My Sources!

"America's 20 Most Notorious Serial Killers." Forensic Colleges. http://www.forensiccolleges.net/blog/2010/americas-20-most-notorious-serial-killers/ 2011.

"H. H. Holmes." Serial Killers Exposed.
http://serialkillr.tripod.com/SerialKillersExposed/holmes.html

Larson, Erik. Devil in the White City. New York: Vintage, 2003.

Taylor, Troy. "The Murder Castle of H. H. Holmes." Praire Ghosts. http://www.prairieghosts.com/holmes.html  2003.

Egger, Steven A. The Killers Among Us: An Examination of Serial Murder and its Investigation. 1998.

Murders Through History

Killing has been a constant in our history. Wars, diseases, accidents; death is always present. The context it is presented in, however, changes. Serial killers have a sort of hypnotic pull of interest. Every time murder is brought up in the news, people are more apt to listen. Serial killers have been around for ages, and it's doubtful that they'll just disappear one day. They've been present for a long time, and it's undeniable that they have a habit of coming in waves.

When?

Several of the most notorious serial killers in the U.S. include H. H. Holmes or Herman Webster Mudgett, Charles Manson, Ted Bundy, Jeffery Dahmer, the Zodiac Killer, and the Green River Killer, Gary Ridgeway, though there are many many more. Holmes was the first documented killer in America; he confessed to the murders of 27 people from 1891 to 1895 and was imprisoned in Moyamensing Prison. He was killed on May 7, 1896. Charles Manson and four other people killed actress Sharon Tate in 1969. The Manson Family all together was officially charged with killing seven people. Ted Bundy killed over 30 people by 1989, the time of his execution. Jeffrey Dahmer killed, dismembered, and cannibalized 17 young men from the Milwaukee area. The Zodiac Killer was never identified, but he killed five people in Northern California from December 1968 to October 1969. He confessed to 37 murders in total, but because he was never found, the truth of his claims remains doubtful.

Devil in the White City: a book report

Here is a link to my book report on Devil in the White City by Erik Larson:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ThY7ALZg8S6HW3W81KNyZ-JZ7WQH2s05oqb3yDuqFwI/edit?hl=en

This book was interesting, not just in the subject itself, but the way the story was told. Having Holmes' dark deeds intertwined with the struggle to complete the World's Fair on time really gave his actions real weight, in my mind. Holmes is suprisingly unknown, for being the first serial killer in the United States, and the World's Fair is hardly mentioned in history class. It was something I hadn't been interested in until picking up the book. The characters seem vivid, the story is intriguing and enjoyable; this is definitely a book worth reading.

Dr. H. H. Holmes, first serial killer in the U.S.

Before 1890, the concept of serial killers in America was foreign and seemingly impossible. The closest anyone living in the U.S. had come to a killing spree was the front page of the paper, detailing the Whitechapel killings of Jack the Ripper. A sense of safeness prevaded the country; nothing like the brutal Ripper murders had ever occurred here. However, when Dr. H. H. Holmes stepped off of a train and into Chicago in 1886, everything changed. Holmes was America's first known serial killer. Based in Chicago, over a period of two years, Holmes killed frequently. In his memoir, he claims to have killed 27 people. The actual number of victims is not known, with some accounts ranging up to two hundred people.
Since then, serial killers have been rampant in the United States. New horror stories arise every day of killings and kidnappings. From Manson to Bundy to Dahmer, our history has been filled with the attrocities of these men and women. As awful as these events sometimes are, there is an undeniable fascination surrounding them.