# Dr. Henry Holmes's bizarre "castle" **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [October 18, 2011, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dr-henry-holmess-bizarre-castle/600030 "2011-10-18T12:57:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2011, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dr-henry-holmess-bizarre-castle/600030/1 "2011-10-18T12:57:15Z")
From here: [Did Dr. Henry Holmes kill 200 people at a bizarre “castle” in 1890s Chicago? - The Straight Dope](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/620/did-dr-henry-holmes-kill-200-people-at-a-bizarre-castle-in-1890s-chicago) Dr. Holmes’s grisly tale was later, of course, the subject of Erik Larson’s 2003 bestseller _The Devil in the White City_: [The Devil in the White City - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devil_in_the_White_City) ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2011, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dr-henry-holmess-bizarre-castle/600030/2 "2011-10-18T14:47:45Z")
There’s no really good reason to bring this up here, but I like talking about it and there aren’t many chances to make the connection. The mystery and science fiction writer, editor, reviewer, and critic Anthony Boucher - itself a pseudonym for William A. P. White - used H. H. Holmes as an alternate pseudonym. Although Cecil never specifies, Mudgett’s pseudonym was Henry Howard Holmes and he went by H. H. Holmes. The use of a serial killer’s pseudonym for a writer’s pseudonym was unusually cheeky for the world of 1940. The essential book under that pseudonym, mostly finadable under the Boucher name in reprints, is _Rocket to the Morgue_. It’s a mystery but it is set in the world of science fiction authors of the early 1940s, all taken from Robert Heinlein’s Mañana Literary Society," which Boucher was a member of. > [@](#): > > The dedication to the first edition reads, “For The Mañana Literary Society and in particular for Robert Heinlein and Cleve Cartmill.” Rocket to the Morgue is something of a roman à clef about the Southern California science fiction scene of the time. Many characters are thinly-veiled versions of personalities such as Robert A. Heinlein (“Austin Carter”), L. Ron Hubbard (“D. Vance Wimpole”), then-literary agent Julius Schwartz (“M. Halstead Phynn”) and rocket scientist/occultist/fan Jack Parsons (“Hugo Chantrelle”); or recognizable composites of two writers (“Matt Duncan” - Cleve Cartmill and Henry Kuttner; “Joe Henderson” - Jack Williamson and Edmond Hamilton). Some writers’ actual pseudonyms appear as minor characters, most prominently “Don Stuart, editor of Surprising” (John W. Campbell, editor of Amazing Stories); but also “Anson Macdonald”, “Lyle Monroe” (both Heinlein pseudonyms)… and Anthony Boucher (whose real name was William Anthony Parker White)! It’s the best description - in fiction or nonfiction - of the sf world of the day and how enthusiastic the writers were to be part of something that new and with such a bright future. In addition, one of the murder weapons is a rocket. Really. That might still be unique in the awesomely voluminous annals of mysterydom. And a nun solves the crime. ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2011, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dr-henry-holmess-bizarre-castle/600030/3 "2011-10-18T14:55:19Z")
I always took accounts of Holmes’ story at face value. But Richard Zacks, in [An Underground Education](http://www.amazon.com/Underground-Education-Unauthorized-Outrageous-Supplement/dp/0385483767), claimed that Holmes’ image was morphed by the tabloid papers from a loser who committed a few bumbling insurance murders into a monstous mass murderer. (Note: my link to the book on Amazon does not discuss Holmes, but is merely provided for reference). This is the only place I’ve ever heard this account. Anyone else?