H. H. Holmes was a serial killer in Chicago who was publicly hanged in 1896. You can read the story of his crimes in a previous article. Holmes, despite (or maybe because of) years of dismembering his victims, was deathly afraid of grave robbers, and requested that his casket be filled with concrete. And so it was. However, rumor has it that Holmes was not the man hanged that day.
Following the hanging, rumors spread far and wide that Holmes – a master con man and manipulator – had paid off prison guards to hang a cadaver or some unsuspecting fellow inmate in his place and let him slip off into hiding in South America. Now, almost 121 years later and following a request from a descendent of Holmes, a Pennsylvania court has issued an order to have the alleged remains of the murderer dug up from his unmarked grave in Holy Cross Cemetery outside of Philadelphia.
“Why are we still fascinated by him?” John Russick, vice president for interpretation and education at the Chicago History Museum, told Fox News. “Part of it is the morbid curiosity in his crimes, but part of it is the effort to confirm that he is dead and was not actually able to outwit the law. There is the desire to confirm that legend is not true.”
We can all assume he is dead, whether or not he is buried in that specific grave. The University of Pennsylvania’s Department of Anthropology will do the forensics to identify whether the remains are those of Holmes. I'm sure the exhumation has nothing to do with the upcoming movie about Holmes. -via reddit