H.H Holmes, Distant Relative of Meghan Markle, Was Arrested in Boston on This Day in 1894

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H.H. Holmes has long been called the "First Serial Killer Of America". Born Herman Webster Mudgett in New Hampshire in 1861, HH Holmes left his young wife and child to move to Illinois. He would later change his name to Holmes, an homage to the great fictional detective Sherlock Holmes.

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In 1886, H.H. Holmes, the pharmacist, purchased a Chicago drugstore that he would later retrofit into what has been called his 'murder castle'. He bought the store from a cancer-stricken man named E.S. Holton. When Holton died, Holmes bought up the surrounding property until he’d acquired the entire city block. He renovated the buildings and turned them into a hotel just in time for the 1893 World’s Fair. But this was no ordinary hotel: most of the rooms were windowless, with stairways to nowhere and hallways that ended in dead ends. Holmes also built gas jets into hotel-room walls, a wooden disposal chute, and a person-sized kiln in the basement.

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Holmes would later confess to 27 murders but was only linked to nine. The fiction of Holmes was great during his time and rumors that still circulate today, elevated his victims to around 200, a number which has since been debunked.

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Dr. Henry Howard Holmes was arrested in Boston on this day in 1894. Holmes was put on trial for the death of his accomplice, Benjamin Pitezel, and was later sentenced to death. During his trial, he said, “I was born with the devil in me. I could not help the fact that I was a murderer, no more than the poet can help the inspiration to sing — I was born with the ‘Evil One’ standing as my sponsor beside the bed where I was ushered into the world, and he has been with me since.”Holmes was executed on May 7th, 1896. His Famous last words were, “Take your time. Don’t bungle it.”

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Did you know H.H Holmes and Meghan Markle are related? Well, according to the UK's Channel Four News, it's true. In 'Meet the Merkel's' Holmes’ great-great-grandson, Jeff Mudgett reportedly discovered that the two were 'eighth cousins', making Meghan a distant relative of America's first serial killer.

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Holmes' eventual down-fall was his own undoing. He supposedly blabbed about his murders while in jail for fraud. Marion Hedgepeth, his cell-mate later tipped off police.

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Benjamin Pitezel, Holme's accomplice who built him torture rooms and a crematorium, would pay for his service not just with his own life, but with the lives of his wife and three children.

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The two bodies of Pitezel's daughters were found in the basement, of Holmes' 'murder castle', while only the teeth and jawbone of his youngest son were ever discovered.

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Jeff Mudgett, Holmes' great-great-great-grandson also has another theory about Holmes. He believes Holmes' is the infamous London serial killer, "Jack the Ripper'. Mudgett is that he, "did a study with the FBI and CIA and Scotland Yard regarding handwriting analysis. It turns out [H. H. Holmes] was Jack the Ripper. This means Meghan is related to Jack the Ripper. I don’t think the Queen knows. I am not proud he is my ancestor. Meghan won’t be either.” In the 120-years since Jack the Ripper began killing women in London's Whitechapel neighborhood, hundreds of names have been brought forward as possible suspects. Could Mudgett be correct? We can't say for certain but man that would be pretty-pretty crazy.