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Just before the turn of the 20th century, America was feeling it's oats. It had expanded westward and now was composed of a huge amount of territory. People were starting to enjoy themselves and the World's Fair was about to open in Chicago in 1893. It was known as the Columbian Exposition. The World's Fair or Columbian Exposition was one of the biggest events ever to take place in this country. up to that point. People from everywhere were planning their trips to see it. Chicago had been picked as the site and was a bee hive of activity, as it got ready for the big show.

One of the problems with these things is that it presents opportunities for criminals. This is true where ever there is a crowd or the prospect of anonymity Our present day internet is an example of anonymity and just look at all the criminals on there. Every day I got email trying to fool me into some scheme or I get sent viruses. This doesn't even take into consideration all the perverts that are trying to commit sexual crimes on our children.

H. H. Holmes was also know as Herman Webster Mudgett. He was born on 16 May, 1860 in Gilmantown, N.H. He didn't have a very long life as he died on 7 May 1896 but he didn't deserve one. He had gone to medical school, but was expelled for stealing bodies. In 1887 Holmes got a job in a drug store. He had represented himself as Dr. Henry Holmes and was able to get the job of prescription clerk. The drug store was owned by a lady and her dying husband. Her name is rather clouded in history, but she was referred to in one paper as Mrs. Dr. Holden, but others say her name was Holton. Holmes actually improved the business since he was well liked by the customers. As the business began to grow, the owner was extremely happy. In 1887, Mrs. Dr. Holden disappeared and no trace of her was ever found. She had become a widow, her husband having died some time after she hired Holmes and Holmes told everyone that he had bought the store from her just before she left. This could never be verified because no one was ever able to find out where she went.

Holmes decided a couple of years later that he was going to build a hotel in the lot across the street from the store. He wanted it built to house people who came to the World's Fair. Unfortunately the building was built, I say unfortunately because it became known as "The Murder Castle". One of the things that Holmes was remembered for was his extreme cruelty to animals. He loved to dismember them. It seemed that Holmes had been in trouble all his life. He had also done some very strange things. When he was stealing bodies from the medical school he attended, he would disfigure them. He would then place them in such a way that it would look like they had died in an accident. He would then collect the insurance he had taken out on them, stating that they were family members. This was one sick individual. He had been married and had a son but he abandoned both of them. Lucky for them I would say.

Homes had remarried although he wasn't divorced. The lady's name was Myrtle Belknap. He then tried to swindle her father out of his money. She lived in Wilmette yet H. H. lived in Chicago. The Wilmette house is said today to be haunted. Holmes went to the drugstore and enlarged it. He hired a watch maker and jeweler to work there and the young man arrived with his family. It wasn't long before Holmes was caught fooling around with the man's wife. The watchmaker left his wife and quit the store. As his hotel was being built, he took on the personal supervision of the construction. He would let a crew work for a few days or weeks and them scream and yell at them and fire them all without paying them and then get a new crew and do it again. He designed the hotel himself and there were many secret passages and trap doors.

This new hotel was something like the famous roach motel where guests check in but never check out. The hotel rooms were actually torture chambers with different devices in them. Some would kill you by asphyxiation from gas. Other rooms had iron walls and floors that were heated with blow torch devices to roast the occupants. There was a dissecting table in the basement and a crematory. As if this wasn't enough he also had vats full of acid to dissolve bodies. An elaborate alarm system ran to a room he occupied and rang if a guest tried to get out of his or her room. Tourists, who came to see the fair, were rented rooms but at that time no one suspected what was going on. It is said that a long list of missing people, who had attended the fair existed, but today there is no way of knowing where it is. It is believed that over 50 people disappeared and that most of them were killed in the hotel.

Holmes managed to keep murdering people for over 4 years before he was discovered. He murdered other people around him also, such as the watchmaker's wife's friend. Julia, the watchmaker's wife died when Holmes tried to perform an abortion on her. Oh there were others that he knew that he disposed of also. The amazing thing is that a person close to Holmes knew of his crimes and did nothing. Her name was Minnie Williams. It is also believed that Williams got Holmes to kill a young woman named Emmeline Cigrand because she was pretty and worked in a store on the first floor of the hotel and she didn't want Holmes to get to like her. Holmes had progressed to dissecting live people and invented a device that would pull people apart. Minnie had killed her sister when she found out that she had an affair with Holmes and she and Holmes dropped the body into Lake Michigan. Holmes married a girl named Georgianna Yoke and then killed Minnie.

The police arrested Holmes in 1894 for a horse swindle he had participated in. He was put in jail and when there, offered his cell mate money to participate in a scheme to swindle an insurance company. It didn't work out and he never contacted his accomplice who now felt angry at the slight. Holmes had caused an "accident" that killed a person who used to help him with some of his swindles. He had taken a large insurance policy on his life and collected a pretty sum. The slighted cell mate told the police of Holmes offer to participate in a fraud. Holmes was arrested on November 17, 1894 in Boston and taken to Philadelphia. Again he had been arrested for fraud not murder. A Pinkerton detective Frank Geyer began to investigate Holmes. He traced all the places he stayed and at one found out that Holmes had borrowed a shovel in one of them. He got a shovel and dug in the same place and was horrified to learn that Holmes had killed the children of his longtime insurance fraud accomplice and buried them there. He had killed the accomplice a few months before. As the trace went on, bodies started turning up everywhere. When Holmes's hotel was examined, the authorities couldn't believe what they found. They were horrified. Pieces of human bones were everywhere in the basement as were pieces of jewelry from all of the different women Holmes had seduced. In August of that year, the hotel exploded and burned. No one knew for sure what had happened.

In 1895 Holmes went on trial and was found guilty. Holmes is regarded as the first American serial killer. He wrote in his journal, "I was born with the devil in me... I was born with the Evil One standing as my sponsor beside the bed where I was ushered into this world. He has been with me ever since".   He was executed on 7 May, 1896.