H.H. Holmes H.H. Homes |
In Holmes later years he was a pharmisist at a drugstore that was owned by Dr. Holden. Holmes seemed to stimulate the buesness for Dr. Holden because of his charm and the way he talked to people in the store. THe drugstore quickly retained the reputation for always being enjoyable to visit. Eventually Holmes anounced that he bought the drugstore from Dr. Holden and soon after this Dr.Holden vanished. This was thought to be the first victim of Holmes. Holmes continued to make the Drugstore thrive and two years after Dr. Holden had vanished he bought a large lot across from the drugstore with even larger plans in store for it.
Holmes planned to make a large hotel type building across the street from the drugstore that he has. This was right around the time of the Columbian Exchange and the worlds fair. This hotel that he would be bulding would be spectacular for its time and it was later known as the Murder Castle. This hotel is what made it possible for him to carry out all of his scams and murders and kidnappings.
Since the worlds fair and the columbian exchange were going on right after he had had his hotel built it made it possible for him to have the hotel occupied at all times. The hotel was only about 2 miles from the worldsfair and it being brand new and convienient made it a very popular choice for your average travveler. With all of the commotion of people form out of the country and out of the state coming to visit Chicago for all of the festivities that it would have that year it made it very easy for Holmes to take someone and kill them without it causing an uproar because nobody in Chicago knew the people that he would kidnap and with all of the comotion from the worlds fair and the Columbian exchange it made it almost impossible for it to be traced back to him.
The Hotel was designed specificly for him. He was the Architect for the Bulding and he was the one who hired and fired the people that were building it which meant that not one person but himself would know every nook and cranny of the Hotel and all of the trap doors and chutes and special features that he had intergrated into the Hotel. the Hotel was three stories tall. the bottom level had shops and stores and the top two levels were appartments. He had things added such as gas chambered rooms, allarmed rooms, and chute that led to the back alley way, two incenorators, and a basement crematory and a large vat of acid. All of these special features would allude to the fact that he was the one that was murdering all of these people that were showing up missing but nobody knew about the special features of the Hotel because he didnt keep anyone working on the building long enough to notice these things.
Holmes was able to keep his murder scandles going for four years until he finally was caught. The one scandal that he was most commonly known for was when he would kidnap somone and keep them for a long time. he would pull out a hefty life insurance policy on the person and eventually kill them and collect his money. He was able to do this countless times and eventually he faked his own death, changed his indentity and collected the life inssurance pollicy on himself. After four years the authorities were finally able to catch him and put him away, he confessed to 27 murders and is believed to have killed as many as 200 people but no one really knows. If it were not for all of the confussion and excitement going on in Chicago at the time of the beggining of his Hotel i dont think he would have ever been able to get away with as many murders as he did before he got caught.
Murder Castle |
Murder Castle |