They conspired to fake Pitezel’s death – Holmes would produce a charred corpse and claim it was Pitezel, who would have “burned in a laboratory explosion.” Instead of following through with the plan though, Holmes got Pitezel drunk and set him on fire after he passed out. Pitezel had an insurance policy for $10,000. In Philadelphia, he concocted a plan with a former employee, and friend, Benjamin Pitezel. Holmes may have never been caught, if it wasn’t for this greed. Holmes left Chicago and traveled around the US and Canada, continuing with insurance fraud and the occasional murder. When the World’s Fair ended, creditors were closing in. Some of his patients died as a result of the procedure, and their corpses were ultimately processed and the skeletons sold.īut it wasn’t enough. He also helped women by performing hundreds of illegal abortions. Killing them, and making them disappear, always gave him an influx of cash. Holmes always had his wives, and female employees, take out life insurance policies, listing him as the sole beneficiary. He later confessed to locking Cigrand in his vault and raping her before killing her. Without further explanation, he packed up her clothes and personal belongings and sent them back to her family. Holmes claimed she had run off with another man. Shortly afterward, she disappeared into thin air. Though they never married, she had accepted his marriage proposal. He married many times, sometimes to multiple women at once, usually to the wealthiest of women. Holmes, born Herman Webster Mudgett, was a sharp and dashing man. One such contraption was called the “elasticity determinator.” Holmes claimed it could stretch subjects to twice their normal height, where he could eventually create a “race of giants.” It was filled with various apparatus such as quicklime vats, an acid tank, a dissecting table and surgeon’s cabinet, as well as some contraptions of his own invention. The cellar was brick-lined and dark, easily compared to a dungeon. Once you were gone, your body would be collected, and dropped through a greased chute, that would deliver your body to a work room in the cellar. You would die, scared and alone.īut that wouldn’t be the end for you. Eventually panic would set in and your screams would leave you struggling for air – for you didn’t realize it before, but the room was sound proof, and oxygen was limited. You would shout for help, bang on the walls, the door. It contained more than 100 rooms, and doors that opened to brick walls.Īt the end of the day, you lay down and fall asleep, only to wake up in a huge bank vault. The middle floor was a maze of confusing hallways, dead ends, and secret passageways. It was so imposing, the community had dubbed it “The Castle.” The bottom floor of the castle contained shops, the top was Holmes’ personal office. The property was 3 stories tall, and was an entire block long. Holmes has opened up his property, and rented you a room in the newly renovated Castle! Lady luck was definitely on your side, or was she? All the hotels are booked solid, and there’s no place to stay. It’s 1893, and you’ve made it to the World’s Fair in Chicago, Illinois.
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