For more than a century, people wondered whether the body buried in a grave in Pennsylvania truly belonged to Herman Webster Mudgett, better known as H.H. Holmes, often called America’s first serial killer.

Some believed Holmes had pulled off one final trick. According to a long-standing conspiracy theory, he bribed prison officials, swapped bodies with another man, and escaped execution in 1896.

But in 2017, forensic scientists finally opened the grave and used modern DNA testing to answer the question once and for all.

What they discovered ended the mystery—but also revealed something even more unsettling about the myths surrounding Holmes.

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The Man Behind the Legend

Herman Webster Mudgett

H.H. Holmes was born Herman Webster Mudgett in 1861 in New Hampshire.

He studied medicine at the University of Michigan and graduated in 1884. During medical school, he became involved in stealing cadavers so students could practice dissection. This experience later helped him commit insurance fraud schemes involving dead bodies.

Holmes was known as a skilled liar. He married three women at the same time without divorcing any of them and constantly used false identities.

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Chicago and the “Murder Castle”

A Building Surrounded by Myths

In 1886, Holmes moved to Chicago and opened a pharmacy in the Englewood neighborhood.

Across the street, he built a three-story building that later became famous as the “Murder Castle.” Many stories claim the building contained secret gas chambers, torture rooms, and deadly traps.

However, historical research suggests most of these stories were exaggerated.

Historian Adam Selzer, who studied original police records and court documents, found that the building was mainly used for short-term rental apartments, not a functioning hotel. The third floor was never finished and was never open to guests.

Some hidden rooms did exist, but they were mainly used to hide furniture Holmes bought on credit and never intended to pay for.

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The Real Crimes

Murder for Insurance Money

Despite the exaggerated stories, Holmes did commit horrific crimes.

One of his most notorious victims was Benjamin Pitezel, his business partner. Holmes knocked him unconscious using chloroform and then set his body on fire to fake an accident and collect a $10,000 insurance payout.

Afterward, Holmes convinced Pitezel’s wife that he would protect her children.

Instead, he murdered them.

Two of the children, Nellie and Alice, were found in a trunk in a cellar in Toronto. They had been suffocated with gas. Their brother Howard was later discovered in a chimney in Indiana.

These crimes shocked the nation and eventually led to Holmes’ arrest and trial.

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The Execution

A Slow Death

Holmes was executed by hanging on May 7, 1896, at Moyamensing Prison in Philadelphia.

The execution did not go as planned.

When the trap door opened, his neck did not break. Instead, the fall paralyzed him but left him alive.

Witnesses watched as Holmes slowly strangled to death. His body convulsed for 15 minutes, and he was officially pronounced dead 30 minutes after the drop.

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The Strange Burial Request

Before his execution, Holmes made an unusual request.

He asked that:

• His coffin be encased in concrete

• His grave be 10 feet deep

• The entire burial be tightly sealed

Holmes claimed he feared body snatchers because he had seen how corpses were stolen during medical training.

However, this request fueled conspiracy theories. Many people believed the concrete was meant to hide the fact that the body inside the coffin was not actually Holmes.

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The Conspiracy That Lasted a Century

In 1898, a newspaper claimed an undertaker’s wagon had secretly carried Holmes out of prison alive.

According to the story, another man was executed in his place.

Over the years, new theories appeared:

• Holmes escaped to South America

• Holmes moved to Europe

• Holmes even became Jack the Ripper

The rumors spread through books, documentaries, and internet discussions for more than 100 years.

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The 2017 Exhumation

Opening the Grave

In May 2017, Holmes’ descendants requested permission to exhume the grave.

A team from the University of Pennsylvania, led by archaeologist Samantha Cox, began the excavation at Holy Cross Cemetery in Pennsylvania.

At first, the team found a wooden coffin about eight feet underground.

When they opened it, they were shocked.

It was empty.

For a moment, it seemed the conspiracy theories might be true.

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The Hidden Coffin

Instead of stopping, Cox decided to keep digging.

Beneath the empty coffin, the team discovered something unexpected: a second coffin sealed in concrete.

This was the real burial.

Breaking through the 121-year-old concrete was extremely difficult. Eventually, the team uncovered human remains that had been preserved by the sealed environment.

Holmes’ clothing, boots, and even traces of his mustache were still visible.

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The Scientific Investigation

Scientists used three methods to confirm the identity of the remains.

1. Skeletal Analysis

The skeleton belonged to a European male in his mid-30s, matching Holmes’ age at death.

2. Dental Records

The skull contained high-quality gold dental fillings, which were compared with historical prison dental records.

The dental details matched perfectly.

3. DNA Testing

Researchers extracted DNA from the tooth pulp and compared it with genetic samples from Holmes’ living descendants.

The DNA match confirmed the identity.

The body in the grave was Herman Webster Mudgett, also known as H.H. Holmes.

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The Truth About His Crimes

While the DNA confirmed Holmes’ identity, it did not support many of the myths surrounding him.

Holmes once claimed he killed 27 people, but several of those supposed victims were later found alive.

One man Holmes claimed to have murdered, L.W. Warner, was discovered living normally in Iowa.

Historians now believe Holmes was responsible for about nine confirmed murders, possibly a few more—but nowhere near the hundreds often claimed.

Many of the larger numbers came from exaggerated newspaper stories and later writers who repeated them without evidence.

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A Myth That Refused to Die

The 2017 investigation finally proved that Holmes did not escape execution.

He was hanged in 1896, buried in concrete, and remained in the grave for more than a century.

Yet the real lesson from the story may be about how easily myths grow.

Newspapers, sensational books, television shows, and the internet turned Holmes into a legendary criminal mastermind. In reality, he was often a sloppy con artist who relied on lies and deception.

Ironically, the myths about him may have become his greatest success.

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Conclusion

The exhumation of H.H. Holmes ended a mystery that lasted 121 years. Science proved that the man executed in 1896 truly was the infamous killer.

But it also revealed something deeper: the public’s fascination with sensational stories can sometimes overshadow the truth.

Behind the legend were real victims—Benjamin Pitezel and his children, Julia Connor and her daughter Pearl, Emeline Cigrand, and others.

Their stories were often forgotten as the myth of Holmes grew larger.

In the end, the DNA evidence did not just uncover a body. It exposed how easily history can be shaped by rumor, exaggeration, and the power of a compelling story.