The landlord's last name "Mudgett" is the actual last name of serial killer H. H. Holmes.
Loosely based oh H. H. Holmes, one of America's first documented serial killers.
Seen in the apartment building is a portrait and news clippings of notorious serial killer H. H. Holmes, who owned a hotel in Chicago which became known as his murder castle. The hotel was designed with false walls, secret passageways, and an incinerator in the basement to dispose of his victims' bodies. Holmes confessed to murdering 27 people but only 9 could be confirmed, and some estimate he may have tortured and killed as many as 200 hotel guests prior to being caught.