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Related to Jack the Ripper? Serial killer’s descendant takes terrifying trip into history
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Related to Jack the Ripper? Serial killer’s descendant takes terrifying trip into history

A descendant of one of America’s first – and most infamous – serial killers has a new book and documentary about H.H. Holmes, a notoriously evil doctor believed to have killed as many as 200 people.

In the History Channel’s “American Ripper,” Jeff Mudgett, Holmes’ great-great-grandson, gathers evidence to support a shocking theory: Holmes was also Britain’s infamous Jack the Ripper. Mudgett detailed his journey to discover his murderous ancestor in his book “Bloodstains.” He joined Wednesday’s “The Glenn Beck Radio Program” to talk about the Jack the Ripper theory as well as how he has coped with being the great-great-grandson of a diabolical serial killer.

“I am fascinated and horrified by your [great-great-grandfather],” Glenn Beck said.

Hanged for his crimes in 1896, Holmes made his fortune through a series of scams, fraudulent marriages and fishy business deals. He built a home in Chicago called “The Castle” that contained an elaborate system of secret passageways, false walls, trapdoors, and a gas tank for piping gas to victims’ rooms. Homes would render his victims unconscious before taking them into secret rooms for horrifying experiments, sometimes selling their bodies as cadavers to medical researchers later.

“My life was turned upside-down,” Mudgett said of discovering he was related to Holmes. “I had to find out what was true and what was legend. And as you know … the more you dig into this story about this evil genius, the more strange it gets.”

The body buried in Holmes’ grave was exhumed by researchers earlier this year to see if the man’s DNA matches that of Holmes’ descendants. While little concrete evidence exists to support the conspiracy theory, it has long been rumored that Holmes was not actually executed and that another man’s body was buried in his place. On Wednesday’s show, Mudgett cast doubt on whether or not Holmes was buried in that grave.

You can watch “hiSTORY: Serial Killer in the White City,” a look at Holmes’ life and horrifying murders, on demand with TheBlaze TV.

To see more from Glenn, visit his channel on TheBlaze and listen live to “The Glenn Beck Radio Program” with Glenn Beck, Pat Gray, Stu Burguiere and Jeffy Fisher weekdays 9 a.m.–noon ET on TheBlaze Radio Network.

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