Most Terrifying Things About America’s First Serial Killer

Hanged and Requested to be Buried in Concrete

Holmes was hanged for his crime but not before placing an odd request. Most death row inmates don’t get a say in what happens to their body after they die, but Holmes had to try. Interestingly, his long-lasting fascination with dissection and human anatomy played directly into his request.

Because he was so obsessed with the idea of dissection and didn’t want anyone to be able to tarnish his body the way he tarnished the body of his victims. Holmes asked to be buried 10 feet underground and encased in a thick layer of concrete. Despite the fact that he totally deserved for grave robbers to exhume his body and dissect him just like he did with nearly every cadaver he came in contact with, his request was granted. However, just because his request was granted at the time, it doesn’t mean that he was to remain safely entombed forever (Let’s just ask some Egyptian mummies how that fate went for them…).