024: The Devil Inside

Pleasing Terrors

Chicago’s West 63rd Street Post Office was built in 1938 over the site of what its creator referred to as “The Castle”, and in 1902 an Ohio Daily News article called it Chicago’s Ghost Castle. Whatever you want to call it, this site was once or possibly still is the home to a notorious killer.

A figure who built a home that included a 2nd floor full of secret passages, trap doors, and hidden staircases. The basement so notorious that a crowd would lay on the sidewalk and try to peer through the cracks as it was excavated.

The creator of “The Castle” claimed to be under an evil influence. An influence that seemed to continue to claim victims after his death. An influence that is still felt today

• Moyamensing Prison was finished in 1835
• Chicago Police Detective Frank Geyer interviews his nemesis in 1895
• A crowd gathers for the excavation of “The Castle” basement excavation
• Another crowd gathers outside “The Castle” to see if the owner returns after his execution
• In 2012 a tunnel that leads to “The Castle” basement is discovered
• The story of Herman Webster Mudgett
• Christmas Day, 1891 Julia Smythe and her daughter Pearl disappear
• The investigation into the Pitezel case
• H.H. Holmes wrote Holmes’ Own Story while incarcerated at Moyamensing
• Mysterious deaths of anyone connected to the case or “The Castle”

Resources:

Herman Webster Mudgett or H. H. Holmes

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