Murder Castle

Introduction

A. I was born with the devil in me. I could not help the fact that I was a murderer, no more than
the poet can help the inspiration to sing..I was born with the evil one standing as my
sponsor beside the bed where I was ushered into the world, and he has been with me
since.(12)

B. Herman Webster Mudgett was the first and most prolific serial killer in American history he
created ingenious ways to elude capture like his mysterious Murder House, using multiple
methods of disposing of evidence and the finding ways to finance his lifestyle without the
trouble of honest work.

Murder House

A. Ingenious design

B. Hidden room for various forms of torture

C. Vault in bedroom for suffocation and gas

D. Doors hallways stairs that lead nowhere to disorient victims

E. Convenient shoot hidden in wall leading to basement where kiln was built

Body disposal

A. Kin in basement

B. Clean bones and sell to medical schools

C. Sold to unnamed man for between $25 and $45 a piece

D. Sold remains to museums

E. Buried in store basement

Finance lifestyle

A. Killed owner of pharmacy he worked at then bough it

 B. Bought many things on credit using false name h.s. campbell

C. Shame drugs claimed to cure alcoholism and baldness

D. Built his bedroom around a vault he purchased on credit so they could not repossess

E. Added the word thousand to checks for lesser amounts

F. Kidnapped wealthy banker and forced him to sign check for 70000 by starving him and
nauseating him with gas then killed him

G. Had partner marry a wealthy widow then killed her a split the money

H. Holmes married a woman forced money out of her then brought her sister forced her to sign
over her lands and money then killed her then he killed his wife and convinced authorities
that his wife killed her own sister

Conclusion

A. H.H. Holmes was one of the first serial killers in America the lengths he was willing to go to
so that he could practice his craft were unheard of at the time.

B. Holmes ingenuity and intelligence were well ahead of his time and the resourceful ways in
which he provided for himself, disposed of bodies, and concealed his crimes like with the
murder house have not been seen since.

C. Anthony Boucher, the well-known true-crime writer and editor, explains that he sometimes
uses the pseudonym of H. H. Holmes out of pure admiration for a man who was, within his
chosen field, superb both as an artist and as a craftsman (P.268)

Works Cited

Schmid, David. Natural Born Celebrities : Serial Killers in American Culture. University of
Chicago Press, 2005. EBSCOhost,
search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=260224&site=ehost-
live&scope=site.

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