The World’s Fairs Hotel is a place where opening a door could lead you to a dead end, leaving you to “never return.” Only one person knows how to escape that nightmare: the hotel owner.
1. Who is H.H. Holmes?
H.H. Holmes’ real name is Herman Webster Mudgett, born on May 16, 1861, in Gilmanton, Wisconsin, New Hampshire. From a young age, Herman showed a fascination with surgery on small animals.
He attended medical school but was expelled early for insurance fraud and stealing corpses for experiments. Later, Herman moved to Chicago to study and became a pharmacist.
With his elegant and charming appearance, he quickly became wealthy and well-known.
2. The Horrific Model of The World’s Fairs Hotel
In 1887, Holmes used his wealth to purchase a parcel of land and constructed a massive hotel with over 100 rooms and 3 stories, considered the most magnificent hotel of its time.
This hotel was built amidst the joy and excitement of the citizens of Chicago, but no one suspected it was a facade for the “pleasure” of a twisted murderer.
H.H.Holmes’ real name is Herman Webster Mudgett.
The first floor contained shops, the third floor was designated for sleeping quarters, while the second floor and basement concealed the horrific secrets known only to H.H. Holmes.
Holmes was remarkably clever and sophisticated, constantly altering the hotel’s layout, room by room. He frequently changed staff and contractors, ensuring that no one could suspect his true intentions.
Holmes’ hotel was uniquely designed. He used the upper floors as his private residence, filled with small rooms convenient for torturing and murdering his victims.
Some guest rooms had holes in the ceiling for releasing poison gas, and they were soundproofed so that no one could hear what was happening inside.
Others were equipped with heating systems capable of turning the room into a giant oven, quickly roasting the unfortunate guests who were asleep inside.
Some rooms contained chutes used to transport corpses to the basement, where there were incinerators, lime pits, and acid baths for body disposal.
Holmes’ hotel was uniquely designed.
Some rooms could connect with others via hidden partitions concealed within the walls. There were large chutes leading directly to the basement, not for laundry, but to transport corpses directly to the basement where Holmes conducted his experiments.
All exit doors were connected to a very complex alarm system. Whenever someone entered the corridor or descended the stairs, an alarm would sound in Holmes’ bedroom.
In the basement beneath Holmes’ bedroom, scattered bones were found, mostly animal remains, but also… human bones.
The blood-stained dissection table was used for his morbid enjoyment of dissecting victims. Nearby were devices for cremating bodies, torture tools, and acid tanks to dissolve corpses.
After disposing of victims through the chutes, he would dissect and sell body parts or bones to medical institutions or the black market.
3. How did the murderer H.H. Holmes kill?
Holmes did not have specific criteria for selecting his victims. His victims included the elderly, children, women, or simply guests attracted to the magnificent hotel who unknowingly walked into their demise.
He seduced women from prominent families, some of whom never returned to their families again.
The corpses in Holmes’ dissection basement.
He lured wealthy women into marrying him and, before killing them, forced them to write wills naming him as the sole beneficiary.
4. Uncovering the Crimes at the Horrific Hotel
As time passed, Holmes killed more people and acquired more assets to maintain his mysterious lifestyle and settle his mounting debts.
However, during a conversation with a train robber named Marion Hedgepeth, Holmes inadvertently revealed that he was “planning a fraud.”
As a child, he showed a fascination with ‘surgery’ on small animals.
Marion Hedgepeth reported Holmes, and the murderer was arrested while participating in a large-scale insurance fraud in Boston on November 17, 1894.
When the police searched The World’s Fairs Hotel for more evidence, they discovered the extent of his murderous activities.
During the investigation, police found a secret tunnel leading to a mysterious basement containing a live lime pit and a blood-stained table.
The hotel had numerous special doors that could only be opened from the outside and safes used for hiding people. Scattered throughout the fourth floor of the hotel, police also found clothing, bones, and hair belonging to the victims.
He confessed to the police that he had killed 27 people, but authorities believed the number could be higher. The number of victims could not be verified because Holmes’ basement was equipped with acid tanks for decomposing remaining body parts and crematoriums for burning bodies.
The design of Holmes’ hotel.
According to missing person reports, it is believed that Holmes’ unfortunate victims could total up to 200. He claimed that when he looked in the mirror, he could only see the face and shape of a devil, not himself.
H.H. Holmes was convicted and sentenced to death by hanging on May 7, 1896, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. After 20 minutes of struggling in pain, the murderer ended his “devilish” life.
Shortly after, those involved in Holmes’ case experienced a series of unfortunate events. The jailer at the prison where Holmes was held was murdered. The office of the attorney handling the famous case burned down. The only thing left after the fire was a photograph of Holmes.
Most famously, Patrick Quinlan—the caretaker of the hotel after Holmes’ death, who knew the most about the haunted building—committed suicide in 1914. Before his death, he left behind a note stating: “I cannot sleep.”
