March 15, 2024 • 8 mins
He’s been called the devil, the monster. But H.H. Holmes was America’s first known serial killer. Even he said killing was his destiny. His victims were men, women, and even little children, many coming to Chicago and his hotel for the great 1893 World’s Fair. The tabloid press described his murders and then embellished the story.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
You like true crime, the murder scene, the investigation, the
unraveling of the who done it. Take this young doctor
in Chicago in the early eighteen nineties. He gets people
to work for him at his hotel, even marry some
of the young women. But then suddenly they disappear. Turns
out their suffocated, burned, or even starved to death. Their
(00:20):
bodies often dissected. I'm Patty Steele, America's first serial killer,
at the eighteen ninety three World's Fair. Next on the backstory.
The backstory is back. What fascinates us about true crime stories?
I guess it's the same thing that has fascinated us
(00:40):
for centuries, particularly beginning in the eighteen hundreds with the
arrival of tabloid journalism. They love to share the juicy details.
It's a creepy form of entertainment. I guess. One of
the biggest stories of the eighteen nineties involved the gruesome
serial killer H. H. Holmes, America's first serial killer to
(01:01):
capture American nightmares. You see, Holmes was simply a guy
who loved death, including his own, apparently charming guards, chatting,
laughing even on the day of his own execution. By
hanging his story began in eighteen sixty one. He was
born in New Hampshire. His birth name was Hermann Webster Mudget,
though he later changed it to HH Holmes due to
(01:23):
his various crimes trying to cover himself up. While his
parents gave him a good education, his father was a
cruel and abusive alcoholic. As a kid, Holmes enjoyed dissecting animals,
and eventually that led to his decision to go to
medical school. He wasn't exactly playing by the rules even then.
While at the University of Michigan's Department of Medicine and Surgery,
(01:47):
he worked in the anatomy lab. He and his professor,
the chief anatomy instructor, were apparently engaged in some grave
robbing in order to get their hands on medical cadavers
to cut apart back in those days at medical schools.
By eighteen eighty five, he'd moved to Chicago. He made
money through theft, insurance fraud, forgery, and swindling. He managed
(02:11):
to build a three story building, which a few years
later he advertised as an apartment hotel for folks visiting
Chicago for the magnificent eighteen ninety three World's Fair called
the Columbian Exhibition, and that's where he got kind of crazy. Later,
the press called his hotel the murder Castle. He had
(02:31):
guests check in, but many of them just vanished. In
addition to a number of guest rooms, investigators found it
also had a number of sound proof rooms, secret passageways,
and trap doors. The eighteen eighties and nineties were a
time when society finally accepted the idea of young women
(02:54):
venturing away from the towns they grew up in to
find jobs and adventure in big cities, and Chicago was
the place to be in the Midwest, especially with the
Fair coming. The Colombian Exhibition was filled with new inventions,
from the first ferris wheel to the first zippers for clothing,
to foods like Crackerjack and Aunt Jemima. Most amazingly, it
(03:17):
was the first fair to be fully lit with electricity.
Can you imagine what it was like seeing all that
electric light for the first time in your life. So
also imagine the young women and men who headed toward
all that adventure and checked into Holmes Hotel, which had
short term rental apartments. Holmes's first victim was Julius Smyth,
(03:39):
who moved in with her husband and five year old daughter, Pearl.
Holmes cozied up to her and their affair led to
the breakup of her marriage. Her husband left and she
and Pearl stayed with Holmes, but eventually something went wrong
and Holmes killed both Julia and little Pearl, whose skeleton
was later found in the basement during the investigation. Next
(04:02):
came twenty three year old Emmeline Segrande. Holmes hired her
as a secretary. They became involved, but when she began
to lose interest in him six months later, she disappeared
as well. Twenty four year old Minnie Williams was then
hired to be holmes stenographer, and her eighteen year old
sister Anna also moved in. Holmes began a relationship with Minnie,
(04:24):
and in the six months they were together, he talked
her into signing over to him deeds to property she
owned in Texas. Meantime, young Anna wrote to an aunt brother,
Harry Holmes says, you need never trouble any more about me,
financially or otherwise. He and Minnie will see to me.
I hope our hard days are over. Neither Minnie nor
(04:46):
Anna were ever seen again. There were maybe eleven other
similar cases that the police really believed he was responsible for.
But Holmes also pulled another bit of insurance fraud that
led him to murdering his friend and hired hand, Benjamin Pizel,
a carpenter with a criminal past. The two tried to
(05:06):
pull off an insurance scam in which one would fake
his own death and then both would collect on it.
In order for their scheme to work, they needed a cadaver,
but instead Holmes decided to simply kill Pizel himself by
pouring benzene on him and lighting him on fire, making
it look like a lab accident. He then collected the
(05:26):
insurance money without having to share it. Now, because he'd
become close to Pizel and his family, he had to
figure out how to stop the questions and suspicion, So
he took three of Pizel's kids from their mother, telling
her that her husband was hiding out in London after
the insurance scam and he was going to help with
the kids. He then traveled with the children, mostly around
(05:50):
the Midwest. Finally, by October eighteen ninety four, he wanted
to get the kids off his hands, so, as he
later confessed, he drugged seven year old Howard, and then
cut up his body to dispose of it. A few
weeks later, he murdered thirteen year old Alice and nine
year old Nelly by locking them in a big trunk.
(06:10):
He drilled a hole in the lid, put a hose
through the hole, and pumped lighting gas in to kill them.
Holmes buried their nude bodies in the basement of a
rental house he was living in. In most of the
cases involving young women, Holmes told anybody that asked that
his victims had run away with a new love interest,
(06:30):
So are you kind of getting the drift of this guy?
After he was arrested, the newspapers went nuts. There was
talk that Holmes had a secret crematorium in the basement
of his hotel in Chicago and big vats of acid,
but since the building burned down not long after he
was arrested, they never found any of that. Overall, some
(06:51):
said Holmes had murdered as many as two hundred men, women,
and children. He admitted to twenty seven, but maybe had
added some or completely changed his story altogether. At his trial,
he was only charged with killing Pizel. He was found
guilty and sentenced to die on May seventh, eighteen ninety six. H. H.
(07:12):
Holmes was hanged for Pizel's murder. Until the moment he died,
he stayed calm and friendly, showing no fear, anxiety, or depression.
Some say his murderers had a pretty clear motive. His
victims knew too much or were just in his way,
and he needed to protect his lifestyle. Pretty cold. In
any case, it was clear he liked death, and for
(07:34):
his victims, he wanted their deaths to be as long
and drawn out as possible. Holmes's last words before being
hung were, 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.
(07:57):
I hope you're enjoying the Backstory with Patty Steele. Please listen,
like and subscribe if you would, And if you have
a story that you'd like me to dive into and share,
just dm me on Facebook at Patty Steele and on
Instagram at Real Patty Steele. I'm Patty Steele. The back
Stories a production of iHeartMedia, Premiere Networks, the Elvis Durand
(08:21):
Group and Steel Trap Productions. Our producer is Doug Fraser,
Our writer Jake Kushner. We have new episodes every Tuesday
and Friday. Feel free to reach out to me with
comments and even story suggestions on Instagram at real Patty
Steele and on Facebook at Patty Steele. Thanks for listening
to the back Story with Patty Steele, the pieces of
(08:41):
history you didn't know you needed to know.
You like true crime, the murder scene, the investigation, the
unraveling of the who done it. Take this young doctor
in Chicago in the early eighteen nineties. He gets people
to work for him at his hotel, even marry some
of the young women. But then suddenly they disappear. Turns
out their suffocated, burned, or even starved to death. Their
(00:20):
bodies often dissected. I'm Patty Steele, America's first serial killer,
at the eighteen ninety three World's Fair. Next on the backstory.
The backstory is back. What fascinates us about true crime stories?
I guess it's the same thing that has fascinated us
(00:40):
for centuries, particularly beginning in the eighteen hundreds with the
arrival of tabloid journalism. They love to share the juicy details.
It's a creepy form of entertainment. I guess. One of
the biggest stories of the eighteen nineties involved the gruesome
serial killer H. H. Holmes, America's first serial killer to
(01:01):
capture American nightmares. You see, Holmes was simply a guy
who loved death, including his own, apparently charming guards, chatting,
laughing even on the day of his own execution. By
hanging his story began in eighteen sixty one. He was
born in New Hampshire. His birth name was Hermann Webster Mudget,
though he later changed it to HH Holmes due to
(01:23):
his various crimes trying to cover himself up. While his
parents gave him a good education, his father was a
cruel and abusive alcoholic. As a kid, Holmes enjoyed dissecting animals,
and eventually that led to his decision to go to
medical school. He wasn't exactly playing by the rules even then.
While at the University of Michigan's Department of Medicine and Surgery,
(01:47):
he worked in the anatomy lab. He and his professor,
the chief anatomy instructor, were apparently engaged in some grave
robbing in order to get their hands on medical cadavers
to cut apart back in those days at medical schools.
By eighteen eighty five, he'd moved to Chicago. He made
money through theft, insurance fraud, forgery, and swindling. He managed
(02:11):
to build a three story building, which a few years
later he advertised as an apartment hotel for folks visiting
Chicago for the magnificent eighteen ninety three World's Fair called
the Columbian Exhibition, and that's where he got kind of crazy. Later,
the press called his hotel the murder Castle. He had
(02:31):
guests check in, but many of them just vanished. In
addition to a number of guest rooms, investigators found it
also had a number of sound proof rooms, secret passageways,
and trap doors. The eighteen eighties and nineties were a
time when society finally accepted the idea of young women
(02:54):
venturing away from the towns they grew up in to
find jobs and adventure in big cities, and Chicago was
the place to be in the Midwest, especially with the
Fair coming. The Colombian Exhibition was filled with new inventions,
from the first ferris wheel to the first zippers for clothing,
to foods like Crackerjack and Aunt Jemima. Most amazingly, it
(03:17):
was the first fair to be fully lit with electricity.
Can you imagine what it was like seeing all that
electric light for the first time in your life. So
also imagine the young women and men who headed toward
all that adventure and checked into Holmes Hotel, which had
short term rental apartments. Holmes's first victim was Julius Smyth,
(03:39):
who moved in with her husband and five year old daughter, Pearl.
Holmes cozied up to her and their affair led to
the breakup of her marriage. Her husband left and she
and Pearl stayed with Holmes, but eventually something went wrong
and Holmes killed both Julia and little Pearl, whose skeleton
was later found in the basement during the investigation. Next
(04:02):
came twenty three year old Emmeline Segrande. Holmes hired her
as a secretary. They became involved, but when she began
to lose interest in him six months later, she disappeared
as well. Twenty four year old Minnie Williams was then
hired to be holmes stenographer, and her eighteen year old
sister Anna also moved in. Holmes began a relationship with Minnie,
(04:24):
and in the six months they were together, he talked
her into signing over to him deeds to property she
owned in Texas. Meantime, young Anna wrote to an aunt brother,
Harry Holmes says, you need never trouble any more about me,
financially or otherwise. He and Minnie will see to me.
I hope our hard days are over. Neither Minnie nor
(04:46):
Anna were ever seen again. There were maybe eleven other
similar cases that the police really believed he was responsible for.
But Holmes also pulled another bit of insurance fraud that
led him to murdering his friend and hired hand, Benjamin Pizel,
a carpenter with a criminal past. The two tried to
(05:06):
pull off an insurance scam in which one would fake
his own death and then both would collect on it.
In order for their scheme to work, they needed a cadaver,
but instead Holmes decided to simply kill Pizel himself by
pouring benzene on him and lighting him on fire, making
it look like a lab accident. He then collected the
(05:26):
insurance money without having to share it. Now, because he'd
become close to Pizel and his family, he had to
figure out how to stop the questions and suspicion, So
he took three of Pizel's kids from their mother, telling
her that her husband was hiding out in London after
the insurance scam and he was going to help with
the kids. He then traveled with the children, mostly around
(05:50):
the Midwest. Finally, by October eighteen ninety four, he wanted
to get the kids off his hands, so, as he
later confessed, he drugged seven year old Howard, and then
cut up his body to dispose of it. A few
weeks later, he murdered thirteen year old Alice and nine
year old Nelly by locking them in a big trunk.
(06:10):
He drilled a hole in the lid, put a hose
through the hole, and pumped lighting gas in to kill them.
Holmes buried their nude bodies in the basement of a
rental house he was living in. In most of the
cases involving young women, Holmes told anybody that asked that
his victims had run away with a new love interest,
(06:30):
So are you kind of getting the drift of this guy?
After he was arrested, the newspapers went nuts. There was
talk that Holmes had a secret crematorium in the basement
of his hotel in Chicago and big vats of acid,
but since the building burned down not long after he
was arrested, they never found any of that. Overall, some
(06:51):
said Holmes had murdered as many as two hundred men, women,
and children. He admitted to twenty seven, but maybe had
added some or completely changed his story altogether. At his trial,
he was only charged with killing Pizel. He was found
guilty and sentenced to die on May seventh, eighteen ninety six. H. H.
(07:12):
Holmes was hanged for Pizel's murder. Until the moment he died,
he stayed calm and friendly, showing no fear, anxiety, or depression.
Some say his murderers had a pretty clear motive. His
victims knew too much or were just in his way,
and he needed to protect his lifestyle. Pretty cold. In
any case, it was clear he liked death, and for
(07:34):
his victims, he wanted their deaths to be as long
and drawn out as possible. Holmes's last words before being
hung were, 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.
(07:57):
I hope you're enjoying the Backstory with Patty Steele. Please listen,
like and subscribe if you would, And if you have
a story that you'd like me to dive into and share,
just dm me on Facebook at Patty Steele and on
Instagram at Real Patty Steele. I'm Patty Steele. The back
Stories a production of iHeartMedia, Premiere Networks, the Elvis Durand
(08:21):
Group and Steel Trap Productions. Our producer is Doug Fraser,
Our writer Jake Kushner. We have new episodes every Tuesday
and Friday. Feel free to reach out to me with
comments and even story suggestions on Instagram at real Patty
Steele and on Facebook at Patty Steele. Thanks for listening
to the back Story with Patty Steele, the pieces of
(08:41):
history you didn't know you needed to know.
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