What would you do?
Great-great-grandson of serial killer to speak, sign books
Jeff Mudgett is the great-great-grandson of serial killer Herman Mudgett.
Jeff Mudgett, the great-great-grandson of serial killer Herman Mudgett (a.k.a. Dr. H.H. Holmes) will give a short talk and sign books from 1 to 5 p.m., Saturday, March 31, in the Visitor Center of Rockford’s Tinker Swiss Cottage Museum.
Mudgett’s great-great-grandfather was made famous by Erik Larson’s book The Devil In The White City. Herman Mudgett created the famous “murder castle” during the World’s Fair in Chicago in 1893 and may have killed more than 200 victims.
Jeff Mudgett discovered he was a direct descendant of the famous serial killer when he was 40 years old. His book, Bloodstains, is about his experience since the discovery of his family secret.
After the death of Jeff Mudgett’s grandfather, he discovered the diaries of the serial killer, Herman Mudgett. The diaries are quoted throughout Jeff’s book, Bloodstains.
According to the diaries, Jeff’s ancestor, Herman Mudgett, was in London during the “Jack the Ripper” murders. Jeff Mudgett sent writing samples and compared them to the famous “Ripper” letters, and they are a 97.75 percent match. Jeff Mudgett was recently on WGN to share the discovery.
The author will give a short talk and then be available to sign books in the museum library. Other true crime and paranormal authors will also be on site. The books will be sold individually by the authors. Ticket price to attend is $5.
Tinker Swiss Cottage Museum is at 411 Kent St., Rockford, and can be reached at (815) 964-2424 or online at www.tinkercottage.com.
How creepy would that be? To find out at 40 years old your great grandaddy was HH Holmes. ??? HH built a castle complete with:
soundproof sleeping chambers with peepholes, asbestos-padded walls, gas pipes, sliding walls, and vents that Holmes controlled from another room. Many of the rooms had low ceilings and trapdoors in the floors, with ladders leading to smaller rooms below. The building had secret passages, false floors, rooms with torture equipment, and a specially equipped surgery. There were also greased chutes that emptied into a two-level cellar, in which Holmes had installed a large furnace. There was even an asbestos-lined chamber with gas pipes and evidence of something having been burned inside. It was believed that Holmes placed his chosen victims into the special chambers into which he then pumped lethal gas, controlled from his own bedroom, and then watched them react.
I don’t know what I would do.
I have not read this book but it is only $2.99 on amazon so I might.
If anyone else has read it please let me know what you think.
Real Life Monsters 