Serial Killers:: H. Holmes

H. H. Holmes - America's First Notorious Serial Killer Real Name: Herman Webster Mudgett - H. H. Holmes was an alias. Born May 16, 1861 in Gilmanton, New Hampshire. Holmes is one of the most infamous figures in American criminal history, often called America's first modern serial killer and first big-city serial killer. He was a con artist, bigamist, and medical school graduate who moved to Chicago in the 1880s. There he built a three-story building in the Englewood neighborhood, which would later become known in newspapers as the "Murder Castle." The Murder Castle: >After his arrest, sensational newspaper reports claimed the building was designed as a killing factory, with soundproof rooms, trap doors, chutes to the basement, a gas chamber, a crematorium, and a dissecting table. Many of those details were exaggerated by the press, but police did find evidence of murder and fraud. His Crimes: >His method was usually financial - he would take out life insurance policies on victims, swindle them, then kill them. Capture and Death: >He was tried for only one murder, that of Benjamin Pitezel, convicted, and sentenced to death. He was hanged on May 7, 1896 in Philadelphia. He was 34.