The Strange Case Of Dr H H Holmes

You've read about the WHITE CITY...Now read the DEVIL'S story.3 BOOKS...1 SERIAL KILLERContains three complete and unabridged primary source books.HOLMES' OWN STORY by Herman W. Mudgett - 1895Told in the serial killer's own words.Also Includes: * Moyamensing Prison DiaryTHE HOLMES-PITEZEL CASE by Detective Frank Geyer - 1896Geyer's story of the events after Holmes' capture including his hunt for the three missing Pitezel children. Includes expert witness testimony and in-depth criminal and legal detection methods utilized in the trial against Holmes for the murder of Benjamin Pitezel.Also Includes: * A Chronology of the Holmes Case * D.A. Graham's Speech to the Jury * Motion for a New Trial * The Decision of the Supreme CourtTHE HOLMES CASTLE by Robert Corbitt - 1895Corbitt believed Holmes was innocent of murder. Further details of the castle are conveyed in this book.Also Includes: * Special report on H.H. Holmes' building by the Chicago Department of Buildings, 1895. * Articles about H.H. Holmes as printed in some of the dailies.THE CONFESSION OF H.H. HOLMES - 1896Holmes recounts 27 murders in gruesome detail, stating that he is growing to resemble the devil.FULLY ILLUSTRATED - UNABRIDGED

TORTURE CHAMBERS - VATS OF ACID - SECRET PASSAGEWAYS At the height of his criminal career, the infamous Dr. H.H. Holmes designed his castle of horrors in Chicago, where he rented rooms to unsuspecting victims visiting the 1893 World's Fair. Further benefiting from his victims, Holmes sold their skeletons to local medical schools. The Strange Case of Dr. H.H. Holmes contains three fully illustrated, unabridged primary source books, plus Holmes' published confession as originally documented shortly before his execution. For the first time in over a century, these materials are again available - and all in one book. HOLMES' OWN STORY by Herman W. Mudgett - 1895 In this autobiography, Holmes recounts his childhood years, and life's trials and tribulations. To a "fair-minded public," Holmes pleads his innocence by spinning uncanny explanations for every allegation and shred of evidence that otherwise incriminated him. THE HOLMES-PITEZEL CASE by Detective Frank Geyer - 1896 This, the first book written on a serial killer, is a full-length account of American homicide detective, Frank Geyer, retracing the steps of criminal mastermind, H.H. Holmes. Included are rare court transcripts, expert witness testimony, and in-depth criminal and legal detection methods utilized in the trial against Holmes. THE HOLMES CASTLE by Robert Corbitt - 1895 Robert Corbitt entered the Holmes "castle" when the investigation into the horrors first began. Learn what made Corbitt believe that Holmes was innocent. THE CONFESSION OF H.H. HOLMES - 1896 Holmes gives the media what they want...a confession. He recounts 27 murders in gruesome detail, stating that he is growing to resemble the devil. "Anyone who has an interest in true crime or is studying criminology, law or forensics must own this book which focuses on a groundbreaking case." - John Borowski

Eighty-seven (87) restored and sourced, rare historical illustrations and photographs. A fascinating look into the mind of one of America's first serial killers. Born as Herman Webster Mudgett, H. H. Holmes was a horrific killer featured in Erik Larson's popular book, The Devil in the White City. Holmes built a three story 'Murder Castle' in Chicago in the late 1800s with death on his mind. A doctor by trade, Holmes lured unsuspecting victims into secret rooms, vaults and gas chambers and made use of a dissection table in his basement. He preyed on travelers that came to Chicago for the World Columbian Exposition in 1893 by advertising rooms for rent and offering employment opportunities. No doubt about it, Holmes earned despicable nicknames such as Arch Fiend, Butcher, Modern Bluebeard, Swindler, and Moral Degenerate. Holmes was a monster in disguise as a doctor, a perfect ruse to lure his victims. After all, who would not trust a doctor? Learn what Holmes personality and thought process was like, straight from the mind of a killer. This three-part book includes Holmes' memoir and his confession of twenty-seven murders. It also has details about his death, unusual burial, and an odd story Holmes told about his reincarnation. Notes, illustration credits, and bibliography are included.

America's first and most notorious serial killer and his diabolical killing spree during the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago, now updated with a new afterword discussing Holmes' exhumation on American Ripper. H. H. Holmes: The True History of the White City Devil is the first truly comprehensive book examining the life and career of a murderer who has become one of America’s great supervillains. It reveals not only the true story but how the legend evolved, taking advantage of hundreds of primary sources that have never been examined before, including legal documents, letters, articles, and records that have been buried in archives for more than a century. Though Holmes has become just as famous now as he was in 1895, a deep analysis of contemporary materials makes very clear how much of the story as we know came from reporters who were nowhere near the action, a dangerously unqualified new police chief, and, not least, lies invented by Holmes himself. Selzer has unearthed tons of stunning new data about Holmes, weaving together turn-of-the-century America, the killer’s background, and the wild cast of characters who circulated in and about the famous “castle” building. This book will be the first truly accurate account of what really happened in Holmes’s castle of horror, and now includes an afterword detailing the author's participation in Holmes' exhumation on the TV series, American Ripper. Exhaustively researched and painstakingly brought to life, H. H. Holmes will be an invaluable companion to the upcoming Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio movie about Holmes’s murder spree based on Erik Larson’s The Devil in the White City.

From Chicago historian Adam Selzer, expert on all of the Windy City’s quirks and oddities, comes a compelling heavily researched anthology of the stories behind its most fascinating unsolved mysteries. To create this unique volume, Selzer has collected forty unsolved mysteries from the 1800s to modern day. He has poured through all newspaper, magazine, and book references to them, and consulted expert historians. Topics covered include who really started the great Chicago fire, who was the first “automobile murderer,” and even if there was actually a vampire slaying at Rose Hill cemetery. The result is both a colorful read to get lost in, a window to a world of curiosity and wonder, as well as a volume that separates fact from fiction—true crime from urban legend. Complementing the gripping stories Selzer presents are original images of the crime and its suspects as developed by its original investigators. Readers will marvel at how each character and crime were presented, and happily journey with Selzer as he presents all facts and theories presented at the time of the “crime” and uses modern hindsight to assemble the pieces.

'An irresistible page-turner that reads like the most compelling, sleep defying fiction' TIME OUT One was an architect. The other a serial killer. This is the incredible story of these two men and their realization of the Chicago World's Fair of 1893, and its amazing 'White City'; one of the wonders of the world. The architect was Daniel H. Burnham, the driving force behind the White City, the massive, visionary landscape of white buildings set in a wonderland of canals and gardens. The killer was H. H. Holmes, a handsome doctor with striking blue eyes. He used the attraction of the great fair - and his own devilish charms - to lure scores of young women to their deaths. While Burnham overcame politics, infighting, personality clashes and Chicago's infamous weather to transform the swamps of Jackson Park into the greatest show on Earth, Holmes built his own edifice just west of the fairground. He called it the World's Fair Hotel. In reality it was a torture palace, a gas chamber, a crematorium. These two disparate but driven men are brought to life in this mesmerizing, murderous tale of the legendary Fair that transformed America and set it on course for the twentieth century . . .

H.H. Holmes did what few serial killers ever do. He published a series of autobiographical documents that revealed his sociopathic tendencies--and lied about his crimes. The infamous killer of the Chicago World's Fair published a memoir and a confession, both of which conceal more than they reveal of the truth. Then he gave a speech at his hanging that recanted everything. This series of documents, edited and explained by Matt Lake, author of Weird Pennsylvania, show the dark but charming side of a man who lured somewhere between 24 and 200 men, women, and children to their deaths.

 Decades before the term "serial killer" was coined, H.H. Holmes murdered dozens of people in his now-infamous Chicago "Murder Castle." In his autobiography, Holmes struggled to define himself in the language of the late nineteenth century. As the "first"--or, as he labeled himself, "The Greatest Criminal of the Age"--he had no one to compare himself to, and no ready-made biographical structure to follow. Holmes was thus nearly able to invent himself from scratch. This book minutely inspects how Holmes represented himself in his writings and confessions. Although the legitimacy of Holmes' accounts have been called into question, his biography mirrors the narrative structure of the true crime genre that emerged decades after his death.