After ten years of development and adaptation attempts, the ‘Devil in the White City’ will be airing on Hulu as an original TV series, partnered with Paramount TV.
Originally set to be a feature film, the rights for the story were originally purchased by Leonardo DiCaprio, with Martin Scorsese originally set to direct, and DiCaprio himself, originally set to star as the infamous main character.
Based on the book The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and the Madness at the Fair that Changed America, written by author, Erik Larson. The series is about renown serial killer Doctor H.H. Holmes, a charming yet sinister insurance fraud charlatan, one of the first known American serial killers, and the man behind the infamously known “Murder Castle”.
The castle itself is praised by many horror and crime aficionados, as the building served as inspiration for many ‘haunted house’ stories of its time. Located next to the infamous 1893’s “World’s Fair” during the ceremony’s 400th anniversary, the castle served more as a real life haunted house.
The building itself is now long gone but was known for its intricate designs and complex hidden passageways. This included hidden gas chambers, dissection tables, secret laboratories, and a crematorium – all of which Holmes would use on his unsuspecting victims confirmed to be at the least
27 people, yet professed by Holmes himself, to be well over 200+ people.
Scorsese and DiCaprio are still attached to the project as executive producers. To what extent they’ll serve in the Hulu series, we won’t know for certain.
If you’d like to know more, click this episode of the LORE podcast. It’s the same podcast from the TV series I’d interviewed back in October.
It’s also where I first learned about the castle personally.
