To tell you my story, I will have to start from the beginning.
I was born on May 16, 1861 in Gilmanton, New Hampshire, in the United States of America.
My childhood was very boring and bleak, days passing with little to no excitement. As a child, I harbored a phobia of dead corpses, which included the fake skeleton that was in the my home town's doctor's office. After a couple bullies forced me into the doctor's office, I came "face to face with one of its grinning skeletons, which, with arms outstretched, seemed ready in its turn to seize me," (38). Now, my reaction to the skeleton has been a controversial subject among many, but I remember that moment as clear as day. A smile lit up my face; a grin could be seen going from ear to ear. When my captors turned me around to see my reaction, for I had not made a sound or moved, they glanced at my face and, what they saw I will never truly know, ran as fast and as far as they could out of the building and away from me.
Since that time as a child, I was fascinated by human anatomy. I would never verify this to be true but some historians have found that in small boxes that I kept as a boy, my greatest treasures were stowed away, including "skulls of small animals that he disabled and then dissected, alive, in the woods around Gilmanton," (39).
At the age of sixteen, I graduated school and took a job as a teacher in Alton, NH. where I met my first wife, Clara A. Lovering. We married on July 4, 1878, although one of the few reasons why we married was because I wanted her to have sex with me. Our marriage technically lasted for a short amount of time until I lost interest in her. We are still married according to the "wedding registry of Alton, NH,"(41).
I graduated college at the age of nineteen and went into the medical program, first at the Univeristy of Vermont, then at University of Michigan, which was "most noted for its emphasis on the controversial art of dissection," (41).
During and after I graduated from medical school, an old friend, also a medical student, along with a few accomplices, and I came up with one of the best plans in con artist history; we believed that we could con the life insurance agencies into paying us hundreds of dollars for the death of a fake family we had made up. First we took out life insurance on 3 family members and named ourselves the secondary beneficiaries, in case a family member died in which we would receive compensation for the death. After taking out life insurances, we agreed to gather 3 corpses which would later be identified as the family that Holmes' crew had taken life insurance on, and then after faking their deaths, we would collect the $40,000 as compensation (In the late 1800's, this would have been equal to about $800,000 today). I contributed the child family member but after a short period, I backed out of the group, for I feared that the insurance company would expose our game and, as this was illegal, would have us arrested for fraud. I did not actually give up on the plan and after acquiring my portion, I traveled to Chicago where I planned to become a druggist, a position in which acquiring corpses was considered normal, but was turned away for I needed to take and pass a licensing test in order to become a druggist in the state of Illinois.
When I took the test, I registered myself as H.H. Holmes, which would be known throughout the world in no longer than 10 years time. This is all I will say on the matter, but I will say this: this was not the last time I deceived the insurance companies or any company for that matter. I rather enjoyed it.
Now, onto the more important matters of my life, more importantly, the beginning of my perfect plans to build a scandalous life.
Since that time as a child, I was fascinated by human anatomy. I would never verify this to be true but some historians have found that in small boxes that I kept as a boy, my greatest treasures were stowed away, including "skulls of small animals that he disabled and then dissected, alive, in the woods around Gilmanton," (39).
At the age of sixteen, I graduated school and took a job as a teacher in Alton, NH. where I met my first wife, Clara A. Lovering. We married on July 4, 1878, although one of the few reasons why we married was because I wanted her to have sex with me. Our marriage technically lasted for a short amount of time until I lost interest in her. We are still married according to the "wedding registry of Alton, NH,"(41).
I graduated college at the age of nineteen and went into the medical program, first at the Univeristy of Vermont, then at University of Michigan, which was "most noted for its emphasis on the controversial art of dissection," (41).
During and after I graduated from medical school, an old friend, also a medical student, along with a few accomplices, and I came up with one of the best plans in con artist history; we believed that we could con the life insurance agencies into paying us hundreds of dollars for the death of a fake family we had made up. First we took out life insurance on 3 family members and named ourselves the secondary beneficiaries, in case a family member died in which we would receive compensation for the death. After taking out life insurances, we agreed to gather 3 corpses which would later be identified as the family that Holmes' crew had taken life insurance on, and then after faking their deaths, we would collect the $40,000 as compensation (In the late 1800's, this would have been equal to about $800,000 today). I contributed the child family member but after a short period, I backed out of the group, for I feared that the insurance company would expose our game and, as this was illegal, would have us arrested for fraud. I did not actually give up on the plan and after acquiring my portion, I traveled to Chicago where I planned to become a druggist, a position in which acquiring corpses was considered normal, but was turned away for I needed to take and pass a licensing test in order to become a druggist in the state of Illinois.
When I took the test, I registered myself as H.H. Holmes, which would be known throughout the world in no longer than 10 years time. This is all I will say on the matter, but I will say this: this was not the last time I deceived the insurance companies or any company for that matter. I rather enjoyed it.
Now, onto the more important matters of my life, more importantly, the beginning of my perfect plans to build a scandalous life.
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