MURDER HOTEL - A DMP Production

Part Three

Kettle drum beats.

NARRATOR:
THE FIRST CORPSES ROLLED OFF THE KILLING LINE INSIDE HH HOLMES CHICAGO HOTEL IN 1891.

Joe Kozenczak :
That fits in to his overall scheme of being able to line up victims, have the life insurance in place, and then proceeding to kill these people to collect on the insurance.

NARRATOR:
HOLMES WOULD PRODUCE ENOUGH DEAD POLICY HOLDERS TO CLAIM QUARTER OF A MILLION DOLLARS. BUT HE WAS ALSO KILLING FOR EASIER MONEY - THE CASH PAID BY THE MEDICAL SCHOOLS FOR BODIES. CHICAGO'S HAHNEMAN MEDICAL COLLEGE HAD TRAINED MECHANIC CHARLES CHAPPEL TO TURN CORPSES INTO MEDICAL EXHIBITS. HOLMES GAVE HIM A JOB IN THE CASTLE. HE FIRST HAD CHAPPEL SAW THE ARMS OFF A MAN'S BODY, AND LATER SHOWED HIM A WOMAN'S CORPSE THAT HE HAD PROCESSED FOR SALE.

Charles Chappell voice:
The body looked like that of a jack rabbit which had been skinned by splitting the skin down the face and rolling it back off the entire body. In some places considerable of the flesh had been taken off.

Joe Kozenczak:
The process of skinning this person back is essentially an act of dehumanising the victim The fact that flesh has been removed from the body is always an area that investigators want to look at because there is always a chance there that this person could be practicing cannibalism.

Howard Markell:
So all of a sudden you had a young man like Mudgett saying I can get you 30 or 40 or 50 cadavers whatever you need no muss no fuss, I'll get them for you, you pay me the fee and so it is a dream come true for a medical school professor at the acme propriety medical school.

JOE Kozenczak:
It's the corruption in the system that's helping him to do this.

Brian Williams:
They paid $20 to $30 at times, partly to cover transportation and sometimes fees.

NARRATOR:
TO EARN MORE, HOLMES INSTALLED TWO VATS IN THE HOTEL BASEMENT. ONE WAS FILLED WITH CARBOLIC ACID, A CHEMICAL THAT DISSOLVES FLESH. THE OTHER VAT CONTAINED BLEACH, TO WHITEN THE BONES. HOLMES GAVE THE BONES TO CHARLES CHAPPEL, TO MOUNT INTO DISPLAY SKELETONS. HOLMES PROFIT ON A MOUNTED SKELETON WAS $170.

Howard Markell:
It's a brilliant synergistic move. Take the bones the bones and articulate them and then you can sell something you were going to throw out. So you are doubling your profits in a way, and these were very coveted by medical students so that you could study a skeleton an articulated skeleton in the anatomy lab or in the library we have dozens of them around the medical school to this very day.

NARRATOR:
THROUGHOUT 1892, HH HOLMES RAN A FULLY INTEGRATED SYSTEM OF MURDER, CORPSE PREPARATION AND BODY SALES. NOW HE BEGAN HIS NEXT PHASE OF KILLING - THE SEX MURDERS.

Professor Canter:
Holmes unfolding narrative starts with him thinking of himself as an insurance fraudster, he moves on to dealing with bodies and selling on the bodies and eventually become totally removed from any feeling about his fellow human beings. He begins to decide that he is going to use the power he knows he can exert over people to exert them for sexual gratification and he turns his attention to women.

Liz Spikol:
Women were taken with him, he was very flirtatious, and they believed what he was telling them. Well, he was apparently very handsome and had an incredible personality and women were drawn to him in large numbers.

NARRATOR:
OFFICIALLY HE LIVED WITH WIFE MYRTA AND THEIR BABY LUCY, AND AT WILMETTE, JUST OUTSIDE CHICAGO.

Liz Spikol:
Mytra described him as this incredibly loving husband who doted on their child and who always had to have a pet because he loved animals so much.

NARRATOR:
HOLMES LOVED TO STAFF HIS BUSINESS EMPIRE WITH WOMEN. HE GAVE OUT JOBS TO TYPISTS, MAIDS AND SHOP ASSISTANTS, HE FAVOURED THE NEW FANGLED IDEA OF A WOMAN'S RIGHT TO WORK, HE SET UP A LADY'S EMPLOYMENT AGENCY.

Joe Kozenczak:
What it did is it essentially provided him with a pool of victims.

Holmes voice:
The victim was a very beautiful young woman in my store, the intended victims, were three young women working in my restaurant.

Overlapping Holmes voice:
Clad only in their night robes, chloroform all of them at once, screaming into the streets

Professor Canter:
In the annals of serial killers it is very unusual for the sexual assaults to come so late in the process. That is usually in the case of many serial killers what drives them on the carry out the killings but it seems that Holmes became aware of his power and that he could get away with murder and late on turned to becoming a sexual predator, kidnapping, raping and abusing women because he knew he would eventually kill them and be able to get away with it.

NARRATOR:
HOLMES LEASED OUT THE CASTLE'S JEWELLRY SHOP TO A WATCHMAKER NED CONNOR, WHO ARRIVED WITH HIS ATTRACTIVE WIFE JULIA, AND THEIR EIGHT YEAR OLD DAUGHTER.

NARRATOR:
HOLMES GAVE THE FAMILY A ROOM ABOVE THE STORE AND HELPED THEM OUT AGAIN, BY GIVING A JOB TO THE WATCHMAKER'S 17 YEAR OLD SISTER. NOW THE CONNERS WERE IN HIS DEBT, HOLMES BEGAN LIVING OUT HIS DISSECTION ROOM FANTASY OF FAMILY MURDER. WITHIN MONTHS, THE SISTER WAS DEAD. HOLMES WOULD CONFESS THAT WHEN SHE REJECTED HIS SEXUAL ADVANCES, HE POISONED HER. THE MYSTERIOUS DEATH ENDED THE MARRIAGE OF THE WATCHMAKER AND HIS WIFE. JULIA CONNERS BEGAN AN AFFAIR WITH HOLMES - WITH NO IDEA HE WAS A KILLER. JULIA BECAME PREGNANT. ON CHRISTMAS EVE, 1891, HOLMES PRESENTED CHARLES CHAPPEL WITH A SATCHEL CONTAINING THE STRIPPED BONES OF JULIA CONNER. THE SEVERED BODY OF HER DAUGHTER WAS BURIED IN THE CASTLE'S LIME PIT.

Professor Canter:
When he killed Julia Conner's daughter he was getting rid of a witness. This was a child that could incriminate him If there is an eight year old child that he thinks is going to get in the way of his activities he will kill that child it won't mean anything to him.

NARRATOR:
BETH AND BRENDA PITEZEL HAVE FOLLOWED THE TRAIL OF HH HOLMES TO PHILADELPHIA. THE SISTERS ARE INVESTIGATING THE MURDER OF THEIR GREAT GRANDFATHER, BEN PITEZEL, AFTER FINDING FAMILY PAPERS REVEALING HOW HIS PARTNERSHIP WITH HOLMES ENDED IN A FRENZY OF CHILD KILLING.

Brenda Pitezel:
We hadn't been told anything about this story. It was hidden away. But then after our grandmother died, these newspaper clipping, and articles were found at my grandmother's house. And then we started reading it and started getting all the horrible, horrible details of the whole case.

NARRATOR:
PITEZEL WAS AN INVENTOR, AND HOLMES LICENSED A COAL BIN HE'D DESIGNED. HOLMES EVEN USED PITEZEL'S CHILDREN TO ADVERTISE THE NEW GADGET.

Brenda Pitezel:
Both Howard, the little boy bending over getting coal, and the girl with the chute their they look a lot like Alice or Nellie, his own children.

NARRATOR:
HOLMES SIZED UP THE FAMILY MAN FOR A NEW JOB.

Brenda Pitezel:
Holmes was just a small man, 5 foot seven, about 150 pounds, about my size, little guy, big moustache. Benjamin being a big guy over six feet tall, Benjamin was kind of like his henchman, his lackey.

NARRATOR:
HOLMES SENT HIS HENCHMAN ON THE LOOK-OUT FOR OPPORTUNITIES. IN DECEMBER 1891 PITEZEL TOLD HOLMES OF A BEAUTIFUL YOUNG TYPIST HE'D MET, EMELINE CIGRAND. HOLMES OFFERED HER A JOB IN THE CASTLE. FOR THE NEXT SIX MONTHS, HOLMES WOOED THE 23 YEAR OLD WITH FLOWERS AND TRIPS TO THE THEATRE.

Professor Canter:
He would lead these women on and act the part of the lover, and eventually when he found lost interest in them, or they were going to leave them, and he may feel there was some risk involved in that he'd kill them.

NARRATOR:
IN WINTER 1892, EMELINE CIGRAND DISAPPEARED. HOLMES TOLD OTHER CASTLE TENANTS EMELINE HAD LEFT TO MARRY. BUT EMELINE HAD NO WEDDING. HOLMES GASSED HER TO DEATH BECAUSE SHE WOULDN'T MARRY HIM.

Joe Kozenczak:
The killing was escalating and the need to kill was building day to day. Initially he used the vault to secure large sums of money from other victims but he now is graduated and is using this vault to torture and suffocate an female subject that he was sexually attracted to.

Holmes voice:
The vault would never be again opened until she had ceased to suffer the tortures of a slow and lingering death.

NARRATOR:
NOW THOUSANDS FLOCKED TO CHICAGO FOR THE WORLD'S FAIR. HOLMES HAD ROOMS WAITING. BUT AS THE FAIR OPENED, HOLMES THOUGHT HE'D FOUND AN EVEN A BIGGER MONEY EARNER - A TEXAS HEIRESS ANSWERED HIS AD FOR A TYPIST. MINNIE WILLIAMS WAS A CUT ABOVE HOLMES USUAL VICTIMS. SHE WAS AN ACTRESS AND ELOCUTION TEACHER. BUT SHE WAS HAD SOMETHING EVEN MORE ATTRACTIVE TO HOLMES - $50,000 WORTH OF LAND IN FORT WORTH, TEXAS. BUT THERE WAS A HITCH. MINNIE WILLIAMS HAD A SISTER WHO COULD CLAIM THE FAMILY LAND. HOLMES SWUNG ANOTHER MURDER PLAN INTO ACTION. ON THE FORTH OF JULY HOLIDAY IN 1893, HOLMES PICKED UP MINNIE'S SISTER FROM ENGLEWOOD STATION.

Holmes Voice:
I met her at the depot and took her to the Castle, telling her Miss Minnie Williams was there.

NARRATOR:
THE SISTER WASN'T AT HER DESK. THE VAULT DOOR WAS OPEN. THE MARK OF HOLMES' PERVERSION WAS BURNT INSIDE THE VAULT DOOR.

Joe Kozenczak:
In the process of torturing her certain chemicals were used on her to enhance the torture. The sole of her foot undoubtedly had some type of substance on it that when her foot was probably pushing on the door from inside when she was dying left a foot imprint on the inside of the vault door.

NARRATOR:
HOLMES SAYS HE NOW INVITED MINNIE WILLIAMS ON A TRAIN TRIP.

Holmes voice:
I took Miss Minnie Williams eight miles east of Momence upon a freight line that is little used, and ended her life with poison and buried her body.

Joe Kozenczak:
The wax cylinder confession essentially emphasises the statement about the love he had for his victim.

Holmes voice:
I regret only one murder - and that was of Minnie Williams - because I think I loved her. I love her I love her I loved her.

NARRATOR:
THE RECORDING HINTS AT HOLMES' DRIVING FORCE.

Joe Kozenczak:
It's hard to call it love, but I think it is some format of an obsession

Holmes voice jumps:
One murder, one murder, one murder

NARRATOR:
HOLMES WAS A COMPULSIVE STALKER.

Professor Canter:
Holmes was stalking and obsessed with individual women, he was no longer an individual who had any real human feelings.

Record click: Murder, murder murder.

Barbershop Quartet:
Sunshine Nellie

NARRATOR:
IN 1892, CHICAGO POLICE SET UP A MISSING PERSONS BUREAU TO TRACE HUNDREDS WHO HAD DISAPPEARED IN THE LEAD UP TO WORLD'S FAIR. OVER THE PREVIOUS THREE YEARS HH HOLMES, HAD MURDERED SO MANY VISITORS TO HIS WORLD'S FAIR HOTEL HE HAD A BACKLOG OF BODIES.

Joe Kozenczak:
Sometimes a killer will want to keep the body around for his own fantasy needs.

Barbershop Quartet:
By and bye.

NARRATOR:
POLICE WENT TO SEE HOLMES IN NOVEMBER, 1893, ABOUT MONEY FRAUDS HE'D BEEN PULLING OFF - AND SAW PACKAGES OF HUMAN BODY PARTS WAITING FOR SHIPMENT.

Holmes voice:
They asked me the contents of two small barrels. I gave them some misleading answers. As soon as possible after this, I commenced its destruction by burning.

NARRATOR:
WITH POLICE CLOSING IN ON HIS CORPSE FACTORY, HOLMES SET FIRE TO THE CASTLE'S TOP FLOOR. AND ON NEW YEAR'S DAY, HE FLED CHICAGO WITH HIS COALMAN, BEN PITEZEL TO CASH IN ON THE PROPERTY OF THE MURDER VICTIMS. HOLMES INSURED PITEZEL'S LIFE FOR $10,000 AT THE START OF THIER CROSS COUNTRY TOUR. BENJAMIN PITEZEL'S GREAT GRAND DAUGHTERS PICKED UP THEIR TRAIL FROM CLUES HIDDEN IN FAMILY PAPERS.

Brenda Pitezel:
The plan was for Benjamin to move to Philadelphia open the patent office before there was any quote unquote "death" as part of the insurance scams Benjamin and his family was told that a body was to be substituted for Benjamin's body and it would look like Benjamin died.

NARRATOR:
HOLMES ARRANGED TO MEET PITEZEL IN THE PHILADELPHIA PATENT OFFICE ON SEPTEMBER 2, 1894.

Brenda Pitezel:
What ended up happened is that Holmes actually murdered Benjamin Pitezel. He did not substitute a body. Oh, let's see, this is Holmes confession. "Only one difficulty presented itself. It was necessary for me to kill him. Speaking of Benjamin Pitezel. In such a manner that no struggle or movement of his body should occur.

Holmes Voice:
I overcame this difficulty by first binding him hand and foot and proceeded to burn him alive by saturating his clothing and his face with benzene and igniting it with a match. So horrible was this torture...

Beth Pitezel reads:
So horrible was this torture, his plea for a more speedy termination of his sufferings, had no effect on me. The least I can do is spare my reader a recital of the victims cries for mercy his prayers and final his plea for a more speedy termination of his sufferings all of which upon me had no effect.

Interviewer:
Tell us how you feel reading that.

Beth Pitezel:
It's very upsetting for me. I've never read this before. It's new information. It is very difficult as you can tell.

Brenda:
Because you can picture this going on.

Beth Pitezel:
And this is somebody who was my great grandfather. I might not have known him but his blood runs in my veins.

Brenda:
Just to picture anyone tied up, burned alive chemicals like that screaming, screaming.

Beth:
It just re-enforces basically my hatred for the man.

Brenda:
But to hear the details yeah of Holmes recounting it.

Beth:
That's a lot more upsetting actually (Beth wipes tear) I've never heard it in that so much detail before.

Professor Canter:
Once you are on the roller coaster of killing people, kidnapping them, poisoning them with gases, using acid, your bringing into your web women to exploit and abuse and then to kill, then anything is possible and an individual who is doing all that will be exploring further and further what types of gratification he can get out of the victims he has available to him.