The Devil In The White City By Erik Larson

435 Words2 Pages
In the Chicago smog, H.H. Holmes lured hundreds of victims into his murder mansion, and killed them seemingly without motive or conscience. In The Devil in the White City, Erik Larson goes into a detailed description of the murders of H.H. Holmes and delves into what his motives might be. The motives of Holmes serial killings were pleasure and profit. Holmes would profit off murder by selling skeletons, life insurances fraud, and as a business strategy. After murdering Julia, Holmes got her skeleton articulated then, “[Holmes] promptly sold the skeleton to Hahneman Medical College… for many times the amount he had paid Chappell.” (151) This was a way for Holmes both to get the pleasure of murder and capitalize on the death. Holmes would