Herman Webster Mudgett

Herman Webster Mudgett

(AKA H.H. Holmes)

Works CIted

http://murderpedia.org/male.H/h/holmes.htm

Psychological Disorder of Herman Mudgett

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H._H._Holmes‎

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1245953/Herman-Mudgett

http://www.biography.com/people/hh-holmes-307622

Mudgett had a narcissistic personality. He committed his crimes for his own self gain and he had more than two wives which was nothing to him. He could have had anti-social personality disorder. Chararistics of anti- social personailty disorder is selfishness, impulsiveness, being irresponsible, being manipulative makes these people unreliable, unfaithful, undependable and disloyal employees, mates, friends and parents. Which explains why he had so many wives and how he could manipulate people into doing exactly what he wanted.

Arrest

Trial

Mudgett was arrested on charges of a stolen horse because the officers only have suspicions of him at this point.

Mudgett was able to stand trial,he admitted to 27 murders but he lied during the investigation so it was hard to determine when he was telling the truth or not.

Sentence

Mudgett was sentenced to death on May 8, 1896. He was hanged but his neck did not break right away. It took him about 15 to 20 minutes to suffocate. He requested to be buried in concrete so no one could dig him up and dissect his body, his request was completed after his hanging. He was not nervous and showed no signs of anxiety or depression before being hanged.

Death

Mudgett died on the day he was suppose to be executed, by hanging.

Nature of Crime

The nature of Mudgett’s crime was torture and murder. He had a hotel called “Murder Castle”. The hotel had a maze of rooms and hallways. Every room had some type of torture chamber in it. His murders were from the years 1886-1894. The amount of Mudgetts victims is not completely known. Investigators know he definitely killed 27 people, however the bodies were so badly decomposed or disfigured that it was hard to tell how many there were. Mudgett’s victims were primarily woman or blonde women, but he did kill men and children too.

Childhood

Adult Life

Herman Webster Mudgett was born to a wealthy family. Mudgett’s father was an alcoholic. When he was a kid, some of his classmates made him look at and touch a skeleton and he claimed it freaked him out. However, it has been speculated that Mudgett was actually fascinated and that was the beginning with his obsession with death. He showed early signs of intelligence. From an early age he was interested in medicine and its been said that he would capture animals and perform surgeries on them. He may have also killed a playmate when he was younger.

He attended the University of Michigan and got in trouble for stealing corpses to experiment with and get false insurance policies on them. On July 4, 1878 he married Clara Lovering. They had a son named Robert Lovering Mudgett, who was born on February 3, 1880. On January, 28 1887, while he was still married to Clara, he married Myrta Belknap. They had a daughter, Lucy Theodate Holmes, who was born on July 4, 1889. Mudgett (Holmes) lived with Myrta and Lucy in Wilmette, Illinois. Mudgett filed for divorce from Clara, but it was never finalized. While still married to both Clara and Myrta, he married Georgina Yoke on January 9, 1894. He also carried on a relationship with one of his employees wife's named Julia Smythe. Mrs. Smythe later became one of his victims.