By MAKENZIE EMBRY
Sheridan High School Student
The Sheridan Student Column is brought to readers by Sheridan High School’s 10th grade English class, taught by Abby Williams.
After a long drive or a day away from home, a hotel is the perfect place to stay. Fairly affordable, hotels are a home away from home! But what if the hotel you were staying in was booby-trapped?
This was a shocking reality for the victims of H. H. Holmes’ “murder castle,” who were not warned of the dangers inside. They didn’t know until it was too late.
Holmes’ original name was Herman Webster Mudgett. He was born in New Hampshire in 1861, according to history.com. He had a family – a wife and two children – soon abandoning them to move to Illinois, where he changed his name to H. H. Holmes. A while after, he got a job at a pharmacy near his new home. He eventually became the owner of the tiny shop and began building a castle-like structure which would soon be titled the “murder castle.”
Holmes built the castle with soundproof rooms, secret passageways, and a disorienting maze of hallways and stairs. There were trap doors in the guest rooms so he could drop the victims down to the basement, where he did unspeakable things to them. He is said to have killed over 200 people, but the exact number is not known. Holmes killed his assistant and two of his children, soon running away with his wife while living off his assistant’s insurance money.
Holmes was arrested because the police found one of the child’s bodies. He admitted to killing children and many people; however, he was only “charged” for killing one child, since there was no proof of other killings. He dissolved his victims’ bodies in acid, leading to many victims being unnamed. There are many people who will never be identified, for there were barely any remains. Another way he got rid of his victims was by putting them through a crematorium, meaning they were burned to ash. Little to no evidence of these crimes remained. Holmes could not be prosecuted without this evidence.
Holmes had a choice, and he chose to create a labyrinth to torture people. It was like a thirst or hunger for killing people he could not explain. Killing his assistant’s children led to the discovery of one of their bodies, leading to his arrest, then to his death.
Next time you check into a hotel, do some research on the backstory of it. You might find something creepy or something cool!