H.H. Holmes: Murder for Profit

H.H. Holmes didn't just kill his victims, he turned murder into a business

model. In 1892, he lured Emilene Seagen to Chicago with a secretary

job paying triple the average female salary. But his most calculated kill was Nanny Williams,

his fiancée's sister. He asked her to retrieve files from a vault, then locked the

door behind her. She died from poisonous gas, her fingernails leaving desperate

scratches as she clawed for escape. A footprint was later found etched on the vault door.

Holmes hired assistants to strip flesh from bodies and prepare skeletons, which he sold to

medical schools for profit. He literally monetized murder, turning human remains