The Bizarre and Twisted Evolution of HH Holmes Castle of Horrors

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This society, a place where residents knew nothing about one another, killers were going undetected.

This was the case of H.H. Holmes. Holmes appeared to be anything but the devil with his dashing goods looks and gentleman’s attire. He was also a shrewd  business man, a con artist, and the most organized of all serial killers known throughout history.

Like many troubled youth, being tormented by other children was a way of life. The bullies surrounding him once took him to the doctors office and fondled him with a skeleton; however, the situation was gratifying and exhilarating to Holmes. He continued through childhood experimenting  on kittens, dogs, cats, and rats, maximizing the suffering by using his own hands and instruments of torture.

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Generally, this type of act is meant to make the killer feel superior. That first initial taste of death, lacking of empathy, is what characterizes the beginning of a true sociopath. These killers lack the “Super Ego”, coined by Sigmund Freud as a conscience, and in the case of H.H. Holmes, he was more crafty than he was crazy.

To gain access to what he desired the most, Holmes attended the University of Michigan Medical School where his obsession with human body parts grew into a devious scam.

Initially, Holmes would steal cadavers from the medical college and take out insurance policies on fictitious family members, burying them where they would be found. When the bodies were discovered, Holmes would collect a hefty sum, sometimes collecting over $12,000 each.

Suddenly Holmes disappeared, resurfacing in Chicago in 1885 posing as an inventor. In 1887, he worked as a clerk at a local drug  store in Chicago for the owner E.S. Holton. Shortly thereafter, Holton went missing and Holmes announced he had purchased the store and Holton had moved out west.

H.H. Holmes was wealthy beyond his dreams and he decided to capitalize his worth by purchasing an enormous block building across the street from the drugstore, which was later coined the “Castle of Horrors” or “The Murder House”.