Most Terrifying Things About America’s First Serial Killer

In His Likeness

Over a century after the murders were committed, Scotland Yard and the BBC used eyewitness accounts from 1888 to attempt to create a detailed composite photo of what Jack the Ripper might have looked like in real life. Oddly enough, the haunting results were strangely similar to photos of H.H. Holmes!

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A composite image of Jack the Ripper and H.H. Holmes

More details…

The most distinguishing detail is that both Jack the Ripper and H.H. Holmes had a long handlebar mustache. However, it also must be noted that facial hair was a popular trend among nineteenth-century men so it might have been likely that killer would have had some kind of facial hair. But anyone who sees the photos side by side can’t deny that there is indeed a striking resemblance between the composite photo and the actual photo of H.H. Holmes. The likeness is truly remarkable and a bit terrifying to think that H.H. Holmes could have been on his bloody rampage in multiple countries. Is this enough to convince you that they are the same person?

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Mudgett’s comparison of Jack the Ripper and H.H. Holmes’ writing