As fashioned straight from the depths of nightmares, fascinating and terrifying at the same time. Serial killers hide behind bland and normal existences. They often manage to evade capture for years, decades, and sometimes eternity. These are American serial killers (American serial killers). “Even when some of them are caught, we may not recognize what they are because they don't [sic] fit the distorted image we have of serial killers” (Brown). What is that distorted image? That murderers live in the midst of everyday life, they are the ones who unknowingly insinuate themselves into someone's life to torture and kill them. The serial killers in the films, Norman Bates, Michael Myers and the evil mastermind of SAW, these characters are just those characters. They were invented as exaggerated fictional characters of the Hollywood imagination. Serial killers are everywhere! Well, maybe not in our neighborhood, but on our television screens, in movie theaters, and in rows and rows of books in our local Borders or Barnes and Nobles Booksellers” (Brown). When people think of serial killers, names like Dahmer, Gacy, Bundy, and Gein are mentioned. While Jack the Ripper executed his victims in London, Holmes began his gruesome career in Chicago (America's Serial Killers). “Despite being America's first serial killer, Holmes is hardly a household name, and until now we have had no popular visual documentation of his crimes: (Spikol). Why do people only think of the most famous killers with the most well-known profiles? They are all very similar to each other because they share characteristics. HH Holmes was a successful serial killer because he was well educated, cunning and charming. These are just some of the characteristics of Holmes... middle of paper... after the deaths of Julia and Pearl Conner, Minnie was also believed to have investigated the murder of Emily Van Tassel. (Taylor) With all the women in Holmes' life, it seems that Holmes has had every opportunity he has been given to settle down and live a normal life. So why would he continue on the path he was? Of all the women in Holmes' life it was his second wife, Myrtle Z. Bellman. Holmes' father tried to cheat and kill, without success (America's Serial Killers). Holmes was never arrested for the incident with his father-in-law. . However, he was later arrested in “July 1894, Holmes was arrested for the first time. It wasn't for murder but for one of his plans” (Taylor). The arrest should have scared Holmes and pushed him onto the right path, but it didn't. It was in prison that Holmes met one of his accomplices, Marion Hedgepeth (Nash, Bloodletters 448).