In August, Simon and Schuster will be publishing my new novel, Just Kill Me, which is all about a ghost tour guide who makes places more haunted by killing people at them. I’ve put together a series of short videos on the research that went into learning about the different tour stops that appear in the…
Tag: HH Holmes
Excavating the H.H. Holmes “Body Dump” Site
We used to call it “The Body Dump.” It was a little bit of a stretch to give it a name like that, but really… who can think of a reason a known multi-murderer would want a 150 foot long furnace? Right near the homes of half of his known local victims? The site…
Holmes “Murder Castle” Basement Walk-Through (sort of)
Hi, folks! We’re gearing up for a busy spring. Our screening of the 1916 Essanay Sherlock Holmes film was a sell-out, and we’re cooking up more cool events all the time. March 26 is our next H.H. Holmes “Devil in the White City: Myth and Mystery” tour , and I’m finishing up the draft of my massive…
Detective John W. Norton: From H.H. Holmes to Al Capone
Back when Franklin D. Roosevelt was in his second term as president, an old pickpocket named George Summers spoke to the Tribune about the old days. “You know what’s the matter with the cannon (pocket picking) racket today?” he asked. “Stickups! These young punks ain’t willing to go through a long apprenticeship anymore, like we…
Did H.H. Holmes Fake His Death (new info and podcast!)
A former employee of serial killer H.H. Holmes swore that he was never really hanged… we examine his claims! archive.org More Episodes Rumors continue to swirl that H.H. Holmes, subject of Devil in the White City and our most fascinating antique multi-murderer, is going to be exhumed from his grave to address rumors that it…
Did H.H. Holmes Kill Dr. Holton? (podcast)
Tickets to our first public tours are on sale now, including one of the H.H. Holmes tours that I’ve been running since 2007. The tours have evolved as I’ve researched Holmes in more depth, and I’m quite confident now that they’re the most informative and entertaining Holmes tours in town. If Devil in the White City…
H.H. Holmes on Michigan Avenue
Photo from Wikimedia Commons. Been a while since there was a new H.H. Holmes post on here, huh? Well, lets dig into the legal archives and pull ourselves up a case. This one puts Holmes into business swindling a wholesale grocery on Michigan Avenue: Sprague, Warner and Co, which stood right on the Northwest corner…
“H.H. Holmes is an Honorable Gentleman”
In June, 1887, among the Inter Ocean‘s legal notices was small note: “Deputy Sherriff Hubbard levied on the drug store of Harry H. Holmes at Englewood yesterday under an attachment in favor for Peter Van Schaack & Sons for $900.” H.H. Holmes would have been running the pharmacy he’d bought from Dr. Elizabeth Holton at…