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Jack the Ripper: 15 Facts About a Notorious Killer and Events That Followed
Published by Athlyn Green in History
May 12th, 2008
A crime that fascinates modern detectives.
A savage killer of women became known as Jack the Ripper. The gruesome nature of the killings left an indelible mark on the the city of London and on the rest of the world.
Ripper Letter
Image via Wikipedia
- 1. Jack the Ripper was an alias for a killer who preyed on prostitutes.
2. The murders occurred between 1888-1891, killings that terrorized London’s East End.
3. The drama played out in a 1-mile area around the district known as Whitechapel, part of City of London proper.
Whitechapel High Street, 1905
Survey Map of Whitechapel: Murder Locations
George Lusk, President of the Whitechapel Vigilance Committee
Image via Wikipedia
4. The killing spree was believed to be too much for the Whitechapel CID and Scotland Yard became involved, sending in reinforcements.
5. Ripper victims possibly numbered 11 with a strong belief that actual Ripper casualties were about 5 women.
6. The nature of the murders included throat slitting and abdominal mutilation. Surgeons who examined the bodies saw evidence of a degree of anatomical knowledge on the killer’s part, which included exact excision.
7. The “Jack the Ripper” handle was derived from a mysterious letter that was sent to Central News Agency, and then forwarded on to the Metropolitan Police. The letter related that the author was “down on whores” and that he wouldn’t cease “ripping them.”
Ripper Missive?
8. Another missive arrived via a postcard. The writer used red ink and referred to himself as “Saucy Jacky,” then signed it Jack the Ripper.
9. Although there were a number of suspects in the case, eventually this was narrowed down to four contenders.
10. The Ripper murders and the Whitechapel murders are not one and the same thing.
11. The notoriety of the murders became international, with lurid accounts appearing in newspapers of the day.
12. A female torso was discovered in the cellars of the new police building under construction at Whitehall.
13. The chairman of the Whitechapel Vigilance Committee received half a human kidney in a box accompanied by a letter “From Hell” that concluded: “Catch me when you can.” Was Jack taunting authorities?
“From Hell” Letter
Image via Wikipedia
14. The murders apparently ceased by 1891.
15. In 1896, another “Jack the Ripper” letter surfaced, with corresponding press activity and speculation that the Ripper had returned.
Jack the Ripper left a bloody and mysterious trail that fascinates, while it horrifies. The puzzle continues . . .
Ripper Links
Jack the Ripper Documentary
Jack the Ripper Video Tour
Liked it
Nice.Thanks for the trivia.
Outstanding work and research. I’ve study as a ‘Ripperologist’ as well. More on the topic is always welcome.
Again, outstanding.
Wolfe
Thanks, Wolfe, this was an interesting one to write.
thanx alot you dnt find much about jack the ripper on the internet !
Thanks Ellice,
It always nice to receive feedback.
thankyou.
thankx i couldnt find alot out a bout jack util i came on to this webite so cheers.
hi mum
Hello Everyone,
This was an interesting article to research and write. Thank you for your comments.
IM ALWAYS FASCINATED BY SERIAL KILLERS. IM REALLY INTERESTED IN LEARNING ABOUT THEIR MENTAL STATES. WHILE I FIND IT HORRIFYING, ITS STILL A WONDER HOW THE BRAIN WORKS
great but needed more info its always the same stuff about jack like who he killed.
we all no who he killed i need to no more facts
Hi Lewis,
You could try visiting your local library to see if there’s a definitive work about the Ripper.
That would be beyond the scope of this article and applicable word counts.
i am learning about jack the ripper in history and i will recomend this site to my friends
i think that this site has helped me alot
i dont no what i would have done without it…
Hi Bri,
I’m glad the information was helpful. This is an interesting subject.
what is written in jack the rippers letter?
The letter is included above.
Thank You. This was very helpful,
But ive got a test on jack the ripper and i needed more imformation on the suspects because to earn my grades i needed facts on who might the ‘Ripper’ be ; and why they done what they did.
We are learning about this in class ,And we all believe that he was a doctor or a surgeon . Because of his fresh cuts on the women , He knew what he was doing with the slashings to the throat .
hello again .
has anyone got a vision of what jack the ripper looks like ?
and also another theory is that ;
why would jack want to murder prostitutes who get drunk ?
- our class thinks that he done it because probably his mum
used to abuse him when he was young and used to drink alot
and when he see’s these women performing with men for money .
he thinks thats his mum so he kills them .
but thats just a theory – its hard to explain .
Thank you so much! I’m doing my freshman project on Jack and a lot of this information helped a lot!
This is a fascinating subject and it was interesting doing the research for it.
this was rele good i needed to find 10 facts for english cuz im reading dakside by tom someone and the place darkside is run by jack the rippers children so miss told us to find 10 facts about jack so thnxxs alot because i couldn’t find enything so yet again thnxs xxxxxxxx
Hi Miya,
We all have heard much about Jack the Ripper but it helps to have the facts about the events that transpired. I’m glad this article proved helpful.
one of the theorys as to why he killed prostetutes was because he dispised women so much. this is probably why he removed their womb and ovarys, because this is what deffines a woman. as to why prostetetutes, they would have been easy to get to. most of them would not have had homes so they lives in dark alleys. if they stayed in one place for too long the police would arrest them so they mostly kept moving during the day. with one of the murders a policeman walked past a woman in an alley. when he came back 20 minutes later he found her dead and cold. annother of the murders took place in the victim’s own home, i think this was the last one though. Jack skinned the face, severed the head from the body and removed nearly all of her internal organs. this was the most vicious of the attacks because he had a private area in which he could perform his discetion. there were a number of suspects for the murders, as it says above, but did you know that a member of the royal family was on the list of the 6 most wanted suspects? yes, of all people PRINCE ALBERT VICTOR was a suspect. the other 5 were:
WALTER SICKET
FRACIS KOSMINSKI (a polish man)
JAMES KELLY (and a drug addict who had already murdered his own wife and got away with it)
FREDRICK BAILEY-DEEMING
the only clue as to who he was that was ever left was a scrap of apron, covered in the latest victim’s blood. it showed what direction he was heading in. this could show where the next victim would be found or where he was going to hide. unfortunatly this was before the day of identifying dna so they could not swab the victims. walter sicket’s blood was found on the original jack the ripper letter. the letter that contained half a human kidney was signed from hell. lots of people confessed to being the ripper, including about 200 women and children. this was because they all wanted publicity. this made the invextigation harder because everyone that was interviewed confessed.
police patrols stopped just 6 weeks after the last murder. this suggests that the police didnt need to catch jack any more. this might meen that they caught him and didnt tell the public or it might have been that they just knew who it was. but as nobody was ever convicted for the murders we have to assume that jack was either dead, abroad or too scared to carry on.
sorry, that was a bit long, i extracted it from my history essay.
well, lots of new information there, feel free to take any that you want, i dont mind either way!!
oh, by the way, if i remeber the names of all the victims then i will post them as well
x
aha! here we go!
Mary Ann Nichols
31 August 1888
Annie Chapman
8 Sept. 1888
Elizabeth Stride
30 Sept. 1888
Catherine Eddowes
30 Sept. 1888
Mary Jane Kelly
9 November 1888
The jack the ripper murders most people think were the doing of kominski he was a barber (a hairdresser for those who don’t know) failed surgeon In learning, he was never truly happy with the outcome of his life! He was always nearby when the murders were comitted! He was also known to have a certain hatred towards prostitutes! I personally believe that he might have gone out to have sex with the prostitutes and possibly through fear of bearing a child killed them after! Yet jack the ripper is also said to have an accomplice.
hi please can you giv me more information about jack the ripper because i am doing course work on him and need o know lots about it to get a good gradec
hi everyone can i have some help on him please if yuo know lots about him then please email me back
thnks very much cya for ow
Hi Iqra,
Please see the links at the bottom of the article, which lead to additional Ripper resources.
this is sooooooo gonna help me wiv ma essay
omg this helped me so much. but if u need more help go on you tube and type in jack the ripper and go on part 1 of the documentreys it really helped me.
AWESOME! love this article
Thanks, Jack the Ripper is a subject that still captures attention.
Wow i thought it would be hard to find information until i found this site, thanks alot i dont know what i would have done with out finding this site yet again thanks.
Great research i ever did i learned alot of things about Jack the ripper that i did not know before. Thanks for this !
Thanks very much (: these really helped me a lot. I am doing jack the ripper in history and i really find this useful.
Amy xx
Thanks for all the feedback. I’m glad this information helped.
hey amazing article………didnt know much about this before. Thanks for the information.
thanx alot this helped with my history homework
thanks allot of healp
this is an alright pritty cool website
niceee
lol
this website isoki :L
I am doing a project for my law class on a murder and Jack is who I chose. This website helped so much. Thank you.
helo i havent reat the article right now, but im looking forwrard to
Correct me if I am wrong, but didn’t alot of people believe it was a forigner so Kominskiy, who was Jewish (wall wrighting) and also from poland, was probably higly ranked in the suspect list also because as steveforswold says, he was also a failed surgon.
hey everyone this is an amazing website this is so going to help me with my history homework thanyou guys if you have any more information add it.
1) Jack the ripper was only one of his nick names the other one was leather apron!
ive always loved this topic in history and the thing that always bugs me is that i really want to know who he was and why it was so easy for him to get away. i know its partly because they didnt have better stuff in the police force than wehave today but the police back then shouldnt of stop using blood hounds just because they thought it was imbarasing THEY HAD A HORRIFIC KILLER ON THE LOOSE FOR GOD SAKE.
we are learning about this and i am very scared of him even though he’s dead arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrghhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!