H. H. Holmes: The True History of the White City Devil

Crazy stuff

Adam Selzer is a tour guide in Chicago who started digging into H.H. Holmes when he was asked to put together a tour based on the book “The Devil in the White City.” That book by Erik Larson juxtaposed the myth of Holmes, America’s first serial killer, with the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago but Selzer read through the old newspapers from the 1890s at the library and discovered that almost all the tales that had been written about Holmes were inaccurate, often wildly so. This book is the fruit of his research and it drastically revises the story of this notorious criminal. For years Holmes had a grisly reputation for having built a hotel (dubbed the “Murder Castle) just before the Fair to lure out of town guests who he then robbed and murdered, often in gruesome fashion, based on what was discovered in a search of the building. But Selzer combed through the existing primary source material: newspapers of the day, a half dozen from Chicago alone, papers from Philadelphia, Texas, Toronto, and elsewhere, a book written by a detective who investigated Holmes, and one by a doctor who published a study of Holmes. Using these sources, Selzer is able to discredit the more far-fetched accounts of Holmes’s crimes including Holmes’s confessions and subsequent retellings of Holmes’s life in sensationalistic newspaper articles and outlandish books. The true history does include numerous murders but nowhere near as many as had been enumerated in previous unsourced accounts. Holmes’s criminal activity focused on swindling everybody from furniture companies to builders and Selzer also went through the legal archives to try to figure out who had been had. Holmes used a variety of dishonest practices to steal from others, he married numerous women without divorcing previous wives, and he also took on a variety of aliases and at times the book bogs down in a confusing parade of scams and lawsuits that are difficult to understand. One of my favourite quotes is from an insurance investigator who said, “I was continually running across evidence that Holmes was leading a double life. In fact, at times it might be said he was living a quadruple life.” The book has a picturesque old-timey true crime feel. After Holmes’s youth and time spent in medical school, where his criminal proclivities began to show, Holmes ends up in Chicago in the 1880s where he moved about the worlds of medicine, real estate development, and business. He gets involved in scams involving copying machines and glass bending and he sues and is sued numerous times. From there he moves on to swindling insurance companies by burning his own buildings and plots involving faked deaths to collect life insurance. Through a combination of intrepid insurance company investigators and Holmes’s own blabber mouth while talking to a train robber in jail in St. Louis his crimes are eventually revealed. The bulk of this book is a detailed recounting of everything that can be discerned about these crimes from the available primary sources, but that isn’t always a neat, orderly narrative. It’s not the fault of the author of the book that the collection of newspapers articles, lawsuit records, and contemporaneous books leave many mysteries unsolved here. There is a fine coda where Selzer shows how a sensational newspaper article and a few other over-the-top sources led to the myth of the devil in the White City and Selzer’s brief reflection on this myth-making provides, I think, much food for thought. It turns out a more interesting story than the one about the depths of evil in man is this one about lies and the truth and their foundations.

I must throw in my two cents here. Unlike many of the readers I find the relentless facts thrown out to be quite interesting. The way the author documents what is known about Holmes is excellent. I also agree with those who find his arrangement of these facts to be rather dry but at the same time I find them fascinating. One thing that does throw me, though, is that the author asserts from the start that Holmes did not kill nearly as many people as he is credited with, and later casts doubt on the fact that he could be considered a serial killer at all, and that furthermore when he threatens a man who had complained about debris from his building (Holmes had a pistol and a knife!) and was only saved by a policeman that this is "uncharacteristic" of Holmes. By this point in the book no less than five people had been killed by Holmes, and in its broadest definition serial killer denotes someone who kills either for pleasure or financial gain -- clearly Holmes was at least a sociopath, and the fact that he had no compunction about killing children leads one to believe he was no doubt a serial killer for all practical purposes. It seems the author strains mightily to demythologize Holmes to the point of trying to ignore the fact that he was pretty much a monster of sorts. Worth the read for anyone interested in Mudgett aka H.H. Holmes.

I realize it was a "best seller", however, this is a book in a long time I struggled to finish. I was very factual but mostly boring. There was no actual story just pages and pages of news articles and the dates of where and when he traveled. The story was very dry, if you can even consider it a story. It was more or less a book of facts but not really enjoyable. As a avid reader I would not recommend.

The intro had me questioning my purchase because it's starts off saying that most of the tales are gross exaggerations and pure fiction. It turns out that the story is interesting enough without the need for embellishing. I appreciate the author distinguishing between fact, probably true, possibly true, and pure fiction.

This is an extremely informative and very interesting book. I had read some on H.H. Holmes and Jack the Ripper, so when I heard about the American Ripper series, I was skeptical. So I found this book and gave it could shot. This book is refreshingly well researched and even handed. Selzer goes through the available sources and facts and puts together a much clearer picture of Holmes. Given Holmes' seeming inability to tell the truth and all the embellishments and false stories about Holmes, that was quite a feet. Due to the vast number of real and imagined characters mentioned, it can be a bit difficult to keep track of folks at times. But I found the end of the book and the appendices tied things up nicely. As someone who likes to get to the truth, I found this book on a horrible, but fastenating man (even without embellishment) wonderful.

This is one of the best criminal biographies I’ve ever read. Selzer has delved deep into historical archives to come up with first-hand accounts, documented evidence & amazing photos to piece together the life & motivations of Chicago’s most evil opportunist. From Herman Mudgett’s first meeting with a skeleton, to his numerous bigamous relationships, we can learn so much from the author’s work & for the first time get a clear insight as to why and what caused Mudgett to lead a life of crime under the alias of H.H. Holmes.

It’s a well written book with lots of research and facts. It’s a journey back to the 1800’s. Was he Jack the Ripper? Lots of compelling reasons to say YES HE WAS. It’s a good read.

Well researched a very good approach well written, and very likely the real "Jack the Ripper". There are a whole series of books written about HH Holmes read them and then decide. This is the American that travelled the world and was proved to be in England at the correct times for the Whitechapel murders as well. worth reading , make your own mind up. A very evil man.

This book is certain to become the standard work about Holmes. Brilliantly (and even arduously) researched, and very well written. Highly recommended.

Not as entertaining as I thought it would be but I now know more about the so called house of death. just about a common thief and murderer.