Most Terrifying Things About America’s First Serial Killer

American Horror Story: Hotel Based on This Guy

Introducing H.H. Holmes, the creepy con-man-turned-murderer who inspired Ryan Murphy’s American Horror Story: Hotel. Soon he will be played by the Oscar-winning Leonardo DiCaprio in the new film The Devil in the White City. Holmes killed at least nine people, and that’s a proven fact. What’s more, he admitted to killing upwards of 30.

Some investigators and historians now believe that H.H. Holmes may even be responsible for as many as 200 murders, but the sheer number of people he’s killed isn’t what’s most unsettling. It’s how Holmes actually dealt with his victims. It’s kind of amazing that a feature film hasn’t been made about his life and the incredibly heinous murders he committed before now. There is no need to make up fictional killers in slasher films when real life is rife with material full of real life horror. Here’s what you didn’t know about one of the creepiest serial killers in history.