glad to hear that this serial killer was apprehended and was brought to justice for his crimes. It also brings up the question of why serial killers do what they do.

  • Michael Thomas

    I found this article interesting because of how it details the H.H Holmes murders. I was amazed that he blamed his childhood for the murders he committed. This type of behavior is common when a person is being tried for a crime. They blame some memory from the past or supernatural feelings as their reason for committing a crime. Holmes reasons for the murders was that his mother was sick and he was possessed.

  • Alyssa Childs

    I wouldn’t say that a bad childhood is always the cause of people becoming a serial killer, but Holmes did have a bad one. I will never understand how someone would be able to kill someone. I have not pity for Holmes, but I don’t believe in the death penalty. They hung him and instead they should of let him rot in prison or just let him rot somewhere. I believe the death penalty is giving them peace in a way and often they might want to be killed so technically they are getting what they want and win. I can’t believe Holmes was able to create secret doors/rooms without anyone noticing.

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