H.H.

Holmes
By: Alyssa Zajac
Herman Webster Mudgett
Born Herman Webster Mudgett on May 16,
1861, Gilmanton, NH
Abused by his father from a young age
Saw a real human skeleton in a physicians
office.
Experimented on animals in the woods
Graduated high school early

Doctor Henry Howard
Holmes
September 1882 enrolled in the University of
Michigan Medical School
The Medical students were required to rob
graves
Started insurance scams
Cons across the Midwest
1884, Graduates and becomes Dr. Henry
Howard Holmes.


Chicago
1871, Chicago fire destroyed city.
Holmes arrived in Englewood, finds work at
E.S. Holton drug store
Everett Holton suddenly Dies of natural
causes and his wife disappears after selling
the store to Holmes

The Castle
1888 Holmes buys the building across the
street.
Starts designing blueprints for a hotel.
Often called The Castle because it was so
grand.
Would often fire workers to get cheap labor.
Hotel Designs
Installed a huge bank vault

st
had a pharmacy, jewelry store,
barber shop, and blacksmith shop.

rd
Holmes rented out rooms,
legitimate offices, and Holmes
bedroom.

nd
35 rooms, many specifically
designed as killing chambers
The Basement
Acid Vats
Crematorium disguised as a glass bending
furnace.
Quick lime pits
Torture devices, such as elasticity tester
Sold cadavers and skeletons to medical
schools, made a killing.
Dissection table
Benjamin Frelon Pitezel
1889. Pitezel had a wife and 5 children
Had bad luck holding down a job the past ten
years.
Got into some trouble for petty larceny and
forgery.
Desperately searched for ways to provide for
his family.
Saw an ad seeking carpenters for a new
building in Englewood.

Worlds Fair
May 1st 1893, Worlds Columbian Exposition
becomes open to the world in Chicago
Over 300 beautiful buildings along lake
Michigan
Over 2o million people attended from May 1
st

to October 30
th

Only a few miles away from the fair, the hotel
was perfect lodging for tourists
Ladies Man
1890, Julia Connor, an employee and
mistress, became pregnant and proposed
1892, Emeline Cigrand, Holmes mistress
and private secretary, went to get papers
1893, Minnie Williams, owned a property in
Texas worth $40,000
1894, Georgiana Yoke, Holmes 3
rd
wife,
married her under Henry Mansfield
Howard

The Pitezel Plan
Pitezels drinking worsened
Holmes began to worry
Holmes persuaded Pitezel to go in on an
insurance scheme with him.
November 1893 Holmes &Pitezel leave for
Philadelphia

Philadelphia
July 1894 Holmes arrested in attempt to swindle
a drug store, Promises criminal Hedgepeth $500
Weeks later Holmes and Pitezel arrive in
Philadelphia.
Set up a phony patent dealing shop, an inventor
walks in and discovers Pitezels dead body
Holmes killed him with Chloroform, and
burned/disfigured him to make it look like an
accident
Alice writes letters to her mother.
Hedgepeth Betrayal
Holmes never sends Hedgepeth $500
Hedgepeth read about Pitezels death in
prison.
He called the insurance company, and sent
the Pinkerton detective agency on Holmes
tale.
Moyamensing Prison
Holmes is transported to Moyamensing Prison
in Philadelphia.
Tried for Conspiracy to cheat and defraud the
Fidelity Mutual Life Insurance Company.
Holmes pleads guilty to the fraud charge.
3 Pitezel children missing
Detective Frank Geyer was assigned to see if
he could find the children


The Pitezel Children
After Months of searching, Frank Geyer
finds the charred remains of the little boy
in a stove in a little house in Indianapolis
They dug up the remains of the Nellie(17)
and Alice(15) Pitezel up in Toronto.
July 19
th
1895 Chicago Police search the
Worlds Fair Hotel
Execution
After trial, Holmes charged with 1
st
degree
murder.
Holmes is talked into writing a confession,
and he confesses EVERYTHING
May 7
th
, 1896, in Philadelphia, Holmes is
hanged for the death of Benjamin Pitezel.