AMERICAN HOLMES, UNGUARDED

This week, Sam and Dean Winchester of 'Supernatural' took on a demonic spirit straight out of American History. In life, H.H. Holmes was the American version of Jack the Ripper in the late 1800s.

But in Toobworld, the man who was Jack the Ripper wasn't really responsible for his actions. Sebastian was possessed by the Redjack Entity and forced to commit those crimes until he was caught by the Vorlons.

Yeah, the British had to have aliens take care of their serial killer. We got rid of Holmes with good old fashioned American know-how.

Here's an introduction to H.H. Holmes, courtesy of Wikipedia:

Herman Webster Mudgett (May 16, 1861 – May 7, 1896), better known under the alias of "Dr. H. H. Holmes," was an American serial killer.

Holmes trapped, tortured, and murdered possibly hundreds of guests at his Chicago hotel, which he opened for the 1893 World's Fair. He confessed to 27 murders, though only nine have been confirmed.

The case was notorious in its time, and received wide publicity via a series of articles in William Randolph Hearst's newspapers. Interest in Holmes' crimes was revived in 2003 by "The Devil in the White City", a best-selling non-fiction book that juxtaposed an account of the planning and staging of the World's Fair with Holmes' story. In addition, Harold Schechter has written a biography of his life entitled "Depraved".

Although Holmes is sometimes referred to as America's first serial killer, his crimes occurred after those of others such as Thomas Neill Cream, the Austin Axe Murderer and the Bloody Benders.

If you want to read more about Holmes, you can check out his Wikipedia biography.

However, even though Holmes was hanged for his crimes in Pennsylvania*, his spirit came back to terrorize the building which was erected on the land where he was hanged.

What brought him back to the land of the living? I think there's more to the story, and I think the answer lies in another TV series. (Of course!)

Back in 1998, 113 souls escaped eternal damnation in Hell and resumed their mortal lives. The Devil called upon another of his infernal clientele, a former NYC cop named Zeke Stone, to hunt down these escapees and dispatch them back to Hell in exchange for his own freedom.

(Thanks to my friend and fellow Iddiot, Listener Mara, that Zeke Stone must still be on the case, because he has yet to bring back Angelus. Buffy Summers sent his soul to Hell, but Angel was able to escape and return to the land of the living, where he still exists to this day.)

As one of the 113 escaped damnees, Holmes apparently played it cool. He didn't resume full mortality, preferring a corporeal form only when he took his new victims. But that still proved his undoing as Sam and Dean trapped him in a circle of salt and then cemented all access to his prison so that he would be there - as Sam put it, - until Hell froze over.

If Zeke Stone still wants him, he'll have to dig the bastard out.

TV series cited for this post:
'Supernatural'
'Brimstone'
'Angel'
'Buffy The Vampire Slayer'
'Babylon 5'
'Star Trek'

BCnU!
Tele-Toby

*This would make H.H. Holmes a Yanked Damnee.

Sorry about that, Chief......