Lucius Annaeus Seneca once said, “A sword never kills anybody; It is a tool in the killer’s hand.” Herman Webster Mudgett, also known as H. H. Holmes, was America’s first notorious serial killer and was from Chicago, Illinois during the 19th century. He mostly targeted young females and was known for his hotel where he killed most of his victims. He was eventually captured and was hanged in 1896. Due to the fact that Holmes committed many repugnant crimes while being completely aware of his actions, he should have gone to prison. To begin with, he was aware that he was killing people and that it was wrong, yet he did it anyways. To prove this, he designed the murder castle itself. According to the documentary H. H. Holmes: America’s First Serial Killer, it stated, “Holmes himself was the architect of the building. He was the only one who knew its design.” To add on to this, the documentary also mentioned, “..But it was the second floor that contained 35 rooms, many specifically designed as killing chambers.” In a final analysis, Holmes basically designed a murder house and had all his methods of killing planned out; he even had his methods of disposal planned out. Because he was so precise and organized with his murder, it shows that he knew what he is doing and that he was clearly sane when he pursued these crimes. …show more content…
Pitezel. According to the novel The Devil in the White City, Holmes said, “....even before I knew he [Pitezel] had a family who would later afford me additional victims for the gratification of my blood- thirstiness, I intended to kill him.” (Larson, 386) Here, Holmes planned to kill Pitezel even before he knew him and that he was planning to kill the rest of Pitezel family anyways. Some people kill people out of anger or accidentally, but Holmes did it for his own fun. He did not care that his actions were wrong; he put his lust for killing over what was morally