H. H. Holmes

H. H. Holmes
H.H. Holmes
Born	Herman Webster Mudgett (1861-05-16)May 16, 1861 Gilmanton, New Hampshire, U.S.
Died	May 7, 1896(1896-05-07) (aged 34) Moyamensing Prison, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Cause of death	Execution by hanging
Other names	Henry W. Howard Dr. Henry Howard Holmes Henry Gordon Alexander Bond
Alma mater	University of Michigan
Motive	Life insurance money, profit from selling corpses to medical schools
Conviction(s)	four counts of murder in the first degree six counts of attempted murder
Criminal penalty	Death
Details
Victims	9–200+ (9 confirmed, 100 confessed, 27 second confession, over 200 estimated)
Span of crimes	1878–1894
Country	U.S., Canada
Date apprehended	November 17, 1894, in Boston, Massachusetts, US

Herman Webster Mudgett (May 16, 1861 – May 7, 1896), better known under the name of Dr. Henry Howard Holmes or more commonly just H. H. Holmes, was one of the first documented serial killers in the modern sense of the term, and is widely considered to be "America's First Serial Killer". In Chicago at the time of the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition, Holmes opened a hotel which he had designed and built for himself specifically with murder in mind, and which was the location of many of his murders. While he confessed to 27 murders, of which nine were confirmed, his actual body count could be over 200. He brought an unknown number of his victims to his World's Fair Hotel, located about 3 miles (4.8 km) west of the fair, which was held in Jackson Park. Besides being a serial killer, H. H. Holmes was also a successful con artist.

The case was notorious in its time and received wide publicity through a series of articles in William Randolph Hearst's newspapers. Interest in Holmes's crimes was revived in 2003 by Erik Larson's The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America, a best-selling nonfiction book that juxtaposed an account of the planning and staging of the World's Fair with Holmes's story. His story had been previously chronicled in The Torture Doctor by David Franke (1975) and Depraved: The Shocking True Story of America's First Serial Killer by Harold Schechter (1994), as well as "The Monster of Sixty-Third Street" chapter in Gem of the Prairie: An Informal History of the Chicago Underworld by Herbert Asbury (1940, republished 1986). The 1974 novel American Gothic by Robert Bloch (the author of Psycho) was a fictionalized version of the story of H. H. Holmes. In 2003, cartoonist/illustrator Rick Geary published a graphic novel about Holmes titled The Beast of Chicago: The Murderous Career of H. H. Holmes.

Early life

Holmes was born as Herman Webster Mudgett in Gilmanton, New Hampshire, on May 16, 1861, to Levi Horton Mudgett and Theodate Page Price, both of whom were descended from the first English settlers in the area. Mudgett was his parents' third-born child; he had an older sister Ellen, an older brother Arthur and a younger brother Henry. Holmes's father was a farmer from a farming family, and his parents were devout Methodists. According to the 2007 Most Evil profile on Holmes, his father was a violent alcoholic. Holmes excelled in school, which led to bullying by jealous classmates. In an attempt to scare him, the bullies forced him into the local doctor's office and made him stand face to face with a human skeleton, and placed the skeleton's hands on his face. Holmes later recalled that at first he was frightened, but then found the experience fascinating. He also wrote that the experience cured him of his fears. Holmes soon became obsessed with death and later started a hobby of dissecting animals.

At the early age of 16, Holmes graduated from high school and took teaching jobs in Gilmanton and later in Alton, New Hampshire. In 1878, he committed his first murder by overdosing a former classmate with laudanum to collect his insurance money. On July 4, 1878, he married Clara Lovering in Alton; their son, Robert Lovering Mudgett, was born on February 3, 1880, in Loudon, New Hampshire. (As an adult, Robert became a certified public accountant, and served as city manager of Orlando, Florida.)

At the age of 19, Holmes enrolled in the University of Vermont in Burlington, but was unsatisfied with the school and left after only one year. In 1882, he entered the University of Michigan's Department of Medicine and Surgery and graduated in June 1884 after passing his examinations. While enrolled, he stole cadavers from the laboratory, disfigured the bodies and claimed that the victims were killed accidentally in order to collect insurance money from policies he took out on each deceased person. His marriage to Clara quickly fell apart, and he eventually abandoned his wife and son. He spent the next couple of years working various jobs and continued with his scams. After he moved to Mooers Forks, New York, a rumor began spreading that Holmes was seen with a little boy, who later disappeared. He claimed that the boy went back to his home in Massachusetts. No investigation took place and Holmes quickly left town. He later traveled to Philadelphia and eventually got a job as a keeper at Norristown State Hospital, but quit after a few days. He later got a position at a drugstore in Philadelphia. While working at the store, a boy died from taking medicine that was bought from the store. Holmes denied any involvement with the child's death and immediately left the city. Right before moving to Chicago, he decided to change his name to Henry Howard Holmes to avoid the possibility of his previous scam victims catching up with and reporting him.

On January 28, 1887, while he was still married to Clara, Holmes married Myrta Belknap (b. October 1862 in Pennsylvania) in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He filed for divorce from Clara a few weeks after marrying Myrta, but the divorce was never finalized. Holmes had a daughter with Myrta, Lucy Theodate Holmes, who was born on July 4, 1889, in Englewood, Illinois (as an adult, Lucy became a public schoolteacher). Holmes lived with Myrta and Lucy in Wilmette, Illinois, and spent most of his time in Chicago tending to business. Holmes married Georgiana Yoke on January 17, 1894, in Denver, Colorado, while still married to Clara and Myrta..

Chicago and the "Murder Castle"

Holmes arrived in Chicago in August 1886 and came across Dr. Elizabeth S. Holton's drugstore at the northwest corner of S. Wallace Avenue and W. 63rd Street in the Chicago neighborhood. Holton gave Holmes a job, and he proved himself to be a hardworking employee. After the death of Holton's husband, Holmes offered to buy the drugstore from Holton, and she agreed. Holmes purchased the store mainly with funds obtained by mortgaging the store's fixtures and stock, the loan to be repaid in substantial monthly installments of $100 (worth $3,400 today). Holton was never seen or heard from again, and whenever any regular customers asked Holmes about her whereabouts after she sold the drug store to him, he would say that she moved to California to be close to relatives.

H. H. Holmes "castle"

Holmes purchased an empty lot across from the drugstore where he built his three-story, block-long hotel building. Because of its enormous structure, local people dubbed it "The Castle". The building was 162 feet long and 50 feet wide. The address was 601-603 W. 63rd St. It was called the World's Fair Hotel and opened as a hostelry for the World's Columbian Exposition in 1893, with part of the structure devoted to commercial space. The ground floor of the Castle contained Holmes' own relocated drugstore and various shops, while the upper two floors contained his personal office and a maze of over 100 windowless rooms with doorways opening to brick walls, oddly-angled hallways, stairways leading to nowhere, doors that could only be opened from the outside and a host of other strange and labyrinthine constructions. Holmes was constantly firing and hiring different workers during the construction of the Castle, claiming that "they were doing incompetent work." His actual reason was to ensure that he was the only one who fully understood the design of the building.

During the period of building construction in 1889, Holmes met and became close friends with Benjamin Pitezel, a carpenter with a criminal past. He used Pitezel as his right-hand man for his criminal schemes. A district attorney later described Pitezel as Holmes' "tool . . . his creature."

After the completion of the hotel, Holmes selected mostly female victims from among his employees (many of whom were required as a condition of employment to take out life insurance policies, for which Holmes would pay the premiums, but was also the beneficiary), as well as his lovers and hotel guests, whom he would later kill. Some were locked in soundproof bedrooms fitted with gas lines that let him asphyxiate them at any time. Holmes would also lock his victims in a room where the walls were covered with iron plates and had blowtorches installed to incinerate them. Some victims were taken to one of the rooms on the second floor, called the "secret hanging chamber", where Holmes hanged them. Other victims were locked in a huge soundproof bank vault near his office, where they were left to suffocate. There was also a secret room that was completely sealed by solid brick that could only be entered through a trapdoor on the ceiling; Holmes would lock his victims in this room for days to die of hunger and thirst. The victims' bodies were put inside either a secret metal chute or a dummy elevator which led to the basement, where some were meticulously dissected, stripped of flesh, crafted into skeleton models and then sold to medical schools. Holmes also buried some of the bodies in lime pits for disposal. Holmes had two giant furnaces used to incinerate some of the bodies or evidence, as well as pits of acid, bottles of various poisons and even a stretching rack. Through the connections he had gained in medical school, he sold skeletons and organs with little difficulty.

One victim was his mistress, Julia Smythe. She was the wife of Ned Conner, who had moved into Holmes' building and began working at his pharmacy's jewelry counter. Holmes began an affair with Smythe. After Conner found out about the affair, he quit his job and moved away, leaving Smythe and her daughter Pearl behind. Smythe gained custody of Pearl and remained at the hotel, continuing her affair with Holmes. In 1891, Smythe told Holmes that she was pregnant with his baby, and demanded marriage. Holmes agreed to marry her, but told her that they could not have a child. He then suggested performing an abortion, and she agreed. The abortion was planned for Christmas Eve. Holmes murdered Smythe by overdosing her with chloroform, and later killed Pearl. When confronted by a tenant in the building, who questioned the whereabouts of Smythe and her daughter, Holmes said that they had left for Iowa to attend a family wedding. After Christmas, Holmes hired a man named Charles Chappell to articulate Smythe's skeleton. Holmes introduced himself to Chappell as "Henry Gordon" and took him to one of the rooms on the second floor to show him the body. After some discussion, they agreed that Chappell would put the arms in a bag and take them home to articulate them, and Holmes would do the rest of the body. After Chappell arrived home with the arms, Holmes and another man (possibly Pitezel) showed up at the door and gave him the rest of the body, which had been cut into two pieces. Holmes later hired Chappell again and took him to the same room, this time to process the body of a man. The third job was for the body of another woman. After Chappell finished the third skeleton, Holmes refused to pay the money he owed him, due to some financial trouble; Chappell then refused to give Holmes back the skeleton and kept it inside his home. After Holmes was caught and his crimes became public, Chappell cooperated with the police and gave them the skull for examination. The room where Holmes kept the three bodies was later established by investigators as "the room of the three corpses".

Holmes met a railroad heiress, named Minnie Williams, while on a business trip in Boston. He introduced himself to her as "Henry Gordon". They started dating and then a relationship. Although Holmes had to return to Chicago, he kept in touch with Williams and sent her love letters. In February 1893, she moved to Chicago and contacted Holmes. He offered her a job at the hotel as his personal stenographer, and she accepted. After rekindling their relationship, Holmes was able to persuade Williams to transfer the deed to her property in Fort Worth, Texas to a man named Alexander Bond (an alias of Holmes). In April 1893, Williams transferred the deed, with Holmes serving as the notary (Holmes later signed the deed over to Pitezel, giving him the alias "Benton T. Lyman"). After proposing to Williams, Holmes encouraged her to invite her sister Annie to Chicago, and she accepted the invitation. Holmes eventually started a friendship with Annie Williams and even gave her a personal tour of the hotel. While working in his office, Holmes asked Annie to go inside his office vault to get a file for him. While she was inside the vault, Holmes intentionally locked her inside and turned on the gas line that led to the vault, killing her.

Capture and arrest

H. H. Holmes' mugshot, 1895

Following the World's Fair, with creditors closing in and the economy in a general slump due to the Panic of 1893, Holmes left Chicago. He reappeared in Fort Worth, Texas, where he had inherited property from the Williams sisters. There, he sought to construct another Castle along the lines of his Chicago operation. However, he soon abandoned this project. He continued to move throughout the United States and Canada. The only murders verified during this period were those of longtime associate Pitezel and three of Pitezel's children.

In July 1894, Holmes was arrested and briefly incarcerated for the first time, for a horse swindle that ended in St. Louis. He was promptly bailed out, but while in jail, he struck up a conversation with a convicted train robber named Marion Hedgepeth, who was serving a 25-year sentence. Holmes had concocted a plan to swindle an insurance company out of $10,000 by taking out a policy on himself and then faking his death. Holmes promised Hedgepeth a $500 commission in exchange for the name of a lawyer who could be trusted. Holmes was directed to a young St. Louis attorney named Jeptha Howe. Howe was in practice with his older brother, Alphonso Howe, who had no involvement with Holmes or Pitezel or their fraudulent activities. Jeptha Howe, however, found Holmes' scheme brilliant. Nevertheless, Holmes' plan to fake his own death failed when the insurance company became suspicious and refused to pay. Holmes did not press the claim; instead he concocted a similar plan with his associate Pitezel.

Benjamin Pitezel

Pitezel had agreed to fake his own death so that his wife could collect on a $10,000 life insurance policy, which she was to split with Holmes and the unscrupulous attorney, Jeptha Howe. The scheme, which was to take place in Philadelphia, was that Pitezel would set himself up as an inventor, under the name B.F. Perry, and then be killed and disfigured in a lab explosion. Holmes was to find an appropriate cadaver to play the role of Pitezel. Holmes instead killed Pitezel by knocking him unconscious with chloroform and setting his body on fire with the use of benzene. In his confession, Holmes implied that Pitezel was still alive after he used the chloroform on him, prior to being set on fire. He proceeded to collect the insurance payout on the basis of the genuine Pitezel corpse. Holmes then went on to manipulate Pitezel's unsuspecting wife into allowing three of her five children (Alice, Nellie and Howard) to be in his custody. The eldest daughter and the baby remained with Mrs. Pitezel.

Forensic evidence presented at Holmes' later trial showed that chloroform had been administered after Pitezel's death (a fact which the insurance company was unaware of), presumably to fake suicide in order to exonerate Holmes should he be charged with murder.

Holmes and the three Pitezel children traveled throughout the northern United States and into Canada. Simultaneously, he escorted Mrs. Pitezel along a parallel route, all the while using various aliases and lying to Mrs. Pitezel concerning her husband's death (claiming that Pitezel was in hiding in London), as well as lying to her about the true whereabouts of her three missing children. In Detroit, just prior to entering Canada, they were only separated by a few blocks. In an even more audacious move, Holmes was staying at another location with his wife, who was unaware of the whole affair. Holmes would later confess to murdering Alice and Nellie by forcing them into a large trunk and locking them inside. He drilled a hole in the lid of the trunk and put one end of a hose through the hole, attaching the other end to a gas line to asphyxiate the girls. Holmes buried their nude bodies in the basement of the rental house. A Philadelphia detective, Frank Geyer, had tracked Holmes, finding the decomposed bodies of the two Pitezel girls in Toronto, buried in the cellar at 16 St. Vincent Lane. After removing the bodies from their shallow graves, Geyer noticed that Nellie's feet had been removed. After discovering that Nellie had club foot, he theorized that Holmes had cut off her feet to prevent a distinctive identification of the body. He then followed Holmes to Indianapolis, where Holmes had rented a cottage. Holmes was reported to have visited a local pharmacy to purchase the drugs which he used to kill Howard Pitezel, and a repair shop to sharpen the knives he used to chop up the body before he burned it. The boy's teeth and bits of bone were discovered in the home's chimney.

In 1894, the police were tipped off by Holmes' former cellmate Hedgepeth, whom Holmes had neglected to pay off as promised for his help in providing attorney Jeptha Howe. Holmes' murder spree finally ended when he was arrested in Boston on November 17, 1894, after being tracked there from Philadelphia by the Pinkertons. He was held on an outstanding warrant for horse theft in Texas, as the authorities had little more than suspicions at this point and Holmes appeared poised to flee the country in the company of his unsuspecting third wife.

The police then began interviewing the Castle's employees. The caretaker, Pat Quinlan, informed police that he was never permitted to clean the second floor. The police began a thorough investigation over the course of a month, uncovering Holmes' torture chambers and secret passageways on the upper floors. The police looked inside a stove on the third floor and found a piece of a gold chain, women's hair, and a woman's shoe. The police suspected that the chain belonged to Minnie Williams; they took it to a local jeweler (who had sold jewelry to Minnie in the past) and confirmed that it was hers. The police later looked inside Holmes' office vault and found several scratch marks, and a mark of what appeared to be a woman's shoe. Holmes later stated in his confession that the shoe print in the vault came from Annie Williams during her violent struggle before dying. When the police finished the upper floors, they moved their investigation down to the basement. They found a pile of human bones mixed with animal bones, a dissection table covered with dry blood, and a pile of bloody women's clothes. The investigators began digging up the lime pits and found skeletal remains of Holmes' victims. Unfortunately, the lime had turned most of the remains into dust, but they identified two strands of hair, one brown and one fair, in two soft spots in the hard clay. The strands matched the respective hair colors of Minnie and Annie Williams. Investigators suspected that a female footprint in a nearby lime pile was Minnie's. They also looked inside the acid pit and found several bones at the bottom. In one part of the basement, investigators unearthed several bones belonging to a child estimated to be 6 to 8 years old. They also found a dress that they suspected had belonged to Julia Smythe. They later showed the dress to Conner, who confirmed it was Smythe's. Three firemen later explored a nearby tunnel that led from the basement to the street. The tunnel ended in a hollow-sounding wall. After the firemen had torn it down, a plumber lit a match for illumination and accidently caused a powerful explosion that made the whole building shake. Several of the men were injured and had to be taken to the hospital. Afterwards, investigators found the fumes that caused the explosion were coming from an oil tank hidden behind the wall. Holmes had no explanation for the oil tank, but the chemists who examined the oil stated that the fumes were strong enough to kill someone in less than a minute. Holmes later stated that the bodies that were found in the basement were bought from a man who stole them from a local cemetery, but he could name neither the man nor the cemetery.

Only nine murders were confirmed, but the number of his victims has been estimated between 20 and 100, and even as high as 200, based upon missing persons reports of the time as well as the testimony of Holmes' neighbors, who reported seeing him accompany unidentified young women into his hotel, whom they never saw leave. Holmes initially confessed to killing up to 100 victims, but later claimed only 27 victims. Many people came to Chicago to see the World's Fair but, for one reason or another, never returned home. Holmes personally confessed to 27 murders, and right before being hanged, claimed he'd only murdered two people. Some of the names listed in the confession, for which The Philadelphia Enquirer paid him, turned out to be those of people still alive, although police had commented that some of the bodies in the basement were so badly dismembered and decomposed that it was difficult to tell how many bodies there actually were. Holmes' victims were mainly women (and primarily blonde), but included men and children.

Trial, execution and aftermath

Holmes sat in prison in Philadelphia after confessing to the insurance scam, while sentencing was delayed until after the trial of Howe, his co-conspirator in the insurance fraud. Meanwhile, Chicago police had begun an investigation of his operations in that city, as the Philadelphia police sought to unravel the Pitezel situation—in particular, the fate of the three missing Pitezel children: Alice, Nellie and Howard. Detective Geyer was tasked with finding answers. His quest for the children, like the search of Holmes' Castle in Chicago, received wide publicity. His eventual discovery of their remains essentially sealed Holmes' fate, at least in the public mind.

"I was born with the devil in me. I could not help the fact that I was a murderer, no more than the poet can help the inspiration to sing — 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."

– H. H. Holmes

In October 1895, Holmes was put on trial for the murder of Benjamin Pitezel, was found guilty and sentenced to death. By then, it was evident that Holmes had also murdered the Pitezel children. Following his conviction, Holmes confessed to 30 murders in Chicago, Indianapolis and Toronto (though some he confessed to murdering were, in fact, still living), and six attempted murders. Holmes was paid $7,500 (worth $274,680 today) by the Hearst newspapers in exchange for his confession. Holmes gave various contradictory accounts of his life, initially claiming innocence and later that he was possessed by Satan. His propensity for lying has made it difficult for researchers to ascertain the truth on the basis of his statements. While writing his confessions in prison, Holmes mentioned how drastically his facial appearance had changed since his imprisonment. He described his new, grim appearance as "gruesome and taking a Satanical Cast", and wrote that he was now convinced that after everything that he had done, he was beginning to resemble the Devil.

On May 7, 1896, Holmes was hanged at Moyamensing Prison, also known as the Philadelphia County Prison, for the murder of Benjamin Pitezel. Until the moment of his death, Holmes remained calm and amiable, showing very few signs of fear, anxiety or depression. Despite this, he asked for his coffin to be contained in cement and buried 10 feet deep, because he was concerned grave robbers would steal his body and use it for dissection. Holmes' neck did not snap; he instead was strangled to death slowly, twitching for over 15 minutes before being pronounced dead 20 minutes after the trap had been sprung.

On New Year's Eve 1909, Hedgepeth, who had been pardoned for informing on Holmes, was shot and killed by police officer Edward Jaburek during a holdup at a Chicago saloon.

On March 7, 1914, the Chicago Tribune reported that, with the death of Quinlan, the former caretaker of the Murder Castle, "the mysteries of Holmes' Castle" would remain unexplained. Quinlan had committed suicide by taking strychnine. His body was found in his bedroom with a note that read, "I couldn't sleep". Quinlan's surviving relatives claimed that he had been "haunted" for several months and was suffering from hallucinations.

The Murder Castle was mysteriously burned to the ground in August 1895. According to a newspaper clipping from the New York Times, two men were seen entering the back of the Castle between 8 and 9 p.m. About a half an hour later, they were seen exiting the building, and rapidly running away. Following several explosions, the Castle went up in flames. Afterwards, investigators found a half-empty gas can underneath the back steps of the building. Some people believe that someone broke into the Castle and started the fire in order to destroy any remaining evidence that the police hadn't discovered yet. Other people believe that some outraged citizens started the fire to prevent the Castle from becoming a future tourist attraction. The property was finally razed in 1938. The site is currently occupied by the Englewood branch of the United States Postal Service.

Jack the Ripper

In 2011, Jeff Mudgett, the great-great-grandson of H. H. Holmes, published a book titled Bloodstains, in which he insinuated that Holmes was also the notorious London murderer, Jack the Ripper.

Films

• A documentary film on Holmes, H. H. Holmes: America's First Serial Killer, was released in 2003, narrated by Tony Jay. The producer and director of the film, John Borowski, also wrote a book on Holmes titled The Strange Case of Dr. H. H. Holmes.
• Devil in the White City, an upcoming film starring Leonardo DiCaprio as Holmes, is set to be directed by Martin Scorsese and written by Billy Ray, based on the book of the same name. The film will follow Daniel H. Burnham's construction of the 1893 Worlds Fair, as well as Holmes' building of his hotel.

Television

• In episode 6 of the second season of Supernatural, which aired in November 2006, the spirit of H.H. Holmes is haunting an apartment building in Philadelphia and continuing to kill. Dean Winchester, Sam Winchester and Jo Harvelle investigate and trap Holmes' spirit in the tunnels where he can't cause any more harm.
• Holmes was featured in the "Killers Without Conscience" episode of documentary TV series America's Serial Killers: Portraits in Evil. The documentary also speculated that Holmes was the inspiration for the 1932 film Doctor X.
• U.K.'s Channel 5 aired a documentary, Slaughtered at the Murder Hotel, on July 17, 2013.
• Episode 3 of the first season of the History Channel's Haunted History TV series was dedicated to Holmes and the Murder Castle.
• The fifth season of American Horror Story predominantly takes place in a hotel and features a character played by Evan Peters, James March, that is said to be modeled after H.H. Holmes.

Other media

• The "Murder Castle" episode of Lights Out, Arch Oboler's early radio horror series, was inspired by H.H. Holmes.
• H.H. Holmes was the subject of an episode of the Lore podcast, titled "The Castle". The audio episode covered accounts by local police and records during the time of the serial killer's exploits, and explained the layout and hidden rooms in the Chicago building where he committed many of the crimes.
• Chicago-based rock band Alkaline Trio's 2013 album My Shame Is True featured a song about Holmes titled "The Torture Doctor".
• Baltimore Rock Opera Society produced and performed a full-length original rock opera based on Holmes.
• In June 2015, The Manhattan Repertory Theatre produced Jared Mallard's play Amongst the Monsters, which details the life of H.H Holmes.

See also

• Insurable interest
• Insurance fraud
• List of serial killers in the United States
• List of serial killers by country

Further reading

• Borowski, John (November 2005). Estrada, Dimas (ed.). The Strange Case of Dr. H. H. Holmes. West Hollywood, California, U.S.: Waterfront Productions. ISBN 0-9759185-1-6. {{cite book}}: External link in |title= (help)
• Franke, David (1975). The Torture Doctor. New York City, New York, U.S.: Avon. ISBN 0-380-00730-4.
• Geary, Rick (2003). The Beast of Chicago: An Account of the Life and Crimes of Herman W. Mudgett, Known to the World as H. H. Holmes. New York City, New York, U.S.: NBM Publishing. ISBN 1-56163-365-8. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |month= (help)
• Larson, Erik (February 2004). The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America. New York City, New York, U.S.: Vintage Books. ISBN 0-375-72560-1.
• Mudgett, Jeff (April 2009). Bloodstains. U.S.: ECPrinting.com & Justin Kulinski. ISBN 978-0-615-40326-7.
• Schecter, Harold (August 2008). Depraved: The Definitive True Story of H. H. Holmes, Whose Grotesque Crimes Shattered Turn-of-the-Century Chicago (2nd ed.). New York City, New York, U.S.: Pocket Books. ISBN 0-671-69030-2.
• Asbury, Hebert (1986) [1940]. Gem of the Prairie: An Informal History of the Chicago Underworld. DeKalb, Illinois, U.S.: Northern Illinois University Press. ISBN 0-87580-534-5.

External links

• "Modern Bluebeard: H. H. Holmes' Castles (sic) Reveals His True Character." Chicago Tribune. 18 August 1895: 40.
• Pennsylvania State Reports Volume 174 on Mughett's trial in death of Benjamin Pitzel 1896
• "The Master of Murder Castle: A Classic of Chicago Crime." John Bartlow Martin. Harper's Weekly. December 1943: 76-85.
• Herman Mudgett's childhood home via Google Maps Street View "500 Province Road" mentioned on p. 66 of The New England Grimpendium by J. W. Ocker. (The Countryman Press, 2010) ISBN 1581578628
• H. H. Holmes at Find a Grave