Assassination

The fair ended with the city in shock, as popular mayor Carter Harrison, Sr. was assassinated by a disgruntled and deranged office seeker, Patrick Eugene Prendergast, who believed he was owed a political appointment by the mayor, two days before the fair's closing. With the city in shock, the fair’s organizers quickly decided to cancel the lavish closing ceremony in favor of a public memorial to the city’s popular slain leader.

Murder Castle

Also during the fair, unbeknownst to festivalgoers, there was a mass murderer in the city. For several years before and during the exposition, serial killer, Dr. Henry Howard Holmes was busily luring victims (including a number of fairgoers) to a three-story, block-long building called the "Murder Castle", where they were tortured, mutilated and killed. Although H. H. Holmes’ heinous crimes weren’t discovered until after the fair ended, it’s believed that he was responsible for dozens of deaths in Chicago.

(H.H. Holmes)

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