Herman Webster Mudgett, better known as Dr. Henry Howard Holmes, was born May 16, 1861 in Gilmanton, New Hampshire.  He was one of the first recorded American serial killers.

Mudgett had a difficult childhood, growing up with a violent alcoholic father.  His mother was a devout Methodist who read the Bible to him. He claimed that, as a child, once his classmates discovered he was afraid of the local doctor they forced him to look at and touch a human skeleton.  The bullies just wanted to scare him, but some believe that instead this is where his fascination and obsession with death started.

In June of 1884 Mudgett graduated from the University of Michigan Medical School.  While attending school he stole bodies from the laboratory, disfigured them and then claimed the people were killed accidentally so he could collect insurance money from policies he took out on each deceased person.

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