H.H. Holmes | Something Wicked #10
The Three Ravens PodcastPlay episode
Show notes
In our final bonus episode for Series 4, we're exploring the truly wild life and genuinely abominable crimes of H.H. Holmes, America's first serial killer.
Part of the "Something Wicked" series, we start by chatting through how communication technology in the 19th century created a much more anonymous society, one in which a man born Herman Webster Mudgett in New Hampshire could grow up and skip across national borders, and between over a half dozen states, to assume new identities and commit both audacious acts of fraud and ghastly murder sprees for over 20 years without getting caught.
We then discuss the specifics of Mudgett's life, including his multiple marriages, early career selling cadavers, and the journey that brought him to his most infamous hunting ground: Chicago, at the time of the 1893 World's Fair.
From his many wild money-making schemes to the construction of his custom-built 'Murder Castle' into which he lured and dissected his victims - thought to number up to 200 people - we dig into the details. What is actually known about what he did, what is speculated upon, and how the "yellow journalism" of his time made Holmes a folk hero - all before the truth started to emerge about his grisly journey to incarceration and, ultimately, the hangman's noose.
Along the way we'll also be answering important questions, such as, how many wives is too many wives? And how exactly do you build a Murder Castle? But unlike some of our previous Something Wicked subjects, there's no ambiguity about this one: Herman Mudgett was an extraordinarily evil man, and to discover quite how evil then do be sure to gather round the campfire and listen in...
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Three Ravens is a completely independent English myth and folklore podcast where we share stories, celebrate folk culture, and fall backwards through the hedgerows of history.
Hosted by real-life couple Eleanor Conlon and Martin Vaux, and mostly recorded at our home in rural Sussex in southern England, Three Ravens is rated 4.8/5 from over 500 reviews and has grown by word of mouth care of our lovely listener community ‘The Conspiracy of Ravens.’
We release three episodes a week, on Mondays, Thursday and Saturdays, through which we explore folktales, folkways, fairy stories, folk songs, mythology, local heritage, seasonal customs and traditional beliefs.
Our research inspires our retellings of stories from across history and culture, with episodes standing alone but connected together across over 500 chatty, mostly light-hearted, swear-free installments driven by passion, kindness and curiosity.
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