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The World's Fair

from Serial Numbers by A Candlelight Vigil

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Killer: H.H. Holmes
Victims: 27 confirmed, probably more
Song background: The 1893 World's Fair in Chicago offered many firsts: electric lighting (for which Westinghouse won the bid over General Electric), the Ferris Wheel, Juicy Fruit gum, Quaker Oats, hamburgers, and Daniel Burnham's city plan. But it was also where America's first serial killer found his victims. Dr. Henry Howard Holmes designed and built a hotel on 63rd and Wallace, filled with secret windowless soundproof rooms, as well as many maze-like hallways designed to confuse its patrons. (Holmes often switched construction workers, allowing none to see the full blueprint to minimize suspicion.) Once the hotel was opened, Holmes would go to the World's Fair, introduce himself to tourists (almost always women) and offer them a free night at his hotel. When he was caught, he admitted to 27 murders, but his testimony changed often and may be unreliable. Some estimates put the death toll at nearly 200.

lyrics

it's starting to rain again, i've got an umbrella ma'am
i'd like to share
you must be from out of town, come with me i'll show you round
the world's fair
there's so much that you can see, and now electricity
provides our light
it's powered by Westinghouse, I've got a resting house,
will you stay the night?

right this way down the hall, lights out when darkness falls
to get your rest
when morning comes silently, we'll have a vacancy
for other guests
eventually i'll be found, and if you look underground
you'll find new lairs / layers
and i ask all of those who grieve if they would still believe
the world's fair?

credits

from Serial Numbers, released October 31, 2008
Words and music: Charlie Crane

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Charlie Crane Chicago, Illinois

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