Heart Starts Pounding: Horrors, Hauntings and Mysteries

Episode 147 – "The Werewolf: H.H Holmes and His Murder Castle" // MONSTERS SERIES

Host: Kayla Moore
Date: October 23, 2025

Overview

This chilling episode concludes the "Monsters Series" by examining H.H. Holmes, America's infamous "murder castle" creator, through the metaphor of the werewolf—an archetype for hidden monstrosity lurking beneath human normalcy. Host Kayla Moore dissects Holmes’ transformation from an odd, abused child into a charming, predatory serial killer whose audacious crimes and subsequent myth-making blurred the boundaries between fact and legend. The episode explores the history of werewolf folklore, Holmes’ upbringing and early criminality, the macabre construction of his castle, his murders and scams, his final downfall, and how his legacy has morphed into American folklore.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Werewolf Lore as Monster Metaphor ([05:30])

• Origins and Development: Ancient stories like Gilgamesh and European medieval trials positioned werewolf transformations as both divine punishment and explanations for inexplicable human evil.
• Parallel to Holmes: Like the werewolf, Holmes appeared ordinary until something triggered his monstrous side.
  • Quote: “To me, that's what H.H. Holmes represents. A man with an insatiable monster living inside him. A werewolf." (07:10)

2. Holmes’ Disturbing Childhood & Early Fascinations ([10:25])

• Abusive, deeply religious parents; exposure to kerosene as a baby.
• Bullying, possible strabismus (crossed eyes), and morbid fascination with death—allegedly sparked by being locked in a room with a skeleton.
• Early signs of cruelty: animal torture, possible involvement in a friend's suspicious death.

3. Transition from Medical Student to Grifter ([15:50])

• Marriage to Clara Lovering, neglect and domestic abuse.
• Obsession with human dissection, poor academic performance, and scams on classmates.
• Inventiveness with insurance fraud: faking deaths with stolen corpses for profit.
• Quote: “He put those two things together and came up with a way to make more money than he ever could as a doctor: insurance fraud.” (19:40)

4. The Birth of H.H. Holmes—and Chicago's Hunting Grounds ([23:35])

• Reinvents himself as “H.H. Holmes,” moves to booming Chicago.
• Acquires and scams his way into ownership of a drugstore.
• Sets sights on building his vision—a "hotel" designed as a death trap: the “murder castle.”

5. Building the Murder Castle ([26:00])

• Multi-floor labyrinth with drugstore, rental rooms, and secret third floor.
• Bizarre features: hidden rooms, quicklime vats, gas jets, soundproof vault, torture devices, dumbwaiters for transporting bodies.
• Construction scams: cyclical hirings and firings to keep plans secret.
  • Quote: “He already had this insatiable appetite, like a werewolf that can’t control when he changes shape and feasts on victims.” (27:40)

6. Notorious Murders and Mysterious Disappearances ([33:00])

• Pattern: Victims (mostly women) hired, charmed, used, then eliminated when inconvenient.
• Key Victims:
  • Julia Connor – Disappears with daughter after seeking abortion from Holmes.
  • Emmeline Sigrand – Secretary/mistress; her skeleton likely sold to universities.
  • Minnie and Nannie Williams – Lured for their property wealth; both vanish.
• Holmes’ employees often required to notarize fraudulent documents—suggestion of wide-reaching complicity.

7. Holmes’ Depravity Escalates: The Peitzel Case ([38:10])

• Teams up with Benjamin Peitzel for another insurance scam. Instead of faking death, Holmes murders Peitzel.
• Holmes then manipulates Peitzel’s wife to send their children (Alice, Nellie, and Howard) into his custody under false pretenses.
• A tragic cat-and-mouse unfolds as Holmes shuttles the children between locations, always a step ahead of their desperate mother.
  • Quote: “He enjoyed taunting her and watching her become more and more frantic.” (45:15)

8. Detectives Close In: The Pinkertons and Detective Frank Geyer ([47:00])

• Tip-off from vengeful ex-cellmate leads Pinkertons on Holmes’ trail.
• Holmes is arrested in Boston (originally on horse theft).
• Detective Geyer, recently bereaved, feels a personal calling to find the Peitzel children.
• Track Holmes/children’s movements using letters, registries, and witness accounts.
• Grim discoveries:
  • Alice and Nellie: Bodies found buried in a Toronto cellar ([49:20]).
  • Howard: Dismembered remains discovered in a chimney in Indianapolis ([51:10]).
• Meanwhile, police search the Murder Castle, finding remains, evidence, and a disastrous explosion caused by careless investigators.

9. The Trial, Execution, and Formation of a Legend ([54:00])

• Evidence is fragmentary; press and public convinced of dozens—if not hundreds—of murders.
• Holmes convicted solely for Peitzel’s murder; executed by hanging May 7, 1896, and buried under cement to avoid grave robbing.
  • Quote: “After a lifetime of grave robbing and messing with corpses, Holmes did not want his own body dissected.” (56:00)
• Holmes sells a confessional story to the press confessing to 27 murders; many "victims" later found alive.
• Relentless myth-making: rumors (including being Jack the Ripper), family-fueled exhumation in 2017 (DNA confirms it's Holmes).
• Holmes’ integration into American folklore—a modern werewolf, legend ever-evolving.

10. Reflection and The Enduring Power of Monsters ([59:00])

• Host reflects on the way monstrous stories morph and persist, with Holmes’s story now as much folklore as fact.
• Invites audience interaction: "Which type of monster is the scariest to you?" ([01:00:04])

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “The belief in werewolves became a proxy for society to deal with the behavior that they could not comprehend in men.” (06:15)
• “So even if you feel like you know this story, you might learn something new.” (04:15)
• “Holmes had a proclivity for dissection, a pathological urge to make money, and no empathy for anyone... now he had a giant house full of out-of-towners where he could let his dark side take over.” (32:40)
• “...reading through the paper trail was heartbreaking, because he saw how many times Mrs. Peitzel would arrive at those locations just moments after Holmes had escaped with her children. She had been so close to saving them on so many different occasions.” (48:37)
• “Even after Holmes was executed, his myth continued to grow… he has become folklore and is presented as a monster.” (57:28)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• [05:30] – The Werewolf as a Metaphor: Werewolf folklore, psychological projections, and Holmes’s "transformation".
• [10:25] – Holmes’s Early Life: Abuse, first fascinations with death.
• [15:50] – Medical School & First Scams: Dissection obsession, insurance fraud.
• [23:35] – Reinvention & Relocation: Becoming H.H. Holmes in Chicago.
• [26:00] – Building the Murder Castle: Design and secret features.
• [33:00] – Murders Begin: Julia Connor, Emmeline Sigrand, Minnie & Nannie Williams.
• [38:10] – The Peitzel Scheme: Fake death becomes murder; children targeted.
• [47:00] – Pinkertons, Frank Geyer & The Hunt: Investigation and discovery of bodies.
• [54:00] – Trial, Execution, and the Birth of a Legend: The Holmes mythos evolves.
• [59:00] – Reflection on Monster Lore: How myth shapes history and our fears.

Summary Tone

Kayla Moore’s narration is atmospheric, unsettling, and darkly inquisitive, blending historical rigor with spine-tingling storytelling and moments of sly, modern humor (“Where the hell you been, loca?” on werewolf tropes). The episode reads like an American Gothic—it’s rich in period detail and psychological insight, yet grounded in contemporary skepticism about true crime myth-making.

Final Thoughts

This episode offers both a fresh historical perspective on H.H. Holmes and an exploration of how the monster within becomes myth. Listeners come away chilled by Holmes’ ability to blend into society and the enduring capacity for evil, but also invited to reflect on why such stories continue to haunt and morph within our culture.