H. H. Holmes was possibly America’s “first” serial killer. Underneath the sensational stories of Holmes’ killings is a con man who spent his entire life lying, scheming, and tricking people, in particular, women. While Holmes admitted to killing 27 people, the real number is somewhere between 9 and more than 200. Aside from the fact that he killed an unknown amount of victims while holding court in the Murder Castle he built for himself, there are also the theories that he may have been the even more infamous killer, Jack the Ripper.

SOURCES

The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America – February 10, 2004; Erik Larson

Depraved: The Definitive True Story of H.H. Holmes, Whose Grotesque Crimes Shattered Turn-of-the-Century Chicago Paperback – Illustrated, August 4, 2008; Harold Schechter

“’American Ripper’: Inside Investigation into Serial Killer H.H. Holmes.” Rolling Stone, June 25, 2018; Eric Killelea