Holmes Murder Castle site - Chicago, IL
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adgorn
N 41° 46.787 W 087° 38.410
16T E 446800 N 4625525
Known as the "Murder Castle,” the building received its name when the bodies of 6 persons murdered by the then owner Dr. H. H. Holmes (his real name was Herman Webster Mudgett) were found in the basement in 1895.
Waymark Code: WMJTXN
Location: Illinois, United States
Date Posted: 12/31/2013
Views: 9
H.H. Holmes' 100-room building was located on Chicago's south side, at the corner of 63rd Street and Wallace just west of the train tracks. Holmes, who was suspected of slaying at least 27 men, women and children, was eventually caught and hanged. The building was razed in 1938 to make way for the current US Post Office.
The building was strange, with extra chimneys and honeycombed with trap doors and secret passages and chutes which led to hidden rooms where Mudgett robbed, tortured, murdered, and dissected his victims. He disposed of his victims' remains by dissolving them in vats of acid or incinerating them in a basement crematory. Mudgett attracted people to the place by advertising it as a rooming house during the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair. Some felt that Mudgett killed as many as 200 people, many of whom were guests attending the Fair who had gone missing.
Holmes was finally caught in Philadelphia in 1895, apprehended for the murder of a fellow swindler. After his trial and conviction, he confessed to murdering only twenty-seven people and even wrote an account of his exploits. On May 7, 1896 Mudgett was hanged at Moyamensing, Philadelphia County's prison.
A photo of the original “Castle” (
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A photo of Holmes: (
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The book “Devil in White City” by Erik Larson (2003) chronicles Holmes' infamous story. Holmes is generally considered America's first serial killer. See Weird Chicago (
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