Woman opens family Bible to find handwritten note from America's first serial killer

Woman opens family Bible to find handwritten note from America's first serial killer A New Jersey family say they opened the Good Book to find a letter from a very bad man: America's first serial killer. Claire Fanelle found the Bible, which was stuffed with newspaper clippings and had been owned by her mother, while cleaning, NBC 10 reported on Monday. Along with the clippings was a yellowed old letter with a sinister name at the bottom: that of HH Holmes, who claimed to have killed as many as 27 people before he was arrested, tried and executed. Fanelle told NBC10 that her son was reading through the clippings in the Bible when she read the eerie note. 'And the two of us look at each other like, "This is weird,"' she said. Much of the note is illegible, but it is dated May 7, 1896 - the day Holmes was hanged in Philadelphia after admitting string of murders, including some at the macabre hotel he ran. It begins: 'Dear Father Dailey, I must write and make you know the kind feelings I have for you.' The rest is unclear, save the final line: 'I need your prayers after my death. With all of my heart – HH Holmes, May 7. 1896' Father Patrick J Dailey, a turn-of-the-century Catholic priest, was also the first cousin of Fanelle's great-grandfather. His church was located close to the Moyamensing Prison where Holmes was hanged, and Fanelle believes he administered last rites to the condemned man. 'When he came to walk him to the gallows he probably handed him the Bible back with that inscription in it,' she said. Fanelle recognized his name after seeing recent news reports about conspiracy theorists who claim Holmes somehow escaped his execution, and had someone else killed in his place. Earlier this month, his family exhumed his body to prove his death through DNA tests, which are still ongoing. Holmes - also known as 'the devil in White City' for the murders he admitted to committing in Chicago - is one of the US's most infamous killers. He constructed a hotel of horrors - later known as the 'Murder Castle' - to target guests visiting the Windy City during the 1893 World's Fair. The building was equipped with soundproof rooms and had gas lines that could be used to asphyxiate guests. It also had trapdoors and a secret series of tunnels that Holmes could use to spirit away their bodies, which he was believed to have dissected and sold. In the basement were a dissecting table, stretching rack and industrial oven.