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The Haunted Murder Castle Of HH Holmes – True Crime & Paranormal Documentary · Mystery Archives Episodes

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There are places in American history where the lines between
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man, myth and monster dissolve completely.
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But few names bring that division to ash like Doctor
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Henry Howard Holmes, better known as HH Holmes, the charming
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physician, the fraudulent entrepreneur, the pathological
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con artist, and the architect of one of the most disturbing
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structures ever built, a Chicago building that newspapers later
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called the Murder Castle. His crimes were real, and so
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were his victims. And if the testimonies that
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followed are to be believed, so were the things that lingered
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after him. Some claim to hear footsteps in
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sealed halls. Others swore Holmes himself
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returned long after the news broke his neck.
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In this video, we will cover the life and crimes of HH Holmes, as
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well as the horrific darkness that followed even long after he
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was gone. I'm joined on this journey of
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telling this harrowing story by my good friend The Tape Library,
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so please make sure to like, share and subscribe to us both.
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Now let us begin. Herman Webster Mujid, later
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known as HH Holmes, was born May 16th of 1861 and Gilmanton, New
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Hampshire. He was the third of four
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children of Levi Horton Mujid and Theodate Paige Price, a
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farming family descended from early English settlers.
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By most accounts, young Herman was an intelligent but somewhat
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odd child who excelled in school.
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This led to bullying by his classmates, who targeted him for
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his studious nature and peculiar demeanor.
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One famous anecdote describes how older bullies dragged him to
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a doctor's office and forced him to confront a real human
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skeleton, pressing the skeletons hands onto his face.
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Initially terrified, Herman later claimed this incident
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sparked A morbid fascination rather than fear.
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He became intrigued by the anatomy displayed and felt that
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it helped him overcome his fears.
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Thereafter, he developed an obsession with death and began
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dissecting animals in his adolescence.
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Researchers have noted that Holmes's childhood showed
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several common serial killer precursors, social isolation,
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animal cruelty, and exposure to trauma.
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In his own recollections, even hinted that at age 11, he might
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have caused the death of a friend, a boy named Tom, by
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pushing him from a height, although he claimed it was an
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accident at the time. Holmes was also raised in a
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strict rural household. Some later reports suggest his
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father was an alcoholic who disciplined the children
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harshly. Though concrete evidence of
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severe abuse is sparse, what is clear is that Herman was bright.
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He graduated from high school at Gilmanton Academy at age 16 in
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1877 and was described as exceptionally intelligent.
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On July 4th, 1878, at only 17, he married Clara Lovering in
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Alton, NH. Clara was from a well off
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family, and this early marriage may have been Holmes''s first
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taste of using personal relationships for financial
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gain. A son, Robert Mujid, was born in
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February of 1880. However, the marriage did not
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last long. Holmes left Clara behind within
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a few years. By 1884, she returned to New
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Hampshire, reportedly after suffering physical abuse from
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him. They never officially divorced.
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Holmes's later attempt to divorce her on the grounds of
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infidelity was dismissed. Ambitious and interested in
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medicine, Herman pursued higher education.
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He briefly attended the University of Vermont in 1879,
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but left after one year. In 1882, he enrolled in the
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University of Michigan's Department of Medicine and
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Surgery, where he would graduate in June of 1884 with a Doctor of
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Medicine degree. His academic performance at
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Michigan was reportedly mediocre, but he showed a
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particular interest in anatomy. Holmes worked in the anatomy lab
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under Professor William James Herdman, the chief anatomy
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instructor, and there were rumors that the pair facilitated
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body snatching to supply cadavers for the medical school.
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Holmes later admitted that during his medical training, he
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engaged in insurance fraud schemes using the cadavers.
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By his own count, he would steal corpses or obtain them from
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morgues, disfigure them, and plant the bodies to fake the
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death of fictitious people on whom he had taken out life
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insurance policies under aliases.
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Collecting the insurance payouts was lucrative, and it
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foreshadowed the elaborate scams he would conduct later.
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In fact, Holmes was briefly expelled from Michigan for grave
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robbing, according to some sources, but was readmitted and
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managed to graduate. This early exposure to death,
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dissection and deceit during his formative years laid the
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groundwork for his future crimes.
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After receiving his medical degree, Herman Mujid abandoned
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his wife and young son and roamed for new opportunities and
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victims. In the mid 1880s, he drifted
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through a series of jobs and used various aliases to stay
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ahead of creditors and investigators.
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By this time he had become adept at fraud and had no qualms about
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reinventing his identity. In 1885, he was in Moore's
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Forks, New York, where rumors spread that a local boy who had
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been seen with him had disappeared.
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Herman claimed the boy went back to Massachusetts and no
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investigation ensued as he quickly skipped town.
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He next turned up in Philadelphia in 1885 or 1886,
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working as a drugstore clerk. While he was employed at a
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Philadelphia pharmacy, a child died after taking medicine
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purchased there. Herman, still known by his real
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name or another alias at the time, denied any involvement in
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the boy's death, but he left the city hastily after the incident.
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Sensing that the authorities or aggrieved families might catch
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up to him, he decided to complete completely change his
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identity before moving to Chicago in 1886, Herman Webster
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Mudget assumed the alias that would make him infamous Doctor
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Henry Howard Holmes, or HH Holmes for short.
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He chose the name Holmes, quite possibly and inspired by the
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Sherlock Holmes stories which were then newly popular, to add
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a veneer of respectable intellect.
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Under this new name, he arrived in Chicago, IL in August of
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1886. At that time, Chicago was a
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booming city, soon to host the 1893 World's Fair, and it
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offered the anonymity of a metropolis and a flood of
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strangers. Holmes settled in the Englewood
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neighborhood on Chicago's South Side.
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He quickly obtained a position as a pharmacist at a drug store
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on West 63rd St. owned by Doctor Elizabeth S Holton.
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Contrary to legend, Doctor ES Holton was a woman, not an
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elderly man, and she and her husband survived Holmes.
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Holmes proved to be a charming and capable employee, and he
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eventually bought the drug store from Misses Holton.
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Later folklore claimed Holmes murdered the Holtons and
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disposed of their bodies, but records show that the couple
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actually lived well into the 20th century, actually outliving
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Holmes by 1887. As a successful young
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pharmacist, Dr. HH Holmes was a well known figure in Inglewood.
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Holmes personal life in this period was as fraudulent as his
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professional 1. He remained legally married to
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Clara Lovering, but in January 1887 he married Mirta Belknop in
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Minneapolis. Introducing himself now is Henry
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H Holmes. Merda was 24 and from a wealthy
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Illinois family. Merda and Holmes had a daughter
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named Lucy, born in July of 1889 in Chicago.
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For a time, Holmes actually lived with Mertha and baby Lucy
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in a Chicago suburb, presenting the image of a normal family
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man. But in reality, he was
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simultaneously courting other women and plotting bigamist
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marriages for financial gain. Holmes would eventually
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accumulate 3 or 4 wives in different cities, never
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bothering to legally divorce the earlier ones.
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His extraordinary charisma and lies persuaded many women to
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trust him with their money and their lives.
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Later, it came to light that Holmes often convinced lovers or
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employees to take out life insurance policies, naming him
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as the beneficiary. And many of those people would
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soon go missing. In 1887, HH Holmes made a
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fateful real estate purchase, a vacant lot across the street
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from his drug store at the corner of 63rd St. and Wallace.
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Here, he set out to construct a building that would serve
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multiple purposes. It would be his business
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headquarters, his home, and a trap for his victims.
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Holmes personally designed the building and oversaw
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construction. The result was a strange three
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block long structure with commercial storefronts on the
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ground floor, including a new drugstore, and apartments or
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hotel rooms on the upper floors. During construction, Homes hired
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and fired multiple contractors frequently so that no one
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architect or builder knew the blueprint of what he was
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creating. He was also chronically
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delinquent in payments. In one case, he refused to pay a
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steel company named Aetna Iron and Steel, which led to a
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lawsuit in 1888. But Holmes had little intention
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of paying his bills or of fully divulging the building's
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sinister design. By 1891, the structure was
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completed as a two-story edifice, dubbed Holmes Castle by
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locals, and Holmes moved his pharmacy and personal office
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into it. In 1892, he added a third floor,
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telling investors and suppliers that he planned to operate it as
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a hotel for tourists during the upcoming World's Columbian
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Exposition, or World's Fair, in 1893.
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With Chicago expecting millions of visitors to the World's Fair,
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the World's Fair Hotel sounded like a golden investment
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opportunity. But it was largely A ruse to
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swindle suppliers and perhaps to lure victims.
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In reality, Holmes Hotel was never truly completed or open to
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the public in great numbers. Many of the furnishings were
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never paid for and creditors frequently reclaimed goods from
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the premises. However, the lack of legitimate
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hotel business did not stop Holmes from using the castle for
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far darker private enterprises. During these Chicago years,
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Holmes also continued his pattern of fraud and crime
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outside of the castle. In 1893, he entered into a
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bigamous marriage with another woman by the name of Minnie
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Williams under yet another alias.
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Minnie was a former Texas heiress whom Holmes had
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befriended, and he managed to swindle her out of valuable
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property, deeding a Fort Worth estate to a fake name, which
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Holmes controlled. That same year, Holmes was
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involved in other various swindles, including selling
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bogus medicines and running up debts.
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By 1894, as authorities slowly started closing in on some of
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his scams, Holmes left Chicago to travel with stops in Texas,
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Missouri and beyond in search of new schemes.
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But it was the accumulated secrets of his murder castle in
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Inglewood that, once revealed, would secure his place in
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history as one of America's most notorious criminals.
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Holmes's Englewood building soon gained A notorious reputation as
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the so-called Murder Castle, a name coined by the yellow press.
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The structure was an unnerving mix of legitimate business and
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hidden horrors. Contemporary newspapers in the
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sensational style of the 1890s, described a castle as a
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labyrinthian death trap designed by Holmes to lure him victims.
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According to these reports and later books, Holmes building
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contained windowless rooms, secret passageways, false
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floors, doors that opened into brick walls, staircases leading
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nowhere, and a maze like layout intended to confuse anyone
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inside. Many rooms were allegedly
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outfitted as soundproof chambers their homes could lock from the
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outside. There were also claims of
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special asphyxiation chambers, pipes connected to gas lines so
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that homes from his own quarters could turn a valve and silently
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fill a guest room with lethal gas while they slept in the
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basement. Holmes was said to have
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installed a crematorium disguised as a normal furnace to
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incinerate bodies, vats of acid and quick lime to dissolve
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corpses, and medical tables for the dissection of victims.
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In one lurid 1943 description by writer John Bartlow Martin, the
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seller was perhaps the most remarkable section, fitted with
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operating tables, a crematorium, pits containing quick lime and
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acids, surgical instruments, and various pieces of apparatus
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which, resembling medieval torture acts, never were
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satisfactorily explained. Supposedly, Holmes even had a
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stretching rack for horrific experiments and hired A needy
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articulator, an articulate skeleton seller, to help strip
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flesh from bodies and assemble skeletons for sale.
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These gruesome features, trapdoors, torture devices,
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secret shoots for dumping bodies, captured the public's
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imagination and earned the building it's nickname as a
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House of horrors. However, later research has
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shown that many of these claims were exaggerated or outright
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myths propagated by 19th century tabloids.
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The reality of Holmes's castle, while certainly sinister, was
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less likely fantastic than the legend.
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Modern historians like Adam Selzer and Harold Schechter have
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noted that much of the murder castle law came from an overly
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credulous press that printed wild allegations during Holmes's
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arrest and trial. For example, newspapers reported
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that the castle contained over 100 rooms and countless
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passageways of terror, but in truth, the completed portion was
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of modest size. The third floor was never fully
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finished or used as a hotel in any significant capacity.
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Blueprints and analysis indicate the building had some oddly
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constructed rooms and a few secret compartments, but these
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spaces likely serve to hide stolen merchandise, furniture
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that Homes had acquired on credit and never paid for,
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rather than to imprison victims. It is true that Homes designed
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the 2nd floor in a confusing way, probably to double cross
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creditors and provide concealment.
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There was a walk in vault built into the 2nd floor which Holmes
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used as an office safe, a room he could still shut.
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This vault did figure in one of Holmes's murders as an airtight
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chamber for suffocation, but the sensational claims of hinged
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walls, spring loaded torture devices, or rooms literally
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built as gas chambers were not substantiated by physical
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evidence. When investigators finally
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examined the property in 1895, they did discover a few hidden
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closets, sealed rooms, a secret staircase, and the chute leading
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from the 2nd floor to the basement, through which homes
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could slide bodies. The basement did contain a
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furnace, pits, a quick lime and bottles of chemicals, items
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which could be used for disposing of corpses.
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Police also found an array of surgical tools and charred
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remains, but much of the more elaborate torture palace
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narrative was likely the product of yellow journalism and Holmes
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his own embellishments. Holmes himself encouraged these
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ghastly tales, at times perhaps to inflate his infamy.
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Even so, the castle was undeniably the site of multiple
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murders, and the evil aura of the place has persisted in
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legend. Holmes is often called America's
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first serial killer, though the true number of his murders
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remains uncertain. By the time of his arrest in
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1894, people close to the investigation suspected him of
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at least nine to 10 murders, and Holmes eventually confessed to
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27 killings, a number inflated with lies.
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Some later estimates, fueled by tabloids and speculation, put
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the toll as high as 100 or even 200 victims, but there's no hard
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evidence for such figures. In fact, several people Holmes
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claimed to have murdered were still alive, casting doubt on
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many of his bragged kills. Modern scholarship generally
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recognizes 9 confirmed homicide victims attributable to Holmes,
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with several others strongly suspected.
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Most of these were individuals who either had something Holmes
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wanted, such as money or property, or who posed a threat
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to expose him or hapless acquaintances drawn into his
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orbit. Unlike later serial killers
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driven purely by sadism or compulsion, Holmes's murders
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often had a practical motive to eliminate business problems,
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secure insurance payouts, or ensure his own secrets remained
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hidden. That said, he also seemed to
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revel in deceit and had a callous disregard for life which
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gave his crimes A terrifying casual nature.
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The first well documented castle victims were Julia Smith, whose
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alias was Julia Connor and her young daughter Pearl.
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Julia was the wife of a man who had worked in Holmes's building.
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She became Holmes's mistress after her husband left the job
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and moved away when he learned of the affair.
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Holmes's let Julia and her five year old daughter Pearl stay in
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the apartment in the castle, and on Christmas Eve 1891, the two
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mysteriously disappeared. Holmes gave varying explanations
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to those who asked, first saying that Julia had gone to visit out
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of town relatives, then that she had fled to avoid her estranged
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husband. But in reality, as Holmes later
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half confessed, Julia died during a botched abortion
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procedure that he had conducted on her.
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Holmes had some medical knowledge but was not a skilled
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obstetrician. Mortality was high for such
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illicit abortions at the time, and Julia likely bled to death
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on Holmes's table. Holmes.
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Than, not wanting to care for her young child, then murdered
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little Pearl, presumably by poison or asphyxiation.
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When authorities eventually excavated the castle cellar in
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1895, they found the partial skeleton of the small child
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buried in lime. Julia and Pearl Connor's deaths
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illustrate Holmes's cold opportunism.
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Julia had become inconvenient and Holmes eliminated her and
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her child without remorse. Emmeline Sagrant was a 23 year
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old typist who worked for Holmes in mid 1892 abstensively as his
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secretary. After meeting her in Indiana, he
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charmed her with hints of marriage.
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For several months she was seen in the castle, and Holmes even
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may have been engaged to her. But by December of 1892,
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Emmeline disappeared suddenly as well.
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Holmes, again with his deceit, told people that Emmeline had
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married a fictitious man named Robert Phelps and had moved
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away. But in cold truth, Emmeline was
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likely murdered by Holmes when she started to grow distant or
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when he tired of her. Clues emerged later.
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A large trunk Emmeline had purchased was found abandoned,
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and her friends doubted that she had left voluntarily.
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During the Castle investigation, a witness named MG Chappelle
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came forward to admit that he had received a female skeleton
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from Holmes to articulate around that time.
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Police tracked that skeleton to a Chicago medical Examiner's
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office, and it was very possible that it was Emmeline's remains
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sold for cash. Her disappearance is one of the
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confirmed murders tied to Holmes.
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He included her later in his confession.
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By early 1893, Holmes had ensnared another woman, one by
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the name of Velmina Minnie Williams, a 24 year old heiress
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from Texas who had come to Chicago.
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He had actually known many years prior, meeting her in Boston
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under yet another one of his aliases.
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Holmes offered her a job and soon made her his lover.
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Crucially, he persuaded Minnie to sign over her property in
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Fort Worth, TX to an alias, Alexander Bond, which is one of
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Holmes's other personas. In April 1893, she did transfer
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the deed, which Holmes quickly reassigned, to his associate
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Benjamin Patetzel under another alias, thereby stealing Minnie's
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estate out from underneath her. By May of 1893, Holmes and many
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were presenting themselves as man and wife and even rented a
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separate apartment in Chicago's Lincoln Park together.
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Minnie's 18 year old sister, Anna Nanny Williams, came to
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Chicago that summer at Holmes's invitation.
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The last known correspondence from Nanny was a letter sent to
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her aunt on July 5th of 1893 in which she gushed that brother
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Harry, which was Holmes, would take care of her and that she
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and her sister were set to go to Europe with them, assuring the
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family not to worry about her finances anymore.
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This eerie letter basically indicated that Holmes had gained
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nannies complete trust. After July of 1893, neither
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Minnie or Nanny Williams were ever seen alive again.
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Holmes later claimed that many had killed Nanny in a fit of
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rage and that he had killed many in self-defense, a clear, far
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fetched story given that no evidence ever supported it.
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Several other additional disappearances in Chicago during
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this time period have also been linked to Holmes, although with
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varying certainty. Ironically, the murder that
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ultimately brought Holmes to justice was 1.
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He hadn't initially planned as a murder.
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Benjamin Patetzel was a 38 year old Carpenter and small time
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crook who became Holmes's close accomplice and assistant.
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Patetzel had helped Holmes with various schemes, including
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constructing secret portions of the castle, and in 1894, Holmes
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and Patetzel concocted an elaborate insurance fraud.
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The idea was that Patetzel would fake his own death in
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Philadelphia so his wife could collect a $10,000 life insurance
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policy, after which they'd split the money with homes.
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Patetzel assumed an alias, BF Perry, and set up phony
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invention businesses and a rented house in Philadelphia.
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The plan was to stage a lab explosion and substitute a
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cadaver as Patetzel's body. But Holmes double crossed his
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partner and on September 2nd, 1894, Holmes knocked Patetzel
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unconscious with chloroform and then set his body on fire to
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make it look like an accident. Patetzel died from the
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combination of chloroform in his burns.
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Holmes then went about collecting the insurance payout.
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In a cruel twist, Holmes did not tell Misses Patetzel that her
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husband was truly dead. Instead, he lied that he was
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alive and in hiding and that for the scam to work, she must not
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ask questions and must temporarily entrust 3 of her
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five children to him. Shockingly, the desperate mother
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agreed. And another heinous chapter of
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Holmes's saga. After killing their father,
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Holmes traveled with three of the Patetzel's children, Alice,
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who was 15, Nellie, who was 11 or 12, and Howard, who was
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eight, under the pretense of reuniting them with their father
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at a later date. Meanwhile, he had Missus
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Patetzel and her two youngest, an infant and a toddler,
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following a parallel root separately, all the while while
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stringing her along with Wise. Through October of 1894, Holmes
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led the Patetzel children on a convoluted journey through the
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Midwest and into Canada, using multiple assumed names for
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himself and the kids. They went from Philadelphia to
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Cincinnati, then to Indianapolis, then Detroit and
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into Toronto, with Missus Patetzel always kept just a city
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or two behind, unaware that her children were so near.
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Holmes's strategy was diabolical.
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He likely intended to murder the children one by one, both to
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keep the insurance money for himself and to eliminate
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witnesses who could contradict his story to Missus Patetzel.
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In one city, Little Alice even wrote in a letter to her mother,
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ominously, that Howard is not with us now.
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Indeed, Holmes had separated Howard the boy from his sister's
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first. On October 10th of 1894, while
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staying in a house in Irvington, Indiana, Holmes killed 8 year
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old Howard Patetzel, likely by poison or strangulation, and
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then dismembered and burned the boy's body.
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Holmes then took the 2 girls, Allison Nelly, across the border
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to Toronto, Canada and there around October 25th of 1894, he
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murdered both sisters. When the potential children
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vanished, Holmes spun a tail to their mother that an associate
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one of his aliases had taken them to London to meet their
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father, further delaying her alarm.
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These horrific crimes might have gone undiscovered for longer if
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it was not for the persistence of Detective Frank Geyer of
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Philadelphia. In summer of 1895, as Holmes sat
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in jail on unrelated charges, Geyer was tasked with the grim
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job of finding the missing potential children, by that time
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presumed dead. Dyer doggedly traced Holmes's
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trail, checking hotel logs, interviewing witnesses, and
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following the faint paper trail left by Holmes's aliases.
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In July of 1895, Geyer's search led him to the Toronto house
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previously rented by Holmes. There, with the help of Toronto
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police, he dug in the cellar and uncovered the decomposed remains
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of Alice and Nellie Patetzel. The discovery was confirmed when
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they found personal artifacts, including a toy Nana had
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described and pieces of the girl's clothing stuffed in the
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chimney. Geyer then backtracked to
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Indianapolis, where further investigation of the Irvington
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address revealed Howard's charred remains in the chimney
29:26
flu. The murder of the three children
29:29
stands as the most cold blooded and heartbreaking of Holmes's
29:33
offenses, revealing the depths of his depravity.
29:37
Even hardened detectives were shaken by the sheer cruelty.
29:41
One newspaper called it one of the strangest stories of
29:44
remorseless cruelty the continent has ever produced.
29:49
Holmes's arrest in November 1894 was initially for a relatively
29:54
minor charge, insurance fraud, and the Texas horse theft
29:58
warrant, but suspicions quickly grew that he was responsible for
30:02
multiple missing persons held in Philadelphia.
30:06
Holmes thought he could outsmart the authorities.
30:08
He continued to spend lies, at one point claiming that the
30:12
three missing Pittazelle children were safe in the
30:15
custody of Minnie Williams in London.
30:18
His confidence was bolstered by the fact that he had gotten away
30:21
with so much already. However, once Detective Gayer
30:24
discovered the bodies of the Pittazelle girls in July 1895
30:29
and evidence of Howard's murder, the authorities had what they
30:33
needed to charge Holmes with murder.
30:36
In October 1895, HH Holmes was put on trial in Philadelphia for
30:41
the murder of Benjamin Pittazell, the only murder
30:45
committed in Pennsylvania, which is why he was tried there first.
30:49
The trial quickly became a national media sensation.
30:52
The prosecution, led by District Attorney George S Graham,
30:56
methodically laid out the case that Holmes had killed Pittazell
31:00
to fraudulently get the insurance money and then had
31:02
also killed the three children. However, the judge ruled that
31:06
the trial should focus only on the murder of the father,
31:09
Benjamin, and not muddy the jury with the children's death, since
31:13
they occurred in other jurisdictions.
31:16
Even so, the implicit specter of those crimes loomed over the
31:19
proceedings. Holmes initially attempted to
31:22
act as his own attorney, confident in his powers of
31:25
persuasion. But when the trial opened on
31:28
October 28th, 1895, he ended up retaining his lawyers, who had
31:33
tried to withdraw, seeing the case as hopeless.
31:37
The evidence against Holmes was damning.
31:39
Key witnesses took the stand. The Carpenter who found Peter
31:43
Zell's body testified the Holmes had been seen at the scene and
31:46
had keys to Peter Zell's workspace.
31:49
A chemist, Doctor Henry Leffman, presented forensic testimony
31:53
that chloroform was found in Pittazell's stomach but in a
31:57
pattern indicating it was administered after death,
32:00
supporting the theory that Holmes poisoned Pittazell's
32:03
corpse to fake a suicide and fire accident.
32:07
Holmes's defence had virtually nothing to counter with.
32:10
They called no witnesses and Holmes himself did not testify
32:14
in his own defence for the murder charge.
32:16
In truth, there was little he could say.
32:19
The chain of circumstantial evidence was strong and his
32:22
credibility was shot. 1 dramatic moment came when Carrie Pitazel,
32:27
the widow, took the stand. She recounted through tears how
32:31
homes have manipulated her and taken away her children under
32:34
false promises, all the while assuring her her husband was
32:38
alive abroad. The courtroom was stunned by her
32:41
story. Another powerful moment was when
32:44
Georgina Yoke, Holmes's latest wife whom he had married in
32:47
January 1894 in Denver under yet another alias while still
32:52
married to Clara and Marta, testified for the prosecution.
32:56
She provided an alibi that placed Holmes in Philadelphia at
32:59
the time of Pittazelle's death, and her presence also
33:03
highlighted Holmes pattern of lies.
33:05
Their marriage was invalid as he was a bigamist.
33:08
Holmes was seen weeping in court when Georgina testified, but
33:13
observers felt his tears were likely an act crocodile tears to
33:17
gain sympathy or sway his wife's emotions.
33:20
The jury took only a short time, reportedly about 3 hours of
33:24
deliberation, to find Holmes guilty of first degree murder on
33:28
November 3rd, 1895. At sentencing on November 30th,
33:33
the judge condemned him to death by hanging.
33:36
With the writing on the wall, Holmes began to confess, but in
33:39
characteristic fashion. His confessions were a mix of
33:43
truthful lies. Hearst Newspapers paid Holmes
33:46
$7500 for his story, eager to print a sensational first person
33:51
account. In his paid confession,
33:54
published in April 1896, Holmes claimed to have committed 27
33:59
murders across Chicago, Indianapolis and Toronto, and
34:04
even more attempted murders. Yet many of those he named as
34:08
noted were still alive or could not be verified.
34:12
For instance, he said he killed an accomplice named Hedgepeth,
34:16
but he had not Marian Hedgepeth was alive in prison at that
34:19
time, and other random people that the authorities knew
34:23
nothing about. The document was filled with
34:25
fluoride prose. Holmes at one point wrote I was
34:29
born with the Devil in Me, asserting that he could not
34:32
control his darker impulses. He also bizarrely claimed to be
34:36
transforming into the devil, with his facial features
34:39
supposedly changing in his cell, a piece of drama likely invented
34:44
for effect. Essentially, Holmes used his
34:46
final months to muddy the waters of history, making it difficult
34:50
for researchers to separate facts from fiction in his
34:53
account. It's widely held that Holmes was
34:56
a pathological liar to the end. In one breath he would deny all
35:01
charges, and in another he'd admit to heinous acts.
35:05
While awaiting execution in Philadelphia, Holmes exhibited
35:09
strange behaviour. He was notably calm and showed
35:12
little remorse or fear. He became a model prisoner.
35:16
Oddly enough, he took up pastimes like caring for a pet
35:19
tamed mouse and a pet chick they hatched from an egg in his cell.
35:24
He also converted to Catholicism, perhaps hedging his
35:28
bets on the afterlife. He was baptized and given
35:31
regular spiritual counsel by two Catholic priests, Father's Daily
35:35
and Mcpaig. Some observers thought Holmes
35:38
was attempting to play the part of a redeemed Sinner, but many
35:42
believed that this was just another act, an attempt to
35:45
appear sympathetic or insane to avoid execution.
35:50
Holmes's execution took place on May 7th, 1896.
35:55
That morning he ate a hearty breakfast and was by all
35:58
accounts in excellent spirits. At about 10:10 AM he was led to
36:03
the gallows inside the prison. Approximately 100 people were
36:07
present to witness the hanging. It was semi public.
36:10
By invitation on the scaffold, Holmes was given a chance to
36:14
speak. He briefly addressed the
36:16
audience, denying any real guilt in the Pizzelle murders,
36:20
incredibly maintaining he had only ever killed by accident
36:24
during medical procedures. Referring to only two criminal
36:28
operations, by which he meant abortions, he said I am guilty
36:33
only of being an insurance fraudster, not a murderer,
36:37
effectively denying his earlier confession.
36:40
The final lie did not delay the proceedings for long.
36:44
Holmes's last quip, when the executioner fumble with the
36:47
noose, was chillingly casual. Take your time, old man, I'm in
36:52
no hurry, he joked. At 10:13 AM, the trapdoor was
36:57
sprung by Sheriff Clement. Holmes dropped and the rope went
37:01
taut. Contrary to some reports that
37:03
his neck did not break, contemporary medical witnesses
37:06
said Holmes's neck was broken by the fall.
37:09
However, his body did exhibit notable twitching and
37:11
convulsions for nearly 15 minutes before he was officially
37:16
pronounced dead. The observers found this
37:18
gruesomely fitting, a slow death for a man who had inflicted slow
37:23
agony on others. By 10:25 AM, HH Holmes was
37:28
declared dead at age 34. Holmes had one final request
37:34
that spoke to his macabre life. He asked that his coffin be
37:37
filled with cement and buried extra deep 10 feet down because
37:42
he feared grave robbers might steal his body for dissection.
37:47
It's a dark irony that this notorious body snatcher and
37:51
seller Cadavers was terrified of becoming a cadaver himself.
37:55
But his wish was granted. After the execution, no autopsy
37:59
was performed. Holmes's lawyer objected to it.
38:02
1 odd footnote Decades after his death, rumours emerged that
38:08
Holmes had somehow faked his execution and escaped.
38:12
Given his penchant for trickery, this was pure conspiracy theory,
38:16
but gained some traction in fringe discussions to lay it to
38:20
rest. In 2017, researchers obtained
38:24
permission to exhume Holmes body from Holy Cross Cemetery.
38:28
Because of the concrete encasement, Holmes remains were
38:32
remarkably well preserved. His clothing was intact and even
38:36
his trademark moustache was recognizable on the skull.
38:40
Dental records positively identified the body as indeed
38:43
Holmes. After over 120 years, Holmes had
38:48
not managed one last escape from the noose.
38:51
He was reburied and thus the final chapter of HH Holmes Life
38:57
closed with certainty. Chicago quickly learned that
39:01
death does not always mean silence.
39:05
The building at 63rd and Wallace stood empty after Holmes's
39:09
arrest. The windows were dark, the doors
39:13
locked. Police posted outside to guard
39:16
what had become both a crime scene and a spectacle.
39:21
Inside, the air was stale. It was thick with soot,
39:26
chemicals and something else. Officers assigned to the night
39:31
watch said that the place never felt still.
39:34
It started with sounds. Soon police began hearing
39:39
knocking that was heavy and seemed deliberate. 3 raps,
39:44
always in sequence, not from the door but from within the walls.
39:50
They checked time and time again in every room, on every floor,
39:55
but always met face to face with nothing.
39:59
Soon, footsteps followed. Slow ones pacing above them when
40:04
the upper levels were clearly empty.
40:08
A door slammed on the 2nd floor while an officer stood below,
40:12
keys in hand, staring up at the stairwell.
40:15
Another reported a sudden cold spreading throughout a hallway
40:20
that had been warm moments before.
40:22
These strange happenings soon became official.
40:25
Reports logged incidents, and soon men in uniform whispered to
40:30
each other that something was inside the building and that
40:34
something was not of this realm. It was only a matter of time
40:38
until the Chicago press caught wind of what was happening with
40:42
the papers spreading the news. Some laughed, some speculated.
40:48
Yet a sneaking feeling that something mysterious plagued
40:51
that horrible building persisted.
40:55
Soon another event followed. Late one night in August of
40:59
1895, witnesses saw two figures enter the castle and the moments
41:04
later an explosion was heard and soon flames engulfed the
41:09
building itself. Yet despite witnesses to the
41:12
figures and law enforcement's best efforts at the time to
41:16
determine the culprits, no one was ever charged.
41:21
Some said it was accomplices trying to erase evidence.
41:24
Yet whatever the case may have been, the castle survived, but
41:29
only barely. Its interior had been entirely
41:33
gutted. Yet even after the fire, creepy
41:36
reports continued. Neighbors in nearby buildings
41:40
spoke of noises from the runes at Night, Lights flickering or
41:45
no electricity remained, a sense of pressure when passing too
41:49
close, like walking through a pocket of heavy air.
41:54
Elms was physically gone, yet someone or something seemed to
41:59
still occupy what have been dubbed his Murder Castle.
42:03
Years passed. The building was eventually torn
42:07
down brick by brick, erasing the notorious location from the
42:11
skyline and its place. The city built something
42:15
ordinary instead, a post office. By then, most assumed the horror
42:21
had finally been buried. But some secrets refused to
42:26
eternally rest. Postal workers assigned to the
42:30
Englewood location began telling similar stories.
42:34
They spoke of the basement, where upon descending the steps,
42:38
it felt as if one was stepping into a tomb, their lungs
42:41
becoming filled with stale, dead air, of footsteps echoing behind
42:46
them when no one was there, of doors slamming shut on their
42:51
own. Machines malfunctioned
42:54
repeatedly in specific areas, and lights flickered for no
42:58
reason. Accompanying these happenings
43:01
soon came a disturbing manifestation.
43:04
Screams. Sharp and loud, disembodied
43:07
screams, described the same way by different people who never
43:11
spoke to each other, occasionally pierced the air.
43:15
These happenings almost always seem to occur within the
43:18
basement of the post office. Some workers who heard them ran,
43:23
some froze, and several never went back downstairs again.
43:29
These occurrences became so frequent that over time,
43:33
multiple employees refused to work alone below ground.
43:37
Accompanying the screams, the postal workers soon also began
43:41
reporting seeing full bodied apparitions yet again, typically
43:46
centered around the basement. Witnesses described the same
43:49
sensation after these encounters, confusion, dread,
43:54
and the overwhelming certainty that they were not welcome.
43:58
But among these shadowy figures was one that became more
44:02
prominent than the others, with disturbing reports centered on
44:05
its presence. In particular, workers soon
44:08
spoke of a tall, menacing man in black, not a clear apparition,
44:14
but more like a silhouette, but one that was darker than the
44:17
surrounding darkness. This shadow man was often seen
44:22
in one's peripheral vision and then would vanish when
44:25
confronted. Yet its presence was accompanied
44:29
by feelings of a pressure on one's chest, a tightening in the
44:33
throat, and the overwhelming dread that one was an imminent
44:37
danger. Many would come to believe that
44:40
this was the spirit of Holmes himself.
44:42
With this being said, there are possible explanations.
44:46
Of course old buildings make noise.
44:49
Stress creates hallucinations, history influences perception.
44:54
All of these are true, but the stories never stopped.
44:58
They spanned decades with new employees, new generations, but
45:03
the same basement, the same kind of reports.
45:07
This leads me to the question that can a place designed for
45:11
cruelty ever become neutral again?
45:14
Holmes built his castle to confuse, isolate, and ultimately
45:18
destroy. He engineered secrecy, silence,
45:22
and control. If places absorb intention and
45:25
trauma, if human suffering leaves an imprint, then the
45:29
ground is 63rd and Wallace absorbs something profoundly
45:33
evil. Could these events ever truly be
45:36
forgotten? Or would it, and could it still
45:39
remain stained upon the land where the castle once sat?
45:43
Holmes once wrote that he believed he was born evil, with
45:47
the devil in him. Whether that was a lie or a
45:50
delusion no longer matters. What matters is this.
45:54
Men like Holmes do not simply kill people.
45:58
They change the energy and history of places forever and
46:02
long after the walls fall, after the bricks are hauled away and
46:06
the ground is repurposed, the echoes remain.
46:11
Footsteps in an empty hall, a scream that stops too soon, a
46:15
shadow that watches. The murder castle may be gone,
46:19
but something, whether it's Holmes himself, his victims, or
46:24
another much more ancient, an evil entity, seems to still lurk
46:29
upon the land where the walls once held.
46:32
Such horrific acts and trauma. Something that is watching and
46:38
waiting to take a soul like a thief in the night.
46:43
Thank you guys so much for watching this collaboration
46:45
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46:49
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I appreciate you all as always and we're starting off 2026 with
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a bang, so hope you like this one.
47:42
I'll see you again soon with another brand new video.
47:45
This has been Cody here at Mystery Archives.
47:47
Stay safe out there from monsters like HH Holmes and
47:52
other creepy things that lurk in the shadows and take care.
47:56
I'll see you next time.