All language subtitles for c9c6166cfd0e4943934fde5898dc1cad_track3_eng

♪

♪

[heart beating]

[hissing]

[heart beating faster]

[coughing]

Woman: Help!

[coughing]

♪

[coughing]

[thud]

♪

Narrator: Step back in time.

♪

Discover a place.

♪

[howling]

Investigate a crime

And reveal a murderous history.

♪

♪

♪

My name is robert jordan.

I am a retired news anchor
and reporter here in chicago.

I worked at wgn television
for 45 years.

I've covered all kinds
of stories, big and small,

So I know the city
and the atmosphere

And culture here
as well as anyone.

[siren]

Ask any chicagoan what might be
the most important year

In the history of this city,

And you'd probably get
an answer of 1893:

A time when chicago hosted
the world's fair.

It was a period
when this scrappy city

Took its place
on the world stage.

But forever linked to
the history of chicago

Is also a mysterious character

Someone described as
the incarnation of pure evil.

A person who confounded
the police,

Enthralled the press,

And who upended what chicago
thought it was a century ago.

His legacy continues to haunt
the city to this day.

♪

Narrator: In the 1890s, chicago
had outgrown its status

As a wild frontier city.

It drew immigrants and dreamers

And drove capitalism
and innovation.

Its meat-packing plants
fed a nation.

It was the city that invented
vacuum cleaners,

Zippers, and the brownie.

In the ten years up to 1890,

Chicago's population doubled
to over one million.

Its architects looked upward

And created the world's
first skyscraper city.

Rick kogan: At the end
of the 19th century,

Chicago was, to my mind
and all I have learned, crazy.

It was a town of
unbelievable hustle

And a lot of
unbelievable hustlers.

The sheer number of people.

When you look at old photographs
of chicago at that time,

Of course there are
no cars in them,

But the streets are so jammed

With wagons and horses
and people.

I think it would have been
terribly intimidating

Even for some sophisticated
new yorker,

Or from some traveler
from london.

Sam mitrani: Chicago went
from being this swampland

On the edge of lake michigan,

To the second biggest city
in the country

[snaps fingers]
basically like that.

It's something that had never
really happened before

In that way in human history.

Paul durica: It had recently
recovered from a fire

Of only about 20 years before
that more or less wiped it out,

And it's completely rebuilt
with modern skyscrapers,

Electric lights,
wide boulevards, and parks.

And so someone entering the city
at that time in the early 1890s,

Would be at the forefront

Of what life was like
in the united states.

Jordan: One new arrival
to the city

Is a 25-year-old doctor
named h.H. Holmes.

Once here, he saw this as
a place to build a fortune.

Almost immediately
he has success

And is employed by a pharmacist.

Durica: It's not long before
he can convince the owners

To actually sell
the business to him.

But really what he's trying
to do is amass enough money

That he can open
his own establishment,

Which he does across the street
from this pharmacy.

Jordan: Holmes,
who is recently married,

Uses his mother-in-law's money

To buy a vacant lot
near the pharmacy.

He begins the construction
of a multi-story complex

Meant to house
multiple businesses.

His creation will play
a central role

In one of the most infamous
stories in chicago history.

Durica: If you read
accounts of the case,

They'll say that holmes
constructed a castle.

That's a little bit
of a misnomer.

It didn't have towers or turrets

Or a gate or a moat
or anything like that.

It was much more like a kind of,
like, business building,

Where you would have a couple of
storefronts on the first floor,

So maybe a restaurant
and a pharmacy.

And then the second
and third floor

Would be basically, like, rooms
that could be rented out.

Adam selzer: Chicago in the late
19th century

Was growing so quickly

That nobody could really keep
tabs on what was happening.

Building regulations were
almost completely ignored.

You could build a building
without anybody having any idea

What was going on inside there.

Narrator: The population
explosion in late 1800s chicago

Had inspired
a construction boom.

Chicago's architects
experimented

With new techniques
and materials.

Modern steel frames gave rise

To some of the world's
first skyscrapers.

Jordan: Holmes takes advantage
of chicago's lax building rules

To build what some would
later describe as

"a maze of corridors."

Strange hidden spaces,
even a secret staircase

That could only be accessed
via a hidden trapdoor.

As strange as holmes' design is,

A bigger concern to people
in the neighborhood

Is that he's not
paying his bills.

Durica: He would hire various
laborers and contractors

To work on the house,
then they would get to a point

Where they would start
charging him,

And he would basically, like,

Kind of like cut off
his dealings with them,

Basically leaving parts
of the interior unfinished.

Jordan: On the surface,
holmes is projecting the image

Of a chicagoan on the rise.

He is introduced to
julia connor, her husband ned,

And their daughter pearl.

Selzer: And it seems
that julia persuaded ned

To go move to the big city.

They had lived in
a small town in iowa,

But she seems to have
wanted something more,

So they came to chicago.

Mitrani: The story of coming
to chicago to make it

Was typical of the day.

There were certainly many more
opportunities in chicago

For a varied life,
for all kinds of different jobs

Than existed in the small towns
of the united states.

Kogan: Chicago was
a land of opportunity.

I think in that time that
if you had ambition, hustle,

And some amount of smarts, you
really could have made it here.

Durica: So you may have failed
at some other point

In your existence, but here
you're an entirely new person.

A person who grew up on a farm,
you can suddenly become

A sophisticated urbanite
simply by moving to chicago.

Jordan: Julia learns how
to keep books for holmes,

And he makes her a cashier
in his pharmacy.

Within months julia and holmes
have begun an affair.

Julia's husband ned finds out
about it and divorces her.

Selzer: Holmes seems to have met
very few women

That he didn't try to start up
an affair with.

I'm not sure how successful
he was overall,

But with julia he seems to have
been seeing her fairly openly,

And everybody in the place
knew about it

Except holmes' wife myrta,

Who was living in another
apartment in the same building.

♪

Jordan: Christmas eve, 1891.

Holmes, julia and pearl
celebrate christmas

In the castle.

It's the last time the two of
them will ever be seen alive.

[coughing]

[siren]

Two years have passed since
h.H. Holmes seduced julia connor

And chicago is buzzing.

The coming of the world's fair,
set to begin in may of 1893,

Is driving chicagoans mad.

Investors from
all over the world

See this as a prime opportunity.

Narrator: The 1893 world's fair
would mark the 400th anniversary

Of columbus' arrival
in the new world.

A previous world's fair,
held in paris,

Had given rise to
the eiffel tower,

Then the tallest man-made
structure on earth.

Some thought chicago wasn't
up to hosting the fair.

Outsiders called it
the windy city,

Complaining that it was full of
simple, profit-seeking windbags.

Durica: Immediately
various cities

Began to kind of bid
on hosting it.

Should it be in philadelphia,
or should it be new york,

The largest city
in the united states?

But then you have this
one upstart city: Chicago.

Kogan: Chicago was not
a vacation destination

For anybody in those days,

Certainly not from
the east coast.

And I think the idea was to show

How sophisticated this
frontier town had become.

Durica: It was the city where
you would find skyscrapers

Taller than any other place
in the united states.

It was the city with parks
and boulevards

And a modern
transportation system.

So if you wanted to demonstrate

Everything that
the united states had to offer

And everything
in the 19th century

That was paving the way
for the marvels of the 20th,

Chicago is where you should
have the world's fair.

Jordan: Millions from around
the world are expected to visit

The amazing fair, and
h.H. Holmes sees dollar signs.

Holmes wants to build
a third floor on his castle

And open it as a hotel.

Investors see this as
an opportunity to make money.

Selzer: That worked out
very well for holmes,

Because people were being
entirely too free

With their credit.

He could just show up
with a letter saying,

"hey, give this guy all of your
stuff and I'll pay for it,"

And that worked like
a credit card.

Jordan: For holmes, business
prospects are looking up,

And once again,
so is his personal life.

[woman giggles]

Before the opening
of the world's fair,

Another attractive woman
finds herself

Falling under the spell
of holmes.

Her name is minnie williams.

Selzer: Minnie williams was
an aspiring actress

Who decided to give up on acting

And move to chicago
and get a real job.

And there's probably
a lesson here

About giving up on your dreams,
because the first thing she did

Was get a job working
for h.H. Holmes.

Jordan: In late spring, minnie
writes to her sister, nannie,

And tells her all about
her new partner

And invites her to visit them
in chicago.

When holmes discovers that
nannie is, in fact, wealthy,

He's all for this invitation,

And even tells them that
if nannie comes to chicago,

They will all go to visit
the world's fair.

Narrator: The world's fair
opened on may 1, 1893.

The grounds featured
awe-inspiring

Neoclassical buildings
painted in white,

Spread out over nearly
one square mile.

It would draw more than
20 million people.

Mitrani: The world's fair
was one of the world's

Most extremely gigantic,
amazing enterprises

That had ever been carried out
up to that time.

Durica: Visiting
the 1893 world's fair

Was, according to
some descriptions,

Like walking into a dream.

In fact a lot of people know
of it as the white city,

But it was also called
the dream city.

It's basically a sort of
utopian version

Of the urban experience,

And all you have to do
is pay 50 cents to enter.

♪

Selzer: The world's fair must
have been like a preview

For what the 20th century
was going to be like.

Not only were you seeing
these massive buildings

On a scale most people
had never seen before,

All with electric lights,

You could see things like
early examples of automobiles,

Hamburgers, hot dogs,
moving pictures.

All of these things that
we would come to associate

With the 20th century
were out at the world's fair.

Mitrani: And this symbolized
the dawn of this new century,

As much as the turn of 1900
actually did.

Jordan: Nannie, the sister of
holmes' latest conquest, minnie,

Arrives in chicago.

And true to his word,

Holmes takes her to
the world's fair on July 4.

But then something
mysterious happens.

Within 24 hours, both minnie and
her sister nannie have vanished.

Mitrani: Chicago is full
of missing people.

It normally had thousands
of missing people,

And then the fair happens,

And thousands of people
descend on the city.

These people do not
have cell phones.

What do they have? They have
a way to call the police.

So you have mothers
from indiana,

You have fathers from ohio
calling the police in chicago

Saying, "I can't get track
of my daughter."

[siren]

Jordan: To outsiders, minnie and
nannie are just two more women

Who move in and out
of holmes' life.

Meanwhile, his business ventures
are getting unwanted attention.

Holmes may have been able
to avoid the questions

Surrounding the disappearance
of the williams sisters,

But he wasn't able to get away

From the many investors
who were seeking him.

The truth is that
holmes never intended

To operate the castle
as a hotel.

Selzer: From all accounts, that
third floor wasn't much better

Than a papier-mâché facade

That was just there
to trick investors.

He had figured out
pretty quickly, I think,

That you could make
a lot more money

Pretending to build a hotel

Than you could from actually
owning and operating one.

We don't know of
a single paying guest.

Jordan: Investors and lawyers
are catching on to holmes,

And begin demanding payment.

Holmes sets fire to
the top floor of the castle

Trying to raise money through
an insurance payout.

But the insurance company
doesn't come through

With the big payday
that holmes hopes for.

Holmes arrived in chicago
with big dreams.

Now seven years later, he's
in debt with a damaged castle

And mysterious disappearances
all in his wake.

It's time to get out.

[laughs]

Selzer: Chicago was getting
a little too hot for holmes.

All of the insurance schemes
were catching up with him.

Durica: Then he begins to
kind of move around the country.

He's enacting
these various schemes,

Whether it involves real estate
fraud or life insurance fraud,

But it's all about
pulling off a con.

Jordan: In September of 1894,

11 months after
the world's fair ends,

Holmes is in philadelphia
concocting a new scam.

Holmes convinces a friend
to fake his own death.

Selzer: So holmes apparently
said, okay,

Here's what we're
going to do now,

We're going to go get a life
insurance policy on your life

And then fake your death.

We'll get a dead body
that looks like you,

Then we'll say that it was you,

Cash in the life insurance,
live like kings.

Jordan: The plan calls for
holmes' friend to leave town

While holmes himself looks after
the friend's three kids.

Holmes will then claim
the insurance pay out.

But the plan falls apart.

Selzer: The insurance company
was able

To put two and two together.

They knew that this guy
had a huge record

Of swindles in chicago.

He'd been caught
over and over again.

So they figured out,

At least that something
wasn't on the level here.

Jordan: Authorities do catch up
with holmes and arrest him,

But by then, the three
young children are gone.

And so is holmes' friend.

Is he a great scam artist
or a much darker serial killer?

♪

♪

Jordan: Holmes has been in jail
for months in philadelphia,

And authorities are now
charged with the task

Of trying to figure out
who or what he is.

They're looking for evidence
that could aid

In the investigation of
the three missing children.

For that, they bring in
the chicago police department.

They have heard
of holmes' castle

And the rumors of people
disappearing therein.

♪

Durica: The chicago
police force,

From our perspective,
can be faulted

For not having investigated
holmes more thoroughly.

But you have to keep in mind

This is a city of
over a million people,

Crimes are occurring
on an everyday basis,

And the idea that
somebody might be,

In some obscure pocket
of the city,

Committing crimes systematically

Would never have occurred
to the police in that moment.

Mitrani: The chicago
police force,

By the time they're
investigating holmes' castle,

They're less than 50 years old.

The basic idea for the police

Comes out of the fear of the
wealthy of the working class.

You had just a few years
before, in 1886,

Had this giant explosion
of working-class anger

At their employers.

This is called
the haymarket affair.

It began and was led by
an anarchist organization

Dedicated to
overthrowing capitalism.

[screaming]

Wealthy people are willing
to pay more and more taxes

To have a force that
can protect them

And protect their property

From this fear
they had of the poor.

Durica: Marshall field, who owns
the largest department store

In the city of chicago, goes
so far as to buy a gatling gun,

Which is kind of like an early
version of a machine gun,

And give it to
the chicago police.

So once again, should they need
it, they could restore order.

[horse neighs]

[screaming]

Mitrani: So the police
entering holmes' castle

Would not have had any training
in investigatory techniques.

They would've had some training
in how to use a billy club.

But that's about
as far as it went.

Jordan: As the police
explore the castle,

It becomes apparent to them that
this is no ordinary building.

They discover what they think
are hidden rooms

And what might be
a room-sized walk-in safe.

And in the basement,
it only gets weirder.

The police discover
a metal tank.

They find dirt where
it shouldn't be.

Police soon discover
something strange.

[girl laughing]

A rib, a jawbone, a pelvis.

They have discovered
their first victim.

♪

The police take the bones to a
local doctor who examines them.

The bones are human, probably
from a girl, aged six to eight.

The news leaks out and the press
pursues a shocking rumor.

The victim might be
little pearl connor,

The girl last seen with holmes
on christmas eve

Four years earlier.

Reporters have fanned out
throughout the neighborhoods

Looking for anyone
who can supply information

About this story.

Narrator: Chicago was home

To nine general
circulation newspapers,

Which could reach half a million
people within 24 hours.

Fierce competition
forced editors

To push for
entertaining stories.

The press lived by an adage:

Never let the truth get
in the way of a good story.

Kogan: Newspapers were
incredibly important in chicago.

Virtually everybody in this town
was walking around

With a newspaper tucked
under their arm.

I think of newspapers
at that time

As essential as milk
to a family.

Durica: The newspaper industry
is really kind of coming

Into its own towards
the end of the 19th century.

Through inventions like
the telegraph and the telephone,

Now information can be shared
over wide distances.

Also you have
an extensive railroad network,

And chicago is very much at the
center of this railroad network.

So now you can send newspapers

Kind of any place
that you want to go.

Jordan: Journalists muscle
their way into the castle,

Looking for clues or scoops;

Anything that can help them
find a story.

Kogan: Everybody wants to
understand evil, on any level.

Why would someone do
something like this?

What is their flaw?

So I think reporters
were eager and happy

To feed that
insatiable appetite.

♪

Narrator:
During the summer of 1895,

The investigation into
holmes and his castle

Spurred lurid headlines
not just in chicago,

But around the country.

The press described holmes
as evil; more than a swindler.

He was a new kind of killer;

A murderer of untold
numbers of women.

The speculation imagined
the holmes castle

Was the design of a madman,

A personal crematorium
for disposing bodies.

One story described how holmes
trapped one victim

And that she suffocated

Because acid pooling on
the floor consumed the oxygen.

Mitrani: There's no
serial killers up to this time.

There's no idea of
the serial killer.

This is something new.

Who is this person,
why would someone do this?

Holmes was a shock to the police
as much as to the public.

Kogan: There are a lot of things
that will drive

Any journalist,
then and now, wild.

The notion of discovering the
story of the first serial killer

Would've driven them nuts,
absolutely nuts.

Durica: The new york world,

Which is known for its kind of
sensationalistic style,

Puts out a very lengthy article
complete with illustrations

About holmes' castle,
holmes' "murder castle."

Selzer: The new york world took
all the most sensational parts

They had seen
in the chicago papers

And then added their own names

Like "the room of
the three corpses,"

"the black closet,"
"the death shack,"

"the secret hanging chamber,"
"the maze".

Durica: When the new york world
provides an illustration

Of what happened
within holmes' castle,

There's nothing really
to prove what they claim,

But the chicago police can also
not disprove it either.

Selzer: In one article that
got reprinted initially

In a few local papers

And then quoted in every article
about holmes

Published in the next 50 years,

They kind of crystallized
the whole myth

Of holmes and the murder castle.

Mitrani: Holmes starts
a turning point.

From this point forward,
the police start to figure out

How to use the fear of crime as
a way to legitimize themselves.

It's terrible if
you're a police officer

If people think that your job

Is just to protect the rich
from the poor.

Now you've got a new mission.

Jordan: The police
confront holmes

About the bones they found
in the castle basement.

Holmes reminds them
that he's a doctor.

Selzer: Holmes had a whole story

That it was just a couple
of bodies that he'd bought

From a medical school
to defraud an insurance company

Almost 10 years before.

He had this whole long story
about how he'd bought bodies,

But then he'd chickened out

And he had the bodies buried
down in the basement.

So, yeah, there's some skeletons
down there, but that's all.

Durica: Looking at the holmes
case from our perspective today,

You might wonder why
there are so many questions

Around that physical evidence.

And the very simple answer
to that is,

The forensic science that exists
today just wasn't present then.

You couldn't analyze
blood samples,

There was no fingerprinting,
no dna evidence,

Really all you could do was kind
of look at whatever you got,

Which in this case
were a bunch of bones.

Man: Watson!

Selzer: Holmes was lucky to have
committed the crimes that he did

When he did, because just
a few years later,

We started having things like
forensic analysis of bones,

A few years after that
came fingerprints.

It would have been a lot harder
for him to get away

With these things just
a few years later.

Jordan: The chicago police
can't prove

Who the bones in the basement
belong to.

Spurred on by the media furor,

A 35-year-old man by the name
of myron chappell

Showed up at
the police department

Claiming that he had worked
with holmes to bury bodies.

[indistinct talking]

He even says he has proof:
The skull of a victim.

Chappell tells them that the
entire building was nothing more

Than a sophisticated
killing machine.

The stories of the murder castle
appear to be true.

♪

[siren]

♪

Jordan: The chicago police
hope the sudden appearance

Of myron chappell will help them

Finally pin murder charges
on h.H. Holmes.

Chappell leads police into
the basement of the castle

And tells them that holmes
would kill the victims

On the upper floors
of the building

And then lower them
through hidden shafts

Down into the basement.

♪

Selzer: He took them around
the castle and said, okay,

If you dig down here
in the basement,

You will find the acid pit where
we would dissolve the bodies.

And if you dig over here,
you'll find the bleach pit,

That's where we would
bleach the bones.

Jordan: A picture is beginning
to emerge of staggering crimes

Committed by a stealthy
serial killer.

♪

But soon chappell reveals
something even more shocking.

He says that holmes had
the bones of the murder victims

Articulated into skeletons,

And that he sold the skeletons

To universities
and medical schools.

Narrator: Myron chappell's
bone-selling claim

Fits a late 19th century
chicago trend.

New laws were passed to require
medical degrees for doctors.

More than a dozen new
medical schools opened,

Creating a market for skeletons.

Jordan: The police follow up
on chappell's story

Of holmes selling skeletons

To universities
and medical schools.

But according to records,
no purchases were made

During the times that
chappell had indicated.

It's another dead end.

And it gets worse
for the police.

The newspapers track down
chappell's son

Who says that his father
was a drunkard

Who had no real
connection to holmes.

Selzer: It quickly became known
that this guy was

Kind of leading them
on a wild goose chase,

And it's entirely possible
the police had put him up to it.

The police realized, I think,

That if they poured enough
whiskey down his throat,

He would have confessed
to anything they told him to.

Jordan: The investigation
into holmes has gone cold.

The police have been searching
the castle for nine days,

And they are no closer to
finding out what happened

To those who disappeared

Or to proving that holmes was
anything more than a scammer.

♪

Kogan: Chicago doesn't like
to be embarrassed,

And especially if you're one of
the so-called leading citizens

Of chicago, you don't like
to see mud slapped on the city.

And in holmes' case,

He was slapping, blood was
being slapped on the city.

Durica: If, as the architects

Of the chicago world's fair
believed,

Chicago was to be
the city of the future,

Then having someone like
the american equivalent

Of jack the ripper
roaming its streets

Challenges that belief.

It suggests the future
might not be as bright

As people would like to believe.

Selzer: I think the fact
that holmes became

So big at the time

Almost reflects a bit
that chicago,

Even after the world's fair,

Was still thought of
as the wild west.

It was still a frontier city
where anything could happen;

Even things like h.H. Holmes.

Durica: The chicago world's fair

Pointed towards
order and virtue;

What cities could become
in the decades ahead.

But when we look at
the holmes case,

What we see is
disorder and vice.

And just because you want one

Doesn't mean that
you lose the other.

Jordan: The chicago police
are at their lowest ebb

In their search
of holmes' castle.

Their leads are drying up,
and there seems to be no way

To prove what happened to
the people who disappeared.

Kogan: The underlying thing was
that they wanted the answers

To who these people were.

They didn't want a bunch
of nameless bones

And nameless bodies.

And I certainly think that

If you look at, wow, what came
out of this whole holmes thing,

I think was an increased
interest in

And advancing of
forensic science.

Jordan: Even with the rumors
still swirling

Of murder and missing people,

The chicago p.D.
Is ready to give up.

It looks like holmes
may never be pinned

To murder in the castle.

But don't forget, holmes
traveled far beyond chicago.

He left behind more mysteries
and strange rumors.

And then finally, a break in the
case from an unlikely source.

♪

♪

Jordan: After all the dead ends
in chicago,

It's looking like h.H. Holmes
has convinced the world

That he's not a killer,
just a swindler and a cheat.

For a while,
holmes might have thought

That he was getting away
with it; but he was wrong.

The philadelphia police,
who had arrested holmes

For the faked death of a friend
in an insurance scam,

Discover something huge.

They suspect holmes
isn't telling the truth

About the three children he'd
promised to watch for his friend

Who was his partner in the scam.

Selzer: He told everybody, "oh,
they're off with their father,

Because he did fake his death.

I'm a big insurance swindler,
and I admit that,

But he's off in south america
someplace with the kids."

So they put a detective named
frank geyer on the case

Who traced holmes' steps
all over chicago and canada

Where he had been traveling
with the kids.

Narrator: In the summer of 1895,

In the weeks surrounding
the investigation

Of the holmes castle,

Philadelphia police
detective frank geyer

Followed a paper trail
of places holmes had rented

After leaving chicago.

In a toronto cellar, geyer found
the remains of two children.

And in a cottage
outside indianapolis,

The remains of a third child.

The bones matched
the descriptions

Of all three of
the missing children.

Selzer: It wasn't until they
started finding the bodies

Of his friend's children
that people realized,

Okay, this guy is not just
an insurance swindler,

This guy is a murderer.

Jordan: With the evidence
against him mounting,

Holmes confesses
to something shocking.

[muffled scream]

The friend never
faked his death.

Holmes murdered him
for the insurance money.

And holmes keeps going.

Selzer: Holmes just
decided to confess

To everything they had
accused him of.

If he was going to be a monster,

He was going to be
the biggest monster.

Kogan: He'd been able
to escape from jams

Throughout his
pre-murderous career,

And he was a very,
very arrogant guy,

Who thought that you can get up
and say anything you want

And get away with it.

Jordan: Holmes starts talking
directly to the press.

He describes
his own face as being

"marked by a deep line of crime
and being that of the devil."

Selzer: They paid him
a great deal of money for this,

But the newspapers
wanted a sensation,

So what he did was he confessed
to even the stuff

That had been debunked,

And then threw in a few extra
things just for good measure.

♪

Durica: The reason why holmes
began to spin the stories

That he did, and tried
increase his reputation,

In many ways is connected
to his career as a con artist.

What he wants to do is
make one last score.

And how is he going to do that?

By selling his story
to the newspapers.

And how do you make that story
worth something?

You make it as sensational
and as crazy as possible.

Jordan: Holmes claims to have
killed 27 people

And hints at more.

Selzer: There were a number
of cases where he confessed

To killing someone, and
they weren't even dead yet.

One, a woman named katie durkee,

Even walked into
her local post office

The day after the confession
came out,

Banged her fist on the desk
and said,

"I wish to issue a statement.
I have never been murdered,

Not by h.H. Holmes,
not by anybody else."

In all of
the sensationalizing of it,

We do kind of forget that there
were real people behind this,

There were real people
who were killed

And real people whose
lives were destroyed,

And holmes seemed to have had
very little remorse about that.

Jordan: We still don't know
how many people

Holmes killed or why.

In chicago, some believe

The bones found
in the castle basement

Did belong to
little pearl connor,

The girl who disappeared
with her mother julia

On christmas eve.

Selzer: On christmas of 1891,

Julia and pearl were supposed
to go to davenport

To julia's sister's wedding.

But they never arrived.

A couple of months later,

Holmes was writing letters
to julia's father,

Saying, "hey, do you know
where julia is?"

But really this was just
to cover up his own tracks.

Almost certainly he knew exactly
where they were; they were dead.

We don't really have details
about how they died,

But holmes wrote a number
of different confessions,

And the one thing he was
pretty consistent on

Was that julia died
during an abortion.

My guess with pearl

Is he probably would have
killed her with cyanide,

Just because he decided
that was the easiest way

To get her out of the way
after her mother died.

Jordan: And the fates
of minnie williams

And her sister nannie,

Who were with holmes
in the castle

During the world's fair,

Also remain a mystery.

Selzer: The police came up
with all kinds of theories

About what might have happened.

One of them was that there was
a walk-in safe in the building,

And some people said
that on the inside,

They could see the outline
of a woman's footprint.

So they speculated maybe
nannie or minnie

Were locked inside
of that place.

But they never figured out
for sure

What happened to
minnie and nannie.

Kogan: Nobody knows how many
women he killed,

Nobody knows how many women were
destroyed in acid and other ways

In that horrible
basement of his.

No one has solved the mystery.

Not just the mystery of who
he was and what made him evil,

But the nature,
the exact nature of his evil.

Selzer: Holmes was
often described

As america's first
serial killer.

He wasn't even really
the first one in chicago,

But it's a very compelling
story, it's exciting,

It's a guy with a castle
full of torture equipment.

It's a classic horror story.

Jordan: Two years after
leaving chicago,

Holmes is in philadelphia
on trial for murder.

The jury reacts so quickly

That they find him guilty
in three hours.

♪

Holmes is sentenced to hang.

♪

Holmes goes to the gallows.

The event is so popular,
the authorities issue tickets.

Holmes then cements
his place in history

As one of the country's most
enduring and unresolved villains

With one more lie, saying,
"I have never committed murder."

It was philadelphia's careful
police work that caught holmes,

But it was the chicago p.D.
Investigation

That made him infamous.

Selzer: After holmes' execution,

Things like the chicago vice
commission were established.

They started cracking down
on corrupt officials

And getting rid of ineffective
detectives and police officers.

The idea was that they were
gonna not be the sort of city

That had people like h.H. Holmes
in it anymore.

[horn honks]

Jordan: The holmes case
shines a light on chicago,

Behind the glorious image
presented by the city's elite

During the world's fair.

The city learned that it hasn't
yet shed the perception

Of its lawless frontier roots.

The world's fair
may be long gone,

But it did leave
behind a legacy:

The building that is today the
museum of science and industry.

And a reminder that the dream
of a stronger, greater,

World class chicago lives on.