In 1888, London was gripped by fear as a series of gruesome murders unfolded in the Whitechapel district. The killer, who would become infamously known as Jack the Ripper, sent a chilling letter to the Central News Agency on September 27, 1888. This letter, later forwarded to Scotland Yard, taunted the police and hinted at the killer’s next move. Despite numerous investigations, Jack the Ripper’s identity remains a mystery, but his horrific acts have inspired countless studies and theories from experts known as ripperologists. Let’s delve into the terrifying tale of Jack the Ripper, exploring the murders, the suspects, and the investigations that followed.
In the late 19th century, Whitechapel was a densely populated area plagued by poverty and crime. On the morning of August 31, 1888, Charles Cross discovered the body of Mary Ann Nichols on Buck’s Row. Initially, Cross and another passerby, Robert Paul, thought she might be unconscious. However, a closer inspection by the police revealed that Nichols had been brutally murdered, her throat slit, and her abdomen mutilated. This marked the beginning of a series of murders that would terrify London.
The murder of Mary Ann Nichols was initially attributed to a gang, but soon the idea of a single deranged killer emerged. Rumors spread about a local Jewish man known as “Leather Apron,” leading to the arrest of John Pizer, a Polish Jew. Despite the accusations, Pizer had a solid alibi and was eventually cleared of suspicion.
On September 8, 1888, the body of Annie Chapman was discovered in a backyard on Danbury Street. Her murder bore striking similarities to that of Mary Ann Nichols, with her throat deeply cut and her body mutilated. The killer had removed her uterus, leading investigators to suspect someone with medical knowledge. Dr. George Bagster Phillips, who examined the body, suggested that the murderer had anatomical expertise, fueling theories that the killer might be a doctor.
The police faced a daunting task as they received hundreds of letters from the public, many claiming to be from the killer. Among these was the infamous “Dear Boss” letter, where the murderer first referred to himself as Jack the Ripper.
On September 30, 1888, Jack the Ripper struck twice in one night, killing Elizabeth Stride and Catherine Eddowes. Stride, known as “Long Liz,” was found with a deep cut to her neck but no further mutilations. Some believe she might not have been a Ripper victim, while others think the killer was interrupted.
Witness Israel Schwartz reported seeing a man attacking a woman on Berner Street, possibly Stride, but his account was not fully pursued by the police. Meanwhile, Eddowes was found in Mitre Square, her body horrifically mutilated. Her left kidney and part of her uterus were removed, and her right ear was cut off, aligning with the threat in the “Dear Boss” letter.
Following the murders, the Central News Agency received a postcard from the alleged killer, referencing the “double event” and further taunting the police. Despite the similarities in handwriting, some investigators suspected these letters were hoaxes, possibly written by journalists to maintain public interest in the case.
One particularly chilling letter, known as the “From Hell” letter, was sent to George Lusk of the Whitechapel Vigilance Committee. It included a piece of a human kidney, adding a gruesome element to the mystery. While the true identity of Jack the Ripper remains unknown, his reign of terror continues to captivate and horrify people worldwide.
Jack the Ripper’s story is a haunting reminder of the darkness that can lurk in society. The case remains unsolved, but it has left an indelible mark on history, inspiring endless speculation and fascination with the unknown.
Choose one of the main suspects in the Jack the Ripper case and conduct thorough research on their background, motives, and alibis. Prepare a presentation to share your findings with the class, highlighting why this suspect was considered and any evidence that supports or refutes their involvement.
Engage in a structured debate with your peers on whether Jack the Ripper had medical knowledge. Use evidence from the case, such as the nature of the mutilations and expert testimonies, to support your argument. This will help you develop critical thinking and public speaking skills.
Work in groups to create a detailed timeline of the Jack the Ripper murders, including key events, discoveries, and police actions. Use visual aids to enhance your timeline and present it to the class, discussing how each event contributed to the overall investigation.
Examine the infamous “Dear Boss” letter attributed to Jack the Ripper. Analyze its language, tone, and content to determine its authenticity. Discuss with your classmates whether you believe it was written by the killer or if it was a hoax, and justify your reasoning.
Investigate how media coverage influenced public perception and police investigations during the Jack the Ripper case. Write a short essay discussing the role of newspapers and journalists, and how they may have affected the outcome of the investigation.
**Jack the Ripper: The Killer from Hell**
“Dear Boss,
Great work on the last job. I gave the lady no time to squeal. How can they catch me now? I love my work and want to start again. You will soon hear of me with my funny little games… My knife’s so nice and sharp; I want to get to work right away if I get a chance. Good luck. Yours truly, Jack the Ripper.”
These were extracts from a letter that London’s Central News Agency received on September 27, 1888. It was then forwarded to Scotland Yard, who were in the middle of investigating perhaps the most notorious killing spree of all time. Someone was attacking women in Whitechapel, murdering them, and then disfiguring their bodies in gruesome fashion. The killer went by many names – the Whitechapel Murderer, Leather Apron, Saucy Jacky, and, of course, Jack the Ripper. He remains unidentified to this day, so we will focus on his grim body of work – the murders, the suspects, and the investigations. Few, if any, other killers in history have inspired so many studies, books, and hypotheses courtesy of police officers, historians, writers, and crime enthusiasts who are collectively known as ripperologists. Today we explore the life of Jack the Ripper.
**The Autumn of Terror Begins – Mary Ann Nichols**
In 1888, the Whitechapel parish in the East End of London was a place rife with crime. It was an overcrowded low-income area with terrible housing and working conditions. There was a brothel on every corner and a bar next to every brothel, allowing residents to indulge their vices and forget about their poverty-stricken lives. But even for such an area, nobody was prepared for what they were about to discover one early morning on August 31. A man named Charles Cross was on his way to his job on Buck’s Row when he found a woman lying in the street, with her skirt raised above her waist. Cross and another man named Robert Paul approached her and touched her head and hands, unable to decide if she was dead or merely unconscious. The two concluded that they should pull down her skirt and alert the first police officer they encountered, but otherwise, they had jobs to get to.
The streets of Whitechapel were poorly lit, and it was still night outside. In the darkness, even up close, neither man noticed that the woman’s throat had been slit and her abdomen mutilated. A police constable named John Neil came upon the body, followed closely by Constable Mizen, who had been alerted by Cross. A third constable went to fetch the doctor. The physician pronounced the woman dead and concluded that she had been killed about half an hour prior. This meant that the killer was likely still in the area when Charles Cross walked by. The victim was Mary Ann Nichols, a prostitute who also went by “Polly.” At first, her murder was linked to a few other killings, which we will discuss later. While some blamed a violent gang, the newspapers ran with the story of one deranged killer preying on these women.
In the weeks that followed, street gossip created the belief that the killer was a local Jewish man known as “Leather Apron.” Whitechapel had a large Jewish population, so resentment against them was high. The newspapers were more than happy to fuel this sensationalism. Whether it was due to frustration, incompetence, or outside pressure to do something, the police decided to arrest John Pizer in September. He was a Polish Jew who worked as a shoemaker, and some said that he was sometimes called “Leather Apron.” He also had a prior conviction for a stabbing attack. This was all the police had against Pizer, but fortunately for him, he had a solid alibi that exculpated him. Pizer even won a libel case against a newspaper that declared him to be the killer.
**The Second Murder – Annie Chapman**
On September 8, the Whitechapel Murderer struck again when the body of Annie Chapman was found in the backyard of Danbury Street by an elderly resident. He flagged down some passing workmen who alerted the police. Chapman’s throat had a deep cut, and her body had been mutilated with multiple stab wounds, immediately suggesting a connection with the murder of Mary Nichols. She had been disemboweled, and her intestines had been severed, lifted out of the body, and placed on her shoulder. A later post-mortem examination revealed that the killer had removed and taken Chapman’s uterus. Dr. George Bagster Phillips examined the wounds and ascertained that they were caused by a very sharp knife with a long, thin, and narrow blade. It could have been the surgical instrument that a doctor might use for a post-mortem. Phillips also said in his testimony that the murderer showed “indications of anatomical knowledge.” These conclusions gave birth to the idea that the killer might be someone with a medical background, a notion that is still pervasive today.
The murders caused a huge sensation in London and were discussed in every newspaper in the city. Meanwhile, the police had to contend with an unexpected problem that significantly impeded their already slow investigation. They had to look into hundreds of letters received from the public. Broadly, these missives could be placed into two categories: letters from people offering suggestions or information on how to catch the culprit and letters alleged to be from the killer himself. The police received upwards of 700 letters from the public. Hundreds were purportedly from the Whitechapel Murderer, either taunting or expressing remorse for his actions. You might imagine how this made it almost impossible for the police to ascertain which of the letters, if any, were useful or genuine. That being said, there are a few which are believed by many investigators to have some merit. The first one we mentioned in the intro of the video. It was sent to the Central News Agency almost 20 days after the murder of Annie Chapman. It starts with the words “Dear Boss” and ends with the murderer giving himself a name. From now on, he is known as Jack the Ripper.
**The Double Event – Catherine Eddowes and Elizabeth Stride**
At first, the “Dear Boss” letter was dismissed as a hoax like all the others. However, one particular phrase garnered the interest of the police. When talking about his next job, Jack said that he would “clip the lady’s ears off.” This became relevant when, just a few days later, the killer did just that. On September 30, two women fell victim to the Ripper: Elizabeth Stride and Catherine Eddowes. First off was Elizabeth Stride, also known as “Long Liz.” She was last seen around midnight in the company of an unidentified man. She was killed soon after that, and her body had already been discovered by 1 a.m. at Dutfield’s Yard on Berner Street. Liz died from a long, six-inch gash in her neck but had suffered no mutilations. Because of this, some are still hesitant to count her as a Ripper victim, believing that she could have been the target of an unrelated attack. However, others consider that there are enough similarities, such as location and killing method, to group her with the other women. They believe that Jack did not cut up her body because he was either rushing to kill again or perhaps because he was interrupted.
This is where a Hungarian man named Israel Schwartz came in with an interesting story to share, which, if true, meant that he might have been the interrupter. Schwartz told police that he saw a man assault a woman on Berner Street at around 12:45 a.m. that night. Believing he was witnessing a domestic spat between husband and wife, he wanted nothing to do with it and crossed the street to avoid them. He later identified Long Liz as the woman he saw that night. His cowardice was subsequently mocked in newspapers, which labeled Schwartz a “hen-hearted creature.” There are two peculiar details about his story. Firstly, Schwartz claimed that there was a second man in the vicinity smoking a pipe. Secondly, the witness said that the attacker saw him and shouted something at him. Schwartz believed the word was “Lipski,” an anti-Semitic slur which referenced Israel Lipski, a Jewish man hanged for murder the year before. We don’t know how seriously police took Schwartz’s account, but they did not call on him to testify at the inquest. Their records do indicate that they tracked down and eliminated the second man as a suspect.
Meanwhile, within walking distance of Berner Street, Jack had found himself another victim named Catherine “Kate” Eddowes. After midnight, Kate was walking the streets of London after being released from jail for drunken behavior. She ended up in Mitre Square and was last seen alive at around 1:30 a.m. in the company of a man by three gentlemen leaving a club on Duke Street. One of those three, Joseph Lawende, got a decent look at the couple and described them, although he mainly remembered their clothes and not their features. Eddowes’ body was discovered soon after by a constable walking his beat. Her neck had been cut, and her body suffered gruesome mutilations, more extensive than any of the previous victims. Her face was disfigured, her intestines were removed and placed on her shoulder again, and the killer had removed her left kidney and part of her uterus. Jack had also cut off Kate’s right ear, which is what convinced authorities that the “Dear Boss” letter was the genuine article.
**More Letters Arrive**
Speaking of letters, the next day the Central News Agency received a postcard. The text said: “I was not joking, dear old Boss, when I gave you the tip. You’ll hear about Saucy Jacky’s work tomorrow. Double event this time. Number one squealed a bit; couldn’t finish straight off. Had not time to get ears off for police. Thanks for keeping last letter back till I got to work again. Jack the Ripper.” The details and the handwriting suggested to police not only that the postcard was real, but that it was written by the same person as the “Dear Boss” letter. They published a facsimile in the hope that someone might recognize the handwriting but were unsuccessful. Unfortunately, while it is true that both were probably written by the same person, it is also possible that that person was not Jack the Ripper. Since the start, some investigators believed that these letters were the work of journalists, specifically either Fred Best or Thomas Bulling. They had access to confidential information and wanted to keep interest in Jack alive. Indeed, it is quite feasible that all the correspondence purported to be from Jack the Ripper was actually written by other people who wanted to be part of the sick charade that surrounded the murders.
One more letter merits inclusion, though, because it came with a grisly accessory – part of a human kidney. This missive was addressed “From Hell” and was sent to George Lusk, chairman of a volunteer vigilante group called the Whitechapel Vigilance Committee. It read:
“Mr. Lusk,
Sir,
I send you
Jack the Ripper – A pseudonym given to an unidentified serial killer active in the Whitechapel district of London in 1888, known for the brutal murders of several women. – The mystery surrounding Jack the Ripper has intrigued historians and criminologists for over a century, as his identity remains unknown.
Whitechapel – A district in East London that became infamous in the late 19th century due to the Jack the Ripper murders and its association with poverty and crime. – The socio-economic conditions in Whitechapel during the 1880s were a reflection of the broader challenges faced by urban centers during the Industrial Revolution.
Murders – The unlawful premeditated killing of one human being by another, often analyzed in historical contexts to understand societal impacts and criminal patterns. – The Whitechapel murders highlighted the vulnerabilities of marginalized communities and the limitations of contemporary law enforcement.
Poverty – The state of being extremely poor, often examined in sociology and history as a factor influencing crime rates and social unrest. – The rampant poverty in Victorian London contributed to the high crime rates and the desperation that characterized the era.
Crime – An action or omission that constitutes an offense and is punishable by law, frequently studied in historical contexts to understand its evolution and societal impact. – The rise in crime during the late 19th century in London was partly attributed to the rapid urbanization and inadequate policing.
Investigation – The systematic examination or inquiry into a crime or other matter, often involving the collection of evidence and analysis to solve a case. – The investigation into the Jack the Ripper murders was one of the first to involve forensic techniques, albeit rudimentary by today’s standards.
Letters – Written communications, often used as primary sources in historical research to provide insights into past events and personal perspectives. – The letters allegedly sent by Jack the Ripper to the police and media have been scrutinized for clues about his identity and motives.
Terror – Intense fear, often used in historical contexts to describe the atmosphere created by events such as wars, revolutions, or notorious crimes. – The terror instilled by the Jack the Ripper murders was exacerbated by sensationalist media coverage and public hysteria.
Identity – The characteristics, feelings, or beliefs that distinguish people, often explored in historical and sociological studies to understand personal and group dynamics. – The elusive identity of Jack the Ripper has led to numerous theories and debates among historians and amateur sleuths alike.
History – The study of past events, particularly in human affairs, often involving the analysis of causes, effects, and the significance of those events. – The history of the Whitechapel murders provides a window into the social and economic conditions of Victorian London.
