0:00

Hey listeners, I wanted to thank you for

0:02

listening to Dr. Death Bad Magic. We really

0:04

hope you enjoyed it. Now that you've reached

0:06

the end of the show and are looking

0:08

for your next podcast listen, I want to

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tell you about Morbid. Morbid is

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a true crime, creepy history, and

0:14

all things spooky podcast. Every

0:16

episode focuses on a different story

0:19

or case that is thoroughly researched.

0:21

The shows hosts Ash and Elena

0:23

provide all the fascinating and sometimes

0:26

terrifying details you never knew you needed, with

0:28

a dash of comedy thrown in for flavor. In

0:31

the spirit of the Dr. Death

0:33

franchise, you may be interested in

0:35

starting with Morbid's multi-episode coverage on

0:37

con artist and serial killer Dr.

0:39

Henry Howard Holmes or H.H.

0:42

Holmes. When police arrested Dr.

0:44

Holmes, they assumed they had apprehended

0:46

an interstate criminal guilty of defrauding

0:48

the Fidelity Insurance Company of thousands

0:50

of dollars and of being a

0:52

horse thief. Yet, even the most

0:54

seasoned and creative detective couldn't have

0:57

imagined the horrific scope and magnitude

0:59

of crimes he committed. I'm about

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to play a clip from Morbid.

1:03

While you're listening, follow Morbid on

1:05

the Wondery app or wherever you

1:07

get your podcasts. All

1:15

right, so H.H. Holmes, he claimed

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and confessed to officially killing up

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to 28 people. Some

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people, most people, all people believe that

1:25

it could be well over 200 people

1:27

that he has killed. You

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believe? I believe he's way up there. I

1:31

think he's more than 28. While

1:34

the full extent of his crimes

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and the number of lives that he did

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take is probably something that we may never

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know to the nth degree, you know, like

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when I don't think we're going to be

1:44

able to find every single person, I would

1:46

love to believe we could. It

1:49

was really his ability to kill without

1:51

conscience or hesitation really

1:54

for financial gain most of the times.

1:58

Sometimes he did it because he just liked to

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do it. But most of the time it was for

2:02

financial gain. Do you think it was like financial gain

2:04

and he liked it? Oh, it was for sure a

2:06

mix. Yeah, it was for sure a mix and I

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think it was also the systematic way that he got

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rid of his victims in his Murder

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castle which don't worry we will get to

2:16

it feels like a horror novel It

2:18

doesn't feel like real life. Yeah, when you read

2:20

the actual facts of this you're like, that's not

2:22

real, but it is It's

2:24

wild and in truth He

2:27

wasn't really like a genius. He

2:29

wasn't as calculating as he's really

2:31

made out to be He

2:34

was just a man who learned pretty

2:36

early on in life that being a

2:38

confident liar Can get you a

2:40

long way in the world Unfortunately

2:42

sad but true especially if you can

2:45

create enough chaos and confusion to make

2:47

it Absolutely impossible to actually tell the

2:49

difference between fact fact and fiction you

2:52

ever seen the great Gatsby There you

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go. If you can spin

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a tale so wild that people

2:58

can't tell if it's real fake What is

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what isn't there's nuggets of truth here there

3:02

and everywhere? He

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can he got a long way with it. Yeah, and when we

3:07

go through this you're gonna see Damn,

3:09

he went a long way with it During

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this early period in New York. He

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kind of perpetrated a small but kind

3:16

of big medical con It was his

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first one So

3:20

smallpox scare broke out in this

3:22

town and people were urging residents

3:24

to get vaccinated against smallpox And

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he saw this as an opportunity So

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he somehow got his hands probably

3:33

by stealing on a load

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of vaccines And he loaded up a wagon

3:37

and he went door to door through the

3:39

northern part of the state vaccinating

3:43

vaccinating Residents and

3:45

telling him that it was mandatory. Oh And

3:48

he was quote representing himself as an authorized

3:50

official of the Board of Health He

3:53

made the people think that it was compulsory

3:55

and in every household he managed to get

3:57

several cases for which he charged twice 25

4:00

cents each. So

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at the time, no one questioned

4:04

his authority or asked to see his credentials, so

4:06

they just allowed it. If this man is trying

4:08

to poke you with a needle, you gotta ask

4:11

for an ID. Ask for his cred. Ask

4:13

for anything. Ask his

4:15

name. Ask for his library card, literally anything.

4:18

Rice on a cracker, everybody. He made a

4:20

lot of money doing it, though. But obviously,

4:22

people must have been terrified, so they probably were like,

4:24

just vaccinate me. But that's what he fed on. He

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prayed on it. He loved praying on that kind of

4:29

shit. So that was his

4:31

first medical con. Can you imagine if that

4:33

shit still happened today? Knock, knock, knock. Hi,

4:35

I'm here to vaccinate you. No, I don't

4:37

have any ID. Don't ask me about

4:39

it. Please leave. No, I'd love your

4:42

credentials, thank you. But back

4:44

in his medical office, he started setting

4:46

up a laboratory because he was really

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trying to get that patented medicine. He

4:50

was gonna get rich from it. And

4:53

to help him with this, he

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was said to have brought in to stay

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with him for a while, his six-year-old son,

4:59

Robert. No, no, no, no, no. And he quote,

5:02

and put him to work in

5:04

the laboratory, putting up in bottles

5:06

the liquid which Herman manufactured. Although

5:08

he never sold any of these things that

5:10

he made, like he just couldn't get

5:13

the right concoction together. Sure.

5:15

He definitely tried. But he also couldn't convince anybody

5:17

to try any of his cures because people didn't

5:20

trust him. I mean- So they were like, Minnie

5:22

came to teach him French, and she was like,

5:24

you're a murderer. Yeah, like, you're a murderer. Minnie

5:27

knows. What's weird

5:29

about him is he somewhat of

5:32

an anomaly in the sense that he was

5:34

a get-rich-quick guy, and he was a con

5:36

man, but he also didn't

5:39

shy away from hard work. He

5:41

would work for his

5:43

cons. Well, because he was kind of being

5:45

motivated. Yeah, he's very strange in that way.

5:48

He doesn't have that cut and dry, get-rich-quick

5:52

personality. Right. It's strange.

5:54

But it should be said that while

5:56

he claimed the boy in his company

5:58

was his son. There

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is a lot of speculation that this

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was a completely unrelated boy who disappeared

6:05

a little while after this. Oh

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no. According to the New York Times,

6:10

there was a report filed shortly after

6:12

he was arrested, like way later. And

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it said that after he left

6:18

his teaching position in New York,

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that he had, quote, went home,

6:22

went to Massachusetts, but

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returned in a short time accompanied by

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a small boy who disappeared shortly after

6:30

his arrival, home saying he had gone

6:32

home. It doesn't appear

6:34

that any investigation went

6:36

into this boy's identity or disappearance,

6:40

and nobody really went further

6:42

into it. But if this boy

6:44

has what like was

6:46

part of something nefarious, then he

6:48

was his first victim. Holy

6:51

shit. You can

6:53

listen to Morbid early and ad free right

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now by joining Wondery Plus in the

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Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts.