H.H. Holmes Part 5

Morbid

05/22/23

•

91m

About

Comments

Featured In

In the final chapter of our coverage of H.H.Holmes, we talk about the theories connecting him to Jack the Ripper, his final days on the run and a trial and execution that has gone down in history.

Thank you to Dave White for research assistance.

References

Boston Daily Globe. 1895. "At Burlington." Boston Daily Globe, August 8: 7.

—. 1894. "Believes husband dead." Boston Daily Globe, November 20: 1.

—. 1895. "Hard and Selfish." Boston Daily Globe, August 7: 5.

—. 1894. "In the toils." Boston Daily Globe, November 18: 1.

—. 1895. "Mother's Love." Boston Daily Globe, August 6: 5.

Chicago Chronicle. 1895. "Tells of one crime." Chicago Chronicle, July 30: 2.

—. 1895. "Trail of the fiend." Chicago Chronicle, July 21: 1.

Chicago Tribune. 1894. "Spins his own web." Chacgo Tribune, November 22: 1.

—. 1895. "Holmes recognized in Toronto." Chcago Tribune, July 17: 12.

Daily Boston Globe. 1895. "Good Fisherman." Daily Boston Globe, August 9: 4.

Galveston Daily News. 1894. "Two Texas Girls." Galveston Daily News, November 22: 1.

Geyer, Frank P. 1896. The Holmes-Pitezel Case: A History of the Greatest Crime of the Century and of the Search for the Missing Pitezel Children. Philadelphia, PA: Publishers' Union.

Kerns, Rebecca, Tiffany Lewis, and Cailtin McClure. 2012. Herman Webster Mudgett: Dr. H.H. Holmes or Beast of Chicago. Lecture, Radford, VA: Department of Psychology, Radford University.

Larson, Erik. 2003. Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America. New York, NY: Crown Publishers.

Mudgett, Herman W. 1895. Holmes' Own Story. Philadelphia, PA: Burke and McFetridge Company.

New York Times. 1895. "A boy Holmes' first victim." New York Times, July 31: 3.

—. 1896. "Appeal of murderer Holmes." New York Times, February 4: 8.

—. 1895. "Claims an alibi." New York Times, July 17: 1.

—. 1896. "Holmes cool to the end." New York Times, May 8: 1.

—. 1895. "Holmes enters a plea of guilty." New York Times, May 29: 1.

—. 1896. "Holmes in a ton of cement." New York Times, May 9: 1.

—. 1895. "Holmes sentenced to die." New York Times, December 1: 13.

—. 1894. "May be charged with murder." New York Times, November 19: 2.

—. 1895. "The Williams girls' fate." New York Times, July 21: 10.

Philadelphia Inquirer. 1894. "Cause of death a mystery." Philadelphia Inquirer, September 6: 6.

—. 1896. "Holmes' chronology." Philadelphia Inquirer, April 12: 18.

—. 1896. "Holmes Confesses 27 murders." Philadelphia Inquirer, April 26: 1.

Philadelphia Times. 1894. "All looking for Pitezel." Philadelphia Times, November 21: 1.

—. 1894. "Perry's Peculiar Death." Philadelphia Times, September 5: 3.

Selzer, Adam. 2017. H.H. Holmes: The True History of the White City Devil. New York, NY: Skyhorse Publishing.

St. Louis Post-Dispatch. 1894. "Arrested Again." St. Louis Post-Dispatch, July 29: 8.

Cowritten by Alaina Urquhart, Ash Kelley & Dave White (Since 10/2022)

Produced & Edited by Mikie Sirois (Since 2023)

Research by Dave White (Since 10/2022), Alaina Urquhart & Ash Kelley

Listener Correspondence & Collaboration by Debra Lally

Listener Tale Video Edited by Aidan McElman (Since 6/2025)

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Previous Episode

H.H. Holmes Part 4

May 18, 2023

•

72m

In Part 4 of H.H. Holmes, it gets even wilder. This man has now headed to Texas with his 500th wife and is ready to join his partner in crime, Benjamin Pitezel to steal Minnie Williams' inherited land. He has plans. He plans to now build a Texas murder castle like the one he created in Chicago. But first, Pitezel and Holmes need to scheme their way into a payday, using an insurance scam and faking Pitezel's death. When it looks like Pitezel might back out, things go sour and Holmes goes on a murder spree that brings him to several states and even Canada. Strap in, friends. It's complicated and horrific here.

Thank you to Dave White for research assistance.

Resources:

Philadelphia Inquirer. 1894. "Cause of death a mystery." Philadelphia Inquirer, September 6: 6.

—. 1896. "Holmes' chronology." Philadelphia Inquirer, April 12: 18.

—. 1896. "Holmes Confesses 27 murders." Philadelphia Inquirer, April 26: 1.

Philadelphia Times. 1894. "All looking for Pitezel." Philadelphia Times, November 21: 1.

—. 1894. "Perry's Peculiar Death." Philadelphia Times, September 5: 3.

Selzer, Adam. 2017. H.H. Holmes: The True History of the White City Devil. New York, NY: Skyhorse Publishing.

Cowritten by Alaina Urquhart, Ash Kelley & Dave White (Since 10/2022)

Produced & Edited by Mikie Sirois (Since 2023)

Research by Dave White (Since 10/2022), Alaina Urquhart & Ash Kelley

Listener Correspondence & Collaboration by Debra Lally

Listener Tale Video Edited by Aidan McElman (Since 6/2025)

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Next Episode

Listener Tales 74 with Jon Lee Brody

May 25, 2023

•

59m

We've got a listener tale up in here!! This week we are joined by Alaina's #bffAF, the one and only Jon Lee Brody. On today's installment we feature stories of spooky road adventures, badass moms, asshole friends & some demon encounters.

Check out That Was Pretty Scary New episodes every Wednesday!

If you have a listener tale that you would like to send in please do so and direct it to Morbidpodcast@gmail.com with "Listener Tale" somewhere in the subject line :)

Cowritten by Alaina Urquhart, Ash Kelley & Dave White (Since 10/2022)

Produced & Edited by Mikie Sirois (Since 2023)

Research by Dave White (Since 10/2022), Alaina Urquhart & Ash Kelley

Listener Correspondence & Collaboration by Debra Lally

Listener Tale Video Edited by Aidan McElman (Since 6/2025)

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.