This article presents six of the most terrifying hidden rooms in history, each with a story of murder, torture, and abuse.
1. The "Murder Hotel" of Dr. Henry Howard Holmes, a serial killer who built a hotel in 1893 with secret rooms and trap doors to torture and kill his victims.
2. An orphanage where children were mistreated, tortured, and abused, with human remains and evidence of crimes found in a hidden room.
3. Leonard Lake's bunker, where he and his accomplice tortured and killed victims, including women and children, with the help of a hidden room and a one-way mirror.
4. Josef Fritzl's basement, where he kept his daughter Elisabeth captive for 24 years, subjecting her to rape, torture, and abuse, and fathering seven children with her.
5. The hidden room of William Neighbors, a teacher who kidnapped, tortured, and killed young girls, using a soundproofed room in his garage.
6. The Beltrán brothers' mansion, where they tortured and killed their siblings and eventually others, using hidden rooms and a system of torture and psychological manipulation.
Here are the key facts extracted from the text:
1. Dr. Henry Howard Holmes built a hotel with 60 rooms in 1893.
2. The hotel had a medieval setting and trap tunnels and windows to observe guests.
3. Holmes used the hotel to murder, torture, and dismember his victims.
4. Holmes was able to block doors and fill rooms with gas to sedate victims from his office.
5. The victims were often young women.
6. Holmes used a forklift to move bodies to a room known as the "dungeon".
7. Holmes confessed to killing 27 people, but it's believed he may have killed over 100.
8. Holmes was hanged at the age of 34 for his crimes.
9. An orphanage was closed in 1986, but in 2008, it was discovered that children were mistreated, tortured, and abused there.
10. 160 people reported abuse at the orphanage in 2008.
11. A hidden room was found in a small warehouse at the orphanage, where human remains, teeth, and bones were discovered.
12. The remains were from children who were punished, drugged, beaten, and eventually killed.
13. Leonard Lake, a serial killer, built a cabin with a bunker in an isolated area of California.
14. Lake's accomplice built a small room in the bunker with a one-way mirror to record torture and murders.
15. Lake was found to have recorded videos of his accomplice killing victims.
16. Lake's victims included older men, young boys, and babies, but only women were tortured for hours.
17. Josef Fritzl, an Austrian man, locked his daughter Elisabeth in the basement of their home for 24 years.
18. Fritzl raped Elisabeth, who had seven children with him, and kept them locked in the basement.
19. Elisabeth was able to escape and alert authorities in 2008.
20. Fritzl was sentenced to life in prison for his crimes.
21. William Neighbors, a German teacher, was found to have built a hidden room in his garage to torture and murder young girls.
22. The room was soundproofed and had a small table, ropes, a video camera, and a single knife.
23. Neighbors would rape and torture the girls, keeping them alive for as long as possible by feeding them.
24. The Beltrán brothers, Alan and Blake, developed a taste for torture and murder after being locked in a small room by their father.
25. The brothers went on to commit a series of murders over the course of almost ten years.