Anybody hear of this guy? I believe he was America's first serial killer. I came across him, and I found him pretty interesting. The way he killed his victims and disposed of their bodies, was something I have never heard of. <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">He managed to secure a Chicago pharmacy by defrauding and eventually murdering the pharmacist and his family, and built a block-long, three-story building on the lot across the street. Neighbors called this building "The Castle". Holmes opened it as a hotel for the World's Columbian Exposition in 1893, using the rest of the structure for shops he rented. The bottom floor of the Castle contained these shops (one a jeweler, for example), his personal office, and the upper floors a maze of over one hundred windowless rooms with doorways that would open to brick walls, stairways to nowhere, doors that could only be opened from the outside, and a host of other maze-like constructions. Over a period of three years, Holmes selected female victims from among his employees, lovers, or hotel's guests, and tortured them in soundproof and escapeproof chambers fitted with gas lines that permitted Holmes to asphyxiate the women at any time. Holmes had repeatedly changed builders during the initial construction of the Castle, to ensure that no one truly understood the design of the house he had created, who might then report it to the police. In addition, according to law at that time, by firing workers every two weeks, he didn't have to pay them. Once dead, the victims' bodies went by a secret chute to the basement, where they were either meticulously dissected, stripped of flesh, articulated--crafted into a skeleton model--and then sold to medical schools; or cremated and placed in lime pits for destruction. Holmes had two giant furnaces as well as pits of acid, bottles of various poisons, and even a rack to create a race of "giants." Because of the connections he gained through medical school, he was able to sell skeletons and organs with little difficulty.</div> Source Pretty nasty stuff, but somewhat genius?
There is a good book about him called "The Devil in the White City" i think. I liked and its not only about him but it tells the story of the man who designed the fair. Great book.
