All language subtitles for American.Ripper.S01E07.No.Rest.for.the.Wicked.1080p_track3_[eng]

Previously
on American Ripper.

- There were at
least 60 lawsuits

against Holmes in Chicago alone.

By getting out of town, he
could let a lot of the heat off.

- If Holmes is going
to be Jack the Ripper,

he needs to be
the kind of killer

who is comfortable going
on the road to kill.

- He would have to get rid
of the Pitezel children.

And on the outskirts of
Indianapolis, Howard went first.

- The blade I actually believe
is Jack the Ripper's knife

was a surgical knife.

It was a doctor's knife.

- [Paige] Here I can show
you what a knife wound

would look like on the rib
of a young adult female

and I think it will leave a
very thin, clean cut there.

- If we find a bone where
we're able to identify

a surgical knife has been used,
then the manner of killing

begins to look a lot more
like Jack the Ripper's.

- Howard Pitezel and
his potential remains

could be the answer.

- We got another button.

- [Amaryllis] Oh, wow.

It is a matching set.

- What's the white
that I'm seeing?

- Right there?

- [Amy] That's bone.

- [Amaryllis] That's bone?
- [Amy] Yeah.

- [Amaryllis] So
we've found bone now.

- [Amy] Yeah.

- Holy...

- [Narrator] Investigating
the theory that the mastermind

of Chicago's murder
castle, H.H. Holmes

and London's infamous Jack
the Ripper are the same man,

Jeff Mudgett and Amaryllis
Fox may have just unearthed

what may be the first
new piece of evidence

in the Holmes case
in over a century.

- [Amy] It's a little small.

It could be a finger bone.

It could be a hand bone.

- Finding physical evidence
from a Holmes' victim

has been the white whale

of this investigation
from the start.

10-year-old Howard Pitezel

was one of Holmes's
final victims,

but only a small portion of his
remains were ever recovered.

The rest were scattered around
the property and never found.

- Oh, oh, oh.

Amy, Amy.

- Do we have something?

- It looks like something.

- [Amaryllis] Let's
see what we have here.

It's definitely bone.

- Whoa, wait a minute.

Whoa.

This is much bigger than
the previous pieces.

- This is a bigger piece.

Ah, that's a, a
mark from being cut.

- That's cut?

- [Amy] That is cut.

- So that's not disintegration
or deterioration?

- [Amy] No.

- Whoa.

So if this is human, we've
found what we were looking for.

- We need to get
this to the lab.

These are bone fragments that
we pulled out of the soil.

We'd love your opinion
as to whether or not

these would be consistent with
10-year-old Howard Pitezel

who was killed there
over a hundred years ago.

- Sure, I'd be happy
to look at them.

- [Narrator] Biological
anthropologist Paige Selinsky

is an expert in
the identification

of historical skeletal
remains and is trained

to analyze bone for any
signs of unnatural trauma.

- [Amaryllis] Looking
at this magnified image,

are you able to determine
what part of the body

these might have
originated from?

- [Paige] Mm-hmm.

Well, they're really,
really small fragments,

which makes them kind
of difficult to say

a whole lot about, but
they appear most likely

to be rib bone, based on their
texture, size, and shape.

- That's really
interesting for us to hear,

because the ribcage is
one of the largest parts

of Howard Pitezel's body
that was never recovered.

- Exactly.

- Are you able to
determine whether or not

this is human or animal bone?

- From a fragment of this size,
I would never venture to say

what kind of animal it came
from based on this alone.

- [Amaryllis] We have
some larger fragments.

- [Paige] You know, these
have been butchered.

You can see tool markings.

Perhaps it was chopped with
a cleaver of some sort.

We can do some microscopy to
enhance those tool markings

so you could see
them more closely.

- We know that the
Ripper's murder weapon

was most likely
a surgical knife.

We also have a press account
that states that Holmes

had a set of surgical knives
with him in Irvington.

So if these are the
bones of Howard Pitezel

and the markings were made
by the same type of weapon,

we could be a lot closer
to proving my theory.

- So when you look
at these images,

what clues do you see as to
the kind of tool that was used?

- Probably some kind of a saw,

but we don't have a lot
of breakage on the edge.

Here you can see a close-up
of those tool marks

from the saw blade.

- If these were human remains,
the fact that they were cut

with a saw or an ax, as
opposed to a surgeon's knife,

would suggest that
Holmes and Ripper

were killing in
different styles.

Are you able to
determine whether or not

this is human or animal bone?

- Yeah, well looking at
these, especially 'cause

they're slightly larger
fragments, I can tell you

for sure that these are animal
remains, not human.

- Are you sure?

- [Paige] Yes, I am sure.

- Positive?

- Yes, they're definitely
animal remains.

- Oh, that's really
disappointing to hear.

You never hope to find the
remains of a 10-year-old boy.

But in this case, we were
hoping that some of his remains

could shed light on
this unsolved case.

(suspenseful music)

- I really thought we had
our hands on some evidence

that might actually help us
link Holmes to the Ripper.

- Yeah.

To have physical evidence
from an actual Holmes victim

would have been the biggest
breakthrough we've had yet.

I'd really like to come
back with a big enough team

that we could explore
the entire property.

Back in Holmes' day that
property was enormous

and those historical
human remains dogs

are generally really accurate.

It may just be that we
need to excavate further.

- [Jeff] There's no
doubt about that.

And Paige wasn't
able to identify

whether those smaller
fragments were human or not.

Those could've
belonged to Howard

- [Amaryllis] Agreed, and
once we have the resources,

we should come back
for a larger scale dig.

- Yeah.

- There is one more
thing I want to check out

before we leave Irvington.

You remember Steve told us
that Holmes might have left

some belongings behind
when he left town?

He gave me the owner's details.

I think it's worth checking
those out and seeing

if they could provide any
additional connections.

- I'm game,
let's go.

- [Narrator] Irvington, Indian
is one of the many cities

Holmes visits while on the run,
trying to cover his tracks.

He arrives in October
of 1894, rents the house

where he murders
young Howard Pitezel

and leaves after just 10 days

to stay one step ahead
of the authorities.

(suspenseful music)

- [Jeff] How old would
these boxes have been?

- [Al] One of them has
a date on it of 1880.

- [Narrator] Irvington tour
guides Al and Rhonda Hunter

are in possession of a
mysterious box of artifacts

given to them 13 years
ago by a local couple.

They believe the
contents of the box

may have belonged to
Holmes and were left behind

in his rush to flee town.

- How do we know that this
is connected with Holmes?

- All this stuff was
loose in the boxes,

and there were a couple
things in here that I believe

point to a connection
with Holmes.

Most importantly, if you look
on the back, the fourth name

down on the right at the top
should be very familiar to you.

- Herman Webster Mudgett.

This is Holmes's
commencement pamphlet

from his graduation at the
University of Michigan.

- [Al] It came in this envelope.

I have no idea who
wrote that name.

- Interesting.

The commencement program
links this collection

with the graduating class
of Holmes's medical school,

which definitely
narrows things down.

This obviously having
Holmes's name, H.W. Mudgett,

handwritten at the top,

would seem to narrow
it down even more.

It's really eerie
to be face to face

with artifacts that could have
belonged to Holmes himself.

And if they're
genuine, they could be

critical pieces of evidence
for our investigation.

But this could also be the
stash of a Holmes collector.

So I'm not drawing
any conclusions yet.

- There is one account
on August 28th, 1895

that talks about his
penchant for photos

and photo collecting while
he was here in Irvington.

The man also rented a lock
box at the Post Office

and received a great amount
of mail, the greater portion

of it being photographs
and tintype pictures.

- That's fascinating.

- This entire box is
nothing but photos.

There's only a few in here
that had been identified.

The one that I like and
probably you would recognize...

- You know what, without
even looking at the back,

I recognize this man.

This is Quinlan, that's
Holmes's assistant

at the murder castle.

This is the best photograph,

highest quality of
him I've ever seen.

I've seen artist depictions
and sure enough, Pat Quinlan.

That was the man
down in the basement

assisting Holmes
committing murder.

Holmes had at least two
accomplices

at the Murder Castle.

The first was Ben Pitezel,

his partner in scams
and eventual victim.

The other was Pat Quinlan who
worked as a sort of caretaker.

It's believed that when
Holmes tried to burn down

the murder castle in 1893 to
collect the insurance money,

it was Quinlan that
started the fire.

- There are other things in here

that I have no explanation for,

would love to get
an explanation for.

They're very
frightening looking.

- [Amaryllis] Were these
framed when they came?

- [Al] No, I put them in
there just to segregate them.

I mean, they're scalpels.

They'll still cut.

- [Amaryllis] Huh.

- Well, and it obviously
shows a lot of use.

The blade has been
nicked, it appears,

from maybe bone
or something hard.

Well, Al, you just
caught my eye.

This was made in
Sheffield, England.

- [Amaryllis] Wait, England?

- I think what we need
to look into further

is just how standard
issue these are.

Is this something
that every doctor

on both sides of the
Atlantic would carry?

Or is this something that
really could serve as a tie

between the Ripper murders in
London and Holmes's killings?

(suspenseful music)

- This was the
pathological department

of Central State Hospital
which opened in 1848

as the Indiana Hospital
for the Insane.

- [Narrator] Executive director

of the Indiana Medical
History Museum, Sarah Halter,

specializes in early
medical history.

- It was the first state
mental hospital in Indiana.

- [Narrator] Jeff and Amaryllis
are here to investigate

whether the origins of the
newly discovered artifacts

might reveal a link between
Holmes and Jack the Ripper.

- Sarah, tell me what this
instrument would be used for.

- It's probably a lancet.

Lancets were used
for bloodletting.

They were used to make
incisions like scalpels were

but not for surgeries.

- So we see here the
words Sheffield, England

on this lancet, and so we
were curious as to whether

British-made medical
instruments were commonly sold

in the United States, or whether
this might be interpreted

as some kind of
circumstantial evidence

that Holmes might have traveled
to England during the time.

- Well, some may have been
sold in the United States,

but there were plenty of
instrument makers here in the US

who could supply
the doctors here.

So most medical instruments
that were purchased here

would have been made here.

- [Narrator] Steel
manufacturing is booming

in post Civil War America as
the expansion of the railroads

increases demand for the
metal and the invention

of the Bessemer process
makes it cheaper to produce.

American-made surgical tools

begin to hit the
market in the 1830s.

By 1890, foreign imports
are increasingly rare.

- So this could indicate
that Holmes had purchased

this instrument in the UK if
it did in fact belong to him.

- It could.

- Wow.

- If this box of artifacts
did belong to Holmes,

then the fact that these
medical tools were made

and probably purchased
in England is a big deal.

It could be circumstantial
evidence that Holmes

purchased them there and
brought them back with him

when he returned to
the United States.

Jeff, I think we've done all
we can do here in Indiana.

- Absolutely.

- [Amaryllis] I'd like to learn

how Holmes was finally caught.

(suspenseful music)

- Holmes was, in his way, a
very remarkable individual.

If he hadn't been so
psychologically warped,

he could have been a
great success in business.

- [Narrator] To
uncover the details

of Holmes's final months on
the run, Jeff and Amaryllis

meet with Harold
Schechter, a Holmes author

and researcher specializing
in serial killers.

- How did he finally
get tripped up?

- Well, Holmes's
downfall really begins

even before he
murders the children,

and actually even before he
murders Benjamin Pitezel.

- [Narrator] By October of
1894, Holmes secretly eliminates

four of the seven members
of the Pitezel family.

But as Holmes plots the
murder of Pitezel's wife

and two remaining children,
it's already too late

because of a fatal mistake he
makes three months earlier.

- He had been on his
wedding tour with Georgiana.

- [Jeff] His third wife.

- And they were in St. Louis,

and Holmes couldn't
resist pulling off

some petty scam and
ended up in jail.

And it turned out his cellmate

was a very notorious bank
robber named Marion Hedgepeth.

- [Narrator] Holmes spends
just 10 days in jail

before Georgiana posts bail.

But in that short time with
Hedgepeth, he confides his plan

to partner with Ben Pitezel
in an insurance scam.

Holmes reveals his secret
because he's looking for help.

He agrees to cut Hedgepeth in
on the profits from the scam

in exchange for an introduction
to a corrupt lawyer

whom Holmes needs to
carry out the plot.

But Holmes never pays
the $500 he promises.

And when Hedgepeth reads
about the discovery

of Pitezel's body in the papers,

he gets revenge by tipping
off the insurance company.

The manhunt for Holmes begins

just as he's racing
to cover his tracks.

- So walk us through
the chronology here.

Holmes has picked up
the insurance money.

He's got the Pitezel children.

He leaves Philadelphia,
what happens next?

- Holmes begins this
very torturous odyssey.

He takes the children
from one place to another,

and he's actually
planning on killing them

in different places.

The insurance company
wasn't equipped to launch

this full-out
manhunt for Holmes.

For that, they turned
to the Pinkertons.

- [Narrator] In the 1890s,

the Pinkerton Detective
Agency is the country's

largest private law
enforcement organization.

Known for its
nationwide security

and communications network,
the Pinkertons are so effective

at hunting criminals that
they're hired to provide

President Lincoln's private
security during the Civil War.

And the term private eye is
coined as slang for their logo,

the all-seeing eye.

- So the Pinkertons are
put on Holmes's trail.

From Indiana, he
goes to Detroit,

and then he takes the two
remaining girls to Toronto

and in Toronto, he murders the
two girls, Alice and Nellie.

The Pinkertons finally
do pick up his trail.

The Pinkertons did
some kind of canvassing

of the steamship offices and
confirmed that Holmes has plans

to take Georgiana,
his wife, to Boston,

and get on a steamer to London.

- [Jeff] London?

- We've seen steamship
records of a man called Holmes

traveling from London
during the time

of the Jack the Ripper killings.

To go back is
definitely noteworthy.

- Yeah.

- It was a place he
was familiar with.

Holmes was an expert of
assuming new identities

and disappearing into any city.

And I'm not surprised
he decided on London.

He had gotten away with
murder there before,

and he knew he could
get away with it again.

- So what happens when
he arrives in Boston?

- [Harold] As soon as
Holmes set foot in Boston,

the Pinkertons are waiting
and they nabbed him,

and he is taken to Philadelphia.

- [Jeff] To be tried
for insurance fraud.

- Yes.

Meanwhile police in Chicago
have entered into the castle

and discovered evidence
of mass slaughter.

This reinforces that
Holmes is a much, much more

dangerous character than anybody
had previously suspected.

They find the incinerated
remains of Howard

in this large stove and
ultimately, the two bodies

of the girls in Toronto.

And of course, at that
point, Holmes is identified

as the most monstrous
killer of the day.

(suspenseful music)

- This is where H.H. Holmes
was tried for murder.

- Wow, this is the place

the murder trial of
the century happened.

- [Narrator] H.H. Holmes
is ultimately put on trial

for a single crime, the
murder of Benjamin Pitezel.

Jeff and Amaryllis meet
with historian Thomas Rowan

in the Philadelphia courtroom

where the trial begins
in October of 1895.

- This was the O.J.
Simpson trial of its time.

It was a media circus.

Newspapers from across
the country were here.

They were all in attendance
for the Holmes trial.

- Fill in for us
how he landed here

with the nation's media watching
him be tried for murder.

- [Thomas] When he comes in the
courtroom to face the judge,

he is in his full suit.

He is wearing a gold
watch, gold jewelry.

- Dressed to impress.

- Look at the posture.

- He seems as though
he's on vacation

and not on trial for his life.

He was trying to shape his image

in the public and
in the prosecution,

that he could not
have been a killer.

He was a nice guy.

- So what happened?

- Then it starts to turn.

- [Narrator] The prosecutors
bring several key witnesses

to testify against Holmes,
including Mrs. Pitezel

who breaks down in
tears as she explains

how he convinced her to leave
her children in his care.

- His defense starts to wane.

He starts to lose
control of the trial.

In some of the headlines,
he starts to grow pale.

You can physically
see the end coming.

- [Narrator] The most
damning testimony

comes from Holmes's
wife, Georgiana Yoke

who has just learned
Holmes's has two other wives.

She testifies that on the
night of Pitezel's murder,

Holmes demands that they
immediately leave Philadelphia.

- And in the end,
that's what nails him?

- Yes.

So after a week, he's
sentenced to die.

And until the end, he
has worked the press,

and he has manipulated
the newspapers.

He can't stop playing that game.

After the trial, he was
able to sell his confession

to Hearst newspapers for $7,500
which in today's money is--

- What, like almost a
quarter of a million dollars?

- Yes.

So he copped to 27 murders,

but in hindsight, several
of the murders he claims,

the people were still alive.

- [Jeff] Right, you
couldn't believe

a word out of his mouth.

- Following Holmes' execution,

you would think that was
the end of the media circus.

But have you ever heard
of the Holmes' Curse?

- [Amaryllis] No.

- So following his death,
some strange occurrences

were attributed to Holmes's
supernatural ability

to reach beyond the grave
and cause some chaos.

- [Jeff] I've researched this.

A lot of people
involved with the case

mysteriously died
after the execution.

- Do you believe that?

- That's a difficult question

but I collected a
whole bunch of articles

that I think you might
find interesting.

- [Jeff] Thank you, Thomas.

- Of course.

(suspenseful music)

- [Amaryllis] I mean, that
man could sell newspapers.

- Holmes relished media
attention, much like the Ripper.

- It's an incredibly
striking similarity

between these two killers.

Jack the Ripper
gives himself a name.

It sticks in the press,
creates all of the mythology

that has grown up around him.

- [Jeff] Well, and
just look at Holmes,

his very own confessions.

- And it's really striking how
they relished the spotlight

and how masterful
they were at creating

their own narrative
in the press.

That's why I find the
stuff that Thomas gave us

about the Holmes
curse so interesting.

The story of Holmes
coming back from the grave

and exacting retribution
on the people

who had convicted him.

- But when you go through
the list of people

that were involved
in the Holmes trial,

we have the prison
superintendent

who supposedly shot himself.

We have the judge dying
of a mysterious illness.

A juror is electrocuted.

A witness dies in
a freak accident.

And they find the priest
who gave Holmes's last rites

dead in a basement.

People involved in his arrest,
his trial, his execution,

his burial, and all of a
sudden, they're either dead

or suffering
terrible misfortune.

It's a list of coincidences
that is simply amazing.

In fact, I think it's too
amazing to be a coincidence,

and our work over
the past six months

has only strengthened
my conviction.

I think the Holmes curse
is compelling evidence

that Holmes escaped his death
and execution on that May day.

- Wait, what?

- [Narrator] At the age of 34,

master swindler H.H.
Holmes is convicted

for the murder of Benjamin
Pitezel and sentenced to hang.

He is executed on May 7, 1896.

But in the months
following his death,

numerous people
associated with the trial

die or disappear under
mysterious circumstances.

The press dubs it
the Holmes curse.

- You're telling me that
he faked his own death

in front of the media
and law enforcement

of Moyamensing Prison that day?

- Okay, but give me this.

Was he not the
master manipulator?

- Sure.

- Could he not con
anyone around him?

- Yeah.

- So it's possible Holmes
faked his own death.

- I mean I grant you this is
a whole lot of misfortune.

But other than a few newspaper
articles that suggest

people involved with his trial
died of unnatural causes,

what other evidence do you have

that Holmes could have
faked his own death?

- If Holmes was the
Ripper, as I believe,

and Ripper killings continued
after his execution,

we can go a long way to
establishing Holmes escaped.

And in my research
I've found some reports

of Ripper style killings
after 1896 that sound a lot

like what we've been uncovering
in our investigation.

I've known about the theory
that Holmes escaped his death

for a long time, but
I never believed in it

as much as I do now,
now that we've uncovered

what a master con artist
Holmes really was.

- I mean, the media
reports at the time

have been pretty helpful so far.

I'm highly skeptical here,
but let's see what you've got.

The idea that Holmes could
have bribed or coerced his way

out of his own out of his own
execution just at the moment

where all eyes were on him
seems pretty far fetched.

But as an investigator,

I don't want to disregard
a lead, however tenuous.

So often, it's the unexpected
details that solve a case.

Okay, so here's one,
a woman is mutilated.

This is from 1906,

body horribly slashed
and dismembered,

Jack the Ripper method used
at 6 Second Street, New York.

Well, we know that
there have been

Ripper-style killings
there associated

with Holmes's
travel in the past.

Okay, so here's
another one from 1908.

- Yeah.

- A Jack the Ripper
murder in Chicago.

Woman murdered in London.

This is 1902.

Evidence of crime
recalling Jack the Ripper

found in poor
quarter of Lambeth.

Canadian Jack the Ripper.

This was in 1900.

One woman killed and two
others attacked in Toronto.

Well, Holmes has a
connection in Toronto.

It's pretty striking
that each of these

are Jack the Ripper style
murders after Holmes' execution

in cities that
Holmes has a link to.

But to me this isn't
enough evidence.

I'm gonna need more
to take from this

that Holmes faked his own death

and walked around killing
all of these people

after the world thought
he'd been executed.

- [Jeff] What about the
Batty Street Lodger?

There's a detail in
that eye witness report.

- You're talking about
the Batty Street landlady

who saw an American
doctor return

to the lodging house
with bloody cuffs

and then saw that same
American doctor again,

25 years later.

- Right, if Holmes
wasn't executed in 1896,

then that detail suddenly
makes a lot more sense.

- I'm not completely convinced

about this line
of investigation.

25 years is a long time,

and I'm not sure that the
eye witness's recognition

would be 100% at that point.

But what does intrigue me is
if Jeff's theory is correct

and Holmes is the Ripper,
and he escaped his own death,

chances are he continued
killing after 1896,

which means potentially
more opportunities

to find physical evidence
to link the two men.

So while I think
this is a long shot,

I'm gonna remain open minded.

Here we are looking
at the Holmes curse.

It really does seem like it
merits further investigation.

I'd really like to understand
what the security protocols

at the prison even
were 125 years ago,

whether there was maybe
holes in the security

that were easy for somebody

as intelligent and charming
as Holmes to exploit.

- Well, there's one
thing that's for sure.

He was a master manipulator.

And if anyone could have
done it, it was H.H. Holmes.

- H.H. Holmes got condemned
to death in November of 1895.

Capital punishment
was fairly rare.

- [Narrator] Philadelphia's
Moyamensing Prison,

where H.H. Holmes is
incarcerated

and allegedly executed,

stands for more than 100 years

before its demolition in 1968.

To investigate
what it would take

to escape a 19th century prison,

Jeff and Amaryllis visit
the historic Eastern State

Penitentiary, a prison of
similar design to Moyamensing.

- How many people from say

when Holmes got up in the
morning of his execution

would come in contact
with his body?

- So there would
have been the person

who brought him his breakfast.

He met with his priest
before he was executed.

We know that there
were newspaper men,

the guards taking
him out of his cell.

There were other
prison officials.

So dozens of people would have

come into contact
with him that day.

- I know also there were
quite a few observers

to Holmes's execution.

- [Annie] Yes.

- I read as many as
200 people were there.

- Mm-hmm.

Hangings in the late 1800s
were kind of public affairs,

but people who went onto the
gallows who were executed

often had hoods on so
their face was obscured.

- Did your readings
indicate that Holmes

had been hung with
a hood on or not?

- The articles that
I've read indicate

that he was hung with a hood on.

- [Jeff] So theoretically,
he could have

paid off someone
to take his place.

- It seems like a
pretty wild theory.

- Did you also find out anything

about whether an autopsy was
conducted after the execution?

- Holmes specifically
stated he did not want

an autopsy taken on his body.

- And that was approved
by the superintendent?

- And that was approved, and
so there was never an autopsy.

- And that was approved.

- [Narrator] At Eastern
State Penitentiary,

Jeff and Amaryllis are
investigating a theory

that suggests notorious swindler
and murderer H.H. Holmes

may have pulled off
the ultimate con

and escaped his hanging in 1896.

- What happened to the body,
typically, after an execution?

- Some prisoners
were brought out

and buried in potter's
fields or in cemeteries.

The story with Holmes is
that he was brought out

and he was buried in a cemetery.

- Was it possible to escape
a prison like Moyamensing?

- It was, and in fact,
there were escapes.

So we know that a prisoner
was working on the roof,

and he was on a special
duty to fix the roof,

and he hopped over the
wall and slid down a pipe

and he was gone.

We know other prisoners walked
out through the front door

wearing civilian clothing.

So escapes were
possible in that era.

- [Amaryllis] Can we take a
look at what it's like inside?

- [Annie] Sure.

- Generally, were the guards
here honest and above board,

or were they on the take?

- A lot of the guards would
have been working class guys.

They weren't getting
paid a lot of money,

so a little extra
cash from a prisoner

could have gone a long way.

- For the year and a half
that Holmes is in his prison,

he's in his cell 23
hours a day or so.

What's he spending his time on?

- We can presume that he spent
a lot of time in solitude,

reflecting on his life,
writing his confessions.

Him being allowed to
have writing implements

and journalists
coming to see him,

letters coming in the
mail, that's something

that a regular prisoner, an
everyday prisoner probably

would not have gotten,
and probably a privilege

granted to him because of
his status as a "celebrity."

- It's amazing to imagine
one of these tiny cells

being used kind of as
his PR headquarters,

with journalists
coming and going,

to create and build on
this nationwide brand,

all out of one of
these prison cells.

- Yeah.

There's actually a rumor

that he made a confession
that was recorded

on this very primitive
audio recording device.

- Of his voice?

- [Annie] Of his voice.

- Wow.

- [Annie] Confessing
to multiple murders.

- We've got to look that up.

I never imagined that
I'd be able to hear

the actual voice of my
great great grandfather.

And someone with an ego like
Holmes may have boasted about

anything in his
final confessions,

maybe even about the crimes
that link him to London in 1888.

- Well, if we're able to get
our hands on that recording

and your theory is correct,
then we'll be hearing the voice

of Jack the Ripper echoing
through 125 years of history.

- Wow!

I mean, I'm incredibly excited.

- Well, do you know

how we could get a
hold of this recording?

- This collector supposedly
has this recording.

Whether or not it's
an authentic recording

remains to be seen.

- [Amaryllis] Why don't you see

if you can track down that lead?

And in the meantime, I'm
gonna do some research

on how Holmes might have
orchestrated an escape.

(suspenseful music)

* Come all ye round
us if you want to hear

* A story about a brave engineer

* Casey Jones was around the day

- This particular
cylinder was introduced

at the end of 1912 and was
in production till 1929.

- [Narrator] Audio recording
technology is in its infancy

in the late 19th century.

To capture H.H. Holmes's
jailhouse confession

would have required
a cylinder phonograph

with a special needle
to etch sound waves

onto wax cylinders.

Jeff has tracked down a
professor who owns a priceless

collection of the world's
earliest cylinder recordings.

- I've been told that
you have a recording

of my great great
grandfather H.H. Holmes.

- It's a distinct possibility.

As a collector myself, I used
to buy old boxes of records.

And in one of those boxes,

I came across a record
that was unlabeled.

I played the record, and
it sounded like a man

confessing to killing 27 people.

- I'm obviously
incredibly interested

in hearing my ancestor's
voice on the recording.

Is there any chance I could
listen to it here today?

- [Narrator] Investigating
the theory that H.H. Holmes

assumed the identity of
Jack the Ripper in 1888,

Jeff Mudgett has tracked down

what may be a primitive
audio recording

of his great great
grandfather's final confession.

- The record itself
is too fragile.

It could easily
crack while playing.

So I do have a fairly
accurate transcript.

- "During the past few
months, it has been repeatedly

"expressed that I make
a detailed confession

"of all the graver crimes
that have been traced out

"and brought home to me.

"I am not sorry, for it
would not do any good for me.

"I regret only one murder, and
that was of Minnie Williams,

"because I think I loved her."

Wow.

"Well, it's done now, and I
think I made a good job of it.

"I was born with the devil in
me, and I cannot help the fact

"that I was a murderer,
no more than the poet

"can help the
inspiration to a song.

"I was born with the evil
one standing beside the bed

"when I was ushered
into the world,

"and he has been
with me ever since."

Wow.

I don't have any doubt
it's his, his words.

What moves me most is

how closely it connects

to his memoirs, and also
of the literature used

in the Dear Boss letter in
London, Jack the Ripper fame.

In this confession, Holmes says,

"It's done, and I think
I made a good job of it."

And in the Ripper's 1888 Dear
Boss letter to the press,

he wrote, "Grand work
the last job was."

Both killers talk about
their murders as their work

and brag about the
good jobs they've done.

The language is eerily similar.

- As well, one also
gets the feeling

that if he had another chance
to do it all over again,

he'd probably kill her
again, and regret it again.

(suspenseful music)

- [Amaryllis] So I did some
research on this theory

that Holmes escaped
his own death

and found some reports that
are worth checking out.

- [Jeff] Okay.

- "In a conversation
with a Mercury reporter,

"Mr. Warner said that Holmes
was never hanged in reality,

"but through the wonderful
craftiness

"that distinguished
him all during his life,

"finally managed to elude
the gallows

"and have himself
hanged by proxy

"in the person of a poor
and struggling physician

"from an interior town of
New York, Aldony Warner,

"who is the business
partner of H.H. Holmes."

- He was associated with
the Warner Glass Company.

He'd known Holmes
professionally for years

so he's a pretty
credible source.

- [Amaryllis] Take
a loot at this.

"Is H.H. Holmes alive?

"Robert Lattimer says the
great criminal was not hanged."

- Robert Lattimer?

That's one of the 27 that
Holmes confessed to murdering

and some believe a
co-conspirator with Holmes

on some of the frauds
he committed in Chicago.

- So he was one of the 27
Holmes confessed to murdering

but were actually still alive?

- [Jeff] He was alive.

- Based on this article,

he says that Holmes escaped
in a coffin and claims that

a cadaver was substituted
at the execution,

which frankly, isn't that
outrageous because we know

the sale of his
book of confessions

had given him $300,000
in today's money.

In other words, a bribe.

- [Narrator] In the 19th
century, it is not typical

to grant convicted murderers
any special favors,

but Holmes is no
ordinary prisoner.

The sale of his
confessions makes him

the wealthiest death row
inmate in the country,

and his trial makes
him a celebrity.

But despite the extensive
press coverage, no one knows

for sure what happens to
Holmes's money after the trial.

- Ah, okay, well here he
outlines

arrangements for
the mock execution.

We're talking about
a major conspiracy

if this is actually
how he pulled it off.

"As the clergymen and
officers in charge

"crowded in front
of the law's victim,

"for a few brief moments,
the condemned man

"was completely
screened from the view

"of the little ammount of
witnesses on the prison floor.

"The living man stepped
off into the space

"beneath the platform
as the dead man

"was hastily lifted
into his place."

And Holmes is crouching
underneath the scaffold,

hiding from view in
order to be smuggled out.

There may not be that many
accounts, but these two sources

are pretty credible and
the stories they're telling

corroborate one another
and mention techniques

that we've seen Holmes
use in the past.

I want to understand what
kind of security measures

were in place or whether
there are any records

that could help us
understand whether the body

was identified again once
it reached the cemetery.

- You want to go
out to the cemetery?

- I think it's our
best bet to understand

whether he actually could
have pulled this off.

- [Narrator] The coffin of
H.H. Holmes is transported

about six miles from Moyamensing
Prison to a nearby cemetery

on May 7th, 1896 and buried
on the site the following day.

- The cemetery was open in 1890,

so that would make it a
hundred and what, 27 years old

and there's a lot of
people buried here.

- [Narrator] Jeff and Amaryllis
are here to uncover details

about the alleged
final resting place

of America's first
serial killer.

- [Amaryllis] This looks
like serious business.

- This is the burial register.

On May 7th, we have a--

- [Amaryllis] There he is.

- Herman W. Mudgett.

The state purchased two
graves and they buried him

in the center of
both of those graves.

- Wait, is it unusual for one
person to purchase two plots?

- [Bill] It's very unusual.

There had to be a reason.

- [Narrator] Running down
the theory that H.H. Holmes

may have pulled off one
of his greatest cons

by escaping his execution,
Jeff and Amaryllis

access rare records
housed at the cemetery

where Holmes is said to
have been laid to rest.

- [Bill] This is the ah,
internment ledger.

This is the book that has
detail of the sections, okay?

This is section 15 and 16.

- [Narrator] The documents
contain a first-hand account

of Holmes's last requests
regarding his burial.

- [Bill] According
to this record,

they dug this grave at 10 foot,

and they loaded him down
and poured cement on top.

- Wait, wait, it's noted here

that his grave was
covered in cement?

- [Bill] That's
what I'm reading.

- I mean, that's wild!

Have you ever seen that
happen in another case?

- Can't say that I have

but apparently they
were his instructions.

- The depth of the grave,
10 feet, is that unusual?

- Well, it's kind of deep, yeah.

Usually, typically, it
would be an 8-foot grave,

definitely very
special instructions.

- Why do you suppose you would
line a grave with cement?

- I can come up with
two reasons offhand.

One, he didn't want
anyone robbing his grave.

Two, he didn't want
anything found there

that he was concerned about.

At this time,
prisoners on death row

were largely from the
lowest social class

and usually ended up
in a potter's field.

But not only was Holmes's
money and murderous charm

meant that he was granted
every bizarre request

for his internment, which
was unheard of at the time.

- This is a very unusual
burial, top to bottom.

- For sure, definitely.

- You have the double plot.

You have the depth.

You have the concrete on top.

You've got space on either side.

Every one of these records

raises more questions
than it answers.

Do you think we could go out

and actually take a
look at the site itself?

- Sure.

(suspenseful music)

This is it.

- There's no headstone.

- [Bill] No headstone.

According to the records,
Mudgett purchased

graves three, in
that lot, and four.

- [Jeff] Okay.

- And he is supposed to
be smack dab in the middle

of the two graves, with the
concrete poured on top of him.

- [Jeff] Directly in the center.

- [Bill] Directly in the center.

- Here's somebody who
has spent his entire life

trying to put his
name in lights.

- Was this his way
of hiding a secret

about his execution
and actual burial?

The only way I'm going to
find out if H.H. Holmes

escaped death and may
actually be Jack the Ripper

is to see what, if
anything, is buried here.

- Wait, are you talking about
actually taking a shovel

to the ground and digging up
your great great grandfather?

- There's something
here that bothers me.

There's something that
doesn't make sense.

And I think we need
to look deeper.

- That's a huge step.

- We've got to put
a shovel to this.

We've got to dig
into the ground.

- [Narrator] On the season
finale of American Ripper.

- We did find
something interesting.

This is Elizabeth Stride.

- We are a huge step
closer to nailing down

that Holmes was Jack the Ripper.

- You think we could be looking
at backbone right there.

- We haven't found a body

and we're down to levels
where it should be.

- There, there, there,
there, there, there, there.

I can't believe I'm
saying this Jeff

but I think the bastard
might have walked away.

(suspenseful music)