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An Awesomely Macabre Puzzle for the True Crime Fanatic

2019 CARDEN ILLUSTRATION "H.H. HOLMES MURDER CASTLE" 1000 PC. JIGSAW PUZZLE

DETAILS:

A Chilling and Fascinating Look into the Mind of a Serial Killer!
Get ready to piece together the dark history of H.H. Holmes, one of America's most notorious serial killers, with this uniquely unsettling 1000-piece jigsaw puzzle. Featuring an illustration by Carden Illustration (Holly Carden), this puzzle brings to life the eerie and terrifying world of the "Murder Castle".

This Carden Illustration product is not just a challenge for jigsaw puzzle enthusiasts, but also a fascinating educational experience that delves into the dark history of H.H. Holmes. For those unfamiliar, H.H. Holmes was a charismatic young lady killer who started constructed of a hotel in 1887, timed perfectly for the 1893 Chicago World's Fair, which operated as a massive murder machine. He used it to systematically trap and kill young women, then clean and articulate their skeletons to be sold to universities.

For those interested in true crime, this puzzle is a must-have. The illustration is based on blueprints of the actual Murder Castle and provides a fascinating glimpse into the mind of a serial killer. The accompanying reference poster contains information as well as a seek-and-find checklist on the backside that adds an extra layer of challenge and fun.

Includes 2 Reference Posters with Seek-and-Find Checklist!
The posters contain the same image, information, and seek-and-find checklists.

Dimensions:

26.77" x 19.09" (68 cm x 48.5 cm)

CONDITION:

In very good, pre-owned condition and complete. The puzzle is in great shape but the box does have some storage wear. One poster's checklist has been written on while the other has has not. Please see photos.

To ensure safe delivery all items are carefully packaged before shipping out.

THANK YOU FOR LOOKING. QUESTIONS? JUST ASK.

"Herman Webster Mudgett (May 16, 1861 – May 7, 1896), better known as Dr. Henry Howard Holmes or H. H. Holmes, was an American con artist and serial killer active between 1891 and 1894. By the time of his execution in 1896, Holmes had engaged in a lengthy criminal career that included insurance fraud, forgery, swindling, three to four bigamous marriages, horse theft and murder. His most notorious crimes took place in Chicago around the time of the World's Columbian Exposition in 1893.

Despite his confession of 27 murders, including some people who were verifiably still alive,[1] Holmes was convicted and sentenced to death for only one murder, that of business partner, and possible accomplice Benjamin Pitezel.[citation needed] It is believed he also killed three of Pitezel's children, as well as three mistresses, the child of one mistress and the sister of another.[2] Holmes was hanged on May 7, 1896.[3]

Much of the lore attached to Holmes concerns the so-called "Murder Castle", a three-story building he commissioned in Chicago. Details about the building, along with many of his alleged crimes, are considered exaggerated or fabricated for sensationalistic tabloid pieces with some accounts estimating his body count could be as high as 133[4] or even 200. Many of these inaccuracies have persisted due to the combination of ineffective police investigation and hyperbolic yellow journalism of the period, which are often cited as historical record.[5] Holmes gave various contradictory accounts of his life, initially claiming innocence and later that he was possessed by Satan. His propensity for lying has made it difficult for researchers to ascertain the truth on the basis of his statements.[6] For example, he claimed that Dr. Robert Leacock, a fellow medical school classmate, was one of his first murder victims, and that he killed him in 1886 for insurance money;[7] however, Leacock died on October 5, 1889, in Watford, Ontario, Canada.[8]

Since the 1990s, Holmes has often been described as a serial killer. In his book about Holmes, author Adam Selzer writes: "Just killing several people isn't necessarily enough for most definitions [of a serial killer]. More often, it has to be a series of similar crimes, committed over a period of time, usually more to satisfy a psychological urge on the killer's part than any more practical motive." He added: "The murders we can connect [Holmes] to generally had a clear motive: someone knew too much, or was getting in his way, and couldn't be trusted. The murders weren't simply for love of bloodshed but a necessary part of furthering his swindling operations and protecting his lifestyle."[9]
Early life and education

Holmes was born Herman Webster Mudgett on May 16, 1861, in Gilmanton, New Hampshire, the third child of Levi Horton Mudgett and Theodate Page Price, both of whom were descended from the first English settlers in the area.[10][11] As an adolescent, Holmes attended Phillips Exeter Academy[12] before graduating high school with honors from Gilmanton Academy when he was 16.

Holmes's parents were both devout Methodists.[13] His father was from a farming family, and at times he worked as a farmer, trader and house painter. He was also reportedly a heavy drinker who cruelly mistreated his family. Holmes also faced bullying by classmates due to his outstanding academic capabilities.

In one incident, he was forced to stand in front of a human skeleton and put the skeleton's hands on his face in an effort to frighten him. Initially terrified, Holmes later discovered the experience to be intriguing and claimed that it helped him overcome his worries. Holmes subsequently developed an obsession with death as a result of the encounter, and later took up the pastime of dissecting animals.[9]

In 1879, Holmes enrolled at the University of Vermont for one year. In 1882, he transferred to the University of Michigan's Department of Medicine and Surgery.[14] Despite his mediocre academic performance, Holmes successfully graduated in June of 1884.[15] While enrolled, he worked in the anatomy lab under Professor William James Herdman, then the chief anatomy instructor, and the two were said to have been engaged in facilitating graverobbing to supply medical cadavers.[16][17] Holmes had apprenticed in New Hampshire under Nahum Wight, a noted advocate of human dissection.[9]

Years later, when Holmes was suspected of murder and claimed to be nothing but an insurance fraudster, he admitted to using cadavers to defraud life insurance companies several times in college.[9]
Murders
Holmes' Castle
Holmes' Castle, located just to the left of the Englewood Post Office building on the corner
On August 11, 1895, Joseph Pulitzer's The World published a fictional floor plan of Holmes' "Murder Castle" with (left to right and top to bottom): a vault, a crematorium, a trapdoor in the floor, and a quicklime grave with bones.

Holmes moved to Chicago in August 1886, which is when he began using the pseudonym "H. H. Holmes".[18]

Soon after his arrival, he came across a drugstore at the northwest corner of South Wallace Avenue and West 63rd Street in the Englewood section of Chicago.[19] The drugstore's owner, Elizabeth Holton, gave Holmes a job; he proved to be a hardworking employee, eventually buying the store.[9][20]

Contrary to several accounts Holmes did not kill Dr. E. S. Holton.[21] Holmes purchased an empty lot across the street, where construction began in 1887 for a two-story mixed-use building, with apartments on the second floor and retail spaces, including a new drugstore, on the first. When Holmes declined to pay the architects or the steel company, Aetna Iron and Steel, they took him to court in 1888.[9]

In 1892, he added a third floor, telling investors and suppliers he intended to use it as a hotel during the upcoming World's Columbian Exposition.[22]

Contemporary accounts report that Holmes built the hotel to lure tourists visiting the Exposition in order to kill them and sell their skeletons to nearby medical schools. Although he did have a history of selling stolen cadavers to medical schools, Holmes had acquired these wares through graverobbing rather than murder. Likewise, there is no evidence that Holmes ever murdered Exposition-goers on the premises.[5] The yellow press labeled the building as Holmes's "Murder Castle", claiming the structure contained secret torture chambers, trapdoors, gas chambers and a basement crematorium; none of these sensationalised claims were true.[23]

Other accounts stated that the hotel was made up of over a hundred rooms and laid out like a maze, with doors opening into brick walls, windowless rooms and dead-end staircases. In reality, the third-floor hotel was moderately sized, largely unremarkable and uncompleted due to Holmes's disputes with the builders. It did contain some hidden rooms, but they were used for hiding furniture Holmes bought on credit and did not intend to pay for.[5]Holmes did not kill an alleged "Castle" victim, Miss Kate Durkee, who turned out to be very much alive.[24] In his confession, Holmes stated that his usual method of killing was to suffocate his victims using various means, including an overdose of chloroform, overexposure to lighting gas fumes, and trapping them in an airless vault. Holmes also claimed to have used starvation, and to have burnt victims alive in his "castle"[25]

Holmes's hotel was gutted by a fire started by an unknown arsonist shortly after his arrest, but was largely rebuilt and used as a post office until 1938.[26] Besides his infamous "Murder Castle", Holmes also owned a one-storey factory which he claimed was to be used for glass bending.

It is unclear if the factory furnace was ever used for this purpose; it was speculated to have been used to destroy incriminating evidence of Holmes's crimes.

Presumed murders

    In 1880, before arriving in Chicago while still under the alias Herman Webster Mudgett, his first presumed murders were around the Chattanooga area near Hixson, Tennessee. Holmes suspectedly murdered a train conducter by the name of William C. Burmann. Burmann was a 56 year old train conducter in the area. Holmes reportedly stole Burmann's identity while running from a series of murders that took place in the north Georgia area near Dalton.
    Holmes's mistress, 31-year-old Julia Smythe, was the wife of Dr. Laurence Icilius "Ned" Conner, who had moved into Holmes's building and began working at his pharmacy's jewelry counter. After Conner found out about Smythe's affair with Holmes, he quit his job and moved away, leaving Smythe and their 5-year-old daughter Pearl Conner behind. Smythe gained custody of Pearl and remained at the hotel, continuing her relationship with Holmes.[9] Julia and Pearl both disappeared on Christmas Eve of 1891. Holmes initially claimed to acquaintances that Julia had left unexpectedly to visit her dying sister, but then changed his story and said that she had fled her former husband. Ultimately, Holmes later claimed that Julia had actually died during an abortion. Despite his medical background, Holmes was unlikely to be experienced in carrying out abortions, and mortality from such a procedure was high at that time. Holmes then claimed to have poisoned Pearl, likely to hide the circumstances of her mother's death. A partial skeleton, possibly of a child around Pearl's age, was found when excavating Holmes's cellar. Pearl's father was a key witness at Holmes's trial in Chicago.[5]
    23-year-old Emeline Cigrand began working in Holmes's building in May 1892 and worked for him for six months.[1] Holmes reportedly hired Cigrand as a secretary due to her connection to a doctor who peddled a "vaccine" that allegedly cured alcoholism. Those who saw Cigrand in the weeks before her disappearance noted that she appeared to have lost interest in Holmes and their relationship. Cigrand was last seen in December 1892. Her parents were informed that she had left to marry a man named "Robert Phelps". Authorities hypothesised that she had gotten pregnant by Holmes, possibly being a victim of another failed abortion that Holmes tried to cover up.[5] Her empty luggage trunk was sent back to her mother in Anderson, Indiana; her skeleton was found by police at the home of a Chicago physician with the help of M.G. Chappel who admitted having articulated three skeletons for H.H. Holmes.[28]
    In early-1893, a 24-year-old one-time actress named Wilhelmina "Minnie" Williams moved to Chicago. Holmes claimed to have met her in an employment office, though it is believed that he had actually met her in Boston several years earlier while he was then going by the alias "Harry Gordon". Holmes offered her a job at the hotel as his personal stenographer and she accepted. Holmes persuaded Williams to transfer the deed to her property in Fort Worth, Texas, to a man named "Alexander Bond" which was an alias of Holmes.[9] In April 1893, Williams transferred the deed, with Holmes serving as the notary. Holmes later signed the deed over to Pitezel, giving him the alias "Benton T. Lyman". The following month, Holmes and Williams, presenting themselves as husband and wife, rented an apartment in Chicago's Lincoln Park. Minnie's younger sister, 18-year-old Anna "Nannie" Williams, came to visit, and on July 5, 1893, she wrote to her aunt that she planned to accompany "Brother Harry" to Europe. In it, she signed off with the message: "Brother Harry [Holmes] says you need never trouble any more about me, financially or otherwise. He and sister will see to me. I hope our hard days are over." Neither Minnie nor Nannie were ever seen alive again and Holmes would subsequently use Minnie's name in future scams.[9]

Suspected murders

    A 68-year-old creditor of Holmes named John DeBrueil died of apoplexy on April 17, 1891, in the "Castle" drugstore. DuBreuil collapsed and died shortly after Holmes poured a "black liquid" down his throat, according to a witness.[29] Foul play was not suspected; in 1895, it was determined that DuBrueil's life had been insured, and that Holmes had profited from his death.
    In 1891, Emily Van Tassel disappeared after working at Holmes’ drugstore; Holmes spoke of her in his confession.[30] In 1897, Tassel's name was cited in a list of suspected victims and Tassel's mother believed she was a possible victim.[31]
    "Dr. Russler" had an office in the "Castle" and went missing in 1892; Holmes mentioned killing Russler in his confession.[32] [33]
    Kitty Kelly, a stenographer for Holmes, also went missing in 1892.[34]
    John Davis of Greenville, Pennsylvania, went to visit the 1893 World's Fair and vanished. In 1920, he was declared legally dead.[35]
    Harry Walker of Greensburg, Indiana, went missing in November 1893. He was alleged to have insured his life to Holmes for $20,000 and wrote to friends that he was working for Holmes in Chicago.[36]
    Holmes and Pitezel took George Thomas out to a Mississippi swamp on the Tombigbee River in June 1894, killed him, and disposed of the body.[29] Holmes confessed to the murder to his second wife.
    Milford Cole of Baltimore, Maryland, disappeared after receiving a telegram from Holmes to come to Chicago in July 1894.[31]
    An additional possible victim was Lucy Burbank; her bankbook was found with human hair in a chimney flue at the "Castle" in 1895.[37]
    Holmes is alleged to have claimed to have killed two persons in Lake County, Illinois in the 1890s. This was confirmed years later when the remains of an unknown man and an unknown woman were found on a farm in 1919, twenty-three years after his execution.[38]

Pitezel killings
Philadelphia Police Department detective Frank Geyer, who investigated Holmes

While working in the Chemical Bank building on Dearborn Street, Holmes met and became close friends with 38-year-old Benjamin Freelon Pitezel, a carpenter with a criminal past who was exhibiting, in the same building, a coal bin he had invented.[9] Holmes used Pitezel as his right-hand man for several criminal schemes. A district attorney later described Pitezel as "Holmes's tool... his creature."[39] With insurance companies pressing to prosecute him for arson, Holmes left Chicago in July 1894. He reappeared in Fort Worth, where he had inherited property from the Williams sisters, at the intersection of modern-day Commerce Street and 2nd Street. Here, he once again attempted to build an incomplete structure without paying his suppliers and contractors.[40]

In July 1894, Holmes was arrested and briefly jailed for the first time, on the charge of selling mortgaged goods in St. Louis, Missouri.[41] He was promptly bailed out, but while in jail he struck up a conversation with a convicted outlaw named Marion Hedgepeth, who was serving a 25-year sentence. Holmes had concocted a plan to swindle an insurance company out of $10,000 by taking out a policy on himself and then faking his death.[6] Holmes promised Hedgepeth a $500 commission in exchange for the name of a lawyer who could be trusted. Holmes was directed to a young St. Louis attorney named Jeptha Howe. Howe thought Holmes's scheme was brilliant, and agreed to play a part. Nevertheless, Holmes's plan to fake his own death failed when the insurance company became suspicious and refused to pay. Holmes did not press the claim; instead, he concocted a similar plan with Pitezel.[6]

Pitezel agreed to fake his own death so that his wife could collect on a $10,000 life insurance policy,[6] which he was to split with Holmes and Howe. The scheme, which was to take place in Philadelphia, called for Pitezel to set himself up as an inventor under the name "B.F. Perry", and then be killed and disfigured in a lab explosion. Holmes was to find an appropriate cadaver to play the role of Pitezel. Instead, Holmes killed Pitezel on September 4, 1894, by knocking him unconscious with chloroform and setting his body on fire with the use of benzene. In his confession, Holmes implied Pitezel was still alive after he used the chloroform on him, before he set him on fire. However, forensic evidence presented at Holmes's later trial showed chloroform had been administered after Pitezel's death, a fact of which the insurance company was unaware, presumably to stage a suicide to exonerate Holmes should he be charged with murder.[1][6]

Holmes collected the insurance payout on the basis of the genuine Pitezel corpse. Holmes then went on to manipulate Pitezel's unsuspecting wife, Carrie Alice Canning, into allowing three of her five children to be placed in his custody. The three children who were placed under Holmes's care were 13-year-old Alice Pitezel, nine-year-old Nellie Pitezel, and seven-year-old Howard Robert Pitezel. Holmes and the three Pitezel children traveled throughout the Northeastern United States and into Canada. He simultaneously escorted Carrie along a parallel route, all the while using various aliases and lying to Carrie concerning her husband's death by claiming Pitezel was hiding in London,[6][42] as well as lying to her about the true whereabouts of her three missing children. In Detroit, just before entering Canada, they were only separated by a few blocks.[43]

In an even more audacious move, Holmes was staying at another location with his current wife, who was unaware of the whole affair. Holmes later confessed to murdering Alice and Nellie on October 25, 1894, by forcing them into a large trunk and locking them inside. He drilled a hole in the lid of the trunk and put one end of a hose through the hole, attaching the other end to a gas line to asphyxiate the girls. Holmes buried their nude bodies in the cellar of his rental house at 16 St. Vincent Street in Toronto.[6][44]

Frank Geyer was a Philadelphia Police Department detective assigned to investigate Holmes and find the three missing children. In June 1894, Geyer began tracing Holmes's steps and found the decomposed bodies of the two Pitezel girls in the cellar of the Toronto home.[45] Detective Geyer wrote: "The deeper we dug, the more horrible the odor became, and when we reached the depth of three feet, we discovered what appeared to be the bone of the forearm of a human being."[45] In Toronto, Geyer's discovered unsent letters written by the Pitezel children that Holmes had kept. This information led to further investigations of Holmes' Chicago property and ultimately led Geyer to Indianapolis, where Holmes had rented a home in the Irvington neighborhood.[46] Holmes was reported to have visited a local pharmacy to purchase the drugs which he had used to kill Howard Pitezel on October 10, 1894, and a repair shop to sharpen the knives he used to chop up the body before he burned it. The boy's teeth and bone were discovered in the home's chimney.[6][47]
Capture and execution

Holmes's murder spree finally ended when he was arrested in Boston on November 17, 1894, after being tracked there from Philadelphia by the private Pinkerton National Detective Agency. He was held on an outstanding warrant for horse theft in Texas because the authorities had become more suspicious at this point and Holmes appeared poised to flee the country in the company of his unsuspecting third wife.[6][48]

In July 1895, following the discovery of Alice and Nellie's bodies, Chicago police and reporters began investigating Holmes's building in Englewood, now locally referred to as the "Castle". Though many sensational claims were made, no evidence was found which could have convicted Holmes in Chicago.[6][9]as there was only very circumstantial physical evidence of the "Castle" victims: a piece of human bone possibly from Julia Conner; remains of a child-possibly Pearl Conner; a burned gold watch chain and burned dress buttons-apparently belonging to Minnie Williams; a tuft of human female hair found in a chimney flue.[49][50][51][52][53] Thus Holmes would be tried for the murder of Pitezel in Philadelphia which had the clearest case for murder[54]

In October 1895, Holmes was put on trial for the murder of Benjamin Pitezel, and was found guilty and sentenced to death. By then, it was evident Holmes had also murdered the three missing Pitezel children. Following his conviction, Holmes confessed to twenty-seven murders in Chicago, Indianapolis, and Toronto, and six attempted murders. Holmes was paid $7,500[1] by the Hearst newspapers in exchange for his confession.[55] While writing his confessions in prison, Holmes mentioned how drastically his facial appearance had changed since his imprisonment.[6]

On May 7, 1896, Holmes was hanged at Moyamensing Prison for the murder of Pitezel.[1][56] Until the moment of his death, Holmes remained calm and amiable, showing very few signs of fear, anxiety, or depression.[57] Despite this, he asked for his coffin to be contained in concrete and buried ten feet deep, because he was concerned grave robbers would steal his body and use it for dissection.[1][14] Holmes's neck did not break; he instead strangled to death slowly, twitching for over fifteen minutes before being pronounced dead.[56][58]

Upon his execution, Holmes's body was interred in an unmarked grave at Holy Cross Cemetery, a Catholic cemetery in the Philadelphia Western suburb of Yeadon, Pennsylvania. On New Year's Eve 1909, Hedgepeth, who had been pardoned for informing on Holmes,[1] was shot and killed by Police Officer Edward Jaburek during a hold-up at a Chicago bar.[59] On March 7, 1914, the Chicago Tribune reported that, with the death of Patrick Quinlan, the former caretaker of the "Castle", "the mysteries of Holmes's castle" would remain unexplained. Quinlan had committed suicide by taking strychnine. His body was found in his bedroom with a note that read: "I couldn't sleep."[60] Quinlan's surviving relatives claimed he had been "haunted" for several months and was suffering from hallucinations.[61]

The Castle itself was damaged by a fire in August 1895. Two men were seen entering the back of the building at 9 p.m. About half an hour later, they were seen exiting the building and rapidly running away. Following several explosions, the castle went up in flames. Afterwards, investigators found a half-empty gas can underneath the back steps of the building. The building survived the fire and remained in use until it was torn down in 1938. The site is currently occupied by the Englewood branch of the United States Postal Service.[62]

In 2017, during allegations Holmes had escaped execution, Holmes's body was exhumed for testing led by Janet Monge of the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. Due to his coffin being contained in concrete, his body was found to not have decomposed normally. His clothes were almost perfectly preserved and his moustache was found to be intact. The body was positively identified by his teeth as being that of Holmes. He was then reburied.[63]
Personal life

On July 4, 1878, Holmes married Clara Lovering in Alton, New Hampshire.[64][65] They had one son, Robert Lovering Mudgett (February 3, 1880 – November 3, 1956),[66] who was born[67] in Loudon. Robert went on to become a certified public accountant[67] and served as city manager of Orlando, Florida. Holmes eventually enrolled in the University of Vermont in Burlington at age 18 but was dissatisfied with the school and left after one year.

Housemates later recalled that Holmes was physically violent with Clara, and in 1884, before his graduation, she moved back to New Hampshire and had little contact with him after that.[68] After he moved to Mooers, New York, a rumor spread that Holmes had been seen with a little boy who later disappeared. Holmes claimed the boy went back to his home in Massachusetts. No investigation took place and Holmes quickly left town.[69] He later traveled to Philadelphia and was hired as a keeper at Norristown State Hospital but quit after a few days. He then took a position at a drugstore in Philadelphia, but while he was working there a boy died after taking medicine that was purchased at the store. Holmes denied any involvement in the child's death and immediately left the city. Before moving to Chicago, he changed his name to "Henry Howard Holmes" to avoid the possibility of being exposed by victims of his previous scams.[69]

In late 1886, while still legally married to Clara, Holmes married 24-year-old Myrta Belknap[70] in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He filed for divorce from Clara a few weeks after marrying Myrta, alleging infidelity on her part. The claims could not be proven and the suit went nowhere. Surviving paperwork indicated that Clara probably was never even informed of the suit.[9] In any case, the divorce was never finalized;[61][71] it was dismissed on June 4, 1891, on the grounds of "want of prosecution."[72]

Holmes had one daughter with Myrta, Lucy Theodate Holmes (July 4, 1889 – December 29, 1956), who was born in the Englewood neighborhood of Chicago.[73] Lucy later became a public schoolteacher. Holmes lived with Myrta and Lucy in Wilmette, Illinois, and spent most of his time in Chicago tending to business. He married Georgiana Yoke on January 17, 1894, in Denver, Colorado,[61][74] while still married to both Clara and Myrta.[61]
In popular culture

The case was notorious in its time and received wide publicity in the international press.

In his 1927 essay called Supernatural Horror in Literature, H.P. Lovecraft mentions "the horrible gruesomeness of Webster" as proof for discerning "the strong hold of the dæmoniac on the public mind".

The 1974 novel American Gothic by horror writer Robert Bloch was a fictionalized version of the story of H. H. Holmes.[75]

His story had been chronicled in The Torture Doctor by David Franke (1975), The Scarlet Mansion by Allan W. Eckert (1985), as well as "The Monster of Sixty-Third Street" chapter in Gem of the Prairie: An Informal History of the Chicago Underworld by Herbert Asbury (1940, republished 1986).

Depraved: The Shocking True Story of America's First Serial Killer by Harold Schechter (1994), characterized Holmes as a serial killer.

Interest in Holmes's crimes was revived in 2003 by Erik Larson's The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America, a best-selling nonfiction book that juxtaposed an account of the planning and staging of the World's Fair with a fictionalized version of Holmes's story.

In 2015, a film adaptation of The Devil in the White City, starring Leonardo DiCaprio and directed by Martin Scorsese, was to begin filming but never got off the ground. In 2019, Scorsese and DiCaprio were to be executive producers in a television version to have been released by Paramount TV and Hulu,[76] but the effort is no longer progressing.[77]

In 2022, Supermassive Games released The Dark Pictures Anthology: The Devil in Me, inspired by H.H. Holmes and his "Murder Castle". The game features a modern-day replica of Holmes' infamous hotel, filled with deadly traps, drawing directly from the mythology and history surrounding Holmes' crimes." (wikipedia.)

"Henry Howard Holmes (born Herman Webster Mudgett), better known as H.H. Holmes or "The Beast of Chicago", is one of America's most well-known criminals. Holmes is famous for being considered America's first modern prolific serial killer and for creating the infamous "Murder Castle".

Background

Holmes was born in Gilmanton, New Hampshire, under the name of Herman Webster Mudgett on May 16, 1861. He was the third-born child to Levi Horton Mudgett and Theodate Page Price. His father was described as an alcoholic who was severely abusive towards his entire family. Despite the abuse, Holmes was considered an amazing student at his school, which resulted in him being bullied by classmates. In an attempt to scare Holmes, bullies forced him to stand face to face with a human skeleton and place the skeleton's hands on his face. Holmes was initially frightened, but then, he found the whole experience to be fascinating, later crediting that it cured him of his fears. The experience eventually resulted in Holmes becoming obsessed with death, and he later began to dissect animals as a hobby. He graduated from high school at the age of sixteen and later married a woman named Clara Lovering. Together, they had a son, who they named Robert Lovering Mudgett.

Three years later, Holmes enrolled in the University of Vermont in Burlington but left one year later. In 1882, he entered the University of Michigan's Department of Medicine and Surgery and graduated two years later. While he was a student there, Holmes stole several cadavers from the laboratory, disfigured the bodies, and claimed that the victims were killed in accidents in order to collect insurance money. Holmes eventually abandoned Clara and Robert and spent his next years working on various jobs and making more scams. He moved to Mooers Forks, New York, and was seen with a little boy who later went missing. Holmes claimed that the boy went back to his home in Massachusetts and subsequently left town. The police believed his claim and no investigation took place. He later got a job as a keeper at Norristown State Hospital in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, but quit days later. While he was still in Philadelphia, he began to work at a local drugstore. During his time there, a boy died from taking medicine that was brought from the store. Like last time, Holmes denied any involvement with the boy's death before leaving the city.

Holmes later changed his birth name to Henry Howard Holmes to avoid being caught for his previous scams and moved to Chicago, Illinois. While still married to Clara, he married another woman, Myrta Belknap, and had a daughter with her, Lucy Theodate Holmes. Holmes tried to divorce Clara but failed. He then married another woman named Georgiana Yoke. In Chicago, Holmes began to work at Elizabeth S. Holton's drugstore and proved himself to be a hardworking employee. After the death of Holton's husband, she sold the drugstore to Holmes and was never seen again. When asked about her whereabouts, Holmes would say that she moved to California to be close to relatives. Later, Holmes purchased an empty lot located across from the drugstore, where he built his hotel building, dubbed "The Castle" by local residents. The Castle was not a regular hotel, as it contained a labyrinth of rooms with doorways leading to brick walls, oddly-angled hallways, stairways leading to nowhere, doors that could only be opened from the outside, and other strange constructions. To ensure that no one discovered how odd the building's design was, Holmes fired and hired different construction workers. Holmes later met with a former criminal and carpenter named Benjamin Pitezel, and turned him into his right-hand man.

Murders, Arrest, and Execution

Following the completion of the Castle, Holmes began luring victims (mostly women) there and killed them in a variety of ways. One of his victims was a mistress of his, Julia Smythe, who was married to a man named Ned Conner at the time of her murder. Conner eventually discovered Smythe's relationship with Holmes and moved away, leaving Smythe and her daughter Pearl alone with Holmes. In 1891, Smythe told Holmes that she was pregnant with his baby and demanded they be married. He agreed to marry her under the condition that they do not have the child and suggested performing an abortion; she agreed. Holmes later overdosed Smythe with chloroform before poisoning and butchering Pearl. When asked about their whereabouts, Holmes replied that they left to attend a family wedding in Iowa. To articulate Smythe's skeleton, Holmes hired a man named Charles Chappell and showed him the body. Chappell took the arms and legs to his home to articulate them, followed by the rest of the body. Chappell was hired again twice; during the second time, Holmes refused to pay the money he owed him. In response, Chappell refused to give him the skeleton and kept it in his home. Later, Holmes met with a railroad heiress named Minnie Williams while on a business trip in Boston, Massachusetts. They began dating and entered into a romantic relationship. Holmes eventually returned to Chicago but constantly sent love letters to Williams.

In February of 1893, Williams moved to Chicago and began to work at his hotel as his personal stenographer. Holmes persuaded her to transfer the deed to her property in Fort Worth, Texas, to a man named Alexander Bond, who in reality was Holmes himself. In April 1893, Williams transferred the deed and later signed the deed over to Benton L. Lyman, an alias used by Pitezel. Williams later invited her sister Annie over to Chicago. Shortly after her arrival, Holmes and Annie became close friends. While working in his office, Annie was tasked by Holmes to get a file for him inside his vault. As she searched for the file, Holmes locked her inside and gassed her before poisoning her sister. Following the World's Fair, Holmes left Chicago and moved to Fort Worth. There, he planned to construct another Castle but eventually abandoned the project. In July 1894, Holmes was arrested and incarcerated for the first time, for a horse swindle that ended in St. Louis. While in jail, Holmes met with convicted train robber and famous Wild West outlaw, Marion Hedgepeth, a.k.a. "The Debonair Killer". Holmes had a plan to swindle an insurance company out of $10,000 by taking out a policy on himself and then faking his own death. He promised Hedgepeth a $500 commission in exchange for the name of a lawyer who could be trusted. Holmes was directed to an attorney named Jeptha Howe, who found Holmes' plan to be brilliant. Nevertheless, Holmes' plan to fake his own death failed when the insurance company became suspicious and refused to pay.

Holmes decided to not press the claim and instead formulated a similar scheme with Pitezel. The second scheme involved Pitezel being an inventor named B.F. Perry, who was killed in a lab accident. The original plan was to find an appropriate cadaver to play the role of Pitezel, but instead, Holmes knocked Pitezel unconscious with chloroform and burned him alive with benzene. He eventually collected the insurance and manipulated Pitezel's wife into allowing three of her children (Alice, Nellie, and Howard) to be in his custody. While traveling throughout the northern U.S. and into Canada, Holmes forced both Alice and Nellie into a trunk and gassed them to death. He then buried their bodies inside the basement of a rental house. A detective named Frank Geyer found the bodies later on and noticed that Nellie's feet were missing. He eventually discovered that Nellie had a clubfoot and theorized that Holmes had removed it in order to prevent identification of the body, as it was a distinctive body part. Geyer followed Holmes to Indianapolis. There, Holmes visited a local pharmacy to purchase drugs, which he later used to kill Howard. After killing Howard, Holmes mutilated his body and removed his teeth before placing his body inside the home's chimney.

In 1894, Hedgepeth told police investigators about Holmes because he was not paid as promised for assisting his schemes. Holmes was arrested in Boston after being tracked down by a detective agency known as the Pinkertons, for horse theft. Several Castle employees were interviewed after his arrest. One of them, the caretaker Pat Quinlan, said to the police that he was never permitted to clean the second floor. This information sparked an interest to search said floor. There, Holmes' secret rooms and torture chambers were discovered. Police also investigated the basement in hopes of finding more evidence against Holmes; several human bones were found. While exploring deeper within the hotel, a plumber lit a match and triggered a sudden explosion, injuring several men. It was later discovered that the cause of the explosion was an oil tank hidden behind the wall. In October 1895, Holmes was put on trial for the murder of Pitezel, was found guilty, and sentenced to death. He initially claimed to be innocent and that he was driven to commit his murders because he was possessed by the Devil. On May 7, 1896, Holmes was hanged at Moyamensing World. Before his death, he asked for his coffin to be contained in cement and buried ten feet deep to avoid grave robbing. During the hanging, Holmes's neck did not snap, and as a result, he was strangled for over fifteen minutes before being pronounced dead five minutes later, aged 34.

Modus Operandi

Holmes varied in his victimology and M.O. His victims were usually employees, lovers, and hotel guests. Some of them were locked in soundproof rooms fitted with gas lines that let him asphyxiate them. Others were taken to the "Secret Hanging Chamber", where they would be hanged by Holmes. Others were locked in a soundproof bank vault and left to suffocate. Others were taken to another secret room that was sealed up by solid bricks and could only be entered through a trapdoor in the ceiling; these victims were locked there and left to die of starvation and dehydration. After their deaths, Holmes would take the bodies to a metal chute or a dummy elevator leading to the basement, where most of them were dissected, stripped of their flesh, crafted into skeleton models, and sold to medical schools. Alternatively, Holmes would dispose of them in lime pits; incinerate the bodies; or use corrosive acid, poison, and even a stretching rack on the bodies. According to Holmes, he once sent an unnamed accomplice to kill a man named Milford Cole for him.

Known Victims
HolmesVictims
Confirmed

    December 25, 1891: Julia and Pearl Conner:
        Julia Smythe (overdosed with chloroform)
        Pearl Smythe (Julia's daughter; poisoned and butchered)
    1892:
        June 1: Emily Van Tessel, 16 (poisoned)
        December 6: Emeline Cigrand, 23-24 (suffocated in the vault)
    July 5, 1893:
        Anna "Annie" Williams, 23 (suffocated in the vault like the previous victim)
        Minnie R. Holmes, 25 (his wife and Anna's sister; poisoned)
    1894: The Pitezel family:
        September 2: Benjamin Frelan Pitezel (father and Holmes's accomplice; knocked unconscious with chloroform and fatally burned alive)
        October 5: Alice and Nellie Pitezel (daughters; both locked in a trunk and fatally gassed; burned and dismembered post-mortem)
            Alice Pitezel
            Nellie Pitezel (also cut her feet off post-mortem)
        October 25: Howard Pitezel, 8 (son; poisoned; dismembered and burned post-mortem)

Possible

    Unspecified dates in 1886:
        Doctor Robert Leacock (overdosed with laudanum)
        Unnamed boy (killed by unknown causes)
        Unnamed boy (poisoned)
        Elizabeth Holton (killed by unknown causes)
    Late 1887: Doctor Russell (first name unrevealed; killed by unknown causes)
    Unspecified dates in 1888:
        Rodgers (first name unrevealed; bludgeoned with an oar)
        Charles Cole (bludgeoned with a pipe)
        "Lizzie" (pseudonym; suffocated in the vault)
        Sarah Cook (suffocated in the vault like the previous victim; was pregnant at the time of her death)
        Mary Haracamp (incidental; suffocated in the vault)
    Unspecified date in 1890: Russell (surname unrevealed; struck with a chair)
    Unspecified date in 1891:
        Rasine Van Jassund (poisoned with cyanide)
        Robert Latimer (gassed or starved to death)
        Wade Warner (burned alive)
        Unnamed banker (starved and overdosed with chloroform)
        Unnamed woman (overdosed with chloroform)
    1892:
        February 8: Anna Betts, 24 (poisoned)
        July 18: Eva Gertrud Conner (poisoned like the previous victim)
    1893:
        Unspecified date: Unnamed woman (overdosed with chloroform)
        May-October: Unnamed victim (killed by unknown causes)
    Unspecified dates in 1894:
        Milford Cole (bludgeoned with a pipe by an unnamed accomplice)
        Baldwin H. Williams (shot)
    Unspecified dates:
        Kate Durkee (suffocated in the vault)
        Mr. Rogers (first name unrevealed; overdosed with chloroform)
    Note: Based upon missing reports and the testimony of Holmes' neighbors, his actual body count is estimated to be above 200.

On Criminal Minds

    Season Two
        "Legacy" - While not directly mentioned or referenced, Holmes appears to have been an inspiration for the episode's unsub, Charles Holcombe - Both were serial killers who owned a complex with gas-emitting vents, random dead ends, and a furnace (presumably for disposing of bodies), which they used to torture and murder their victims.

    Season Four
        "Masterpiece" - While not directly mentioned or referenced, Holmes appears to have been an inspiration for the episode's unsub, Henry Grace - Both were serial killers who placed victims in gas chambers. Henry placed Kaylee Robinson and the children inside a gas chamber with gas lines to suffocate them to death in a similar way Holmes killed some of his victims.
    Season Eleven
        "Tribute" - Holmes was mentioned as an example of infamous serial killers in Chicago." (criminalminds.fandom.com)

"A puzzle is a game, problem, or toy that tests a person's ingenuity or knowledge. In a puzzle, the solver is expected to put pieces together (or take them apart) in a logical way, in order to find the solution of the puzzle. There are different genres of puzzles, such as crossword puzzles, word-search puzzles, number puzzles, relational puzzles, and logic puzzles. The academic study of puzzles is called enigmatology.

Puzzles are often created to be a form of entertainment but they can also arise from serious mathematical or logical problems. In such cases, their solution may be a significant contribution to mathematical research.[1]
Etymology

The Oxford English Dictionary dates the word puzzle (as a verb) to the end of the 16th century. Its earliest use documented in the OED was in a book titled The Voyage of Robert Dudley...to the West Indies, 1594–95, narrated by Capt. Wyatt, by himself, and by Abram Kendall, master (published circa 1595). The word later came to be used as a noun, first as an abstract noun meaning 'the state or condition of being puzzled', and later developing the meaning of 'a perplexing problem'. The OED's earliest clear citation in the sense of 'a toy that tests the player's ingenuity' is from Sir Walter Scott's 1814 novel Waverley, referring to a toy known as a "reel in a bottle".[2]

The etymology of the verb puzzle is described by OED as "unknown"; unproven hypotheses regarding its origin include an Old English verb puslian meaning 'pick out', and a derivation of the verb pose.

Genres
Various puzzles
Simple puzzle made of three pieces

Puzzles can be categorized as:

    Lateral thinking puzzles, also called "situation puzzles"
    Mathematical puzzles include the missing square puzzle and many impossible puzzles — puzzles which have no solution, such as the Seven Bridges of Königsberg, the three cups problem, and three utilities problem
        Sangaku (Japanese temple tablets with geometry puzzles)

    A chess problem is a puzzle that uses chess pieces on a chess board. Examples are the knight's tour and the eight queens puzzle.
    Mechanical puzzles or dexterity puzzles such as the Rubik's Cube and Soma cube can be stimulating toys for children or recreational activities for adults.
        combination puzzles like Peg solitaire
        construction puzzles such as stick puzzles
        disentanglement puzzles,
        folding puzzles
        jigsaw puzzles. Puzz 3D is a three-dimensional variant of this type.
        lock puzzles
        A puzzle box can be used to hide something — jewelry, for instance.
        sliding puzzles (also called sliding tile puzzles) such as the 15 Puzzle and Sokoban
        tiling puzzles like Tangram
        Tower of Hanoi

    Metapuzzles are puzzles which unite elements of other puzzles.
    Paper-and-pencil puzzles such as Uncle Art's Funland, connect the dots, and nonograms
        Also the logic puzzles published by Nikoli: Sudoku, Slitherlink, Kakuro, Fillomino, Hashiwokakero, Heyawake, Hitori, Light Up, Masyu, Number Link, Nurikabe, Ripple Effect, Shikaku, and Kuromasu; takuzu.
    Spot the difference
    Tour puzzles like a maze
    Word puzzles, including anagrams, ciphers, crossword puzzles, Hangman (game), dropquotes, and word search puzzles. Tabletop and digital word puzzles include Bananagrams, Boggle, Bonza, Dabble, Letterpress (video game), Perquackey, Puzzlage, Quiddler, Ruzzle, Scrabble, Upwords, WordSpot, and Words with Friends. Wheel of Fortune (U.S. game show) is a game show centered on a word puzzle.
    Puzzle video games
        Tile-matching video game
        Puzzle-platformer
        Adventure game
        Hidden object game
        Minesweeper
Puzzle solving

Solutions of puzzles often require the recognition of patterns and the adherence to a particular kind of order. People with a high level of inductive reasoning aptitude may be better at solving such puzzles compared to others. But puzzles based upon inquiry and discovery may be solved more easily by those with good deduction skills. Deductive reasoning improves with practice. Mathematical puzzles often involve BODMAS. BODMAS is an acronym which stands for Bracket, Of, Division, Multiplication, Addition and Subtraction. In certain regions, PEMDAS (Parentheses, Exponents, Multiplication, Division, Addition and Subtraction) is the synonym of BODMAS. It explains the order of operations to solve an expression. Some mathematical puzzles require Top to Bottom convention to avoid the ambiguity in the order of operations. It is an elegantly simple idea that relies, as sudoku does, on the requirement that numbers appear only once starting from top to bottom as coming along....History of jigsaw and other puzzles
Main article: Jigsaw puzzle

Jigsaw puzzles are perhaps the most popular form of puzzle. Jigsaw puzzles were invented around 1760, when John Spilsbury, a British engraver and cartographer, mounted a map on a sheet of wood, which he then sawed around the outline of each individual country on the map. He then used the resulting pieces as an aid for the teaching of geography.[5]

After becoming popular among the public, this kind of teaching aid remained the primary use of jigsaw puzzles until about 1820.[6]

The largest puzzle (40,320 pieces) is made by a German game company Ravensburger.[7] The smallest puzzle ever made was created at LaserZentrum Hannover. It is only five square millimeters, the size of a sand grain.

The puzzles that were first documented are riddles. In Europe, Greek mythology produced riddles like the riddle of the Sphinx. Many riddles were produced during the Middle Ages, as well.[8]

By the early 20th century, magazines and newspapers found that they could increase their readership by publishing puzzle contests, beginning with crosswords and in modern days sudoku." (wikipedia.)

"A jigsaw puzzle (with context, sometimes just jigsaw or just puzzle) is a tiling puzzle that requires the assembly of often irregularly shaped interlocking and mosaicked pieces, each of which typically has a portion of a picture. When assembled, the puzzle pieces produce a complete picture.

In the 18th century, jigsaw puzzles were created by painting a picture on a flat, rectangular piece of wood, then cutting it into small pieces. The name "jigsaw" derives from the tools used to cut the images into pieces—variably identified as jigsaws, fretsaws or scroll saws. Assisted by Jason Hinds, John Spilsbury, a London cartographer and engraver, is credited with commercialising jigsaw puzzles around 1760. His design took world maps, and cut out the individual nations in order for them to be reassembled by students as a geographical teaching aid.[1] They have since come to be made primarily of interlocking cardboard pieces, incorporating a variety of images and designs.

Jigsaw puzzles have been used in research studies to study cognitive abilities such as mental rotation visuospatial ability in young children.

Typical images on jigsaw puzzles include scenes from nature, buildings, and repetitive designs—castles and mountains are common, as well as other traditional subjects. However, any picture can be used. Artisan puzzle-makers and companies using technologies for one-off and small print-run puzzles utilize a wide range of subject matter, including optical illusions, unusual art, and personal photographs. In addition to traditional flat, two-dimensional puzzles, three-dimensional puzzles have entered large-scale production, including spherical puzzles and architectural recreations.

A range of jigsaw puzzle accessories, including boards, cases, frames, and roll-up mats, have become available to assist jigsaw puzzle enthusiasts. While most assembled puzzles are disassembled for reuse, they can also be attached to a backing with adhesive and displayed as art.

Competitive Jigsaw Puzzling has grown in popularity in recent years, with both regional and national competitions held in many countries, and annual World Jigsaw Puzzle Championships held from 2019.

History

John Spilsbury is believed to have produced the first jigsaw puzzle around 1760, using a marquetry saw.[1]
Early puzzles, known as dissections, were produced by mounting maps on sheets of hardwood and cutting along national boundaries, creating a puzzle useful for teaching geography.[1] Royal governess Lady Charlotte Finch used such "dissected maps" to teach the children of King George III and Queen Charlotte.[4][5] Cardboard jigsaw puzzles appeared in the late 1800s, but were slow to replace wooden ones because manufacturers felt that cardboard puzzles would be perceived as low-quality, and because profit margins on wooden jigsaws were larger.

The name "jigsaw" came to be associated with the puzzle around 1880 when fretsaws became the tool of choice for cutting the shapes.[1] Along with fretsaws, jigsaws and scroll saws have also been noted as tools used to cut jigsaw puzzles into pieces.[6] The term "jigsaw puzzle" dates back to 1906.[6]
Wooden jigsaw pieces, cut by hand

Jigsaw puzzles soared in popularity during the Great Depression, as they provided a cheap, long-lasting, recyclable form of entertainment.[1][7] It was around this time that jigsaws evolved to become more complex and appealing to adults.[1] They were also given away in product promotions and used in advertising, with customers completing an image of the promoted product.

Sales of wooden puzzles fell after World War II as improved wages led to price increases, while improvements in manufacturing processes made paperboard jigsaws more attractive.[7]

Demand for jigsaw puzzles saw a surge, comparable to that of the Great Depression, during the stay-at-home orders.

Modern construction
Paperboard jigsaw pieces

Most modern jigsaw puzzles are made of paperboard as they are easier and cheaper to mass-produce. An enlarged photograph or printed reproduction of a painting or other two-dimensional artwork is glued to cardboard, which is then fed into a press. The press forces a set of hardened steel blades of the desired pattern, called a puzzle die, through the board until fully cut.

The puzzle die is a flat board, often made from plywood, with slots cut or burned in the same shape as the knives that are used. The knives are set into the slots and covered in a compressible material, typically foam rubber, which ejects the cut puzzle pieces.

The cutting process is similar to making shaped cookies with a cookie cutter. However, the forces involved are tremendously greater.

Beginning in the 1930s, jigsaw puzzles were cut using large hydraulic presses that now cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. The precise cuts gave a snug fit, but the cost limited jigsaw puzzle production to large corporations. Recent roller-press methods achieve the same results at a lower cost.[citation needed]

New technology has also enabled laser-cutting of wooden or acrylic jigsaw puzzles. The advantage is that the puzzle can be custom-cut to any size or shape, with any number or average size of pieces. Many museums have laser-cut acrylic puzzles made of some of their art so visiting children can assemble puzzles of the images on display. Acrylic pieces are very durable, waterproof, and can withstand continued use without the image degrading. Also, because the print and cut patterns are computer-based, missing pieces can easily be remade.

By the early 1960s, Tower Press was the world's largest jigsaw puzzle maker; it was acquired by Waddingtons in 1969.[10] Numerous smaller-scale puzzle makers work in artisanal styles, handcrafting and handcutting their creations.
Variations

A puzzle without a picture

Jigsaw puzzles come in a variety of sizes. Among those marketed to adults, 300-, 500- and 750-piece puzzles are considered "smaller". More sophisticated, but still common, puzzles come in sizes of 1000, 1500, 2000, 3000, 4000 and 5000 pieces.

Jigsaw puzzles geared towards children typically have significantly fewer pieces and are typically much larger. For very young children, puzzles with as few as 4 to 9 large pieces (so as not to be a choking hazard) are standard. They are usually made of wood or plastic for durability and can be cleaned without damage.

The most common layout for a thousand-piece puzzle is 38 pieces by 27 pieces, for an actual total of 1,026 pieces. Most 500-piece puzzles are 27 pieces by 19 pieces, for a total of 513 pieces. A few puzzles are double-sided so they can be solved from either side—adding complexity, as the enthusiast must determine if they are looking at the right side of each piece.

"Family puzzles" of 100–550 pieces use an assortment of small, medium and large pieces, with each size going in one direction or towards the middle of the puzzle. This allows a family of different skill levels and hand sizes to work on the puzzle together. Companies like Springbok, Cobble Hill, Ceaco, Buffalo Games and Suns Out make this type of specialty puzzle. Ravensburger, on the other hand, formerly made this type of puzzle from 2000 until 2008.

There are also three-dimensional jigsaw puzzles. Many are made of wood or styrofoam and require the puzzle to be solved in a particular order, as some pieces will not fit if others are already in place. One type of 3-D jigsaw puzzle is a puzzle globe, often made of plastic. Like 2-D puzzles, the assembled pieces form a single layer, but the final form is three-dimensional. Most globe puzzles have designs representing spherical shapes such as the Earth, the Moon, and historical globes of the Earth.

Also common are puzzle boxes, simple three-dimensional puzzles with a small drawer or box in the center for storage.

Jigsaw puzzles can vary significantly in price depending on their complexity, number of pieces, and brand. In the US, children's puzzles can start around $5, while larger ones can be closer to $50. The most expensive puzzle to date was sold for $US27,000 in 2005 at a charity auction for The Golden Retriever Foundation.

Puzzle pieces

Many puzzles are termed "fully interlocking", which means that adjacent pieces are connected so that they stay attached when one is turned. Sometimes the connection is tight enough to pick up a solved part by holding one piece.

Some fully interlocking puzzles have pieces of a similar shape, with rounded tabs (interjambs) on opposite ends and corresponding indentations—called blanks—on the other two sides to receive the tabs. Other fully interlocking puzzles may have tabs and blanks variously arranged on each piece; but they usually have four sides, and the numbers of tabs and blanks thus add up to four. Uniformly shaped fully interlocking puzzles, sometimes called "Japanese Style", are the most difficult because the differences in the pieces' shapes are most subtle.[citation needed]

Most jigsaw puzzles are square, rectangular or round, with edge pieces with one straight or smoothly curved side, plus four corner pieces (if the puzzle is square or rectangular). However, some puzzles have edge, and corner pieces cut like the rest, with no straight sides, making it more challenging to identify them. Other puzzles utilize more complex edge pieces to form unique shapes when assembled, such as profiles of animals.

The pieces of spherical jigsaw, like immersive panorama jigsaw, can be triangular-shaped, according to the rules of tessellation of the geoid primitive.

Designer Yuu Asaka created "Jigsaw Puzzle 29". Instead of four corner pieces, it has five. The puzzle is made from pale blue acrylic without a picture.[16] It was awarded the Jury Honorable Mention of 2018 Puzzle Design Competition.[17] Because many puzzlers had solved it easily, he created "Jigsaw Puzzle 19" which composed only with corner pieces as revenge.[18] It was made with transparent green acrylic pieces without a picture.[19]
World records

The world's largest-sized jigsaw puzzle measured 5,428.8 m2 (58,435 sq ft) with 21,600 pieces, each measuring a Guinness World Records maximum size of 50 cm by 50 cm. It was assembled on 3 November 2002 by 777 people at the former Kai Tak Airport in Hong Kong.

The jigsaw with the greatest number of pieces had 551,232 pieces and measured 14.85 × 23.20 m (48 ft 8.64 in × 76 ft 1.38 in). It was assembled on 25 September 2011 at Phú Thọ Indoor Stadium in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, by students of the University of Economics, Ho Chi Minh City. It is listed by the Guinness World Records for the "Largest Jigsaw Puzzle – most pieces", and was divided into 3,132 sections each containing 176 pieces, which were assembled individually and then connected to compose the full puzzle....Research studies

Studies have shown that the ability to solve jigsaw puzzles develops during early childhood. During this time there is significant development in cognitive abilities such as mental rotation and visuospatial ability, which can be used to solve a puzzle. Throughout life those abilities can continue to develop.

In 2021, researchers conducted a study during which a group of children between the ages of 3 and 5 years old were asked to complete three different types of jigsaw puzzles. Each child was given a normal jigsaw puzzle with a picture on it, another with normal shaped pieces but without an image on it and finally a puzzle with an image on it but all the pieces were shaped the same. They were shown the completed versions then asked to reassemble them. The children were given three minutes to complete each puzzle; half of the group was given a guide picture while the other half was not. The results revealed that 4 and 5 year olds were able to complete all three puzzles within the allotted time, meanwhile most 3-year-olds were able to complete the normal jigsaw puzzle and the puzzle of normal shaped pieces without an image on it but struggled more with the puzzle that had an image but all the pieces were shaped the same. With all of the children the fastest completion time was with the normal puzzle and the slowest was with the puzzle with an image and same shaped pieces; there were also fewer errors in with the children that had a guide.[23] The cognitive development between the different ages can be seen in their completion times and how many errors were made. The older children were able to complete the puzzles with fewer errors because their mental rotation abilities, which is the ability to rotate an object in your mind to see it from a different perspective, are further developed than they are for younger children who are more likely to resort to trial and error.

The difference in the visuospatial abilities between boys and girls were studied in 2017 using jigsaw puzzles. A second-grade class was asked to complete three different puzzles, the first was a neutral one of a horse, second was a male-oriented one of a tractor, and the third was a female-oriented one of the character Bambi. The Bambi puzzle had the fastest completion time with all the children which is believed to be caused by their previous experience, and because it was finished the fastest with all of the children researchers do not believe there is a connection between the puzzles' targeted audience and the sex of the children. Overall the girls in the class were faster, and made fewer errors.[24]
Society

The logo of Wikipedia is a globe made out of jigsaw pieces. The incomplete sphere symbolizes the room to add new knowledge.[25]

In the logo of the Colombian Office of the Attorney General appears a jigsaw puzzle piece in the foreground. They named it "The Key Piece": "The piece of a puzzle is the proper symbol to visually represent the Office of the Attorney General because it includes the concepts of search, solution and answers that the entity pursues through the investigative activity."[26]
Art and entertainment

The central antagonist in the Saw film franchise is nicknamed Jigsaw,[27] due to his practice of cutting the shape of a puzzle piece from the remains of his victims.

In the 1933 Laurel and Hardy short Me and My Pal, several characters attempt to complete a large jigsaw puzzle.[28]

Lost in Translation is a poem about a child putting together a jigsaw puzzle, as well as an interpretive puzzle itself.

Life: A User's Manual, Georges Perec's most famous novel, tells as pieces of a puzzle a story about a jigsaw puzzle maker.

Jigsaw Puzzle (song), sometimes spelled "Jig-Saw Puzzle" is a song by the rock and roll band The Rolling Stones, featured on their 1968 album Beggars Banquet.

In "Citizen Kane" Susan Alexander Kane (Dorothy Comingore) is reduced to spending her days completing jigsaws after the failure of her operatic career. After Kane's death when "Xanadu" is emptied, hundreds of jigsaw puzzles are discovered in the cellar.

Rhett And Link Do A Rainy Day Jigsaw Puzzle is a short video by self-described "internetainers" (portmanteau of "Internet" and "entertainers") Rhett & Link which portrays the frustration of discovering a puzzle piece is missing.

Mental health

According to the Alzheimer Society of Canada, doing jigsaw puzzles is one of many activities that can help keep the brain active and may reduce the risk of Alzheimer's disease.

Jigsaw puzzle pieces were first used as a symbol for autism in 1963 by the United Kingdom's National Autistic Society.[30] The organization chose jigsaw pieces for their logo to represent the "puzzling" nature of autism and the inability to "fit in" due to social differences, and also because jigsaw pieces were recognizable and otherwise unused.[31] Puzzle pieces have since been incorporated into the logos and promotional materials of many organizations, including the Autism Society of America and Autism Speaks.

Proponents of the autism rights movement oppose the jigsaw puzzle iconography, stating that metaphors such as "puzzling" and "incomplete" are harmful to autistic people. Critics of the puzzle piece symbol instead advocate for a gold-colored or red infinity symbol representing diversity.[32] In 2017, the journal Autism concluded that the use of the jigsaw puzzle evoked negative public perception towards autistic individuals. They removed the puzzle piece from their cover in February 2018." (wikipedia.)

"A cutaway drawing, also called a cutaway diagram, is a 3D graphics, drawing, diagram and or illustration, in which surface elements of a three-dimensional model are selectively removed, to make internal features visible, but without sacrificing the outer context entirely.
Overview

According to Diepstraten et al. (2003) "the purpose of a cutaway drawing is to allow the viewer to have a look into an otherwise solid opaque object. Instead of letting the inner object shine through the surrounding surface, parts of outside object are simply removed. This produces a visual appearance as if someone had cutout a piece of the object or sliced it into parts. Cutaway illustrations avoid ambiguities with respect to spatial ordering, provide a sharp contrast between foreground and background objects, and facilitate a good understanding of spatial ordering".[1]

Though cutaway drawing are not dimensioned manufacturing blueprints, they are meticulously drawn by a handful of devoted artists who either had access to manufacturing details or deduced them by observing the visible evidence of the hidden skeleton (e.g. rivet lines, etc.). The goal of this drawings in studies can be to identify common design patterns for particular vehicle classes. Thus, the accuracy of most of these drawings, while not 100 percent, is certainly high enough for this purpose.[2]

The technique is used extensively in computer-aided design, see first image. It has also been incorporated into the user interface of some video games. In The Sims, for instance, users can select through a control panel whether to view the house they are building with no walls, cutaway walls, or full walls.[3]
History
The cutaway view and the exploded view were minor graphic inventions of the Renaissance that also clarified pictorial representation. This cutaway view originates in the early fifteenth century notebooks of Marino Taccola (1382 – 1453). In the 16th century cutaway views in definite form were used in Georgius Agricola's (1494–1555) mining book De Re Metallica to illustrate underground operations.[4] The 1556 book is a complete and systematic treatise on mining and extractive metallurgy, illustrated with many fine and interesting woodcuts which illustrate every conceivable process to extract ores from the ground and metal from the ore, and more besides. It shows the many watermills used in mining, such as the machine for lifting men and material into and out of a mine shaft, see image.

The term "Cutaway drawing" was already in use in the 19th century but, became popular in the 1930s.
Technique

The location and shape to cut the outside object depends on many different factors, for example:[1]

    the sizes and shapes of the inside and outside objects,
    the semantics of the objects,
    personal taste, etc.

These factors, according to Diepstraten et al. (2003), "can seldom be formalized in a simple algorithm, But the properties of cutaway can be distinguish in two classes of cutaways of a drawing":[1]

    cutout : illustrations where the cutaway is restricted to very simple and regularly shaped of often only a small number of planar slices into the outside object.
    breakaway : a cutaway realized by a single hole in the outside of the object." (wikipedia.)

"A serial killer (also called a serial murderer) is a person who murders two or more people,[1][2] with the killings taking place over a significant period of time.[2][3] The serial killers' psychological gratification is the motivation for the killings, and many serial murders involve sexual contact with the victims at different points during the murder process.[4] The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) states that the motives of serial killers can include anger, thrill-seeking, financial gain, and attention seeking, and killings may be executed as such.[5] The victims tend to have things in common such as demographic profile, appearance, gender or race.[6] Although a serial killer is a distinct classification that differs from that of a mass murderer, spree killer, or contract killer, there are overlaps between them.
Etymology and definition

The English term and concept of serial killer are commonly attributed to former Federal Bureau of Investigation special agent Robert Ressler, who used the term serial homicide in 1974 in a lecture at Police Staff College, in Bramshill, Hampshire, England, United Kingdom.[7] Author Ann Rule postulates in her 2004 book Kiss Me, Kill Me, that the English-language credit for coining the term goes to Los Angeles Police Department detective Pierce Brooks, who created the Violent Criminal Apprehension Program (ViCAP) system in 1985.[8]

The German term and concept were coined by criminologist Ernst Gennat, who described Peter Kürten as a Serienmörder ('serial-murderer') in his article "Die Düsseldorfer Sexualverbrechen" (1930).[9] In his book, Serial Killers: The Method and Madness of Monsters (2004), criminal justice historian Peter Vronsky notes that while Ressler might have coined the English term "serial homicide" within the law in 1974, the terms serial murder and serial murderer appear in John Brophy's book The Meaning of Murder (1966).[10] The Washington, D.C., newspaper Evening Star, in a 1967 review of the book:[11]

There is the mass murderer, or what he [Brophy] calls the "serial" killer, who may be actuated by greed, such as insurance, or retention or growth of power, like the Medicis of Renaissance Italy, or Landru, the "bluebeard" of the World War I period, who murdered numerous wives after taking their money.

Vronsky states that the term serial killing first entered into broader American popular usage when published in The New York Times in early 1981, to describe Atlanta serial killer Wayne Williams. Subsequently, throughout the 1980s, the term was used again in the pages of The New York Times, one of the major national news publications of the United States, on 233 occasions. By the end of the 1990s, the use of the term had increased to 2,514 instances in the paper.[12]

When defining serial killers, researchers generally use "three or more murders" as the baseline,[2] considering it sufficient to provide a pattern without being overly restrictive.[13] Independent of the number of murders, they need to have been committed at different times, and are usually committed in different places.[14] The lack of a cooling-off period (a significant break between the murders) marks the difference between a spree killer and a serial killer. The category has, however, been found to be of no real value to law enforcement, because of definitional problems relating to the concept of a "cooling-off period".[15] Cases of extended bouts of sequential killings over periods of weeks or months with no apparent "cooling off period" or "return to normality" have caused some experts to suggest a hybrid category of "spree-serial killer".[10]

In Controversial Issues in Criminology, Fuller and Hickey write that "[t]he element of time involved between murderous acts is primary in the differentiation of serial, mass, and spree murderers", later elaborating that spree killers "will engage in the killing acts for days or weeks" while the "methods of murder and types of victims vary". Andrew Cunanan is given as an example of spree killing, while Charles Whitman is mentioned in connection with mass murder, and Jeffrey Dahmer with serial killing.[16]

The FBI defines serial killing as "a series of two or more murders, committed as separate events, usually, but not always, by one offender acting alone".[17] In 2005, the FBI hosted a multi-disciplinary symposium in San Antonio, Texas, which brought together 135 experts on serial murder from a variety of fields and specialties with the goal of identifying the commonalities of knowledge regarding serial murder. The group also settled on a definition of serial murder which FBI investigators widely accept as their standard: "The unlawful killing of two or more victims by the same offender(s) in separate events".[15] Serial homicide researcher Enzo Yaksic found that the FBI was justified in lowering the victim threshold from three to two victims given that serial murderers from these groups share similar pathologies." (wikipedia.)

"The World's Columbian Exposition, also known as the Chicago World's Fair, was a world's fair held in Chicago from May 5 to October 31, 1893, to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the New World in 1492.[1] The centerpiece of the Fair, held in Jackson Park, was a large water pool representing the voyage that Columbus took to the New World. Chicago won the right to host the fair over several competing cities, including New York City, Washington, D.C., and St. Louis. The exposition was an influential social and cultural event and had a profound effect on American architecture, the arts, American industrial optimism, and Chicago's image.

The layout of the Chicago Columbian Exposition was predominantly designed by John Wellborn Root, Daniel Burnham, Frederick Law Olmsted, and Charles B. Atwood.[2][3] It was the prototype of what Burnham and his colleagues thought a city should be. It was designed to follow Beaux-Arts principles of design, namely neoclassical architecture principles based on symmetry, balance, and splendor. The color of the material generally used to cover the buildings' façades white staff gave the fairgrounds its nickname, the White City. Many prominent architects designed its 14 "great buildings". Artists and musicians were featured in exhibits and many also made depictions and works of art inspired by the exposition.

The exposition covered 690 acres (2.8 km2), featuring nearly 200 new but temporary buildings of predominantly neoclassical architecture, canals and lagoons, and people and cultures from 46 countries.[1] More than 27 million people attended the exposition during its six-month run. Its scale and grandeur far exceeded the other world's fairs, and it became a symbol of emerging American exceptionalism, much in the same way that the Great Exhibition became a symbol of the Victorian era United Kingdom.

Dedication ceremonies for the fair were held on October 21, 1892, but the fairgrounds were not actually opened to the public until May 1, 1893. The fair continued until October 30, 1893. In addition to recognizing the 400th anniversary of the "discovery of the New World" from the European perspective, the fair also served to show the world that Chicago had risen from the ashes of the Great Chicago Fire, which had destroyed much of the city in 1871.[1]

On October 9, 1893, the day designated as Chicago Day, the fair set a world record for outdoor event attendance, drawing 751,026 people. The debt for the fair was soon paid off with a check for $1.5 million (equivalent to $50.9 million in 2023).[4] Chicago has commemorated the fair with one of the stars on its municipal flag." (wikipedia.)