WHILE Jack The Ripper was infamously known for killings in London, HH Holmes was known for his atrocities in the United States.
Even though the crimes were committed in two different countries on different continents, the similarities in the crimes leave many questions unanswered.
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What is the connection between killers HH Holmes and Jack The Ripper?
Jack the Ripper committed at least five murders in or near the Whitechapel district of London's East End.
However, HH Holmes reportedly committed over 27 murders in the United States.
The striking connection between these two killers was the eerily similar overlap between their psychopathic and brutal murderous histories.
Another connection between the two killers was that their victims were women.
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All of Jack's victims were prostitutes, and all of their corpses had been mutilated.
Similarly, HH Holmes, who described himself as a devil, claimed he murdered 27 women.
Furthermore, a lawyer and former US Naval Reserve Commander, Jeff Mudget, claimed that HH Holmes, who was his great-great-grandfather, was Jack the Ripper.
Who was HH Holmes?
Herman Webster Mudgett was born in 1861 and is known as the first serial killer in the US, claiming the lives of at least 27 women.
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He changed his name to Henry Howard Holmes and was later known as HH Holmes, after the widely-known fictional detective Sherlock Holmes.
He was raised in a wealthy New England family, and while information about his childhood is limited, he grew up in New Hampshire and married Clara Lovering when he was only 17 years old.
According to the Crime Museum, Holmes developed an interest in skeletons and was obsessed with death and it is speculated that it prompted him to enroll in medical school.
He studied medicine at a school in Vermont before he was accepted into the University of Michigan Medical School, where he stole cadavers from the school's laboratory.
It was reported that he would burn and disfigure them and leave them on the side of the road to look like they had been killed.
Before depositing the bodies, he would take out a life insurance policy and claim the insurance money after they were found.
He received his medical degree and moved to Chicago, where he got a job at a pharmacy under the alias Dr Henry H Holmes.
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How was he caught?
He made a small fortune in Texas after stealing and reselling thoroughbred horses and selling them in St. Louis, Missouri.
Police learned of the theft and arrested him, and placed him in jail, where he met fellow inmate Marion Hedgepath.
Holmes conceived an insurance scam with Hedgepath, telling him he would take out an insurance claim of $10k, fake his own death, and give Hedgepath $500.
The condition was Hedgepath would be required to hire a lawyer to assist Holmes if any issues arose.
However, the insurance company was suspicious of the insurance claim and Holmes was never paid.
Holmes disappeared after leaving jail and Hedgepath never received his money.
It was then that Holmes decided to attempt his plan again, this time having his partner Benjamin Pitezel fake his own death.
Pitezel had traveled the country with Holmes, helping him commit insurance fraud.
In his second attempt, Holmes killed Pitezel after taking out the insurance claim and receiving the money.
Meanwhile, Hedgepath was angry with Holmes for not giving him his share of the money and contacted the police, informing them of the scam Holmes was carrying out.
The police located Holmes in Boston, Massachusetts, and arrested him for an outstanding warrant for his horse theft in Texas.
They became suspicious when it appeared that Holmes was preparing to leave the country and subsequently conducted a search of Murder Castle.
There they found the torture chamber and human remains that had been so thoroughly dismembered it was difficult to tell how many bodies there were.
They tracked Holmes' path from Chicago to Indianapolis and Toronto, where they discovered the remains of Pitezel's children who had gone missing.
Police arrested Holmes and charged and convicted him of the murders.
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While standing trial, Holmes confessed to 28 additional murders but the Crime Museum reported that Holmes is believed to have committed up to 200 murders.
Holmes was placed on death row and in May 1896, he was hanged for his crimes.
