Erick Larson wrote in Devil in the White City, “I was born with the devil in me. I could not help the fact that I was a murderer, no more than the poet can help the inspiration to sing – I was born with the Evil One standing as my sponsor beside the bed where I was ushered in the world, and he has been with me since” (Troy, Taylor). This statement was a quoted confession from Dr. H. H. Holmes himself in 1896. Holmes was the first major serial killer in America, even though he came after many others in his time. Thomas Neil Cream, the Austin Axe Murderer, the Bloody Benders, and Jack the Ripper came before him. His name was originally Herman Webster Mudgett. He was born on May 16th, 1860 in Gilman, New Hampshire. He was raised by his mother and father, who was a wealthy and respected citizen for 25 years. As a boy, Mudgett was always in trouble and was well known in his community for his rather sociopathic behavior. He would show cruelty to both animals and other children. The only thing keeping hope to society was the fact that he was an excellent student. He later changed his last name to Holmes in order to pursue both his medical and criminal careers. He had many other aliases in which he would hide under and try to derail the cops from finding him (Juan, Blanco). Holmes was medically trained to be a doctor and received his degree from the University of Michigan. He was not just into insurance fraud scams. His evil doings included forgery, claiming to find the cure for alcoholism, real estate scams, and pretending to have a machine that turned natural gas into water. He was quite the ladies man, had many wives, whom often had become his victims. Many of his medical partners became subject to him, also. He once even had three wiv...
... middle of paper ...
...oday.com." ExecutedToday.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Mar. 2014.
McCormack, Simon. "H.H. Holmes Was Jack The Ripper? Great-Great-Great-Grandson Of Chicago Serial Killer Floats Theory." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 03 Dec. 2012. Web. 03 Mar. 2014.
Pickover, Cliff. "The Scales of Good and Evil." The Scales of Good and Evil. N.p., 2002. Web. 03 Mar. 2014.
Larson, Erick. The Devil in the White City. New York, NY: Crown, 2003. Print.
Russell, Z. "H.H. Holmes: America's First Serial Killer." H.H. Holmes: America's First Serial Killer. WordPress, 29 Nov. 2011. Web. 03 Mar. 2014.
Taylor, Troy. “MURDER CASTLE OF H.H. HOLMES! EXCERPT FROM “HAUNTED CHICAGO” “MURDER CASTLE OF H.H. HOLMES! EXCERPT FROM "HAUNTED CHICAGO” N.p., 2003. Web. 03 Mar. 2014.
Woody, Kaitlin. "H.H. Holmes (Herman Mudgett) Trial.” H.H. Holmes (Herman Mudgett) Trial. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Mar. 2014.
In fact, there was such a multitude of faults that “at night the lights and the infilling darkness served to mask the exposition’s many flaws” (254-255). This statement is extremely ironic to the beliefs of good versus evil, also mentioned as light versus dark. The fact that the darkness, or the evil, hides the flaws of the exposition serves to explain how darkness and immorality is needed to succeed in something as ambitious as the World’s Fair. Larson proves to his audience how momentous figures and events could not be possible without a lack of morality. Likewise, with this ironic statement, he demonstrates how said immorality is dismissed by the public. Irony is also used to convey the true nature of men as opposed to how they let themselves be perceived. Through the entirety of the book, Holmes is a metaphor for such irony. He is described in every scene in which he is present as “charming” and “warm,” but in reality he was a sociopathic serial killer. Others saw him only the way he presented himself, which was approachable, for he kept all of the darkness that festered inside of him hidden. To elaborate on Holme’s manipulative ways, Larson tells a specific story of Holmes taking two children to Indianapolis. When he bought an apartment, he requested help to set up a large wood stove in the house. When asked why he
Robert Lee Yates is an American serial killer and he is from Spokane, Washington. He is also known as the Spokane serial killer. He was born May 27th, 1952. Yates is known to have murdered at least 13 women who were prostitutes working on Spokane’s skid row. After being convicted, Yates additionally admitted to two homicides that he did commit in Walla Walla, Washington in 1975 and a 1988 homicide that he committed in Skagit County, Washington. In 2002, Yates was indicted for murdering two women in Pierce County, Washington. He is currently serving his sentence on death row at Washington State Penitentiary.
A serial killer is a person who murders three or more people over a period of more than 30 days, with a "cooling off" period between each murder, and whose motivation for killing is largely based on psychological gratification. Most people do not understand what can make a person want to kill multiple people for no reason other than own satisfactional gain. In actuality serial killers have been studied for over hundreds of years, and the information that has been documented continues to grow. The research that I have gathered about serial killers focuses on their childhood development, the differences and similarities between men and female serial kills, and finally general information on how their brains operate and their motives for committing such harmful acts.
Vronsky, Peter. Serial Killers: The Method and Madness of Monsters. New York: Berkley, 2004. Print.
Serial murder is defined by the National Institute of Justice as a "series of two or more murders, committed as separate events, usually but not always, by one offender acting alone. The crimes may occur over a period of time ranging from hours to years. Quite often the motive is psychological, and the offender's behavior and the physical evidence observed at the crime scenes will reflect sadistic, sexual overtones." This definition perfectly describes serial killer Albert Fish.
Serial murder, which is defined as “the unlawful killing of two or more victims, by the same offenders, in separate events”(Lubaszka & Shon, 2013, p. 1), is a term that American society has become quite familiar with. At a ripe age, parents begin teaching their children not to talk to strangers in hopes of shielding them from the potential evil our world has to offer, but what if I told you the serial killer may not always be the scary man driving a van and offering candy? Our society, like it does most things, has placed a stigma upon serial killers. Although not all implied labels are untrue, this stigma makes us vulnerable to the hidden deviance lurking behind us, dressed in sheep’s clothing. Over the course of this analysis, I will discuss and elaborate on Christine Lubaszka and Phillip Shon’s work, “The notion of victim selection, risk, and offender behavior in healthcare serial murders”. My evaluation will consists of a thorough description of Lubaszka and Shon’s article, followed by a brief critic explaining how their work relates to other forms of deviance, social control, and the material studied in this course, as well as stating a few of the drawbacks and benefits of the authors’ work and suggestions for future researchers.
A horrific crime was committed in 2012 in Aurora, Colorado. A 27 year old man by the name of James Holmes walked into a movie theater and brutally shot at the crowd, killing 12 and wounding an astounding 70 people. Holmes had plenty of ammunition to continue his deranged killing spree but luckily his gun jammed and he surrendered and was arrested shortly after. James Holmes appeared in court and tried to justify his actions by saying he has a mental illness and brought forth witness saying he is a sweet and academically gifted child. In the end the jury and judge didn’t believe it, or just didn’t care, and found him guilty which landed him with 3,318 plus years, or one life sentence for every person he had killed. There was massive amounts
2011. “Serial Killers and Mass Murderers.” American Decades. Ed. Judith S. Baughman, et al. Vol. 9:
Herman Webster Mudgett, aka Dr. Henry Howard Holmes, was one of America’s first noted serial murders, also known as "America's first serial killer". In addition to murder, Holmes enjoyed performing extreme forms of torture and mutilation on those he lured into traps. He is perhaps best known for what would later be dubbed the Murder Castle, a two-story hotel designed by Holmes with numerous trap doors, hidden passages, and torture chambers. Many have looked for what could have led to his later gruesome atrocities and have found few answers. However as is often the case with serial killers, the childhood of Holmes was shaped by physical abuse, difficulties in socializing with his fellow peers, and cruelty towards animals. The
The Boston Strangler was probably the most notorious criminal that Boston, Massachusetts has ever known. But who was the Boston Strangler? Was he Albert DeSalvo, the person who confessed and went to jail for these crimes? Is he someone that took his secret to the grave and let an innocent man take the blame for his crime? Or is he still walking the streets of Boston, or even the streets of another city?
When it come to the wrongdoing of serial murders the first thing people think of is that the offender is psychotic, white, abused as a child and experimented with animals. However that is not true, serial killers have different alternatives, motives and desires. Some are sexual sadist, act in necrophilia and are mission base serial killers. However people do not know that African-Americans consist of the largest racial minority group among serial killers, representing approximately 20 percent of the total amount of serial killers in America. (Bonn) Most believe that serial killers are white and other races are not likely to partake in that type of crimes. However two notorious well known black serial killers are Lemuel Smith & John Floyd
middle of paper ... ..." How Serial Killers Work" 02 October 2007. HowStuffWorks.com - HowStuffWorks.com. http://people.howstuffworks.com/serial-killer.htm>
Throughout history, America has been the home of serial killers, with more than 2,000 throughout history. In this country, America has encountered many different kinds of these sick people. One of the most infamous serial killers throughout American History was Theodore Robert Bundy, also known as Ted Bundy. On November 24, 1946, in Burlington, Vermont, Theodore Robert Bundy was born. When people think of serial killers, they usually see a dirty, insane looking person that would stand out from the average person. In Bundy’s case it was very different. Ted was a very smart individual who had attended 5 different colleges throughout the United States, studying law and eventually getting his degree in psychology at the University of Washington. Bundy was a very handsome and charming man, unlike most other serial killers. Looking helpless and using his good looks, Bundy was able to lure his victims and would knock them unconscious with an object such as a crowbar or a pipe, then would handcuff them inside his car. Once the victims were under his control he would then proceed in kidnapping, raping, sodomizing, and eventually killing them in very harsh ways. Throughout the 70’s, he raped and murdered young women all across the country. Bundy was said to be connected to at least 36 murders, and suspected to have committed one hundred or more.
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 ...
Serial murder as defined by the FBI is, “[t]he unlawful killing of two or more victims by the same offender(s), in separate events" (Morton Robert J. Ed, & Hilts., Ed, 2005, p. 9). Numerous people disagree with the definition, this researcher included, since it lacks the cool- down period after they murder, which various people feel stands necessary for serial killer status. Serial killers remain a rare phenomenon. The FBI states, serial murder accounts for less than one percent of killings per year (Morton Robert J. Ed, & Hilts., Ed, 2005, p. 2). Nevertheless, throughout the years, countless people have researched serial killers since they commit such heinous crimes. Criminologists and researchers have been attempting to identify various