JACK THE RIPPER
True identity unknown. Active 1888 in London, UK
Jack the Ripper is probably the most famous serial killer in history, and often (mistakenly) said to be the first. There had been other serial killers before his notorious reign of terror, but the Jack the Ripper murders became famous worldwide because his attacks happened just as popular newspapers started selling in big numbers. And there is the fascination of a criminal who was not caught, or even identified.
Jack the Ripper is more like a legendary figure, a fabled bogeyman, because he is unknown. “Ripperology” has become an industry, with hundreds of books, TV programmes and movies about him. Jack the Ripper is part of the image we have of Victorian London, a shadowy killer hiding in the fogs and stalking his victims in the overcrowded slums of the East End.
You will also hear the murders called the Whitechapel Murders, after the area of London where the Killer struck. This is how the police referred to the cases at the times, and some experts still prefer this to avoid sensationalism.
THE FIVE CANONICAL MURDERS
These are the five victims who are generally agreed to have been killed by the Whitechapel Killer. In the Autumn of 1888, he terrorised London by preying on lone, poor women. He cut their throats and mutilated their bodies, taking organs from four of them, in what would now be interpreted as sexual killings.
Mary Ann ‘Polly’ Nichols
Friday August 31st, 1888
Nichols’ body was found at 3.40am in Bucks Row, a small street in the East End of London, in the area called Whitechapel. Mary Ann was usually known as Polly. She had had her throat cut, and her lower abdomen had a deep and ragged wound, with several other smaller wounds as well.
But unlike the later murders, no body parts were taken. Serial killers who mutilate their victims often inflict worse and worse wounds as their spree continues, so this may have been the first victim Jack had (although click here for more possible victims).
NOTE – Bucks Row is now called Durward Street.
Annie Chapman
Saturday September 8th, 1888
Annie Chapman was seen by an eye-witness at about 5.30am, with a man of “shabby-genteel” appearance and dark hair. 30 minutes later, her body was found in the back yard behind 29 Hanbury Street.
Chapman’s body was lying on the ground near a doorway into the yard, and her wounds were more serious than Nichols’. Like her, Annie’s throat had been cut, again with two cuts. Her abdomen was also cut deeply, but this time it had been opened up and her uterus removed.
Elizabeth Stride and Catherine Eddowes
Sunday September 30th 1888
The Ripper struck twice on September 30th, and most experts accept that he committed the second murder after being disturbed during the first murder.
At about 1am, a carter found a body in Duffield’s Yard, just off Berners Street. It was Elizabeth Stride. Her throat had been cut, but this time with a single, deep cut. There were no mutilations, and many wondered if it was not a Ripper murder at all.
But people soon decided that the murderer had probably been interrupted when the carter approached the yard (his horse and cart would have been very noisy).
Stride had been seen earlier with a man, with several witnesses, but they could not agree on their descriptions of hair colour in particular. The descriptions of his clothes did seem to be similar to the man seen with Annie Chapman, as they all described him as wearing the sort of clothes worn by a gentleman, but now shabby.
Catherine Eddowes was found 45 minutes after Stride, and not in Whitechapel itself, but on the edge of the City of London, in the business district of Mitre Square.
The attack on Eddowes had been frenzied, perhaps showing the pent-up frustration of a man interrupted in his first murder. A witness who walked through the square before the body was found said he saw a woman resembling Eddowes with a shabbily-dressed man.
When Eddowes was found, her throat had been cut through almost to the bone, and her abdomen had been torn open. Her left kidney and most of her uterus had been removed, and part of her bloody apron was found nearby, as if the murderer has used it to wipe himself and then dumped it.
Mary Jane Kelly
Friday November 9th, 1888
After 4 murders in a month, there was a gap before the final and most brutal murder. This is the final murder attributed to Jack the Ripper, and the most extreme (perhaps again caused by frustration at the long gap since the last killing?)
There were some differences between this last murder and the others – Kelly was much younger than the other victims, who has been middle-aged women, and Kelly was killed in her own home, a room she rented in Miller’s Court, just off Dorset Street in Spitalfields.
Even the East End police, who were used to seeing brutality on a daily basis and had dealt with the other 4 murders, were horrified by what they found. The Ripper had cut Kelly’s throat so deeply that he had almost decapitated her. Her face had been slashed and mutilated.
But her body had been butchered. Almost all her internal organs had been removed and thrown around the room. Her heart was never found. Flesh had been torn off her as well, as if the murderer had wanted to completely destroy her body.
This was the final murder attributed to Jack the Ripper. No one was ever caught and to this day, the murders have not been solved.
Some think that Jack the Ripper had become completely insane and may have killed himself. Others thought he left the area after killing Kelly. Although no one knows what happened to Jack, you can read more about possible suspects here.
CONCLUSION
The mystery of Jack the Ripper is the most documented one of all time, with thousands of books, articles, TV programmes and movies.
Dozens of people have been suggested as the murderer, from unknown sailors to a future King of England (the Duke of Clarence, who died young before he could inherit the throne). There are conspiracy theories involving the British government and royal family, and the Freemasons.
You can read more about the case on these pages:
WERE THERE OTHER JACK THE RIPPER VICTIMS?
WHAT HAPPENED TO JACK THE RIPPER?
THE INVESTIGATION AND THE LETTERS