H.H. Holmes
'In 1887, a druggist was a chemist and most drugstores were rather crowded places that were stocked with all manner of elixirs and potions. When Dr. H. H. Holmes compounded even the simplest prescription, he did so with a flourish, as if he were an alchemist in the midst of some arcane ritual. His long, pale fingers moved with a surgeon’s skill, his handsome face grew intense and his blue eyes grew bright. But he was no means a socially inept scientist, he was a gentleman of fashion and charming of manner. His politeness and humorous remarks brought many new customers into the drug store, especially the ladies in the neighborhood. In addition, he kept a sharp eye on the account books as well and was concerned with the profit the store was making. He was, in short, the perfect assistant to the proprietress.
'It was not long before Holmes seemed to be more the manager of the store and less the prescription clerk. He began to spend more and more time working with the ledgers and chatting pleasantly with the ladies who came into the place, some of whom took a very long time to make a very small purchase. Dr. Holmes became a familiar figure as he strolled with his stick down 63rd Street, the main thoroughfare of Englewood. He appeared to be heading for a leading position in the local business community.
'Trade at the drug store continued to improve, making Mrs. Dr. Holden exceedingly happy. But as for Holmes, he was still not satisfied with his lot and he had many plans and visions that drove him onward. Strangely, in 1887, Mrs. Dr. Holden vanished without a trace. A short time after, Holmes announced that he had purchased the store from the widow, just prior to her "moving out west". The unfortunate lady had (not surprisingly) left no forwarding address.
'Two years later, he acquired a large lot across the street from the drug store and began construction on an enormous edifice that he planned to operate as a hotel for the upcoming Columbian Exposition in 1893. There are no records to say what Holmes decided to call this building but for generations of police officers, crime enthusiasts and unnerved residents of Englewood, it was known simply by one name -- "The Murder Castle".
The Murder Castle
'The building was an imposing structure of three stories and a basement, with false battlements and wooden bay windows that were covered with sheet iron. There were over 60 rooms in the structure and 51 doors that were cut oddly into various walls. Holmes acted as his own architect for the place and he personally supervised the numerous construction crews, all of whom were quickly hired and fired, discharging them with great fury and refusing to pay their wages. As far as the police were able to learn, he never paid a cent for any of the materials that went into the building. In addition to the eccentric general design, the house was also fitted with trap doors, hidden staircases, secret passages, rooms without windows, chutes that led into the basement and a staircase that opened out over a steep drop to the alley behind the house.
'The first floor of the building contained stores and shops, while the upper floors could be used for spacious living quarters. Holmes also had an office on the second floor, but most of the rooms were to be used for guests -- guests that would never be seen again. Evidence would later be found to show that Holmes used some of the rooms as "asphyxiation chambers", where his victims were suffocated with gas. Other chambers were lined with iron plates and had blowtorch-like devices fitted into the walls. In the basement, Holmes installed a dissecting table and maintained his own crematory. There was also an acid vat and pits filled with quicklime, where bodies could be conveniently disposed of.
'All of his "prison rooms" were fitted with alarms that buzzed in Holmes’ quarters if a victim attempted to escape. It has come to be believed that many of his victims were held captive for months before their deaths.
'The castle was completed in 1892 and soon after, Holmes announced that he planned to rent out some of the rooms to tourists who would be arriving in mass for the upcoming Columbian Exposition. It is surmised that many of these tourists never returned home after the fair, but no one knows for sure. The list of the "missing" when the Fair closed was a long one and for most, foul play was suspected. How many of them fell prey to Holmes is a mystery but no fewer than 50 people who were reported to the police as missing were traced to the place. Here, their trails ended…
Exposed
'Eventually, Holmes was arrested for murder, and the door was open for Chicago detectives to search Holmes’ residence in the Windy City. Holmes had struck them as a complicated, secretive man, and they were sure that the remaining answers that they were seeking could be found inside of the Castle. Several police officers entered the place -- and neither they nor the veteran investigators who soon joined them would ever forget what they found there!
'Detectives devoted several weeks to searching and making a floor plan of the Castle. The bottom floor had been used by Holmes himself as a drug store, a candy store, a restaurant and a jewelry store. The third floor of the building had been divided into small apartments and guest rooms and apparently, had never been used.
'The second floor however proved to be a labyrinth of narrow, winding passages with doors that opened to brick walls, hidden stairways, cleverly concealed doors, blind hallways, secret panels, hidden passages and a clandestine vault that was only a big enough for a person to stand in. The room was alleged to be a homemade "gas chamber", equipped with a chute that would carry a body directly into the basement. The investigators suddenly realized the implications of the iron-plated chamber when they found the single, scuffed mark of a footprint on the inside of the door. It was a small print that had been made by a woman who had attempted to escape the grim fate of the tiny room.
'In addition to all of the bizarre additions to the floor, the second level also held 35 guest rooms. Half of them were fitted as ordinary sleeping chambers, and there were indications that they had been occupied by the various women who worked for Holmes, by tenants during the Fair or by the luckless females Holmes had seduced while waiting for an opportunity to kill them. Several of the other rooms were without windows or could be made air tight by closing the doors. Others were lined with sheet iron and asbestos with scorch marks on the walls, fitted with trap doors that led to smaller rooms beneath, or were equipped with lethal gas jets that could be used to suffocate or burn the unsuspecting occupants.
'This floor also contained Holmes’ private apartment, consisting of a bedroom, a bath and two small chambers that were used as offices. The apartment was located at the front of the building, looking out over 63rd Street. In the floor of the bathroom, concealed under a heavy rug, the police found a trap door and a stairway that descended to a room about eight feet square. Two doors led off this chamber, one to a stairway that exited out onto the street and the other giving access to the chute that led down to the basement.
'The "chamber of horrors" in the basement stunned the men even further. This subterranean chamber was located seven feet below the rest of the building and extended out under the sidewalk in front. Here, they found Holmes’ blood-spattered dissecting table, his gleaming surgical instruments, his macabre "laboratory" of torture devices, various jars of poison and even a wooden box that contained a number of female skeletons. Built into one of the walls was a crematorium, with a heavy iron grate to hold the fire and another grate, fitted with rollers, by which a body could be slid into the flames. The crematoriums still contained ash and portions of bone that had not burned in the intense heat. A search of the ashes also revealed a watch that had belonged to a known missing child, some buttons from a dress and several charred tintype photographs. Under the staircase, they also found a ball made from women’s hair that had been carefully wrapped in cloth.
'Buried in the floor, the police found a huge vat of corrosive acid and two quicklime pits, which were capable of devouring an entire body in a matter of hours. A loose pile of quicklime was also discovered in a small room that had been built into the corner. The naked footprint of woman was found embedded in the pile. In a hole in the middle of the floor, more bones were found. After being examined by a physician, they were believed to be the bones of a small child between the ages of six and eight.
'On July 20, some city workers began excavating the cellar and started a tunnel underneath 63rd Street. The hazy smell of gas hung in the air and as the men tore away one wall, they discovered a large tank or metal-lined chamber. As soon as they broke through, the basement was filled with the stench of death, driving the crew back. Noting the metal lining of the tank, they sent for a plumber and he struck a match to peer inside of it. Suddenly, the tank exploded, shaking the building and sending flames out into the basement. The men were buried in piles of debris but no one was seriously injured. The tank was lined with wood and metal and was 14 feet long, although thanks to the explosion, no one will ever know that it was used for. The only clue in the room was a small box that was found in its center. When it was opened by Fire Marshal James Kenyon, an "evil smelling" vapor rushed out. The gathered men ran, except for Kenyon, who was overpowered by the stench. According to the New York World, "he was dragged out and carried upstairs, and for two hours acted like one demented."
The End
'Following the excavation, and the discovery and cataloguing of Holmes’ potential victims, the "Murder Castle" (as it came to be called) sat empty for several months. Not surprisingly, it drew onlookers and curiosity-seekers from all over the city. The newspapers were not yet filled with stories and illustrations about Holmes’ devious crimes but rumors had quickly spread about what had been discovered there. The people of Chicago were stunned that such things could take place -- and in their glorious city! The people of the Englewood neighborhood watched the sightseers with a combination of fear and loathing, sickened over the terrible things that brought the crowds to their streets.
'Then, on August 19, the Castle burned to the ground. Three explosions thundered through the neighborhood just after midnight and minutes later, a blaze erupted from the abandoned structure. In less than an hour, the roof had caved in and the walls began to collapse in onto themselves. A gas can was discovered among the smoldering ruins and rumors argued back and forth between an accomplice of Holmes’ burning down the house to hide his role in the horror and the arson being committed by an outraged neighbor. The mystery was never solved, but regardless, the Castle was gone for good.' -- collaged from various sources
The site of the Murder Castle today
Extra, extra
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p.s. Hey. ** David Ehrenstein, Morning, David. I googled Ben Whishaw. I recognize him, although I can't remember what I've seen him in. I still haven't seen 'I'm Not There', bizarrely. Well, ha ha, I'll surprise you by saying he's not really my type, or not exactly. Not based on photos anyway. Strange. That article on the queer and homeless in LA was an eye-opener. Thank you. Everyone, courtesy of David Ehrenstein, here's a surprising (to me at least) article from the LA Times called 'Gay and homeless: In plain sight, a largely hidden population'. Worth a read, if the headline interests you. ** Jax, Hey, pal. The novel's called 'The Marbled Swarm'. That's been its title from virtually the beginning. Gisele's and my new project is a theater piece/ interactive installation -- a large, narrative, kind of elaborate labyrinth one will walk through and which will be both spooky house-like and videogame-like. No live actors, but very sophisticated lifesize robotic dolls/ mannequins and lots of sounds/ effects will be the performers. We're in the early development stages. We're looking at the latest blueprint of the maze structure tonight, in fact. It's being designed by a French architect/ videogame aficionado. Congrats on the acceptance of the story into that anthology! That's very welcome news! I hope the full-length eBook gets the green light. And your theater piece, ... very interesting! Obviously, huge thumbs up on that from me. I'll be fascinated to hear more. You're a bundle of excitement, mister. I'm just starting to read things and listen closely to things again after the lengthy novel break. Our snow's long gone, and none is in the forecast, which is a bit melancholy-making. Anyway, thanks a lot for the great report, Jack. Yeah, I want to hear a lot more about all that stuff. ** Carles, Hey, welcome, and thank you for being here. No, my French is way too weak to be able to read literature in French, unfortunately. I'll ask around among my French friends about Quiriny and about book. Thanks for the tip. I like your top ten films list on your blog. My list-in-progress and yours share quite a number of the same films. Pleasure to have you here. Please come back any time. ** Oscar B, Freedom feels ... vaguely lazy so far, ha ha. But that changes today. I'll call you in a while. I love, love, love your video! ** Bernard Welt, Thank you, B. You're not too shabby on the hard working front yourself. Yes, that is Mr. Goicolea on Lonely Christopher's cover indeed. ** BLAKE BUTLER, Hey, Blake! Lovely to see you, man. Thanks re: you-know-what. I'm waiting on my agent's review. I think this novel is going to have a very tough time, but we'll see. You good? You must be. Talk soon, yeah? That would be awesome. ** Sypha, Hope you're feeling better by now. Oh, got the email/ amazing post. It's set up, and I'll write to you with the launch date today or tomorrow. Thanks so much! ** Colin, Thanks, C. Yeah, those poems were nice, right? In CJC's antho. Do you know this book of poems 'Ghost Machine' by Ben Mirov? I just read it and was pretty knocked out. ** Bill, Hi, B. I never read 'Perfume', and I'm guessing I should read it before seeing it (the film). Yeah, maybe it's my morning mood, but Whishaw doesn't blow my mind. Something about his face. I don't know. Hm. ** Oliver, Are the protests over? I haven't seen anything newer. I guess they couldn't go on and on like that, but ... ** L@rstonovich, Did I miss your congrats? Oh, gee, thanks in .. abeyance? That's not the right word. New Geese! Or new The Geese! That sounds more awkward, though. I'll be all over that later. Everyone, the very fine fella L@rstonich does many things splendidly, and one of them is music, and one of his musical endeavors is the unit The Geese, and ... 'I made a video for one of our old songs tonight, it was fun, just chopped up an old silent western. here.' Go watch that, guys. ** Bollo, Hey, man! Good to see you! Busy, I reckoned that to be the case, considering everything. Thanks for the alert to the photos of that show. The show looks pretty cool. Your pieces are awesome. Love 'Lonely'. (And is that a red 'sold' dot I see beneath it?) Everyone, d.l. Bollo aka the stupendous artist Jonathan Mayhew, was in a group show called 'Made on Mondays' just recently, and evidence of the show and his contributions is on his blog, and a simple click will get you there like *snap*. MIA and Dead Can Dance is one trippy combo, man. There are a bunch of super fancy Buche de Noels this year. I had to be picky. And I ended up ordering two. One by Christian Lacroix and the other by the acknowledged genius designer of Buches, Christophe Michalak. Photos forthcoming. Oh, make a Buche, man, please. I must see this. Not first draft, final draft, even better. ** Brendan, Hey. Oh, so PM was a grumbly kind of prof. And he didn't get you. That's unfortunate, for him, really, since you ended up being you and wonderfully so. Buried bodies: nice clue. I think I vaguely get it, but we'll see. It seems like I'll probably catch at least one of your shows. I'll try to time a May visit if I can. Minimalist sculpture, cool. I used to be really, really into Tuttle. And then something happened in his work that I wasn't so interested in, but I haven't checked in on his stuff in a while. But, yeah, I think his work pre-00s, at least, is kind of sublime. Interesting guy for you to be interested in, true. ** Tomkendall, Thanks, Tom. You'll get that momentum back within a week at most, I reckon. March would be very cool. Man, really, really looking forward to reading yours, let me tell you. ** David, I saw that implosion footage on the news. Wowzer. ** Thomas Moronic, Well, I'll be here if you end up needing some freezing French air at New Years. Best freezing air out there. I spent my weekend kind of adjusting to not having something in-progress, mostly. It was relaxing-ish. Hope your weekend was chill in the good way. ** _Black_Acrylic, Hey. Hope that plumber comes round and gets that wrong righted, man. ** Ken Baumann, Ken! You did? I mean you emailed me 'Solip'? Oh, thank you, man. I need it. I'll dig into that pre-post-haste. Wait, post-post-haste? Whichever makes the most sense and indicates the greater speediness. I think I'm going to go for the new Donkey Kong, as far as the Wii goes, and, mm, maybe the last Zelda game for the DS. New Sator book? Wow, I don't think I know what it is, do I? Exciting! And the new New Colony, naturally. Congrats on nailing that tough last episode acting challenge. Are tears involved? You probably can't say. When I think tough acting job, I think tears. I guess dying would be tough too. But I'm sure 'you' didn't die. Unless ... it was in a dream sequence! Ah-ha! ** Steevee, Hey, man. Thanks a lot for your lists. You know I love lists, not to mention yours. I'm working on mine right now. You have TA at #1. That's pretty interesting. Vampire Weekend, really? I haven't heard the last one. Okay, I will. ** Chris Cochrane, Sounds like hanging out was a perfect way to go. The demo mixing will outlive the break. I'm glad the very sad occasion was sweet and memorable, man. ** Trees, Hey. Epic cum shot. Without off-camera mayonnaise hurling, I'm guessing. Yeah, alert me when the clip is up. Such a triumph needs to be shared. Oh, Margaret Tedesco ... I think I've met her. I can't remember. She's cool, and a look into McDowell's stuff would be amazing, obviously. ** Andrew, Dude, New Mac over new sewing machine, no? That decision seems really easy. No? ** Chilly Jay Chill, Hey, Jeff! Thanks a million and a half for the post. Honored, I am. Best of everything with the play rehearsals, and I look forward to hearing about it, for sure. ** Alan, Hey, man. Oh, I think I've got a pretty good bead on where you're moving now. Are you trying to sublet your current place? Is your current landlord the type that comes on the property and notices/cares who exactly is living there? ** Paul Curran, Hi, Paul. Yeah, I would say the final version ended up as I'd originally planned and hoped. Better than, quite possibly. The last section worked out just fine. It was just left in a more raw state longer than the other chapters were, but it cleaned up fairly easily. Sounds like you're making really good progress. I know you're not finished yet, so it might be hard to say, but let me ask you what you asked me: is it turning out to be what you had expected? End of April to have your novel completely finished? That would be incredible. ** Statictick, All that sounds really scary to me. All the workers/ robbers stuff. You've got steely nerves, which is a good thing, obviously. Oh, cool you're digging 'Foul Perfection'. Excellent, right? Is that arm contraption making any kind of interesting difference vis a vis your arm? ** Polter, Greetings. St. Lucia ... I'll have to look that saint up. I don't think the French take notice of that saint. The French are pretty unreligious. Scandinavia is a place of dreams and great fascination for me. If I could go traveling anywhere, I would travel all over Scandinavia. After the winter is over. I've only been in Sweden once for three days. Maybe I'll get to Oslo if I'm lucky. Anyway, that Lucia kids thing for St. Lucia looks very sweet and odd. I like it. Oh, Trondheim. I've read about there. There's something famous or something that really interests me there. I can't remember what. Maybe an amusement park. I love amusement parks. And Scandinavia has some of the best. I did a post about them here even. Oh, I would love to be Super Mario shooting to the moon with a fire flower! How did you know? You're a Nintendo person like me! High five. I thank you for your kindness as well. Happy Monday! ** Mark Gluth, Hey, M. Yeah, the title is hard to pronounce, and the novel is hard to read. Maybe too hard. That's my big worry at the moment. But, anyway, ... you might read the Harry Potter books?! That might be going too far, no? Maybe not. You're reading with Mr. Lonely C? Cool. Yeah, I'm doing three events with him, two in SF where I host, and one in LA where I read a little too. He's great. You'll like him. That is real big news about your hitting the halfway mark on your novel! This one is growing much more swiftly, no? Why do you think that is? ** Inthemostpeculiarway, Hey. All that cousin and relatives stuff was nice and amusing and mysterious. A good combo. Especially the mystery of the eaten cake. I'm kind of way into cake right now, even if I still haven't eaten any. Maybe today. I liked your drinking filled and then hangover climaxing weekend. It had a curious charm about it. And it was a lot more interesting than my weekend because I was mostly being kind of lazy and getting accustomed to not having a writing routine. I made five blog posts, which I really needed to do, and which was a good, distracting thing that used some of my 'where did my routine go?' weird feelings in a productive way. I cleaned my horrendous desk, and now it looks like a rectangular, lukewarm ice rink, which is nice. Today I need to get rid of this big ugly pile of books and envelopes on the floor by my desk. The books are the ones I had to read for the Lammy Awards judging gig, and all but a couple are destined for the Recollets' library on the first floor. Well, it's called the library, but it's really just where everyone dumps their books when they move out. I kept checking my email over the weekend to see if my agent had read my novel yet, but he either hasn't or hasn't finished it yet. I have this bad feeling that he's going to throw up his hands -- or, rather, tell me that his hands are thrown up, I guess -- and say, 'What the fuck have you given me?!' Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't think I am. That's scary to think about, so I'll stop. I was too lazy to buy food on Saturday, so I had to buy it at the only supermarket around here that's open on Sundays, Franprix, which I don't really like, and, sure enough, the tortillas were all stuck together and ripped in pieces when I tried to separate them, but I ate them anyway. And the guacamole was too gooey. Goes to show me. I did a bunch of other uninteresting things. Oh, I realized I could read books again, so I pulled the three shortest books off my in-progress pile and finished reading them. And they were all really good. And I put together a 'books I recently read and loved' post about them, so I'll leave them nameless for now. I think I'll quit while I'm ahead, and I'll tell you what Monday was like if you tell me what yours was like first. ** Misanthrope, Your parakeet was just looking out for your best interests, but you know that already. Ha ha, nice story about the poor cross-eyed guy, you meany. That voice recognition/ typing software thing is interesting. Wouldn't do me a lick of good considering how I talk. I would guess that it's impact will be to make novels even dumber and less complex than they already are, if it has an impact. Might be good for certain kinds of poetry, though. ** Postitbreakup, Hey, J. Hope you like the book, man. Thanks for getting it. No, I haven't seen you and snowman yet because my hard disc drive is so full that I can barely download a jpeg at the moment, which is why I need a new computer badly. So, it's waiting for me to figure out a way to give it room. Which apps to delete. This week, I think. Cheers to you, pal. ** The Dreadful Flying Glove, Hockey in the road ... mm, so tempting. I might just eat French cake though. In the road, of course, ** Armando, Hey. Thanks a lot, man! I appreciate that. You almost went to LA? Wow, that's cool. You should travel up there when I'm visiting or living there again or whatever sometime. Take care, A. ** Okay. I leave you with the Murder Castle and its architecture, which interests me inherently and especially due to my finished novel's concerns and the concerns of my impending new piece with Gisele. See what you think. And I'll see you tomorrow.
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