"Crime writers reserve the word monster for top-notch murderers. A monster ranks above such lesser criminals as fiends, beasts, and phantoms. He must meet certain rigid requirements. His victims, killed over a period of years and not for money alone, must be numerous and preferably female, and while he works must do unusual things with their bodies. He must inhabit a gloomy, forbidding dwelling, and he should be of a scientific bent." Dr. H.H. Holmes "the Master of the Murder Castle possessed all these qualifications and more. Physician, student of hypnotism, dabbler in the occult, gentleman of fashion, devious liar and skillful manipulator of amazingly complex enterprises, he pyramided fraud upon fraud. Young, good-looking, glib, he mesmerized business men and captivated and seduced pretty young women, at least two of whom he married bigamously. Magnificent swindler, petty cheat, serial killer, and even mass murderer, Holmes was a terrible man of nimble, tortuous mind." Harper's Magazine