On this day, May 7, in 1896, the serial killer who opened a hotel in Chicago for the 1893 World’s Fair that he used to kill dozens of guests, was executed by hanging.
Dr. Henry Howard Holmes confessed to 27 murders, but the total count is estimated to be more than 100, possibly 200. Holmes’ story was revived in the 2003 book by Erik Larson, “The Devil in the White City.”
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The doctor moved to the Windy City in 1886 to work as a pharmacist. Through a number of insurance scams he earned enough money to build a three-story, block-long mansion with secret passageways, fake walls and trapdoors. Holmes called it “The Castle.” Using controls in his bedroom, he could fill his guest rooms with lethal gas, then take the bodies to a basement lab to dissect them.
Suddenly, young women and tourists began disappearing.
Holmes’ killing spree came to an end after Philadelphia detectives investigating an insurance scam found the bodies of two of his victims in Toronto. The Castle burned down in 1895 and a post office now sits on the site.
