43. H.H.HOLMES: AMERICA'S FIRST SERIAL MURDERER

a con man, swindler, crook....a physican, trained at michigan state....the first serial killer in america.  h. h. holmes, one of many aliases, lived in chicago in the late 1800's.  though various frauds and scams, he was rather wealthy.  he built a huge home in englewood, outside chicago.  it was known as the castle, designed by him.  the multi-floor building was constructed with maze like hallways, tunnels, secret panels, airtight rooms with gas jets hidden in the walls.  though he had killed previously, he took advantage of the world's fair in 1893 to lure people into his "hotel", many never to leave.  his downfall came after staging a mock death of an associate, for the purpose of earning a large insurance policy.  he'd been arrested just prior to this, on another charge, bragged to a cellmate of his plan, and then, unwisely, double-crossed that same man.  ultimately, he was chased by the pinkerton agency, located, arrested, charged, tried and found guilty.  in prison, waiting his execution, he wrote his memoirs in great detail.  weirdly, one of the facts that i learned from this film is that he often reassembled the skeletons of his victims, which he then sold to numerous medical schools.  i wonder where those medical schools figured that he got all those skeletons?  h. h. holmes was hanged in 1896, 35 yrs old.  at his request, he was buried in a big slab of concrete, due to his fear that he would be dug up and studied.  no one knows how many people he actually murdered.  he wrote that he was born with the devil in him--is that true?  what explanation is there for people like this that find perverse pleasure in taking the lives of others?  i wonder if there were actually any other "multi-murderers" in america before h.h. holmes?