Hi everyone, this is Deb from Dying to be Found. Before we get started today, I just wanted to
mention that episodes contain disturbing discussions on harmful acts and crimes against animals
and or humankind. Recordings are not intended for young or sensitive audiences due to the content
nature of this podcast. Listener discretion is strongly advised.
Hello everyone, I'm so glad that you're here this week. Beth, hey, how are you? And I'm excited to
talk about a couple things that I've been looking at this week on our stats. Well, I'm interested
to hear them too. Tell me. Yeah, so I was looking at our stats and our map is really, really blowing
up. So yes, I've put the social media out there to say that we are global. And I just wanted to
say thank you to all of our new listeners this week and keep telling your friends because just
every day I'm seeing those numbers go up and I can't tell you how much we appreciate that. So
thanks so much. Real quick before I get into conversation with you today, Beth, I wanted to
at least tell everybody one thing that's going on. I am having the hardest time with my microphone
on my computer. So I know the sound is probably not top notch quality. I'm working on that. I
actually have a really good microphone that we bought before we even started this podcast,
but I'm having to test a couple and I really don't think it's the microphone itself. It's
probably the software that we're using to connect with each other between two countries. So I just
want to let everybody know I am working on that sound and I'm trying to get that fixed as quickly
as possible. But otherwise that's all I've got. Beth, what are you up to? Well, there's a stamp
fest going on this weekend and I put up my challenge early at eight o'clock this morning.
And when I'm done the podcast, I'll spend the rest of the day doing the challenges, making cards and
using their techniques. So I'm really excited to get it done. Good deal. That sounds nice. I need
to get out and do a couple of things myself. The weather is turning beautiful and I think it's time
to start gardening. So that's my relaxation is gardening. So we're having a little bit of snow
on the forecast through the week. I was not expecting that. No, because you just dug yourself
out of your parking spot. I know. I just can't say enough. That is the probably the number one reason
why I never moved back to Canada. I know you all heard me say that before. So, Hey, are you ready
to get started on part two? Yes. You did such a good job last week storytelling. And while I was
editing, I was still just as intrigued as the first time you told me. And I just can't get over
the fact that I've never heard about HH homes before. So I hope that going into part two,
that we have a lot more information and I'm excited to hear about that. But I wanted to kind
of give a recap to start off with about part one for any of our new listeners. You really have to
go back to part one. What we did is we talked a little bit more about homes being an entrepreneur,
but also a swindler before he began his murderous behaviors. And he is known as one of America's,
or is he known as America's first serial killer? First serial killer. Gotcha. So he's the first
American serial killer. And I found a documentary since the first part on Amazon prime called the
murder hotel, which is a very good description of why homes began killing people. So in part one,
we talked about homes being in medical school and how he would work with cadavers. We also talked
about how he was going to fake his own death by using some of those cadavers so that he could
dissolve his marriage with his first wife, Clara. Well, homes admitted that by going to look at dead
bodies day after day, while he was in medical school, it really pushed him to become a murderer.
And experts in the documentary agreed with this to an extent, but also stated that homes began to
disassociate with the cadavers as being human beings. I found that to be really intriguing.
I really feel like I should have probably studied psychology because I'm just so intrigued by the
human mind and everything that can affect people. But I thought that was really, really interesting
to say how he became a murderer just by disassociating. So I don't know much about psychology,
but that was my big takeaway from the movie. Beth, are you ready to go on to part two and
tell us what's going on? Hold on. I know you're about to drop. I know it's going to happen.
I'm waiting. Okay. Hold on. I got to think about a story. Oh, I have a good one. Go ahead, Beth.
Drop. I'm trying, but how do I do it? No, I really like, okay. No, I'm kidding. Like I'm
waiting for you to drop because you keep freezing. Let me just see, ask out. Okay. Okay. Technically
Beth hasn't dropped, but I'm going to tell a really quick story because she's, she's out of the room.
She just walked in a second ago. Okay. Let me tell you about the time that she had to sit there
and tie shoelaces with me. I was three years old and who ties their shoes at age three. So Beth was
charged with teaching me how to tie my shoelaces. And it seems like we were on that picnic table for
hours. I'm sure it was probably 20 minutes. Who knows? Anyway, she helped me tie my shoes and she
had so much patience. So my mother thought that I was so smart that she had me tested for being
gifted because I could tie my shoelaces at age three. And that was pretty good for the fact that
you had a three-year-old tying shoes. But in the meantime, no, it was because Beth and I sat on the
picnic table. Beth, how long did we sit on the picnic table tying shoes? Can you hear me? Yes.
Okay. Well, it's, it seems like hours. I wasn't allowed to get up until you learned. But is that
a children's perspective? Yes, that's a children's perspective. Did you know that mom thought I was
gifted because I could tie my shoes at age three? No. Yeah. She had me tested. That's pretty cool.
Apparently I did not test well because I went into regular mainstream classrooms like everybody else.
You're making up for it now. Yes. On my own will, I guess. You did just get your doctorate. Yeah.
But I haven't had any intentions of saying that online, but if everybody wants to know that I'm,
I'm a doctor, I mean, I'll say it. Hey, you all, I'm a doctor now. It's an information systems,
which is what Al is working on at your end right now. And shouldn't I be able to help you with that
because that's my expertise. Yeah. Can you hear me? Yes. It's on my end. Oh, okay.
Ever since the fair went into development, a young Pittsburgh engineer had a dream to make a
structure so tall it would overtake the height of the newly built Eiffel tower. On December 16th,
1892, the city's committee granted this engineer permission to build his structure in the midway
Pliance, which is located on the South side of Chicago. Luther V. Rice, assistant engineer
based out of Missouri, received a letter asking him to build a vertical revolving wheel, 250 feet
in diameter. What the letter didn't reveal was that that this wheel could hold 2,160 people.
Can you believe that Deb? I'm trying to think of in a space, okay, so you're going to put put that
many people on a wheel, but I need something to visually help me figure out where else you can fit
2,000 people. I know it seems unhumanly possible. Yeah. And the weights for the structure, holy cow.
Exactly. And it was supposed to propel 300 feet into the sky over Jackson Park. This height
measurement stands a bit higher than what we know today as a Statue of Liberty on Staten Island in
New York. The engineer who wrote to Rice signed the letter George Washington Gale Ferris. Okay,
that makes sense. And why does it make sense? Well, come on, the Ferris wheel. Do you remember
going to the Western Fair? Yes. I love that fair. And that was one of dad's cheesy little traditions
that he took us to annually. When my kids were growing up, I did the same thing and took my kids
to the local fair. And the Ferris wheel was always one of our favorites. I did not know that it was
named after him. I guess it's just one of those things that you don't really question, you know.
The thing about this story that I like so much is there is so much that comes out of the world's
fair, as we'll talk about later. And everything is just so intriguing. It is because you know,
you think that that's back in the time when there's limited resources or because yeah,
so you've got that going on. Yet the world is coming to the Industrial Revolution period of time.
So they, I mean, this is around the time that everything really, really started to explode.
And the world is what we know it as today. In February 1892, John Olmsted, the man in charge
of the fair's construction and landscaping was burning out fast from his massive project. He
suffered from depression throughout his entire adult life. And he was reaching his limit on his
job assignment. For example, building on the grounds had a lot of delays, damages, and fighting
over the island that he wanted to keep free from overdevelopment. That's interesting that he was
concerned about overdevelopment at that time. Again, we just spoke about the Industrial Revolution
and everything exploding, but it's interesting. I'm thinking from an environmental standpoint that
you already had people saying, Hey, we don't want this area to be overdeveloped. Exactly. That is
really funny back then when things were less populated. Yeah. You know, you were talking
about Jackson Park in episode one, we were talking about how the same architect that made Jackson
Park also made Central Park in New York. And I have been to Central Park and it's big and beautiful,
but it's surrounded by all of these high rises. Yet there is just some space that is clearly
not developed and still has green space. You know, going back to that's pretty interesting
that this gentleman was thinking about the development of the area at that time with the
population. Sure. It sure is. So Olmsted asked Charles Elliott, a former assistant and one of
Boston's best landscape architects, if he could come and help. When Elliott arrived, he saw how
sick Olmsted was. Olmsted was in such pain from all the work he took on, which was too much even
for a man half his age. So he decided to step down from the World's Fair project and leave for Europe
to get some rest. Olmsted boarded a boat that was set for sale on April 2nd, 1892, where he eventually
landed in Liverpool. Harry Codman was forced to take over direct supervision of what was known
as the White City because Jackson Park was full of white buildings. By early March, Olmsted and
Elliott were back in Brookline, which is located very close to Inglewood. Elliott was now a partner
and the firm was newly named Olmsted, Olmsted and Elliott. It was worry over Olmsted's health
and pressure of the work that prompted his leaving Chicago. On March 11th, Olmsted left the work in
care of his superintendent, Rudolph Ulrich. The dedication to the fair had been anticipated
nationwide. Francis J. Bellamy, an editor of Youth's Companion, thought it would be a wonderful
thing if all the children across America would say something in unison. He composed a pledge that
the Bureau of Education mailed to every school in the country. As it was originally worded, it began,
I pledge allegiance to my flag and to the Republic for which it stands. Wow, that's the pledge of
allegiance for American schools today. Yeah, it's really cool. It is cool because you're giving me
so much history, like the fact of the people that made the parks in the area and how this ties into
how the pledge of allegiance is said. That's interesting. I always remember standing up in
elementary school singing, Oh Canada. And then I remember God Save the Queen. Yes, do they still
do that? Do you know? I don't think so. Okay, yeah, we did that too. With construction completed on
Holmes World's Fair Hotel, the Columbus World Fair opened on May 1st, 1893. This fair is known
around the world and began in celebration of Christopher Columbus's discovery of America.
It ran from May to October, attracting people from all over the world. Again, I'm starting to see all
this connection. Now, I remember as a child hearing about the World Fair, they don't still have one
anymore, do they? I think there are. When I was Googling World Fair, I wanted some details on
this particular story. I saw other World's Fairs come up. Okay. Well, I mean, I guess it's around
the world. It's kind of like the Olympics, right? Yes. World's Fair, maybe it's coming to a city
near you. Who knows? Holmes was receiving a lot of traffic to his hotel. Although he told men looking
for a room that there were no vacancies, he always had room for women. Now in part one, we left you
with the fact that Holmes remarried for a third time to Minnie Williams. However, Holmes still
needed to have time alone with his female customers and found an apartment several blocks away from
his hotel for Minnie to live. Holmes explained to Minnie that she needed a nicer, larger home to
herself rather than staying at the castle where other guests frequently came and went. Holmes was
becoming known as a man who forgave easily because he didn't bat an eye when any of the guests left
without paying her bill. Townfolk also overlooked his constantly smelling like chemicals because his
whole building did as well. After all, Holmes was well known in the community as a physician. Plus,
he ran the pharmacy on the ground floor of his retail building and hotel. The World's Fair was
a massive event that ran an exposition in addition to carnival rides and other entertainment. This
intrigued many visitors because they were able to observe the latest inventions such as a display
of the first zipper as well as the first all-electric kitchen which included a dishwasher.
A dishwasher? Wait, what year was this? 1895? All I know is that when I was a child, we weren't
allowed to have a dishwasher in our home because Dad always said he had three of them. You, me,
and Kathy. I know. I miss having one. You don't have a dishwasher? No. What? Sometimes I wash three
times a day just to keep that kitchen looking nice. You know what? There's nothing wrong with going
back to simplicity, says the girl who has a dishwasher. Did you know, Deb, that juicy
fruit gum made its debut on the market? Popcorn known as Cracker Jack and shredded wheat cereal,
just to name a few. Can you get over that? First of all, I only like one of those three and I'm
not going to say which one, but that's cool that it goes back that far. Wow. That's innovative for
the time. There is. There were shows put on by Buffalo Bill and Annie Oakley who was known as a
sharp shooter and appeared in the Wild West show. George Washington Gale Ferris continued to work
diligently to get his 300 foot high wheel working. Although H.H. Holmes clouded a shroud of mystery
over the World's Fair, there are some intriguing facts that came from the fair. For instance, Mr.
Ferris invented the Ferris wheel. Mark Twain arrived to Chicago to attend the fair, but was
sick and remained in his hotel for 11 days. Wow. Frank Haven Hall, the inventor of a machine used
for typing Braille, unveiled a new machine that made plates for printing books and Braille. There,
Haven met Helen Keller and Walt Disney's father, Elias, helped to build the White City. Did Walt
Disney use that as a starting point for his magic kingdom? The writer Al Frank Baum attended the
fair and he was so impressed by its appearance and style and was a jumpstart to his book,
The Wizard of Oz. I would have to look at pictures of the World's Fair to make that connection,
but that's cool. I mean, there's so much that has come specifically from this World's Fair.
That's so interesting. So thanks for the little bit of history besides what we're,
you know, the topic that we're on. I love that you're adding history to it. That's cool.
Yeah. I kind of like it too, for a change. Turning back to Chicago, we're going to talk
about how Holmes progressively worked his way up to heinous crimes. Holmes went on to use the
World's Fair as a backdrop to his majority of his murder schemes. During the time of Chicago's
World's Fair, he is said to have murdered over 200 hotel guests and their children for insurance
payouts, cadaver sales, and sex crimes. I can't believe he got away with this for so long.
I'm sure you're never investigated. That seems just kind of weird. I think you're right, because
I'm sitting here saying that's a big number, 200 people, like nobody reported people going missing,
but you're right. And then again, I think we talked to part one, how if you've got people going to
traveling a distance, well, they didn't have the telephone yet. They didn't have any other way to
communicate besides letters, which took how long to get to people, right? Yes, exactly.
You know, a lot of time could go by between people being missing. And then I'm thinking,
if anything were suspicious enough and Holmes were investigated, then of course he can say,
oh yeah, they checked out. No problem. They left days ago. But I find it fascinating that so many
people fell victim to him for whatever devious crimes he wanted to commit. And it kept going.
Holmes first victim was Dr. Robert Leacock, who attended medical school with him. After Holmes was
caught, he never really gave a valid reason to kill him, except that he had to start somewhere.
Holmes enticed Dr. Leacock to come to Chicago. Holmes enticed Dr. Leacock to come to Chicago.
And Holmes poisoned him with a high dose of laudanum, which is primarily used in prescribed
cough medicine. He put Leacock in a tub full of ice so he could collect $20,000 in life insurance.
He used this money to build his murder hotel. Always scheming, Holmes hired his furniture mover,
Wade Warner, to pretend to be the inventor of a new glass bending machine. Warner built a glass
burner in the basement of his hotel to fool investors. Once the equipment was built,
Holmes killed Warner because of a check fraud. Holmes collected money on two checks written out
to Warner. He changed the check amounts to add the words thousand, and he was able to collect
another $51,000. If Warner were to discover that Holmes stole these two checks, he would be arrested.
So he did what any criminal would do. He lured Warner to come back to the basement where the
glass kiln was located. Holmes was able to convince Warner to step into the kiln. And when he did,
Holmes turned up the gas and reduced Warner to ashes. Can I stop you there? If somebody were to
ask you to step inside a kiln, would you do it? Well, when I first read that, I thought it was
crazy. But then of course, we don't know what his intentions are. I mean, it's kind of like taking a
tour of the building, right? Interesting. Sorry to interrupt. I just had that thought. I will
probably continuously interrupt you through this presentation. Very good. It is pretty intriguing.
Mm hmm. In 1891, the cadaver killings began. This was a year that Holmes conducted much of
his business murders through cadaver sales to the medical schools. This was also when Holmes went on
a killing spree of massive proportion to sell off cadavers to the medical schools. Remember,
these medical schools were short on dissection specimens in their labs. And Holmes constantly
harvested bodies in the name of science when he discovered that selling bodies was quite popular.
And I ask a question is probably a silly one, because we know that Holmes is the first known
American serial killer. If cadaver sales were so popular, then does that mean all the other people
that were selling cadavers to the medical schools just weren't getting caught? Because I think we
talked about that in part one as well. Yes, that they were grave robbing. Okay, so they were
grave robbing, but Holmes just took it to the extra step and he just blatantly started killing
people. Exactly. Okay. Brain was telling him to do. That's what what his brain was telling him to do.
Got you. Okay. Normal people don't have those thoughts. You are right, Beth, the mind of a
serial killer. Okay, who keep going. Charles. Sorry, hold on. I keep talking over you. I told
you I would do that. Take a minute. You finish laughing first. You should see her. She's got her
eyes closed, head swinging back. Oh my God. There's nothing funny about this situation. But what you
just said about his brain was telling him, okay, I'm, I'm done now. All right. Three, two, one, go.
By this time, Holmes had Charles Chappell, the master skeleton prepare on his payroll to skin
bodies down so they could be mounted in doctors offices. Holmes could get $130 for just one
mounted skeleton. Holmes preferred to explore the body thoroughly, but did not like to use
Chappell too much so as not to raise suspicion. Sometimes he would commission Chappell to finish
skinning a body, but most of the time he disposed of the bodies himself in his kiln or in pits
filled with quick lime in the basement of his hotel. Was this the same gentleman that he hired
in part one to skin people like rabbits? Yes. Okay. Holmes set up an underground business in
the basement to move corpses in and out without bringing attention to himself. He found that it
was incredibly easy to sell bodies to the medical schools. So his killings became very routine.
Holmes went on to murder another man named Dr. Russell, which Holmes claimed to be an accident.
The two men got into a scuffle over rent and Holmes struck Russell with a chair and ended up
killing him. So he sold Russell's body to a medical school. Ever the convincing businessman,
Holmes invited an investor by the name of Charles Cole to his castle. Holmes struck Cole with a gas
pipe and crushed his skull so badly that the party he sold the corpse to couldn't even use it. This
is the reason behind Holmes installing a gas vault in his office so that he did not sell off any more
corpses that appeared to be bludgeoned to death. However, Holmes method of choice was to use
chloroform. I guess I have a question. I'm sorry. I'm following along with the story, but I have
another question. All right, ask away. Okay, sorry. If he was so stupid enough to turn in a body that
was bludgeoned to death, or, you know, I guess it was probably stripped down to the skeleton at that
point, but it appeared to be bludgeoned to death, how come nobody turned him in? What do you think
his excuse was for turning in a corpse that looked like that in that condition? This man had an
excuse for everything. He was a very smooth operator. That's why the women liked him so much.
And everybody was enamored by this man. You'll find out later in the story that everyone is enamored
by this gentleman, if you want to call him that. No, I don't want to call him that. No, he certainly
wasn't. Holmes' murder method of choice was to use chloroform so that his victims appeared to die
a natural death. He would get his chloroform supplies from the clerk in his hotel pharmacy,
who made a comment later that he was always got so much chloroform. This is when the women's
killings began in 1892. A waitress in Holmes' restaurant went missing with no word as to her
whereabouts. Also, a stenographer went missing around the same time. Another woman who was
staying in the hotel went missing, but the reasons for her staying there were not clear. Family and
friends began inquiring about their missing loved ones, but the police did not become involved
because of the large presence of rich visitors and foreign dignitaries that began arriving in
large numbers, all in the name of the World's Fair. And there's your answer to your question.
Yeah, that makes sense. And then while you were actually talking, I had another thought,
which was why is he only targeting women? Because isn't it just to try to make money
at the medical schools? Wouldn't men be just it or maybe because women are, I hate to say this out
loud, the weaker sex. So physically he was probably able to overcome them more so than a guy, except
for the one that he put in the kiln, right? Right. And I wonder too, if it might be because
it would be more noticeable if men disappeared. Because they were the ones to basically bring
home the bacon. Exactly. Exactly. Yeah, that makes sense. Yeah. This man thinks of everything. He
sure does. News of missing residents or guests will be poor publicity for such a grand event.
And the city's committee worked very hard to prepare for this chance in a lifetime to show
off their city. Yeah, we don't want negative publicity, certainly for such a big event.
This was certainly an event on a grand scale for those days. A few papers reported that police
received a tip about a drugstore clerk or stenographer by the name of Kitty Kelly,
who went missing in 1892. This was never really investigated. Again, because this is still the
1800s, many people came and went without the ability to fully follow up on their whereabouts.
There are dozens more victims reportedly to have gone missing, which we will add to our show notes,
but there was little investigation of their disappearance. So now we're going to talk about
Anna, also known as Nanny and Minnie Williams. On July 4th, 1893, the World's Fair opened its
festivities with fireworks. Before settling down for the night, Holmes told his wife Minnie that
he wanted to take Anna on a tour of the World's Fair Hotel. Well, Minnie stayed at the Wrightwood
flat in preparation for any new renters. Anna was Minnie's sister and came to town to visit during
the World's Fair in Chicago. Anna was charmed by Holmes' good looks and charm, just as Minnie had
described to her in letters before her arrival in Chicago. Because Holmes knew that the most of his
guests would be at the World's Fair, he took Anna on a tour of the drugstore, restaurant, and barbershop
where he ended his tour in his office. Holmes took up reading a document and nonchalantly asked Anna
to go into the vault to retrieve another document. She complied and right behind her followed the
ever so quiet Holmes. He closed the vault as if by accident. All the while, Anna was pounding on the
door and calling for help. She thought the door closed on its own and that Holmes must have gone
into another room. That makes sense. I mean, to come to that conclusion, I would probably think
the same thing. Yeah. Eventually, Anna took her shoe off and banged on the door as hard as she
could. What she didn't know was that Holmes sat just outside the door receiving sexual pleasure,
just listening to her cries for help. Eventually, Anna went silent as Holmes filled the vault with
gas from his secret valve in the closet. What a scoundrel. I mean, why? I don't get it. I just
don't get it. Yes, his brain is telling him to do this, but it's just so gross. Yeah. And nonstop.
And I don't, I don't even know his reasoning behind how he thinks he can even get away with this.
No, he seems to be working faster on getting rid of people. Yeah. Don't cross him. Don't worry. I
won't. Hold on. This is not funny, but it's, I guess yours and my interaction today is comical.
Well, it is. We started this, we went online exactly two hours ago. Holy cow. Just chatting
and recording and stopping and fixing my computer. We're two hours into this. I know it's not going
to be another two, so we should keep going. Okay. Later that evening, Holmes summoned Minnie to the
Murder Castle from her apartment. To be honest, there was not a lot of information on Minnie's
disappearance, so we can assume she met the same fate as her sister. We do know that Holmes enjoyed
being close to his victims, close enough that he could hear them panic, especially if they were
lured into the vault, which held back most of the noise, although not all of it. Because of the noise
of those locked in the vault could be heard by nearby guests. Holmes used the means of gassing
visitors in select hotel rooms and let them die in their sleep. Remember when we were in part one,
talking about the phenomena and the footprint? Yes. Do you think this could have been? Now,
I mean, I don't know. You did the research on this. I looked up some of this stuff after part one,
but do you think that the footprint could have belonged to Anna or Minnie? I'm going to surmise
no, at least to Anna, because if she took the shoe and banged on the door, she would be standing up
and holding that shoe way up. Oh, yes. Okay. That makes sense. So I don't know whose foot it was,
because it never mentioned in the book, because it's an unknown fact right now. Okay. Because of the
noise, those locked in the vault can be heard by nearby guests. Holmes used the means of gassing
visitors in select hotel rooms and let them die in their sleep. Most guests in the hotel were
easily killed because in 1894, they were less likely untraceable. Even if the family knew people
were going to the World's Fair in Chicago, it could take weeks before people were reported missing.
By then, Holmes could easily say his guests checked out of his hotel with no incidents and no one would
be the wiser. Holmes later said during his confession that his guests were either gassed from the pipes
and stalled throughout the hotel, or he crept into the rooms with a chloroform soaked rag.
He had so much chloroform. Isn't that what his aid said in the pharmacy?
Exactly. And now we know why. Interesting. And some people may wonder, well, how would he
not hear him enter? Well, out comes home from work at midnight when I'm asleep, comes in, turns on
lights, comes into bed. I don't hear a single thing. I don't either. I'm a very heavy sleeper.
I mean, I've had people when I've especially had a cold or something and maybe taken some cold
medicine, I have had people throwing bricks at the side of the house where they knew I was sleeping
to try to get me to wake up and it's virtually impossible to wake me up because I'm a heavy,
heavy sleeper. Me too. And so once Minnie and her sister Annie were targeted, Holmes still needed
to dispose of the bodies. It was said that either he sold their bodies to the medical schools or he
hired moving services to pick up a box and a trunk. If indeed it was the latter, he hired
Sefus Humphrey and told them to come just after dark because Holmes didn't want the neighbors
seeing Humphrey move the trunk. Humphrey went to retrieve the trunk and found it to be extremely
heavy. He was instructed to take the box to Union Depot at a specific platform. Holmes made
arrangements for the box to be picked up and loaded it onto the train, but a destination was
never disclosed regarding the trunk. Humphrey could not recall where he took it. Soon afterwards,
Holmes made a special donation of a collection of dresses, hats, and shoes to his assistant,
Benjamin Pettisall. Holmes said the items belonged to his cousin Minnie. So he's starting to give
all of the women's clothes away. So in 1993, we're going to start talking about his insurance fraud.
On October 30th, 1893, the World's Fair came to a close and with it, Holmes thought it was time for
him to move on because he was feeling the pressure of having creditors coming after him. By this time,
Holmes was accumulating debt in excess of $50,000. In addition, many people were also coming forward
wondering where their missing family members were. So everything is really starting to build up and
people are no longer taking no for an answer from him, right? Exactly. He's starting to feel really
squeezed and very running out of excuses. Yeah, exactly. Okay. Well, I mean, I guess it had to
eventually, but interesting too that the timeline is when the World's Fair is coming to a close
because didn't he build the hotel for the purpose of accommodating people for the World's Fair?
Sure he did. And then I think you said in part one that he was planning on destroying the hotel
afterwards anyway. So interesting that the timeline is that maybe he's starting to make
a lot more mistakes or coming up with too many unbelievable stories at this point.
How long does the fair go on? I think you said May to October, right? Yes. Okay. So yeah,
that's long enough for him to do his dirty deeds. Now remember, Holmes was a free man at this point
since he just disposed of his wife Minnie. Since he inherited her land, he was considered quite
wealthy. He soon began courting 23 year old Georgina Yope, whom he met at a department store.
Like the woman before her, Georgina quickly fell head over heels for Holmes. He loved to give
presents to her, which included a Bible, diamond earrings, and a locket with a little heart and
pearls. Holmes asked her to marry him. And of course she said yes. Once they were married,
Holmes told Georgina that he would have to go by the name of Henry Mansfield Howard, an alias that
would cover for his old debts. Oh yeah. By the way, I have to go by a different name now. That's
fishy. Yeah. Very fishy and something in today's day and age that we certainly would frown upon
and start Googling and seeing where this person is known. In the meantime, remember how I started
this story by telling you that Holmes was big into insurance fraud? Yes. Well, in November, 1893,
police paid him a visit to follow up on money frauds. He previously committed an Inglewood.
That's where he lived before moving to Chicago. When they arrived, the authorities discovered
several shipping packages waiting to be picked up. When they asked what was inside, Holmes lied. So
the police were not aware that the packages held dead bodies of his victims. After the police left,
however, Holmes burned these packages because he knew police were closing in on him. There was no
telling how soon he and his murder castle could be discovered. Question. You said he had a kill
downstairs that he burned one of his victims in. So why wouldn't he just use that? And for, I guess
here's the deal. What's he doing? Is he selling bodies off to the medical schools or is he trying
not to do it to everyone? So they're not saying, Oh wow, that's a lot of bodies this week, Mr.
Holmes. Where are you coming up with those? That's how I interpret it, the story to be going. So
instead of shipping them off somewhere, cause somebody's got to receive them. Maybe he's in
cahoots with somebody to do that, but why doesn't he just use the kiln downstairs that he used on
his first victim down there? The one that built the kiln. Remember? Yes. And we'll find out later
that there, there wasn't a huge number of remains found. So he's divvying up to different people so
that he can't be caught. He really put his thinking cap on. He did. After the police left, however,
Holmes burned these packages because he knew police were closing in on him. There was no telling
how soon he and his murder castle would be discovered. Holmes also set fire to the first
floor of his hotel very quickly. And on new year's day, 1894, he fled to Fort Worth, Texas with his
new wife, Georgina to secure Minnie Williams land. They eventually ended up in Philadelphia,
where they met up with Holmes' former acquaintance, Benjamin Pitezel. Now we talked about Benjamin
during part one, where Pitezel was taking the cure for alcoholism and inspired Holmes to open the
Silver Ash Institute. Pitezel was also the one who introduced Holmes to Emmeline, who eventually went
missing like the other woman who came across his path. Pitezel was also Holmes' partner in the
insurance scams that took place before he moved to Chicago. Little did he know he would become
Pitezel's next victim. Holmes has no scruples, man. He is hitting up the people closest to him.
Yeah, that's so wrong. In the fall of 1894, Benjamin Pitezel took out a life insurance policy
for himself in the amount of $10,000, which is about $330,000 today.
Oz, you said that Benjamin is the one that came up with some of these life insurance policy schemes
before Holmes moved to Chicago, right? Yes. So were they not taking life insurance policies
out on families of three? I don't know if I already said that in part one. Yeah, you did. So I guess
my question is, is how, I don't want to disrespect Benjamin because he's a victim, but I'm just
curious to know how he would not think he's taking an insurance policy out on himself for a scheme
that he and Holmes did years earlier and took on other victims. You know what I'm doing? That is
an excellent point. Excellent. I don't really know where I was going with that other than to say,
I don't know how Benjamin would not have come up. I mean, at least had some kind of indication that
something was about to happen to him. And that's what I'm assuming is that something is about to
happen because you just said that he was about to be Holmes next victim. So yeah, like he had done
before, Holmes said he would find a person of similar appearance to set up a quote, fake death.
Both men traveled to various parts of the United States, committing various frauds along the way.
Eventually they ended up in Philadelphia. And this is where Holmes found Pitosol's hands together,
then burnt him alive. So that's different from what he's been doing in the past. Yes. And that
seems very personal. I mean, ultra violent, but also really, really personal. He must be getting
more lax about hiding his victims. Yeah. Because he, he's already knowing that people are closing
in on him. So that makes sense. Realizing that Pitosol's wife and children would inherit the
money. He told Benjamin's wife, Carrie, that her husband was in hiding and that he could take the
children to him. Once he had the children, he cut up, burned and stuffed eight-year-old Howard up
the chimney of a house in Indiana. He took the two girls, Alice and Nellie with him all the way into
Canada. The girls wrote letters to their parents back home, but Holmes never mailed them. On October
25th, 1894, Holmes put the girls in a makeshift gas chamber made out of his luggage trunk.
Where would he get gas at this point? If he's on the run? What happened is he rented a house
and the trunk was inside that house. So, okay. So they, I mean, obviously you had, you know,
when you have gas inside a house to keep the house warm or to do cooking, right? Right. Okay. Okay.
I didn't realize that he was in that house. I thought he was, okay, go ahead. So in 1895,
Holmes was on the run. In the meantime, the insurance company became suspicious that
Benjamin's death was no accident and they began an investigation. So there we go. There's our first
investigation. Finally. They hired a detective by the name of Frank Geyer to track down who took
out the policy. On July 7th, 1895, Detective Geyer was assigned to the Holmes' Pizzle case.
This took his search to Toronto in Canada after other avenues did not reveal any sign of the
children. His search led him to a house where Holmes once rented. The landlord commented that
Holmes arrived with very little furniture, a mattress and an old bed and an unusually
large trunk. So there's our trunk. The girls are already in it or that came later. I guess
I'm getting ahead of myself. Yeah. I think it came later because just the nature of the big trunk,
everybody would feel how heavy it is. Although they did say earlier that that trunk was heavy,
didn't they? I think that was a different case. But if the landlord is just saying he arrived
two months ago and he came with an unusually large trunk, I mean, I don't know, were the girls with
him? I don't know. Yes, they were with him. But did the landlord see them with him? That's the
question. That is the mystery. Yeah. Every story needs a mystery. And here's one of them. Most
definitely. The owner of the house also stated that Holmes wanted to borrow a shovel to dig a hole in
the basement floor to store potatoes. Now, back in those days, they didn't have cement basements. And
that's why people are digging into the floor. They were cool by the just by the soil. And then
too interesting that they're storing potatoes. So the landlord's not thinking anything's fishy,
because I'm sure it was quite normal at the time to store potatoes. We know how long potatoes last.
So if it's in a cool, dark place, then I think they last even longer, right? Yeah. So nothing's
out of the ordinary. As Detective Geyer took the lead and began digging in the basement of the
house that Holmes had rented, a stench became very overwhelming. He soon found a soft spot where a
slight hole had been made. And on July 15th, 1895, Alice and Nellie's bodies were found in this
Toronto cellar in a makeshift grave three feet deep. While removing the bodies from the basement,
Detective Geyer noticed that Nellie's feet had been amputated. The point of my telling you this is
because Nellie was club-footed and Holmes amputated her feet so she could not be identified. Upon
further searching, her feet were never found. Later, the authorities eventually found teeth and
pieces of bone among charred ruins that belonged to Alice and Nellie's brother Howard in an Indianapolis
cottage that Holmes had rented. The coroner could not find any marks of violence on the children
and surmised that Holmes locked the girls in the large trunk, then filled it with gas from a lamp
valve, like I mentioned earlier. So there's how we have our gas. All right. Well, yeah, that,
okay. I wasn't even thinking about lamps back then. Oh, me neither. So here in 1895, we're leading up
to Holmes arrest. Police discovered Holmes ominous pass because those letters that Benjamin Pizzle's
daughters wrote, he never got rid of them. The police were able to piece together a timeline
of events and eventually exposed all of Holmes murderous activities. Why would Holmes not get
rid of the letters? If he knows people are closing in on him, would he not want to get rid of as much
evidence as possible? But if he is like the typical serial killer who likes to keep a little piece of
their victims with them, you know, how, how serial killers tend to keep something from their victims.
I guess I'm tossing around the idea. Did he hold onto those letters because of that mindset or
maybe he's just starting to make more mistakes as I think you're right. I think he's, he's wanting
to keep a little piece of remembering them and who knows he could have had other stuff too, that
we don't know about. And then too, I mean, there's no telling what was in the letter. So whatever he
could be reading too, could be a piece of it too, as to why he kept them. But I find it interesting
that at this point, he, he's really starting to make mistakes and why he wouldn't get rid of letters
is beyond me because he's pretty good about setting fires, right? Exactly. So Benjamin Pizzle's
daughter, Alice, led the police to the Gaunt house in Toronto. Through the letter she wrote to her
family and Holmes never threw them away. This led the police straight to Holmes murder hotel,
which they stormed the day after the body of Pizzle's children were found in that basement
in Toronto. Holmes was eventually placed under arrest in Boston, Massachusetts for insurance
fraud and for the suspicion of murder. He was eventually held in my own men saying prison
lock locaty. It was eventually held in moments in prison located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
That's so funny, Beth,
because you had a typo and I was trying to pronounce that he had no idea what a locaty was.
Beth is doing such a phenomenal job of reading this story and I had a typo there. So she was,
and normally I picked those up and I changed them. Yeah. Well, you were hooked on,
you were hooked on phonics.
So right now I want to talk a little about the investigation of locating Benjamin Pizzle and
Holmes murder castle grounds. On the morning of July 16th, 1895, a nationwide news report went out
to the discovery of multiple bodies being found on the murder castle property. The district
attorney's office called Momosing prison to let the warden know that Holmes was not to be given
any news of what was found. They explained that they needed this information, but they
explained that they needed this information to come as a surprise in order to fluster Holmes
into making a confession. And we know how Holmes can keep his composure so well. So they need
something to catch him. Yeah, that makes sense because you hear all the time today that there
are things that are kept out of the news, except for that one little piece that the suspect is,
you know, is holding onto that only they would know. So that makes sense.
Yeah. Throughout the original search for Benjamin Pizzle, the authorities and detective Geier were
never able to locate him. Detective Geier's discovery of Pizzle's children prompted the
authorities to visit the Holmes building in Inglewood, which as you remember are the suburbs
of Chicago. As the investigation continued, authorities discovered that Holmes was not the
man he led people to believe. There was speculation that during the world's fair, dozens of people
were killed by Holmes, which mostly consisted of young women. Chicago detectives began to take a
very close look at Holmes Hotel or quote castle. And this is what they found. The third floor was
dedicated to small hotel rooms at homes with rent out to guests who were in town for the world's
fair. There were 35 hotel rooms that were located on the second floor. Some rooms were ordinary,
while others had no windows and were fitted with doors that made the rooms airtight. One room on
the second floor contained a vault along with a cutoff valve found in a separate closet. This was
later identified as Holmes personal apartment. In Holmes office, they found a bank book belonging
to a woman named Lucy Burbank, which had a balance of $23,000. According to records, Lucy could never
be located and I myself could not find anything past her name being mentioned. Entering the basement
of the murder castle detectives found a vat filled with carboic acid, which homes later confessed
that he used to dissolve flesh off a body. That's pretty gross. Well, he's also a scientist too.
Remember he loved chemistry, but he also dissected bodies while he was in medical school. So this is
not unusual for him. Although the act of doing this itself is not good, but I can see how it
wouldn't phase him too much. There was a second fat that was filled with bleach to whiten the bones.
Holmes later admitted to the purpose of these two vats was to prepare bodies to send off to medical
schools to use as skeletons. That's what I was just envisioning too. Yeah, me too. And I find it
interesting that these bleach to whiten them. It is interesting because I'm thinking, oh, they had
bleach back then, but again, progress sign of the times because they had cracker jacks and, and
juicy fruit gum. And what was the other one? Redded wheat. That redded wheat. Here is a rundown of
other items that were found in the basement, Deb. Inside the first vat, the detectives found eight
ribs and part of a skull. The basement also includes mounds of quick lime, a large kiln,
and a dissection table stained with blood. Detectives also found surgical tools and
charred hide healed shoes. Articles of clothing were found in walls and pits of ash and quick
lime. Detectives uncovered more mounds of quick lime with body remains, two of which were thought
to be many in Anna Williams. One of the biggest discoveries made in the murder hotel was that
footprint impression left on the door of the vault upstairs, which we talked about much earlier. And
we believed it to belong to Amaline C. Grand. As the search continued, they found bones believed
to be Pearl Connor, who was Julia's daughter, the woman who left Ned the jeweler back in episode one.
While searching Holmes hotel authorities also recovered Minnie's watch chain and Nanny's
garter buckle in one of the ovens. As for Amaline, police believe that they had come upon her hair
and bones. So here is a recap of Holmes assumed victims so far. Julia and her daughter, Pearl
Connor in 1891, Amaline C. Grand in 1892, and in 1893, Minnie and Nanny Williams. The bodies of
Julia, Amaline and Minnie and Nanny were never found, but rumor had it, Holmes probably sold
their cadavers to medical schools. He consistently stated that Julia and Amaline died while undergoing
illegal abortions. On September 12th, 1895, a Philadelphia grand jury voted to indict Holmes
for the murder of Benjamin Pizzel. The city of Indianapolis, Indiana, indicted Holmes for the
murder of Howard Pizzel and Toronto, Canada did the same for the murders of Alice and Nellie Pizzel.
At the inquest, a man named Elvet Moorman testified that he helped to set up a large wood
stove in a house rented by Holmes. When asked why a wood stove and not gas, Holmes' reply was that
it was healthier for children. So there we go, the children must have been around. Oh, yes. Okay.
Because that was the question. Now I'm wondering why it was a wood stove. I mean, what are your
thoughts on a wood stove versus gas? Wouldn't gas be hotter or would it? No wood stoves. Gas in one
point can be hot, but wood stoves are so hot. I know of homes that don't even have central heating.
Exactly. I have a friend that just built a smaller house and built it without central heating. It's
just a wood stove. If you go on tours of old buildings and they do have something like that
in there or an older house with the wood stove, I've been in those houses. The stove's never been
on, but it's just one stove to heat the whole house. So I get it. Okay. Yeah. The owner of an
Indianapolis repair shop testified that Holmes had come into his shop on October 3rd, 1894,
with two cases of surgical instruments for sharpening. Holmes picked them up three days
later. Okay. So that's a new twist on everything because it didn't seem like he used a lot of
tools, but more so the gas is what I'm going back to. So that's very interesting that they were even
able to uncover that, but they're detectives. I'm not. Detective Geyer testified that throughout
the search of the house in Indiana, authorities discovered human bones while sifting through the
soot. Human teeth and a fragment of jaw was also retrieved. Mrs. Pizzle was summoned and she
identified Howard Pizzle's overcoat and scarf pin and a crochet needle belonging to Alice.
As usual, Holmes poured on his charm with both other inmates and the prison staff. He became
a model prisoner and his charm gave him extra benefits while in prison. What do you think of
that Deb? I don't think that there's much difference between what he was doing outside of prison
versus inside the prison. Once you got that personality and ability to charm people, I don't
think that you can turn that off. No. And Holmes, he was allowed to continue wearing his own clothes
and not even a prison uniform. He was also allowed to keep his watch and other small belongings.
While in prison, he wrote a book on his success in insurance fraud and even wrote prison diaries
and memoirs. You can find them through the United States Library of Congress. There you go, Deb,
some extra light reading for you. Oh, I love biographies. I'm not going to say I'm going to
do this one because this was, this is a little intense. I might have to do a nonfiction.
On May 7th, 1896, Chicago serial killer H. H. Holmes was hung for the murder of Benjamin Pizzle.
So in closing in 2021, director Martin Saccorsi and Leonardo DiCaprio started to work on a television
adaption of Eric Larson's book, The Devil in the White City, Murder, Magic and Madness at the Fair
that Changed America. This television adaption is currently scheduled to be on Hulu. Yeah,
it actually might be there now because if they started it in 2021, surely it's going to be out
there already. I'm so excited that we were able to get this in two episodes. Me too. There's just so
many details I wanted to touch on, less so on the actual murders and more so it was on the fair.
And his behavior. Yes, and his behavior. Because you don't always get the backstory on their
personalities or interactions. You always get the aftermath of what has happened and then everybody
going back to investigate. But it's so cool that you tied in his relationships with people because
he was just so cunning and didn't have any second thoughts on who is going to be his next victim.
You know what I mean? Yeah, exactly. So we're at the end and you haven't shared a teachable moment.
Teachable moment. New year homework before checking into a hotel. You might actually need to know
if the owner has anything ominous going on. Check the local news to see what's happening
in the neighborhood of where you're checking into a new hotel. Like that. And that's a wrap.
Okay, that's awesome. Yeah, we're going to start talking about teachable moments,
add some music and be done with it. So what's up next, Beth? Do you know? Do we have any idea?
I think I'll look for something in Canada. I think that's a good idea. We did one a couple
weeks ago on Canada. So you all need to listen to that. But let me go ahead and tell you what
our social medias are. You can find us at dyingtobefound.com with the spelling just like
our logo. And then if you're looking for us on social media, you can find us on Twitter, Instagram
and Facebook at dying the number two, the letter B found. And we will talk to you next week. Bye.