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 standing until the late 1930s, when it was torn down to make room for the new post office. I’ve spoken to a couple of people who still remember the place from when they were kids – the story was generally forgotten then, but people were still superstitious about the buildings.
The post office doesn’t occupy the EXACT same footprint as the castle, though. In fact, there’s not much overlap at all. Most of the castle would had been in the grassy area directly east of the castle. The railroad tracks were grade-level at the time the castle stood. Climbing the back tree might take you right into the airspace of the “asphyxiation chamber.”
So, this brings up the major question: is there anything left? Perhaps of the old foundations? Certainly some of the basement overlaps with the original footprint. Recently, I had the chance to explore the place on a TV shoot with the History Channel.
Down below, there’s a point where you can climb a step-ladder into a hole in the wall that leads to a sort of tunnel/crawlspace. The ceiling is about 5.5 feet off the ground in the tunnel, and there’s one line of bricks:
According to the post office, this was an escape hatch from the “castle.” Now, I’ve never actually seen any account of there being a tunnel down there, and no such thing was mentioned during the investigation in 1895. But these were the same investigators who found a large tank filled with gas and emitting a noxious odor, and decided to light a match to get a better look.
It’s a bit west of the castle site; it’s possible the 1895 investigators could have found it if they knocked out a western wall. I sent some close-ups of the bricks to Punk Rock James, our official archaeologist, who said that the bricks look right for being from the 1890s; the lower couple of rows were probably underground foundation lays, and the upper ones show some fire damage (which is just what you want to hear if you want to imagine that these are from the castle). This portion of the tunnel is west, and probably a bit south, of the foundation, so I’d say they’re more likely from a building next door, if it’s not actually an escape hatch.
But at the end of the tunnel it takes a left hand turn to the north, and this part certainly goes RIGHT into the castle footprint:
So, this brings us to the big question: is the place haunted?
Well, I did some some pictures and an audio recording – see our static Murder Castle Ghosts page:
I always say that there’s no such thing as good ghost evidence, only cool ghost evidence. But this is, as far as I know, the first cool ghost evidence ever collected at the castle site.
I’m a snot-nosed skeptic about all this stuff, though. I’m even skeptical about about the castle itself – I would only say with confidence that three people were killed there. Six to eight tops, including a couple of who died off-site after being given poison there. Holmes probably only burned a couple of bodies in the castle before deciding that destroying a body in a crowded building was too much trouble and shipping them off-site to one of his “glass bending” facilities (he had a weird pre-occupation with bending glass; people eventually guessed that he was probably really using the massive furnaces he built for that purpose to get rid of bodies. He sure as hell never used them to bend any glass).
I tend to think of Holmes as a swindler, first and foremost, who happened to kill people now and then, not as a regular serial killer. His suspected number of victims stood at 9-12 in his lifetime, and didn’t start inflating until about the 1940s. Nowadays it seems to go up by a hundred or so every Halloween. But as far as hauntings go, the story still checks out – a few murders are more than enough, and as long as ANY of the current building overlaps, I think it’s fair game to look for ghosts there. If you can come back from the dead, you ought to be able to make it down the hall.
So, I’ll have more info for you guys eventually. In the mean time, consider one of Chicago Unbelievable’s line of Holmes-lore ebooks, or the new GHOSTS OF CHICAGO book.
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They tore it down to put up a post office there. It was just a droopy old building by then.
He confessed to 27, but was probably actuallly exaggerating. The 200 number came out of 1940s pulps. On the gallows he actually took the confession back and said it was only 3!
The "devil" stuff was probably made up by a reporter; there's a post about it on here.
i'll be doing a post on the whole list of known and suspected victims on Monday!
Why did they tear it down? Just because they thought it was haunted?
Its scary how so much isn't known.He only confessed to 27, but they say it could be up to 200. Its crazy how no one ever knew.If it was 27 or even 200, He knew he was going to be executed for the ones he confessed to, he should have just taken responsibility.
Then claimed he was possessed by the devil.How low did he get?Seriously!
I went in with the history channel; they arranged it.
How did you get them to allow you in the basement?
Great stuff. I'll have to hook up with you gents in Chicago on my next book tour!
Yep, that's what I meant.
No records have been released; I think Jeff Mudgett has put in a FOIA request.
"Most of the castle would had been in the grassy area directly east of the castle. "
Do you mean directly east of the current post office?
Also, when the foundation was being dug for the post office, are there any records of what may have been found there?
I should have a date for it soon, Jered. I'll probably post it simultaneously with a Holmes "e-single" of mine that Llewellyn is publishing in early Fall. Meanwhile, the recording I got is still being played for various engineers and anyone else I can find.
I want to know more about this podcast! I'm VERY interested.