1 00:00:00,200 --> 00:00:03,840 Speaker 1: You like true crime, the murder scene, the investigation, the 2 00:00:03,960 --> 00:00:07,320 Speaker 1: unraveling of the who done it. Take this young doctor 3 00:00:07,360 --> 00:00:10,719 Speaker 1: in Chicago in the early eighteen nineties. He gets people 4 00:00:10,760 --> 00:00:13,240 Speaker 1: to work for him at his hotel, even marry some 5 00:00:13,280 --> 00:00:17,200 Speaker 1: of the young women. But then suddenly they disappear. Turns 6 00:00:17,200 --> 00:00:20,520 Speaker 1: out their suffocated, burned, or even starved to death. Their 7 00:00:20,520 --> 00:00:25,280 Speaker 1: bodies often dissected. I'm Patty Steele, America's first serial killer, 8 00:00:25,560 --> 00:00:29,680 Speaker 1: at the eighteen ninety three World's Fair. Next on the backstory. 9 00:00:33,640 --> 00:00:38,199 Speaker 1: The backstory is back. What fascinates us about true crime stories? 10 00:00:38,400 --> 00:00:40,919 Speaker 1: I guess it's the same thing that has fascinated us 11 00:00:40,920 --> 00:00:44,599 Speaker 1: for centuries, particularly beginning in the eighteen hundreds with the 12 00:00:44,720 --> 00:00:49,200 Speaker 1: arrival of tabloid journalism. They love to share the juicy details. 13 00:00:49,560 --> 00:00:53,280 Speaker 1: It's a creepy form of entertainment. I guess. One of 14 00:00:53,320 --> 00:00:56,800 Speaker 1: the biggest stories of the eighteen nineties involved the gruesome 15 00:00:56,840 --> 00:01:01,200 Speaker 1: serial killer H. H. Holmes, America's first serial killer to 16 00:01:01,320 --> 00:01:05,200 Speaker 1: capture American nightmares. You see, Holmes was simply a guy 17 00:01:05,200 --> 00:01:09,560 Speaker 1: who loved death, including his own, apparently charming guards, chatting, 18 00:01:09,680 --> 00:01:12,640 Speaker 1: laughing even on the day of his own execution. By 19 00:01:12,640 --> 00:01:16,560 Speaker 1: hanging his story began in eighteen sixty one. He was 20 00:01:16,600 --> 00:01:20,480 Speaker 1: born in New Hampshire. His birth name was Hermann Webster Mudget, 21 00:01:20,720 --> 00:01:23,320 Speaker 1: though he later changed it to HH Holmes due to 22 00:01:23,360 --> 00:01:26,959 Speaker 1: his various crimes trying to cover himself up. While his 23 00:01:27,040 --> 00:01:30,080 Speaker 1: parents gave him a good education, his father was a 24 00:01:30,160 --> 00:01:35,520 Speaker 1: cruel and abusive alcoholic. As a kid, Holmes enjoyed dissecting animals, 25 00:01:35,520 --> 00:01:38,600 Speaker 1: and eventually that led to his decision to go to 26 00:01:38,680 --> 00:01:42,680 Speaker 1: medical school. He wasn't exactly playing by the rules even then. 27 00:01:43,240 --> 00:01:47,000 Speaker 1: While at the University of Michigan's Department of Medicine and Surgery, 28 00:01:47,440 --> 00:01:50,480 Speaker 1: he worked in the anatomy lab. He and his professor, 29 00:01:50,640 --> 00:01:54,560 Speaker 1: the chief anatomy instructor, were apparently engaged in some grave 30 00:01:54,680 --> 00:01:58,120 Speaker 1: robbing in order to get their hands on medical cadavers 31 00:01:58,160 --> 00:02:02,240 Speaker 1: to cut apart back in those days at medical schools. 32 00:02:02,800 --> 00:02:06,160 Speaker 1: By eighteen eighty five, he'd moved to Chicago. He made 33 00:02:06,200 --> 00:02:11,160 Speaker 1: money through theft, insurance fraud, forgery, and swindling. He managed 34 00:02:11,160 --> 00:02:13,960 Speaker 1: to build a three story building, which a few years 35 00:02:14,040 --> 00:02:18,480 Speaker 1: later he advertised as an apartment hotel for folks visiting 36 00:02:18,560 --> 00:02:23,280 Speaker 1: Chicago for the magnificent eighteen ninety three World's Fair called 37 00:02:23,280 --> 00:02:27,960 Speaker 1: the Columbian Exhibition, and that's where he got kind of crazy. Later, 38 00:02:28,040 --> 00:02:31,240 Speaker 1: the press called his hotel the murder Castle. He had 39 00:02:31,280 --> 00:02:35,360 Speaker 1: guests check in, but many of them just vanished. In 40 00:02:35,400 --> 00:02:38,760 Speaker 1: addition to a number of guest rooms, investigators found it 41 00:02:38,840 --> 00:02:42,720 Speaker 1: also had a number of sound proof rooms, secret passageways, 42 00:02:42,800 --> 00:02:50,240 Speaker 1: and trap doors. The eighteen eighties and nineties were a 43 00:02:50,280 --> 00:02:53,840 Speaker 1: time when society finally accepted the idea of young women 44 00:02:54,280 --> 00:02:57,000 Speaker 1: venturing away from the towns they grew up in to 45 00:02:57,080 --> 00:03:01,040 Speaker 1: find jobs and adventure in big cities, and Chicago was 46 00:03:01,120 --> 00:03:04,040 Speaker 1: the place to be in the Midwest, especially with the 47 00:03:04,080 --> 00:03:08,480 Speaker 1: Fair coming. The Colombian Exhibition was filled with new inventions, 48 00:03:08,800 --> 00:03:12,280 Speaker 1: from the first ferris wheel to the first zippers for clothing, 49 00:03:12,639 --> 00:03:17,360 Speaker 1: to foods like Crackerjack and Aunt Jemima. Most amazingly, it 50 00:03:17,440 --> 00:03:20,360 Speaker 1: was the first fair to be fully lit with electricity. 51 00:03:21,040 --> 00:03:23,840 Speaker 1: Can you imagine what it was like seeing all that 52 00:03:24,080 --> 00:03:27,480 Speaker 1: electric light for the first time in your life. So 53 00:03:27,880 --> 00:03:30,880 Speaker 1: also imagine the young women and men who headed toward 54 00:03:30,960 --> 00:03:34,760 Speaker 1: all that adventure and checked into Holmes Hotel, which had 55 00:03:34,800 --> 00:03:39,160 Speaker 1: short term rental apartments. Holmes's first victim was Julius Smyth, 56 00:03:39,520 --> 00:03:42,680 Speaker 1: who moved in with her husband and five year old daughter, Pearl. 57 00:03:43,280 --> 00:03:46,400 Speaker 1: Holmes cozied up to her and their affair led to 58 00:03:46,440 --> 00:03:49,640 Speaker 1: the breakup of her marriage. Her husband left and she 59 00:03:49,760 --> 00:03:53,760 Speaker 1: and Pearl stayed with Holmes, but eventually something went wrong 60 00:03:54,200 --> 00:03:58,080 Speaker 1: and Holmes killed both Julia and little Pearl, whose skeleton 61 00:03:58,160 --> 00:04:02,080 Speaker 1: was later found in the basement during the investigation. Next 62 00:04:02,120 --> 00:04:05,880 Speaker 1: came twenty three year old Emmeline Segrande. Holmes hired her 63 00:04:05,960 --> 00:04:09,360 Speaker 1: as a secretary. They became involved, but when she began 64 00:04:09,400 --> 00:04:13,200 Speaker 1: to lose interest in him six months later, she disappeared 65 00:04:13,200 --> 00:04:16,160 Speaker 1: as well. Twenty four year old Minnie Williams was then 66 00:04:16,279 --> 00:04:19,280 Speaker 1: hired to be holmes stenographer, and her eighteen year old 67 00:04:19,320 --> 00:04:23,839 Speaker 1: sister Anna also moved in. Holmes began a relationship with Minnie, 68 00:04:24,040 --> 00:04:26,600 Speaker 1: and in the six months they were together, he talked 69 00:04:26,600 --> 00:04:29,880 Speaker 1: her into signing over to him deeds to property she 70 00:04:29,920 --> 00:04:34,440 Speaker 1: owned in Texas. Meantime, young Anna wrote to an aunt brother, 71 00:04:34,520 --> 00:04:38,159 Speaker 1: Harry Holmes says, you need never trouble any more about me, 72 00:04:38,560 --> 00:04:41,919 Speaker 1: financially or otherwise. He and Minnie will see to me. 73 00:04:42,520 --> 00:04:45,960 Speaker 1: I hope our hard days are over. Neither Minnie nor 74 00:04:46,040 --> 00:04:50,120 Speaker 1: Anna were ever seen again. There were maybe eleven other 75 00:04:50,279 --> 00:04:54,680 Speaker 1: similar cases that the police really believed he was responsible for. 76 00:04:55,240 --> 00:04:58,560 Speaker 1: But Holmes also pulled another bit of insurance fraud that 77 00:04:58,720 --> 00:05:02,800 Speaker 1: led him to murdering his friend and hired hand, Benjamin Pizel, 78 00:05:03,200 --> 00:05:06,440 Speaker 1: a carpenter with a criminal past. The two tried to 79 00:05:06,480 --> 00:05:09,480 Speaker 1: pull off an insurance scam in which one would fake 80 00:05:09,520 --> 00:05:12,040 Speaker 1: his own death and then both would collect on it. 81 00:05:12,720 --> 00:05:14,960 Speaker 1: In order for their scheme to work, they needed a cadaver, 82 00:05:15,400 --> 00:05:19,719 Speaker 1: but instead Holmes decided to simply kill Pizel himself by 83 00:05:19,760 --> 00:05:23,800 Speaker 1: pouring benzene on him and lighting him on fire, making 84 00:05:23,880 --> 00:05:26,920 Speaker 1: it look like a lab accident. He then collected the 85 00:05:26,920 --> 00:05:30,719 Speaker 1: insurance money without having to share it. Now, because he'd 86 00:05:30,760 --> 00:05:33,800 Speaker 1: become close to Pizel and his family, he had to 87 00:05:33,839 --> 00:05:37,200 Speaker 1: figure out how to stop the questions and suspicion, So 88 00:05:37,400 --> 00:05:40,800 Speaker 1: he took three of Pizel's kids from their mother, telling 89 00:05:40,839 --> 00:05:43,719 Speaker 1: her that her husband was hiding out in London after 90 00:05:43,839 --> 00:05:46,120 Speaker 1: the insurance scam and he was going to help with 91 00:05:46,160 --> 00:05:49,960 Speaker 1: the kids. He then traveled with the children, mostly around 92 00:05:50,040 --> 00:05:54,719 Speaker 1: the Midwest. Finally, by October eighteen ninety four, he wanted 93 00:05:54,720 --> 00:05:57,039 Speaker 1: to get the kids off his hands, so, as he 94 00:05:57,120 --> 00:06:00,760 Speaker 1: later confessed, he drugged seven year old Howard, and then 95 00:06:00,800 --> 00:06:03,120 Speaker 1: cut up his body to dispose of it. A few 96 00:06:03,160 --> 00:06:06,400 Speaker 1: weeks later, he murdered thirteen year old Alice and nine 97 00:06:06,480 --> 00:06:09,520 Speaker 1: year old Nelly by locking them in a big trunk. 98 00:06:10,080 --> 00:06:12,400 Speaker 1: He drilled a hole in the lid, put a hose 99 00:06:12,400 --> 00:06:15,880 Speaker 1: through the hole, and pumped lighting gas in to kill them. 100 00:06:16,440 --> 00:06:19,039 Speaker 1: Holmes buried their nude bodies in the basement of a 101 00:06:19,080 --> 00:06:23,640 Speaker 1: rental house he was living in. In most of the 102 00:06:23,680 --> 00:06:27,479 Speaker 1: cases involving young women, Holmes told anybody that asked that 103 00:06:27,520 --> 00:06:30,120 Speaker 1: his victims had run away with a new love interest, 104 00:06:30,920 --> 00:06:33,279 Speaker 1: So are you kind of getting the drift of this guy? 105 00:06:34,000 --> 00:06:37,320 Speaker 1: After he was arrested, the newspapers went nuts. There was 106 00:06:37,360 --> 00:06:40,440 Speaker 1: talk that Holmes had a secret crematorium in the basement 107 00:06:40,480 --> 00:06:44,039 Speaker 1: of his hotel in Chicago and big vats of acid, 108 00:06:44,520 --> 00:06:47,159 Speaker 1: but since the building burned down not long after he 109 00:06:47,360 --> 00:06:51,360 Speaker 1: was arrested, they never found any of that. Overall, some 110 00:06:51,440 --> 00:06:54,920 Speaker 1: said Holmes had murdered as many as two hundred men, women, 111 00:06:54,960 --> 00:06:58,920 Speaker 1: and children. He admitted to twenty seven, but maybe had 112 00:06:59,000 --> 00:07:04,120 Speaker 1: added some or completely changed his story altogether. At his trial, 113 00:07:04,360 --> 00:07:07,440 Speaker 1: he was only charged with killing Pizel. He was found 114 00:07:07,480 --> 00:07:12,600 Speaker 1: guilty and sentenced to die on May seventh, eighteen ninety six. H. H. 115 00:07:12,680 --> 00:07:16,560 Speaker 1: Holmes was hanged for Pizel's murder. Until the moment he died, 116 00:07:16,640 --> 00:07:21,080 Speaker 1: he stayed calm and friendly, showing no fear, anxiety, or depression. 117 00:07:21,720 --> 00:07:24,760 Speaker 1: Some say his murderers had a pretty clear motive. His 118 00:07:24,880 --> 00:07:27,520 Speaker 1: victims knew too much or were just in his way, 119 00:07:27,840 --> 00:07:31,600 Speaker 1: and he needed to protect his lifestyle. Pretty cold. In 120 00:07:31,640 --> 00:07:34,080 Speaker 1: any case, it was clear he liked death, and for 121 00:07:34,160 --> 00:07:36,640 Speaker 1: his victims, he wanted their deaths to be as long 122 00:07:36,720 --> 00:07:40,600 Speaker 1: and drawn out as possible. Holmes's last words before being 123 00:07:40,720 --> 00:07:43,360 Speaker 1: hung were, I was born with the devil in me. 124 00:07:43,800 --> 00:07:46,040 Speaker 1: I could not help the fact that I was a murderer, 125 00:07:46,440 --> 00:07:49,960 Speaker 1: no more than a poet can help the inspiration to sing. 126 00:07:57,080 --> 00:08:01,040 Speaker 1: I hope you're enjoying the Backstory with Patty Steele. Please listen, 127 00:08:01,280 --> 00:08:03,880 Speaker 1: like and subscribe if you would, And if you have 128 00:08:03,920 --> 00:08:06,360 Speaker 1: a story that you'd like me to dive into and share, 129 00:08:06,760 --> 00:08:09,960 Speaker 1: just dm me on Facebook at Patty Steele and on 130 00:08:10,000 --> 00:08:16,880 Speaker 1: Instagram at Real Patty Steele. I'm Patty Steele. The back 131 00:08:16,920 --> 00:08:21,200 Speaker 1: Stories a production of iHeartMedia, Premiere Networks, the Elvis Durand 132 00:08:21,240 --> 00:08:25,000 Speaker 1: Group and Steel Trap Productions. Our producer is Doug Fraser, 133 00:08:25,240 --> 00:08:28,880 Speaker 1: Our writer Jake Kushner. We have new episodes every Tuesday 134 00:08:28,920 --> 00:08:31,440 Speaker 1: and Friday. Feel free to reach out to me with 135 00:08:31,560 --> 00:08:35,520 Speaker 1: comments and even story suggestions on Instagram at real Patty 136 00:08:35,520 --> 00:08:39,000 Speaker 1: Steele and on Facebook at Patty Steele. Thanks for listening 137 00:08:39,000 --> 00:08:41,720 Speaker 1: to the back Story with Patty Steele, the pieces of 138 00:08:41,840 --> 00:08:44,160 Speaker 1: history you didn't know you needed to know.