Episode 62
The Hotel Built to Kill Its Guests — Night 1 of 7 Nights of Terror
Up nextBack to the full archiveThe documented facts
- Herman Webster Mudgett, alias H.H. Holmes, built a three story block at 63rd and Wallace in Chicago, opened during the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition; people later called it the Murder Castle.
- Behind ordinary shopfronts and hotel rooms sat gas jets, hidden doors, a vault, and chutes dropping to the basement. He hired and fired builders so no single worker saw the whole plan.
- In October 1895, Philadelphia tried him for the murder of Benjamin Pitezel, his business associate. The jury convicted him of first degree murder, and he was sentenced to death.
- Awaiting execution, he sold a confession claiming 27 murders to the Philadelphia Inquirer. Several people he named were later found alive. The number a court established is one. The castle burned in 1895, and much potential evidence burned with it.
The Draugr does not invent. He documents.
Episode 62 case file
The facts
- Herman Webster Mudgett, alias H.H. Holmes, built a three story block at 63rd and Wallace in Chicago, opened during the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition; people later called it the Murder Castle.
- Behind ordinary shopfronts and hotel rooms sat gas jets, hidden doors, a vault, and chutes dropping to the basement. He hired and fired builders so no single worker saw the whole plan.
- In October 1895, Philadelphia tried him for the murder of Benjamin Pitezel, his business associate. The jury convicted him of first degree murder, and he was sentenced to death.
- Awaiting execution, he sold a confession claiming 27 murders to the Philadelphia Inquirer. Several people he named were later found alive. The number a court established is one. The castle burned in 1895, and much potential evidence burned with it.
The evidence
- Behind ordinary shopfronts and hotel rooms sat gas jets, hidden doors, a vault, and chutes dropping to the basement. He hired and fired builders so no single worker saw the whole plan.
- In October 1895, Philadelphia tried him for the murder of Benjamin Pitezel, his business associate. The jury convicted him of first degree murder, and he was sentenced to death.
- Awaiting execution, he sold a confession claiming 27 murders to the Philadelphia Inquirer. Several people he named were later found alive. The number a court established is one. The castle burned in 1895, and much potential evidence burned with it.
Sources
- Sources are being gathered for this file. The facts above are documented.
The words, as I spoke them.
Transcript
EP62: The Hotel Built to Kill Its Guests, Night 1 of 7 Nights of Terror (Chicago, 1893)
He built a hotel to kill its guests. A castle of locked doors waited for the fair.
In eighteen ninety three, Herman Webster Mudgett, calling himself H.H. Holmes, opened his block at Sixty Third and Wallace. Behind the walls, gas jets, a vault, and chutes.
He hired and fired builders so no worker saw the plan. Behind one locked door, a sealed room. Behind another, a chute to the basement.
In eighteen ninety five, Philadelphia tried him for the murder of Benjamin Pitezel. The jury convicted him. But the castle kept its secrets.
He sold a confession claiming twenty seven murders. Some people he named were found alive. The court proved one murder, and the castle burned.
Leave a comment if you would spend a night in the castle. Follow for a new true nightmare every day. Sleep with the lights on, if you can.
Dramatized for the telling. The facts above are documented; the narration is the Draugr’s retelling of them.
Wear the nightmare
The Dreaded wear the mark.
Enter the shop
