Dr. H. Holmes Insane

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Herman Webster Mudgett, better known as Dr. H. H. Holmes once said “I was born with the devil in me. I could not help the fact that I was a murderer, no more than a poet can help the inspiration to sing....” This quote came from Holmes at his confession trial in 1896. Holmes is thought to have had a fortunate childhood, so it is unsure what the main cause of his dire need to kill so many people in his life time truly was. While Holmes only confessed to twenty-seven murders and many insurance scams it is supposed that his victim count could reach up to 200 persons, most of them being women. Ill-reputed scam artist and murder H. H. Holmes was born on May 6, 1861, in Gilmanton, New Hampshire. It is known that at a young age Holmes showed …show more content…
In 1886 Holmes moved to Chicago where he soon found work as a pharmacist. It was here that he established his world known name, Dr. H. H. Holmes. After working at the pharmacy for a few months Holmes took over after the owner mystifyingly disappeared. It was at this time Holmes began his construction of what would come to be known as the “Murder Castle”. Holmes perfectly crafted this building to fulfill his dark fantasies. From the outside this building looked completely normal. However, the interior was a completely different story. John Bartlow Martin described the inside of this castle as “… the fulfillment of every small boy’s dream of a haunted house.” The majority of the upper rooms of the building were used for living space, while others were put to use for torturing and killing his victims. Holmes also had chutes installed in the rooms so that he could easily transport the bodies from the top floor to the basement for disposal. Holmes had many creative ways for killing and disposing of his victims. In the rooms that Holmes used for killing there were gas jets installed to make it easy for Holmes to smother his victims. It is believed that he would also beat and strangle them to their death. After killing his victims Holmes would usually either burn the bodies or use them to make false insurance claims. It was not until 1893, during the Columbian Exposition, that Holmes vamped up his murderous activity. Dr. Holmes opened up his “hotel” for people, mostly single, immigrant women, that came to Chicago for the World’s Fair. Ill-fatedly many of his guests did not live to check out of his murder

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