H. H. Holmes

Full Name: Herman Webster Mudgett
Profession: Serial Killer

Biography: America's first serial killer was a fraudster and a confidence trickster.

Graduating medical school in 1886 Holmes moved to Chicago to set up a pharmacy. He then built a hotel across the road, the so-called 'Murder Castle'. During the 1893 Chicago World's Fair it is thought he used the hotel to lure young woman looking for work, insisting they get life insurance to work with him, with himself the beneficiary, then killing them.

Holmes was only caught years later trying to defraud another insurance company when his accomplice Ben Pritezel was found dead and later his wife and two children, all apparently killed by Holmes. Holmes was arrested and confessed initially to 27 murders, later upping the total to 130 to possibly gain notoriety so the true total may never be known. He was tried and executed for Pritezel's murder in 1896.

Born: May 16, 1861
Birthplace: Gilmanton, New Hampshire, USA
Star Sign: Taurus

Died: May 7, 1896 (aged 34)
Cause of Death: Executed by hanging