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were mainly women (and primarily
blonde), but included some men and
children.
While Holmes sat in prison
in Philadelphia, the Chicago police
started to investigate his operations
in their city, as the Philadelphia
police sought to unravel the Pitezel
situation—in particular, the fate of the
three missing children. Philadelphia
detective Frank Geyer was tasked
with finding answers and his quest
for the children, like the search of
Holmes’s Castle, received wide
publicity. His eventual discovery
of their remains essentially sealed
Holmes’s fate, at least in the public
mind.
Holmes was put on trial for
the murder of the Pitezel children
and confessed, following his
conviction, to 30 murders in Chicago,
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Indianapolis and Toronto (though
some he confessed to murdering
were, in fact, still living), and six
attempted murders. Holmes was paid
$7,500 (worth $212,610 today) by
the Hearst Newspapers in exchange
for this confession. He gave various
contradictory accounts of his life,
initially claiming innocence and
later that he was possessed by the
devil. His penchant for lying has
made it difficult for researchers to
ascertain any truth on the basis of his
statements.
On May 7, 1896, Holmes was
hanged at Moyamensing Prison, also
known as the Philadelphia County
Prison. Until the moment of his death,
Holmes remained calm and amiable,
showing very few signs of fear,
anxiety or depression. Holmes’s neck
did not snap; he instead was strangled
to death slowly, twitching for over
15 minutes before being pronounced
dead 20 minutes after the trap had
been sprung (karma really is a b!tch).
On New Year’s Eve, 1909, Marion
Hedgepeth, who had been pardoned
for informing on Holmes, was shot
and killed by Edward Jaburek, a
police officer, during a holdup at a
Chicago saloon. Then, on March 7,
1914, the Chicago Tribune reported
that, with the suicide death of the
former caretaker of the Murder
Castle, Pat Quinlan, “the mysteries
of Holmes’s Castle” would remain
unexplained. So we will never really
know what exactly went down in the
infamous “Murder Castle”. But we do
know that Herman Webster Mudgett,
aka H. H. Holmes, is quite possibly
America’s first and worst serial killer.
Room Full of Torture Devices