The Crimes of H H Holmes

Few names in American true crime are surrounded by as much legend as H.H. Holmes.

Born Herman Webster Mudgett, Holmes became infamous as a con man, fraudster and murderer operating during the late 19th century. His name would eventually become inseparable from an ominous three-story Chicago building later nicknamed the Murder Castle.

For more than a century, stories have claimed that Holmes designed the building as an elaborate death trap filled with secret passages, gas chambers, soundproof rooms and chutes for transporting bodies into a basement crematorium. He has also frequently been accused of murdering as many as 200 people, many supposedly visitors to the 1893 Chicago World's Fair.

The real story is disturbing enough without the embellishment.

Modern historical research suggests that many of the most famous Murder Castle stories were exaggerated by sensational newspapers after Holmes became notorious. Holmes was unquestionably a murderer, but determining exactly whom he killed—and separating his documented crimes from the mythology surrounding him—is considerably more complicated.

Who Was H.H. Holmes?

H.H. Holmes was born Herman Webster Mudgett on May 16, 1861, in Gilmanton, New Hampshire.

Before becoming one of America's most notorious criminals, Mudgett pursued medicine. He attended the University of Vermont before enrolling at the University of Michigan's medical department in 1882. He graduated with his medical degree in 1884.

Stories about Holmes's medical-school years have long included grave robbing and schemes involving cadavers. University of Michigan historical material notes that accounts say he obtained cadavers for dissection and may have used bodies in insurance scams, although some details of this period are difficult to verify independently.

What is much clearer is that Holmes developed into a prolific swindler.

He used aliases, manipulated business partners, avoided creditors and repeatedly became involved in insurance and property schemes. Murder appears to have developed alongside this pattern of fraud rather than existing completely separately from it.

Eventually, Herman Webster Mudgett began using the name by which history remembers him: Dr. H.H. Holmes.

H.H. Holmes Arrives in Chicago

Holmes arrived in Chicago during the 1880s and became involved with a pharmacy in the city's Englewood neighborhood.

Nearby, he began developing a large mixed-use building at 63rd and Wallace Streets.

The first floor contained commercial spaces. Rooms and apartments occupied portions of the upper floors, and Holmes later added a third story that was promoted as accommodation associated with the approaching 1893 World's Columbian Exposition.

The building would eventually become the centerpiece of the H.H. Holmes legend.

After Holmes's crimes became national news, newspapers began calling it the Murder Castle.

What Was the H.H. Holmes Murder Castle?

The traditional version of the story describes one of the most horrifying buildings imaginable.

Accounts published after Holmes's arrest described confusing hallways, doors opening onto brick walls, hidden rooms, secret passages, airtight chambers connected to gas lines and chutes leading into a basement filled with equipment supposedly used to dispose of bodies.

Those stories have been repeated for generations.

But historians now question how much of that description was actually true.

Research into Holmes and the building suggests that the infamous structure was primarily a commercial property and another component of Holmes's elaborate financial schemes. He repeatedly changed contractors and accumulated debts while construction continued.

Some unusual architectural features apparently existed, including concealed spaces. But historians including Adam Selzer argue that many were more useful for hiding property purchased on credit than for operating an elaborate murder factory.

The most gruesome details—including purpose-built torture chambers and an enormous system designed specifically for killing unsuspecting hotel guests—appear largely to have originated with sensational newspaper reporting.

That distinction matters.

Holmes was a murderer. The evidence against him does not depend on the Murder Castle being exactly as later legend described it.

Did H.H. Holmes Kill World's Fair Tourists?

One of the most persistent H.H. Holmes stories claims that he opened his hotel during the 1893 Chicago World's Fair and began murdering tourists who disappeared inside.

There is little solid evidence supporting the enormous scale usually attached to this claim.

Historian Adam Selzer has argued that the commonly repeated stories of dozens or hundreds of disappearing World's Fair visitors cannot be substantiated. There is similarly no convincing evidence that Holmes operated the building as a giant human trap designed to systematically murder fairgoers.

Holmes did have suspected victims connected with Chicago, however.

And several people associated with him disappeared under circumstances that remain difficult to explain.

The Suspected Victims of H.H. Holmes

Determining the true number of H.H. Holmes's victims is one of the biggest challenges surrounding the case.

Among the people frequently linked to him were Julia Conner and her daughter Pearl, who disappeared around Christmas 1891 after Julia became personally involved with Holmes.

Holmes later gave conflicting accounts of what happened to them.

Another woman associated with Holmes, Emeline Cigrand, disappeared after working for him. She has also traditionally been counted among his likely victims.

Later came Minnie Williams and her sister Nannie Williams. Minnie became closely involved with Holmes and participated in property transactions connected to him. Both sisters eventually disappeared.

None of these cases resulted in murder convictions against Holmes.

Modern historical reconstructions nevertheless consider several of these disappearances credible candidates when attempting to establish Holmes's probable victim count.

The strongest evidence, however, surrounds another family entirely.

Benjamin Pitezel and His Children

Benjamin Pitezel was one of Holmes's longtime associates and participated with him in various fraudulent schemes.

In 1894, Holmes and Pitezel became involved in a plan to defraud an insurance company.

Pitezel was supposed to fake his death so that a $10,000 life-insurance policy could be collected.

Instead, Holmes killed him.

Pitezel's body was discovered in Philadelphia in September 1894. Holmes attempted to make the death appear connected to the insurance scheme, but investigators eventually determined that Pitezel had actually been murdered.

What followed was even more disturbing.

Holmes gained control of three of Pitezel's children—Alice, Nellie and Howard—while simultaneously deceiving their mother about where her husband and children were.

Detective Frank Geyer eventually retraced Holmes's movements across several cities.

The bodies of Alice and Nellie were discovered beneath a rented house in Toronto. Howard's remains were later discovered at another property associated with Holmes in Indianapolis.

The murders of the Pitezel children became some of the strongest evidence of Holmes's willingness to kill people who threatened his schemes.

How Was H.H. Holmes Caught?

Holmes's criminal empire did not collapse because investigators uncovered hundreds of bodies inside the Murder Castle.

His downfall came through fraud.

After becoming involved in various schemes—including a horse-related swindle—Holmes was arrested in Boston in November 1894.

Authorities then began investigating the suspicious death of Benjamin Pitezel.

Detective Frank Geyer's search for the missing Pitezel children turned the investigation into something much larger. As Geyer followed Holmes's movements through the United States and Canada, the deaths of Alice, Nellie and Howard revealed the extent of the danger surrounding him.

Holmes eventually went on trial in Philadelphia for the murder of Benjamin Pitezel.

He was convicted and sentenced to death.

H.H. Holmes's Confession to 27 Murders

After his arrest, Holmes made one of the most famous confessions in American criminal history.

He claimed responsibility for 27 murders.

There was one major problem.

Holmes was an extraordinary liar.

Some of the people he claimed to have murdered were later discovered to still be alive. Other portions of his confession contradicted known evidence or his own previous statements.

That makes using Holmes's confession as a reliable victim list extremely difficult.

His stories also helped create the mystery that still surrounds the case today.

How Many People Did H.H. Holmes Actually Kill?

The claim that H.H. Holmes killed 200 people has appeared in books, documentaries and articles for decades.

There is little evidence supporting it.

Holmes confessed to 27 murders, but even that number cannot be taken literally because several supposed victims were not actually dead.

Modern researchers frequently identify roughly nine people whose deaths or disappearances can be strongly associated with Holmes, although only one murder—Benjamin Pitezel's—resulted in Holmes being tried and convicted.

That distinction is important.

There is a difference between a person Holmes was legally convicted of murdering, someone historians consider a probable victim, someone he claimed to have killed, and someone later storytellers simply associated with him.

The true number may never be known.

But the evidence does not support confidently describing Holmes as a killer of 200 people.

What Happened to the Murder Castle?

The building associated with Holmes survived his arrest.

A fire damaged the property in 1895, and the structure continued to exist in altered form for decades afterward. It was eventually demolished in 1938.

A post office was later constructed on the site.

Contrary to another story sometimes connected with the case, archaeologists did not discover a cache of Holmes's victims beneath the Murder Castle in 2017.

Something involving Holmes was excavated that year—his grave.

Descendants of Holmes received permission to exhume his remains because of a longstanding theory that he might somehow have escaped execution. Researchers recovered the body buried beneath concrete and eventually confirmed through dental evidence that the remains belonged to Holmes.

The Execution of H.H. Holmes

Holmes was sentenced to death for the murder of Benjamin Pitezel.

On May 7, 1896, he was hanged at Moyamensing Prison in Philadelphia.

Before his burial, Holmes reportedly requested that his coffin be encased in concrete and placed deep underground because he feared grave robbers might steal his body—the same fate that had long been associated with stories about his own medical career.

More than a century later, the concrete surrounding his grave helped preserve his remains.

H.H. Holmes: The Killer Behind the Legend

The mythology surrounding H.H. Holmes may be one reason his story has survived for more than 130 years.

The supposed Murder Castle filled with gas chambers and death traps creates an almost unbelievable villain: a doctor who supposedly built an entire hotel for the purpose of murdering hundreds of strangers during one of America's biggest public events.

The documented story is different.

And in some ways, it is more disturbing.

Holmes was an intelligent and relentless swindler who manipulated business partners, lovers and families. People around him disappeared. Benjamin Pitezel was murdered during an insurance scheme, and three of Pitezel's children were subsequently killed while traveling under Holmes's control.

The evidence shows a killer whose crimes were intertwined with deception, money and self-preservation.

The Murder Castle legend turned H.H. Holmes into a monster of folklore.

The documented crimes show that he never needed the legend to be terrifying.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who was H.H. Holmes?

H.H. Holmes was the alias used by Herman Webster Mudgett, an American doctor, con man and murderer active during the late 19th century. He became infamous for his association with a Chicago building later nicknamed the Murder Castle.

Was H.H. Holmes America's first serial killer?

Holmes is frequently described as America's first serial killer, but that label is an oversimplification. Other multiple murderers operated in the United States before him. It is more accurate to describe Holmes as one of America's earliest widely documented serial murderers.

How many people did H.H. Holmes kill?

The exact number is unknown. Holmes claimed to have killed 27 people, but some of those individuals were still alive. Modern researchers often associate roughly nine likely victims with him, while only Benjamin Pitezel's murder resulted in Holmes's conviction. Claims of approximately 200 victims are unsupported by strong evidence.

Was the H.H. Holmes Murder Castle real?

The building was real, but many stories about its design appear to have been exaggerated. It contained some unusual features, but historians dispute the famous claims that Holmes operated an elaborate hotel filled with purpose-built torture chambers and death traps.

Did H.H. Holmes kill people at the Chicago World's Fair?

Holmes was active in Chicago around the time of the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition, but there is little evidence supporting the popular story that he systematically murdered large numbers of World's Fair tourists.

What was H.H. Holmes convicted of?

Holmes was convicted of murdering his associate Benjamin Pitezel as part of an insurance-fraud scheme.

How did H.H. Holmes die?

H.H. Holmes was executed by hanging at Moyamensing Prison in Philadelphia on May 7, 1896.

Does H.H. Holmes's Murder Castle still exist?

No. The building was eventually demolished in 1938. A post office was later constructed on the property associated with the former Murder Castle.