H. H. Holmes

On a lark I purchased a book called Bloodstains on Amazon for the Kindle. It is about the great great grandson of Herman Webster Mudgett also known as H. H. Holmes. Holmes was America's first serial killer in the late nineteenth century. His main atrocities were committed during the Chicago World's Fair in 1893.

He built was he called The Castle or Murder Castle. Holmes lured victims from the fair there and subdued them in a special room with a chloroform flowing pipe under the bed. After the victim was unconscious and pliable he and his assistants would take the victim to the basement that was equipped with acid vats for body disposal.

Jeff Mudgett was willed two tackle boxes from his unloved and solitary grandfather, Bert. In the bottom of one of the boxes was a hidden compartment that held two old diaries allegedly written by Holmes himself. The writer of the diaries had some pretty wild claims and was seemingly a Forrest Gump of serial killers gliding in and out of some major historical events. While Holmes was supposedly executed in 1896 the author of the diaries lived until 1960. Holmes claimed to have been in London in 1888 and could very well be a main suspect for the infamous Jack the Ripper.

While not finished with the book yet the author is now trying to certify that the diaries were in fact written by H. H. Holmes or were an elaborate hoax. The author was a practicing lawyer and knows what he is doing when it comes to this type of research. It's an engrossing story and one that I'd wager few today are familiar with. For the Kindle price of $2.99 you really can't go wrong.

I'd say this is a companion book to Erik Larson's The Devil in the White City which told the parallel stories of Holmes and Daniel H. Burnham, the architect of the 1893 World's Fair. This is one engrossing story and you'll have a hard time believing it really happened.

If you have a Kindle or are interested in this style of history I'd highly recommend that you pick up Bloodstains. It might give you nightmares as H. H. Holmes was one horrific individual and walking evil.