Hotel Holmes

Post number 13 (which I consider good luck) finds me doing the blog's first (unofficial) review. I use the term unofficial because I am reviewing a video game (yes, a video game) that I have never tried, just seen.

Titled Hotel Holmes, the game was created by second year students at Teesside University (which is located in the United Kingdom in case you were wondering). The number of creators totaled 20 (10 artists and 10 designers) and this team (together known as the JourneyMan Project) had a mere 4 months to make a 3 level game.

I saw a good portion of Hotel Holmes on YouTube and have to give the genius creators some big merits. What these 20 people created in four months rivals what I have seen hundreds take years to create. They even did extensive research on the World's Fair Hotel, studying blueprints and records, so the virtual version would be as close to accurate as possible. And the fastest way to win points with me is to be concerned with the historical accuracy. (Every JourneyMan Project member gets ONE MILLION AWESOME POINTS). Aside from that though, Hotel Holmes was chosen as the best JourneyMan game of the year and was awarded with footage being presented at the University of Teesside booth at Eurogamer 2013.

This does not look like a basic school assignment. This looks like a real game that can be marketed and sold. As of now, there are no plans for this to happen. Believe me, I emailed one of the creators to check. But if the game ever did get released to the public, I would be first in line to purchase one. Yes, I would fly all the way to the UK to get the first game (and then blog about it). But onward to the good stuff.

Hotel Holmes consists of three levels that take place in various locations around the Castle (the basement, the attic, and the hotel). That might be the actual level order but don't quote me on it. The main (and only playable character) is a Priest (I cannot remember his name at the moment) who has been trapped in the hotel by Holmes. To escape, he must explore to building, completing puzzles and rescuing victims, all while evading the clutches of Holmes.

It's an interesting premise that in turn makes for an interesting game. But don't just take my word for it. Check out the action for yourself right here:

 

 

 

If the game was expanded, I think it would be awesome to play as Holmes or Benjamin Pitezel. You could even meet real life characters like Frank Geyer or Ned Conner in the game.

 

Personally, I would want to be Minnie Williams and subdue Holmes so I could take over the Castle myself. Maybe even open it as a real hotel and amass a nice fortune for myself. Female power!  

 

Until next time.

 

XOXO, Kate

 

And a shout out to Jonathan Cliff, the kind creator who answered my email. You can check out his website here:

 

http://jonathan-cliff.co.uk/

Music in the Castle

So I just discovered that there are a lot of songs about killers (thanks to the ever reliable Wikipedia that has an entire page devoted to track titles).

Of the dozens, I knew just one, the "Legend of Bonnie and Clyde" by Merle Haggard.

Fact: I like this song so much that I have it on my IPod. Another favorite and owner of a home on my IPod (though not owner of a home on the Wikipedia list) is "John Wilkes Booth" by Tony Rice.

Both songs are from the country genre (which I love). I find it is one of the best genres for songs like those mentioned above because it gives a good beat while still remaining calm and measured (I.E. no screaming) (which I don't find pleasing to listen to).

The Wikipedia list included a few songs on Holmes so I decided to look them up on YouTube and see if I could find another winner.

The first three were all death or thrash metal bands with scary cover art.

One song I couldn't understand because the lead singer was all but eating the microphone while yelling in a really deep voice that sounded (to me) like an abominable snowman impression. What I found amusing were all the comments that said something along the lines of, "YEAH MAN! I LOVE THIS SONG!" How did you understand the song? I needed either subtitles or a thrash metal translator.

Another was just dudes that had hair like ZZ Top had beards, whipping their heads back and forth, and shrieking at decibels that have not been accessed in the natural world.

But the search was not hopeless because I did find one song that did not cause my ears to bleed.

Alkaline Trio, a rock band (and if you know me then you know I LOVE rock), released a song called "Torture Doctor." While the song never mentions Holmes by name, you can tell that he is the inspiration.

Starting with the title, "Torture Doctor" was one of the various nicknames given to Holmes after his arrest. Other examples, the Murder Castle stood in the south side of Englewood, he shed his life as Herman Mudgett when he arrived in Chicago, and got away with his various crimes for some time before being caught.

The torture doctor is in
Back here to confess his sins
Knowing damn well he was dead wrong
And I can't believe my eyes
Trouble and regret haunt my mind
I'll let you take the whole thing down brick by brick
Tonight

And there's a devil dancing in my head
As I'm hovering above your bed

Hey, ho
We know how this story goes
Hey, ho
The plot it thickens and grows
Hey, ho
There's nothing left to hide
Hey, ho
Down here on the south side

I was the worst of my kind
I left me old life behind
Can't believe I got away with it so long
At the end of the day
There is nothing to say
So tired of being wired wrong
All my life

And there's a devil dancing in my head
As I'm hovering above your bed

Hey, ho
We know how this story goes
Hey, ho
The plot it thickens and grows
Hey, ho
There's nothing left to hide
Hey, ho
Down here on the south side
Down on the south side

Hey, ho
We know how this story goes
Hey, ho
The plot it thickens and grows
Hey, ho
There's nothing left to hide
Hey, ho
Down here on the south side
Down on the south side
Down on the south side

 

I find the lyrics to be catchy and clever. Plus, you can't go wrong with a rocking beat that you can actually dance to.

 

 

Until next time.

 

XOXO, Kate

Marks of the Medical Profession

While doing some important Holmes related research (ahem-staring at his graduation photo-ahem) (no, I'm kidding, I was doing real research on the murder of B. F. Perry/Benjamin F. Pitezel) I came across a newsletter from the Philadelphia archives.

The article I read, CRIME, CRIMINALS, LAW ENFORCEMENT AND RECORDS, was written by Ward Childs and published in 1982. But what interested me was the short section Childs included about Holmes' arrest.

Though I have seen the mugshots, I have never seen the record describing Holmes upon his arrest. You know, the thing that all his measurements and physical characteristics were written on that historians love to mention with a few vague words like "wrote down height and weight" before moving on to the next point and I'm just there like:

  

I NEED FACTS!

 

But anyway, the above article actually mentioned some of the more elusive information I was seeking to find.

 

Herman W. Mudgett or H.H. Holmes, the notorious mass murderer, who was later hanged at Moyamensing Prison on May 7, 1896, was entered in this record after his arrest on November 17, 1894 for conspiracy and the murder of Benjamin F. Pitezel. The entry in the Register of Descriptions of Criminals reveals that Mudgett, who was arrested under the alias of H.H. Holmes also used the aliases of H.M. Howard, Alex E. Bond and Horace H. Williams. The Register reveals that he was a physician and druggist, who was born in Germantown, New Hampshire and living in Chicago, Illinois, and describes him as white, 34 years of age, 5 feet 7 inches in height and 148 pounds in weight with a medium build, slate blue eyes, dark complexion, scars on the first joint left thumb, above first joint left index, below second joint right index; a small pimple in front of left ear on cheek, a small mole on right cheek, small scars on forehead and scar on top of the head. However, even so detailed a verbal description would not have been sufficient for the purpose of identification by the Police. The Police also probably photographed Herman W. Mudgett for their rogues' gallery which had been introduced into the Detective Department in 1859; and measured his body according to the Bertillion system of measurement, which the Police had adopted on July 16, 1892. ( If he had committed his crime just eleven years later, Mudgett also would have been fingerprinted at this time.)

There are a few minor mistakes in this statements (Holmes was not yet 34 at the time of his arrest and was born in Gilmanton, not Germantown. In fact, I don't believe Germantown, New Hampshire is even a real place unless it has been renamed to something else).

However, what I find the most fascinating is the detail given to Holmes' various scars. I'm not sure how he would have gotten a scar on the top of his head (depending on where the "top" was) but it's interesting how most of the scars are on his hands. On the first joint left thumb, above first joint left index, below second joint right index.

Scars on the hands might mean a person often working with knifes or other sharp instruments. Being a doctor, Holmes would have been inclined to cut himself if he was not careful.

So even though Holmes kept the bloodstained tools of his trade hidden away, he actually wore the marks of his dangerous medical practice right on his skin.

Until next time.

XOXO, Kate