10 Things You May Not Have Known About Jack the Ripper's Crimes
- Jack the Ripper did not kill his victims with a knife.
The hideous injuries inflicted on the bodies occurred after the victim had been subdued. Jack would strangle the girls first before performing the mutilations, once the situation was under control.
- There was a second gruesome serial killer operating in London at the time.
The crimes of the Ripper gained notoriety precisely because of the manner in which they were committed. The victims were left on display for psychological reasons. A more careful killer might have concealed his victims, and that's exactly what was happening
elsewhere. Another murderer was dismembering his victims and dumping them in more discreet locations. One torso was found hidden on a building side, and other body parts washed up in the Thames. Due to the lack of crime scenes and uncertain causes of death, these crimes remain almost unknown today.
- Jack the Ripper was probably quite charming to speak to.
It has always been a popular idea that Jack was a lunatic and that the murders ended when he was confined to an asylum. Police at the time thought that the horrors being carried out could only be performed by someone easy to spot due to their insanity. In reality, the victims were put at ease, and voluntarily walked with Jack to secluded places, despite the climate of fear in the city.
Our modern understanding of serial killers affirms that he probably blended into the community quite easily.
- Only one "Ripper" murder was actually committed in Whitechapel.
Annie Chapman and Mary Jane Kelly were both killed in Spitalfields. Catherine Eddowes was killed in the City of London. There is debate over whether Liz Stride was a victim of the same man, and she certainly wasn't mutilated. This leaves Polly Nichols as the only Jack the Ripper style crime which took place in Whitechapel.
- The killer is likely to have lived near Dorset Street or Flower and Dean Street.
Three of the victims were living on, or visiting, Dorset Street at the time they were killed. Three victims were living on, or visited, Flower and Dean Street at the time they were killed. A sighting of a bloodied man and two rarely-mentioned failed attacks also point to a hotspot here. After the murder of Catherine Eddowes, a piece of her clothing was dropped in Goulston Street - if this was the dropped by the killer when he was about halfway home, then it again points to Flower and Dean.
- Jack the Ripper was seen quite clearly, and heard speaking, by at least one witness.
Jack the Ripper was about 5' 8" tall, around 33 years old, bushy moustache (possibly light brown), usually wearing a bowler hat or peaked cloth cap, brown coat and dark trousers. A fairly typical looking "shabby genteel" - but certainly not the cliched figure with a flowing cape, bag and top hat.
- Some of the victims may have known their killer.
At least two eye-witness accounts suggests that the relationship of the the killer and his victim may have been more than just an unknown customer. The disfigurement of the faces of his last two victims is described by criminal psychologists as "depersonalization", suggesting that the victims knew their attacker. The clustering of the victims' residences around Dorset Street and Flower and Dean may suggests that the attacker originated from the same cluster of buildings. Finally, Catherine Eddowes even told a friend she knew the identity of the killer, shortly before she too was murdered.
- The Ripper crimes essentially created modern tabloid journalism
By trading off fear and sensationalizing reports, papers such as The Star exploded in popularity. They conducted a war of words against the police, fuelling public anger and lampooning the government's inability to catch the killer. The mood manifested itself with incidents such as the burning of a policeman's effigy on Bonfire Night.
- Even Queen Victoria waded in.
Ignore the idiotic Hollywood fantasy that the Royal Family was involved in the killings, but the truth was that Queen Victoria was extremely concerned. After the murder of Mary Kelly she wrote this to the Prime Minister: "This new most ghastly murder shows the absolute necessity for some very decided action. All these courts must be lit, and our detectives improved. They are not what they should be. You promised, when the first murder took place, to consult with your colleagues about it."
- Despite his terrible reputation, criminologists can only agree on him having killed four times.
Whilst that's still four times too many, it is often assumed that his number of victims must have been very high, for him to have become so notorious. It is usually said that there are five "canonical" murders - those which the vast majority agree upon. But even one of those is open to much debate as it lacks the hallmarks of the other killings.
