I’ve been sitting on the above photo for quite a while, but now that advance copies of my book, HH Holmes: The True History of the White City Devil, are going around and they include it, I figure it’s time to release this one to the wilds of the internet. The initial construction of the Read More…
Tag: murder castle
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 Read More…
The Murder Castle Sign Shop Kidnapping (updated!)
1896 new info at the bottom of the post! A few weeks ago, the Chicago Tribune posted a few 1930s-era photos of the H.H. Holmes murder castle from their archives online. All of them have circulated before, but never in nearly such great quality, or, in some cases, uncropped. I’ve seen the photo of the stove and Read More…
New H.H. Holmes “Murder Castle” photo found
Now and then someone will show me a “new” picture of the H.H. Holmes “Murder Castle.” They’re almost never real – there are plenty of buildings that looks similar to it around today, and there were hundreds more a century ago. But now and then I do still run across a new shot of the Read More…
The Man Who Died in the Holmes Murder Castle: John DuBrueil, 1823-1891
Over the winter I went on a quest to catalog and document ALL of the HH Holmes sources I could find here in town that weren’t available online – lawsuit records, defunct Chicago papers, etc. The best of the Chicago papers constitute the best primary sources we have on the Chicago angle of the case, Read More…
Murder Castle of HH Holmes Ebook EXPANDED!
Our first ebook, THE MURDER CASTLE OF HH HOLMES, has now been expanded to a FULL LENGTH book. Re-organized with tons of new info, new diagrams, and more to tell a more complete picture of the famous “castle” through eyewitness accounts from people lived and worked in the building. Now over 55,000 words to tell Read More…
The Murder Castle “Ghost Audio”
It was about four months ago now that I went into the basement of the post office on 63rd street – the one built over a portion of the site where the H.H. Holmes Murder Castle stood. Pictures and video are available here. I was officially just there as a historian, but naturally I did Read More…
The Murder Castle: Today (or: Good Grief, More HH Holmes) #2
So, is there anything left of the infamous H.H. Holmes “Murder Castle?” “The Holmes Castle” was a well-known building in Englewood well into the 20th century; contrary to popular belief, the 1895 fire did not burn it to the ground. The top two floors had to be rebuilt and remodeled, but the place was still Read More…