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Samantha Becicka

Professor Lindquist

ENG101 D019

June 29, 2017

The Original American Psycho: H.H. Holmes

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 (QDT In

Roland 12) This is the chilling confession of American 19th century serial killer, H. H. Holmes,

but more importantly, the depths of his criminal intelligence remain unchallenged. H.H. Holmes

was the most prolific killer in American history because of the elaborate design of his Murder

Castle (Schmid 50), ingenious ways of disposing of evidence, and finally the abundance of

methods he uses to finance his lifestyle.

The elaborate design of the monstrous, three-story, block-long Murder Castle shows the

dedication Holmes had for his craft since he built it to aid in his appetite to destroy. Building

plans began in 1892 as a method of attracting patrons for the Worlds Fair scheduled for 1893.

Acting as his own architect, Holmes concealed the true nature of his plans by using three

different construction companies and constantly firing workers and hiring new ones. His true

plans revealed a labyrinthine house of horrors full of hidden passageways, trap doors, peepholes,

stairways leading nowhere, and soundproof hidden rooms. In addition, Holmes also installed a

vault in his bedroom for asphyxiating victims and laundry shoots hidden in wall panels leading

to the basement for convenient body disposal. Finally, a basement filled with dissecting
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equipment, acid baths, and torture devices. (Schmid 53) Ultimately, Holmes ingenious

design of his home was irrefutable evidence of his superior intelligence.

Holmes had a vast number of ingenious ways to dispose of his victims bodies, thus

eluding suspicion for years before capture, the most impressive of which was a kiln he had built

in the basement of his home. Holmes also used the basement for cleaning bones so he could sell

the skeletons to medical schools and museums. Less frequently, Holmes buried his victims in

various places like the basement of a sweet shop he owned and taking his victims out of town

where he was not known so if the remains were found it would be difficult to trace the crime

back to him. Finally, in Holmes confession, he tells of a man that he sold many of the bodies to

for amounts between twenty-five and forty-five dollars per body. In addition to destroying

evidence, Holmes frequently profited from his murderous crimes. Obviously, Mudgetts

creativity was well documented in the numerous forms of evidence disposal he utilized.

Holmes created an abundance of ways to profit from his victims and finance his lifestyle.

Upon moving to Chicago, Holmes acquired a job at a pharmacy, where he inevitably murdered

the owner and bought it for himself. During his time with the pharmacy, Holmes created shame

drugs claiming to cure alcoholism and baldness. In addition to selling bodies to various sources,

Holmes also used an abundance of other methods to profit from murder, such as falsely claiming

life insurance policies of his murder victims, wife, and sister in law. The most sadistic of ways

was kidnapping a wealthy banker and starving him for months in a secret room in his home until

he wrote him a check for 70,000 dollars. Finally, according to David Schmid, a professor at the

University at Buffalo even on death row, Holmes found a way to profit he received $10,000

from William Randolph Hearst for syndication rights of his confession. (Schmid 55) Holmes
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perspicacity for commerce and human nature allowed him to deceive people and attain funds

from various sources further proving his superior aptitude for crime.

Before Hannibal Lecter and Michael Myers, there was H.H. Holmes the original

American psycho. H.H. Holmes methods were almost unimaginable in the late 1800s and have

sense only been rivaled in the movies. Holmes possessed a mind of vast intellect and creativity

well ahead of his time. In conclusion, the ingenious ways in which he provided for himself,

disposed of bodies, and the complexity of his home have not been seen since making him not

only the first but also the most prolific killer in American history.
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Works Cited

Roland, Paul. In the Minds of Murderers. London: Arcturus Publishing Limited, 2012. Print.

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.