Herman Webster Mudgett (May 16, 1861 – May 7, 1896), more commonly, H. H. Holmes, was an American con artist, fraudster, swindler and serial killer.

Shortly after graduating University of Michigan Medical School, Holmes arrived in Chicago in 1886, fleeing town-to-town, avoiding prison for various scams - most notably insurance fraud.  Holmes stole medical cadavers and pretended they were victims of accidents to collect money - often selling their skeletons to medical schools for study.  He would later build the World's Fair Hotel, a multi-purpose building to attract tourists who were arriving for the fair, which offered a seemingly endless stream of victims for the sinister man.

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A Chicago Tribune article would later describe what police discovered in the hotel of horrors:

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"Holmes created a 'murder factory.' Rooms could be locked from the outside. A third-floor room was a bank vault, padded to muffle sound and fitted with a gas pipe to asphyxiate victims...A hidden shaft to the cellar made for easy disposal of bodies. And it was the cellar where Holmes undoubtedly worked...Behind a fake wall, police found a butcher's table, quicklime vats, bones, bloody clothing — and a crematory."

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Holmes fled Chicago in 1894, but the law eventually caught up with him in Philadelphia.  He was put on trial, found guilty and executed on May 7, 1896.  Before his death, he claimed to be possessed by the devil and to have murdered 27 people (9 are officially linked).