Month: April 2023

Episode 61 Sources: Spooky True Crime Vol. 5 – H.H. Holmes & the Hammersmith “Ghost”

It’s time for our fifth installment of spooky true crime stories! This episode kicks off with a discussion about sensationalism surrounding the crimes of infamous serial killer Herman Webster Mudgett, AKA H.H. Holmes. We then recount the tale of the Hammersmith Ghost, who terrorized a small village on the outskirts of London for two months in the winter of 1803, and try to answer the question, “Is it murder if you thought you were shooting a ghost?”

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Here are our sources for this episode:

Hammersmith Ghost:

  1. https://blogs.loc.gov/law/2015/10/the-case-of-a-ghost-haunted-england-for-over-two-hundred-years/
  2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hammersmith_Ghost_murder_case
  3. https://londonist.com/london/features/hammersmith-ghost-story-murder
  4. https://georgianera.wordpress.com/2015/01/02/the-hammersmith-ghost/
  5. https://worldhistory.medium.com/mass-hysteria-and-murder-the-tale-of-the-hammersmith-ghost-ef89bb4b641f
  6. https://thisiscriminal.com/episode-198-the-hammersmith-ghost-10-7-2022/
  7. http://www.crimemagazine.com/hammersmith-ghost-and-strange-death-thomas-millwood 
  8. https://www.oldbaileyonline.org/browse.jsp?div=t18040111-79
  9. https://skeptoid.com/episodes/4714
  10. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/london/3364467.stm 
  11. https://www.exclassics.com/newgate/ng470.htm
  12. https://husheduphistory.com/post/707844177217585152/hammersmith-a-haunting-a-hoax-and-a-tragic-hunt
  13. https://buzzfeed-unsolved.fandom.com/wiki/The_Haunting_Murder_Case_Of_The_Hammersmith_Ghost

HH Holmes:

  1. https://www.biography.com/crime/hh-holmes
  2. https://www.britannica.com/biography/H-H-Holmes
  3. https://www.history.com/topics/crime/murder-castle
  4. https://www.newspapers.com/image/668069816/?clipping_id=67109514&fcfToken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJmcmVlLXZpZXctaWQiOjY2ODA2OTgxNiwiaWF0IjoxNjc5MjY3OTgzLCJleHAiOjE2NzkzNTQzODN9.AjfSlT89zr_Tie0ees8p2X9c1TudcEdjqeIExSIvErM
  5. https://allthatsinteresting.com/hh-holmes-hotel
  6. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/enduring-mystery-hh-holmes-americas-first-serial-killer-180977646/