Reputedly, America’s first serial killer is H.H. Holmes. Born as Herman Webster Mudgett in 1860, this depraved man was also intelligent, debonair, charming, and funny. He made a fortune scamming and murdering people and even built a “murder castle” in Englewood, Chicago where he killed his victims and processed their bodies. Although he confessed to 27 murders, experts estimate it may have been in the hundreds. This would make Holmes one of the worst serial killers in the U.S.
But to think that I committed this and other crimes for the pleasure of killing my fellow beings, to hear their cries for mercy and pleas to be allowed even sufficient time to pray and prepare for death—all this is now too horrible for even me […]. H. H. Holmes
Mug sketch at the final arrest of Henry Howard Holmes. 1996. Image: Library of Congress.
