Through early America, violent death in an urban area was very common. It ranged from disputes between friends, family, lovers, money and gangs. The case of H.H. Holmes was different however. He was first born Herman Mudgett and later to be known by H.H. Holmes. The name H.H. Holmes would be known as one of America 's earliest serial killers. Many wonder if the man was born predestined to commit such crimes. Not as some cruel act of God, but rather a mental disorder. Mudgett himself states “I couldn 't help the fact that I was a murderer nor more than the poet has the inspiration to sing”. However, I , along with other believe that while he was indeed a sociopath, (the ability to interact with others normally, however behaves in a dangerous and violent nature and does not feel any remorse) it was his upbringing that nurtured Mudgett to become the brute H.H. Holmes.
His parents were devout Methodist and demanded complete obedience from him. He was abused as a child by his father. To escape the everyday struggles at home, Mudgett would seek refuge in the woods. It was common for him to see the remains of soldiers and battle graves that derived from the civil war which officially ended in 1865. While in the woods, he would perform dissections on animals, dead and alive. This abuse of animals was clearly his way of coping with his abuse from his father.
The civil war also called for a desperate need for better medical care, such as physicians and pharmacist. Human skeletons that were typically seen as sacred, were now being displayed in doctors ' offices. It is here where young Mudgett became truly fascinated with the human body.
Mudgett’s fascination with the human anatomy along with his skills using a scalpel. ...
... middle of paper ...
...e felt helpless. It is quite tenable that because he grew up in an affluent family, the belief that those who had the money contained the power. It was this idea that nourished his insurance scams, not a matter of needing the money. Although he got rid of people during the construction to retain many of its mysteries, the accomplishment of saving a great deal of money promoted the idea that he held the power. It also helps to implant his skills of manipulation. When his thirst for power and urge for manipulation finally met he began his killing spree.
In each course of action Mudgett would push his boundaries, seeking more power until it led into a new action. Herman Mudgett was a very intelligent man. He was far from displaying neolithic actions, however he is impeccable on his presentation as a sociopath. Dr. H.H. Holmes was made, he was not born.
The book ‘For Cause and Comrades’ is a journey to comprehend why the soldiers in the Civil War fought, why they fought so passionately, and why they fought for the long period of time. Men were pulling guns against other men who they had known their whole lives. McPherson’s main source of evidence was the many letters from the soldiers writing to home. One of the many significant influences was how the men fought to prove their masculinity and courage. To fight would prove they were a man to their community and country. Fighting also had to do with a duty to their family. Ideology was also a major motivating factor; each side thought they were fighting for their liberty. The soldier’s reputations were created and demolished on the battlefield, where men who showed the most courage were the most honored. Religion also played an important role because the second Great Awakening had just occurred. Their religion caused the men who thought of themselves as saved to be fearless of death, “Religion was the only thing that kept this soldier going; even in the trenches…” (McPherson, p. 76) R...
In late October of 2015, Mrs. Holmes filed for divorce against Anthony Holmes. The couple has been living together for seventeen years and married for fourteen. Two years prior to the marriage of the couple, Mr. Holmes began a now successful computer business which generates about $2.2 million in annual income. Two weeks ago, a prior administrative assistant sued Mr. Holmes for child support, claiming he is the father of her nine month old son. Mr. Holmes has denied the claims and says that she has been married for five years. Mr. Holmes has two minor children of his own with Mrs. Holmes. The situation of the case is that Mrs. Holmes is asking the court for custody of the children, spousal and child support and ½ of all of the property they
These two men, both coming from different backgrounds, joined together and carried out a terrible choice that rendered consequences far worse than they imagined. Living under abuse, Perry Smith never obtained the necessary integrity to be able to pause and consider how his actions might affect other people. He matured into a man who acts before he thinks, all due to the suffering he endured as a child. Exposed to a violent father who did not instill basic teachings of life, Smith knew nothing but anger and misconduct as a means of responding to the world. He knew no other life. Without exposure to proper behavior or responsible conduct, he turned into a monster capable of killing an entire family without a blink of remorse. In the heat of the moment, Perry Smith slaughtered the Clutter family and barely stopped to take a breath. What could drive a man to do this in such cold blood? The answer lies within his upbringing, and how his childhood experiences shaped him to become the murderer of a small family in Holcomb, Kansas. ¨The hypothesis of unconscious motivation explains why the murderers perceived innocuous and relatively unknown victims as provocative and thereby suitable targets for aggression.¨ (Capote 191). ¨But it is Dr. Statten´s contention that only the first murder matters psychologically, and that when
Simon, Robert I. "Serial Killers, Evil, And Us." National Forum 80.4 (2000): 23. MasterFILE Premier. Web. 10 Mar. 2014.
The case of whether serial killers are born with the lust to kill or if they are truly victims of their environment has been a hot debated question by both psychologists and the FBI today. A serial killer is traditionally defined as one that kills 3 or more people at different times with “cooling off” periods in between kills. Both psychological abuse as a child and psychological disorders are to blame for the making of a killer. The nature vs. nurture debate is best applied to the mysterious behaviors and cases of serial killers and their upbringing and environment. Nature is the genetic and biological connections a person has, personality traits, and how genetic make-up all relates to a killer. Nurture is examining the upbringing and environment that a person is around that affects what a person becomes. In some cases however, the effects of only upbringing or only biological problems were the reasons certain serial killers committed crimes. Although there is no definitive answer to what plays the bigger role: nature or nurture, they both are contributing factors that make a serial killer. These deviants of society are afflicted with problems in either their upbringing or have psychological disorders, and are able to blend into our everyday lives with no apparent differences, yet they wreck havoc through their unremorseful killings.
On August 11, 1896, H.H Holmes stated, “I was born with the devil in me.” What he means that he was born with the sole purpose to kill. Some serial killers have similarities in their techniques, including Gary Ridgway and H.H. Holmes.
This chapter of The Justice Professional discusses the antisocial personality disorder that many serial killers encompass. It describes the different types of serial killers that include the visionary sadistic killer, mission-oriented sadistic killer, hedonistic sadistic killer, control-oriented sadistic killer and the predatory sadistic killer. Similarities in murder cases that link serial killers together is a large portion of this chapter that also talks about childhood struggles and the development of irregular sexual behaviour. It was found that the antisocial personality
The sight of a woman's decapitated body in a shed, hung upside down by ropes at her wrists, with a crossbar at her ankles were merely just a glance of the bigger picture. There were wastebasket made of human skin, bowls made from human skulls, leggings made from human leg skin, and masks made from females heads. This is the home of famous murder and body snatcher, Ed Gein. His case was unique, he didn’t murder in anger, revenge, or financial plesaure but on the emptiness left by his mother. The one question that dwells on every psychologists, criminologists, and scientists mind is whether killers like him were born with these genes that plays a crucial part in creating their homicidal tendencies or do psychokillers become murderous through their surroundings as children.
Countless serial killers have had an abnormal childhood; many people believe this is where the catalyst of events starts. It is proven, that more often than not, serial killers have either lived in an inhabitable home, had lackadaisical parents, or could have a different frame of mind. This being said, when one hears about mass murderers or serial killers, the first question that pops into a person’s head is, “What were they thinking?” For all a person knows, this could be the killer’s normalcy.
Harold Shipman is known as one of Britain’s worst serial killers. Over twenty-five years it is suspected he killed 251 individuals while working as a medical doctor (“Harold Shipman”, n.d., para 1). Shipman had been injecting fatal amounts of poison into their bodies (para. 1). Shipman’s actions and why he acted in this manner can be explained from the sociological perspective and psychological perspective. The sociological perspective examines factors including social setting, level of education and positive or negative role models in a person’s life (Pozzulo, Bennell & Forth, 2015, p.338-341). The psychological perspective examines colorations between an individual’s mental process, their behaviour, their learning process and traits an individual
The lives we live today greatly mirror our childhood. Adverse events taken place in one’s childhood often reflects poorly upon an individual's adult life but not all people who have had an atrocious childhood feel urged to kill. So why do serial killers exist? Throughout the lives of three very horrifying serial killers Jeffrey Dahmer, Ted Bundy and Edmund Kemper have proved individually that humans are nurtured into developing an antisocial personality.
...mes’ lifestyle. Holmes, throughout his life was a criminal. Holmes desire to murder people was believed to come from from his desensitized feeling about dead bodies. This was due to his medical career. As mentioned earlier, when Holmes was in medical school, he had many dealings with cadavers and was very familiar with them. Later, when he began killing he did not look at the bodies as human beings, but as material or later, cash money. This relationship between crime and deviance is mainly why I choose this book. I feel that H. H. Holmes, although Holmes was a strange and demented man, was very successful. This success questions what makes people successful: is it your status, education, or was it his determination?
It wasn’t just Holmes who suffered though, Patrick Prendergast was another man who appeared to psychopathic because of
Serial killers are everywhere! Well, perhaps not in our neighborhood, but on our television screens, at the movie theaters, and in rows and rows of books at our local Borders or Barnes and Nobles Booksellers” (Brown). When people think of serial killers, names such as Dahmer, Gacy, Bundy, and Gein are cited. During the time Jack the Ripper was executing his victims in London, Holmes began his gruesome career in Chicago (America’s Serial Killers). “Despite being America’s first serial killer, Holmes is hardly a familiar name and until now we haven’t had any popular visual record of his crimes: (Spikol). Why is it that people only think of the more popular killers with higher known profiles? They are all very similar to one another because they share characteristics. H.H. Holmes was a successful serial killer because he was well educated, cunning and charming. Those are just a few traits Holmes ...
From the start Watson is seen as smart but Holmes is seen as a genius.After finding the mysterious walking stick Watson tells Holmes what he observes and Holmes replies with “Really Watson,you excel yourself,”said Holmes(Doyle 2).Sherlock Holmes is seen as the type of man that thinks he is higher than anyone else.Although Holmes blatantly tel...