Chamber of Horrors

Today, 16^th May 1861, Herman Webster Mudgett was born. Whilst ylou might not instantly know his name he would become the first person in America to be given the label “Serial Killer”.

He was born and raised in the small state of New Hampshire and turned his fascination with the human body into a career, when he graduated from medical school in 1884.

Wealthy, well-educated and refined, the young doctor moved to Chicago where he became the owner of a drugstore, and eventually opened a hotel. Women were drawn to the handsome, finely-dressed and charismatic businessman.

He was a total lady-killer.

Beneath the cover of a successful entrepreneur Herman Webster Mudgett – better known as Dr. H.H. Holmes – designed and opened his new hotel with one thing in mind: murder.

Fairgoers enjoying the colour and light of the 1893 World’s Columbian Exhibition in Chicago had no idea that not far away Dr. Henry Howard Holmes had set up his own dark, private exhibition of death and torture on a scale comparable to that of the fair itself.

His “Murder Castle” would come complete with stairways to nowhere, windowless rooms fitted with gas lines and body chutes used to drop his victims down to the basement. It would be here that they would be subjected to real-life horrors that would make most modern “torture porn” sit up and take notice, with vats of acid, lime pits, an oven and a surgical table.

He was a living and breathing monster, manipulating his victims into signing over their power of attorney, before they would find themselves awake and in the basement of his castle, where he would dissect them, selling their organs and skeletons to medical schools across the country.

Caught by accident in 1895 when a life insurance scam went wrong he became the centre of world-wide attention, when his giant, boarding house in Chicago was uncovered.

When the police finally entered the death house, they discovered, along with the aforementioned horrors,it became apparent that many of Holmes’ victims had been held captive within the house for many months before their deaths.

 Throughout his trial another phenomenon rose from people’s fascination with sensational crime, as thousands lined up to see the famous murder site. It was made into an attraction, that offered guided tours to the suffocation chambers and torture rooms, but before it ever opened to the public, it mysteriously burned to the ground.

So many people who had rented room from Holmes had actually gone missing and estimates of his victims grew to around 200, he only ever confessed to killing 27 and whilst his figure is low there is no way to know just how many he actually killed.

And most people would think that the story would end upon Holmes being hanged for his crimes and buried in a un marked grave, but speculation about him continues.

Researching this article I came across a fascinating theory that Holmes was no other than “Jack the Ripper” and whilst it may seem daunting to link the murders they committed together, there could be several clues, that when you look at them, appear quite interesting.

For instance, the Whitechapel horrors began in August 1888, at the same time Holmes had started work on his ‘hotel’ and supposedly had taken a vacation and was unaccounted for.

The other curious thing is the descriptions of the 2 men seem to be very similar. A sketch was made of Jack from 13 witnesses who claimed they had seen the murderer. Both “The Ripper” and Holmes are described as middle aged, handsome and neat in appearance.

So take a look at the picture below and I’m sure you will be able to see the connection. So on the left we have “Jack the Ripper” and on the right H H Holmes.

Whilst there have been many theories put forward over the last century as to the Ripper’s identity, with dozens of suspects around, H H Holmes does fit the profile – the similarities of their crimes are haunting.

However in the end the world may never know with certainty the identity of history’s most notorious serial killer. All we are left with is the archives of written reports and witness accounts from people who have long since passed.

But having said all that there are some obvious gaps in this theory the biggest being why would Holmes come to London ? From reading up on his crimes he was a devious and manipulative man, hiding his crimes away in the house he had constructed, very unlike the Ripper murders.

It would be an interesting thought that they were the same person, but for me this case is still open…