The Book Shelf: America's First Serial Killer on This Day in History

Sunday, May 7, 2023

America's First Serial Killer on This Day in History

This day in history: H.H. Holmes was executed on this day in 1896. Perhaps one of America's first serial killers, Holmes (Herman Webster Mudgett) confessed to 27 murders. He is said to have killed as many as 200. During the 1890's world fair in Chicago, he built what came to be known as a murder castle, a building that had rooms with hinged walls, false partitions, secret passageways, and even airtight rooms that were connected to pipelines filled with gas which Holmes used as gas chambers. Chutes were used to deliver bodies to the basement where they were dissected. His story is featured in the excellent book by Erik Larson "The Devil in the White City".

On May 7, 1896, Holmes was hanged at Moyamensing Prison, also known as the Philadelphia County Prison, for the murder of 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's neck did not break; he instead strangled to death slowly, twitching for over 15 minutes before being pronounced dead 20 minutes after the trap had been sprung.

In 2017, amid allegations Holmes had in fact escaped execution, Holmes's body was exhumed for testing led by Janet Monge of the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. Due to his coffin being contained in cement, his body was found not to have decomposed normally. His clothes were almost perfectly preserved and his mustache was found to be intact. The body was positively identified by his teeth as being that of Holmes. Holmes was then reburied.

Download "The Devil in the White City" here
https://img.4plebs.org/boards/tg/image/1460/01/1460014686260.pdf

Read The Master of the Murder Castle: A classic of Chicago crime
https://harpers.org/archive/1943/12/the-master-of-the-murder-castle/

Watch Holmes' great great grandson Jeff Mudgett talk about Holmes being Jack the Ripper