Herman W. Mudgett

Born in Gilmanton, New Hampshire, Herman Webster Mudgett later became widely known as H. H. Holmes. He studied medicine at the University of Michigan and spent years moving from place to place, using aliases and working a string of schemes before building his criminal reputation in Chicago.

Holmes has often been described as one of America’s first serial killers, though historians also note that legend and sensational newspaper coverage helped shape his image. He was convicted of murdering Benjamin Pitezel and was executed in Philadelphia in 1896.

Because his case mixed real crimes with lurid press coverage, Holmes remains a lasting figure in American true crime. Books, documentaries, and historical investigations still revisit his story to separate established fact from the darker mythology that grew around his name.