18. There are those who believe he was Jack the Ripper
H. H. Holmes has been mythologized by those to whom he has become a cottage industry, with longstanding rumors that he escaped the gallows and fled to South America, and even that he was the perpetrator of the Whitechapel murders assigned to the killer known as Jack the Ripper. As early as 1898, newspapers reported that Holmes had bribed the jailers who carried his living body out of prison in a coffin, after which he vanished. The rumors were based, in part, on Holmes being buried ten feet underground, sealed in concrete. A story in an 1898 edition of the Chicago Inter-Ocean claimed that Holmes was alive and living in Paraguay, earning a living as a coffee grower. The exhumation of the body and confirmation that it was in fact Holmes (through dental records) did little to end the speculation.
The truth about H. H. Holmes is forever obscured by the sensationalist manner in which he was described by the newspapers of the time, by his own contradictory statements, and by the continuing efforts to link him to crimes around the world. His name makes money through mystery tours, blogs, books, television specials, and films. Understanding that first and foremost he was a swindler and a liar, who killed primarily for profit, and who sold his story for profit, is important to his story. His alleged memoir, Holmes Own Story, said to have been written in prison, expresses his complete denial of involvement in the murder of his partner, the crime for which he was executed. Holmes was not America’s first or worst serial killer. But he was a murderer without conscience. “The legend of the Devil in the White City is effectively a new American tall tale”, wrote Adam Selzer, after researching the Holmes legend for years. “And like all the best tall tales, it sprang from a kernel of truth”.
Where do we find this stuff? Here are our sources:
“Herman Webster Mudgett: Dr. H. H. Holmes or Beast of Chicago”. Rebecca Kerns, Tiffany Lewis, Caitlin McLure, Department of Psychology. Radford University, 2012. Pdf Online
“A double dose of the macabre”. Alan Glenn, Michigan Today. October 22, 2013
“The Devil in the White City”. Erik Larsen. 2003
“Hid in Secret Rooms”. Chicago Tribune, March 31, 1893
“The Strange Life of H. H. Holmes”. John Borowski. 2008
“The Torture Doctor”. David Franke. 1975
“Trials of the Century: An Encyclopedia of Popular Culture and the Law”. Scott Patrick Johnson. 2011
“The Master of the Murder Castle”. John Bartlow Martin, Harper’s Magazine. December, 1943
“Holmes’ Own Story: Confessed 27 murders, lied, then died”. J. D. Crighton, Herman W. Mudgett. 2017
“Serial Killer H.H. Holmes is Hanged in Philadelphia”. History Channel, May 8, 1896
“Chicago’s first serial killer”. Stephan Benzkopfer, The Chicago Tribune. October 24, 2014
“H. H. Holmes: The True History of the White City Devil”. Adam Selzer. 2017
“Full Confession of H. H. Holmes”. The New York Journal, April 12, 1896