Being Too Brilliant Is Dangerous

    During the 1893 Columbian Exposition, H.H. Holmes was one of the first serial killers of America. Holmes would lure his victims into his building which he transformed into his “murder castle.” First he would manipulate his victims by coming off as a

Not only did Holmes murder adults, Holmes also murdered children for the simple reason that he could do it. Holmes also turned some of his victims into the displays used to show anatomy at school and hospitals. Even after delivering the skeletons, no one suspected they were acquired through

H.H.Holmes, also known by his birth name, Herman Webster Mudgett was the first recorded serial killer in America. He killed as many as 250 people, maybe more. He built a hotel that was later known as the murder castle. H.H. Holmes built a small boys dream of a haunted house with different passageways, walled-up rooms and trap doors. The beautiful architectural building built across the street from a pharmacy, where Holmes worked as a doctor.

Herman Webster Mudgett was born in Gilmanton, New Hampshire in May 1861 to Levi and Theodate Mudgett. Levi was a farmer and a devout Methodist, lessons he would aggressively try to instill in young Herman. Herman immediately exceled in school and this caused him to be bullied. The bullying would inevitably lead him to his obsession with death and his inclination towards the macabre. One day bullies forced him into a doctor’s office and made him stare at the skeleton figure he had face to face, while he was looking someone made the skeletal hands touch Herman’s face. Herman recalled being frightened at first but then later found the experience fascinating, this experience cured him of any fears he may develop and allowed him to pursue a new hobby of dissecting animals.

To clarify, Henry Howard Holmes known as H. H. Holmes was America’s first serial killer. As a child, Holmes was terrified of the doctor, however a few bullies from his school forced him to touch the real skeleton in their doctor’s office which started his obsession with human anatomy. When Holmes was a teenager he interned at his local doctor’s office and later went to Michigan State for a medical degree and became a skilled doctor. Holmes took out fake insurance policies on the bodies he used in medical school after pouring acid on their face so they were unrecognizable in order to afford college. In 1889 Holmes designed and built a hotel to assist his murders.

are“street smart” rather than book smart (Graff 198). He speaks of how it is ridiculous that

Watson tells his partner, Henry Thompson, that he escaped prosecution because ''I had a good reputation with the merchants, quiet church-going man who paid his bills, and so the local papers took my side...No decent American is going to believe that a man who pays his bills is a common criminal, no matter what!'' This shows a theme that was common around those times and can still be seen today in modern civilization.

They were both successful in creating a name for themselves; Burnham for his architecture success and Holmes as a psychopathic murderer, being tried and executed for nine to twenty four murders. Through Burnham and Holmes, Larson shows the ¨ineluctable conflict¨ between good and evil is neverending.

Holmes had been born into a wealthy New Hampshire family and was given the name Herman Webster Mudgett (America’s Serial Killers). “If Mudgett or his brother or sister were bad, their strict Methodist parents sent them to the attic for a full day without speaking or eating,. Mudgett’s father was especially abusive after he’d been drinking - which was often” (Spikol). However, his father was a wealthy and respected citizen and had been the local postmaster for nearly twenty five years (Taylor). It is surprising an important member of the community was a child abuser. The abuse of his father may be one of the

Erick Larson wrote in Devil in the White City, “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 in the world, and he has been with me since” (Troy, Taylor). This statement was a quoted confession from Dr. H. H. Holmes himself in 1896. Holmes was the first major serial killer in America, even though he came after many others in his time. Thomas Neil Cream, the Austin Axe Murderer, the Bloody Benders, and Jack the Ripper came before him. His name was originally Herman Webster Mudgett. He was born on May 16th, 1860 in Gilman, New Hampshire. He was raised by his mother

The Devil in the White City reads, “As word spread that a young, handsome, and apparently unmarried doctor now stood behind the counter, an increasing number of single women in their twenties began to patronize the store”(Larson 46). You can’t build a log cabin without wood, and you can’t be a serial killer without victims. Victims are an essential part to the art of murder. As a result, he had a plentiful picking because he was “young, handsome and apparently unmarried”.  These attributes make Holmes a very charismatic person. While Holmes was being escorted to his death, the novel reads, “This was a difficult moment for his guards. They liked Holmes. They knew he was a killer, but he was a charming killer”(Larson 386). Even though the guards knew Holmes was a despicable person, they still liked him and found him “charming”. His charisma was such a potent attribute, even if people knew the real him...as seen in the text….they stilled “liked him”. They knew he had murdered innocent women and children, but still founded him “charming”. As can be concluded from the examples, Holmes’s charisma served him well in becoming a long time anonymous perpetrator.

Earl Hunt a professor says “ While petty crime rates would fall in a society of Newton's, Hunt speculated that white collar crimes, such as banking scams and cover-ups by pharmaceutical companies, might increase even grow more sophisticated”(Wolchover, By Natalie “What if Humans Were Twice as Intelligent?”LiveScience. TechMedia Network, 14 Jan 2012. Web. 29 Mar. 2016). Hunt states that small crimes would flush down the toilet like a dead fish, but bigger crimes would be performed more often as people would be more sophisticated making the crimes more sophisticated. Richard Haier a neuroscientist says that “Even if everyone had an IQ of 200, you’d have exactly the same range of personalities as you do now, and because that's a determining factor is how good society is, you won’t necessarily have a better society”. (Wolchover, By Natalie “What if Humans Were Twice as Intelligent?”LiveScience. TechMedia Network, 14 Jan 2012. Web. 29 Mar. 2016). Haier explains that even with people with higher IQs the world would be a better place because people's ways wouldn’t change. Hunt also says “there’s evidence to suggest that many humans, if significantly smarter would, lose their belief in God”. (Wolchover, By Natalie “What if Humans Were Twice as Intelligent?”LiveScience. TechMedia Network, 14 Jan 2012. Web. 29 Mar. 2016). Hunt clearly shows that as people become smarter they will

Ted Bundy is known for charismatic personality, good looks, and charm; he is also known as the most organized murderer to have lived. Bundy would lure woman to his car using a number of excuses; he was handicap or else lost. Because he was so charming women would feel at ease around him and go where he asked. Once at his car, Bundy would grab and restrain the woman. He would then drive to a different location where he would beat and rape the woman until death. Finally he would drive to yet ANOTHER location to dispose of the body. In February 1978, Ted Bundy was finally captured and interviewed. As a child, raised by his grandparents, he showed no signs of previous abuse or neglect. He was raised well and sociable during high school where classmates report that he was well liked. After further analysis, Bundy was presumed to have low activity to his orbital frontal cortex; this is the part of the brain in charge of the conscious, and the “right or wrong” factor. This is not to say that Bundy had a deficiency that prevented him from knowing what he was doing. Just merely a common abnormality that should be noted. Bundy’s case supports the idea that an individual’s makeup can have an effect on their actions.

Sherlock Holmes’s intelligence is demonstrated in both “The Red-Headed League” and “A Scandal in Bohemia”. During “A Scandal in Bohemia” he first demonstrates his intuitive thinking by figuring out that Count Kramm, the man introducing him on the case, is actually the King of Bohemia himself. This shows that he is able to make a quick determination about people’s lives just by having a brief conversation with them. This allows Holmes to solve mysteries that others cannot by simply looking at a suspect or location associated with the scenario. He uses this ability later in the story to find where the incriminating photo of the king with Adler is. He does this by creating a situation for himself where he will be able to get into Adler’s home. He then fakes a fire to see where Adler goes first so he can see where she keeps her most valuable possession, the photo. Holmes states “When a woman thinks that her house is on fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she values the most… Now it was clear to me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious to her then what we are questing for” (Doyle 19). This line of thinking shows that Holmes knows how to get people to inadvertently give him the information that he needs by putting them in the right situation and observing what they do. This skill

He spent much of his time dissecting birds and mice. (Vesalius) Then in 1529, Vesalius started his educational years at the Catholic University of Leuven until 1533. In 1533, he started at the University of Paris, where he really began to dissect animals. He went to the University of Paris until he transferred back to the Catholic University of Leuven in 1536. Finally, in 1537, Andreas Vesalius received his medical degree in Padua. (Vesalius) In addition, he also was known to have robbed graves and dissected human beings. (Andreas Vesalius) It is believed that Vesalius was inspired by Rhazes; “Rhazes was a Persian polymath, physician, alchemist, chemist, philosopher, and figure of medicine.” (Rhazes) During this time in world history, little was known about anatomy. From Egyptian mummifying to