How did serial killer H.H. Holmes/Herman Mudgett finally meet his end? Being sentenced to hang at Moyamensing Prison in Philadelphia on May 7, 1896. Even though the bodies of the three Pitezel children had been discovered, Holmes was only ever convicted of their father’s murder (Benjamin Pitezel).
It is reported that Holmes cracked wise with the executioner on the way to the gallows, but we will never know for sure. What we do know is that his neck did not break when they dropped him. He scrambled and swung for several minutes while he slowly suffocated to death. One theory is that the executioner ‘accidentally’ miscalculated the fall in order to achieve this slow death intentionally.
Before he swung, ever the hustler, Holmes sold his exclusive ‘confession’ (mostly nonsense) to the Hearst Corporation for nearly $250,000 in today’s money.
That is not the end of our story – Holmes/Mudgett had some very odd burial requests.
Image from the Mysterious Chicago website.
