FACTS ABOUT JACK THE RIPPER

THE PLETHORA OF THEORIES AS TO THE KILLER’S

IDENTITY, RANGING FROM THE FAMOUS VICTORIAN

PAINTER WALTER SICKERT TO A POLISH IMMIGRANT

AND EVEN THE GRANDSON OF QUEEN VICTORIA,

HAVE ALL CONTRIBUTED TO A CULTURE OF FOLKLORE

AND GHOULISH ENTERTAINMENT.

THERE WERE A NUMBER OF SUSPECTS, BUT ONLY

THREE REMAINED UNDER SUSPICION. ARON KOSINSKI,

WAS A POLISH IMMIGRANT, MONTAGUE JOHN DRUITT,

A BARRISTER, AND MICHAEL OSTROG, A RUSSIAN DOCTOR,

WHO WERE ALL MANIACS AND HATED PROSTITUTES.

DURING THE TIME WHEN JACK THE RIPPER WAS GAINING

NOTORIETY, MANY PROSTITUTES HAD BEEN MURDERED

IN WHITECHAPEL. ELEVEN OF THESE WERE REGISTERED

BY THE LONDON METROPOLITAN POLICE SERVICE. OF

THESE ELEVEN, IT'S BELIEVED FIVE HAD THE SAME

PECULIARITIES, AND WERE MURDERED BY JACK THE

RIPPER. THESE FIVE WERE KNOWN AS THE CANONICAL

FIVE; THEIR BODIES WERE RIPPED APART AND THEIR

ORGANS NEATLY EXTRACTED.

THE NAME “JACK THE RIPPER” ORIGINATED IN A LETTER

PURPORTEDLY WRITTEN BY THE KILLER IN 1888. HOWEVER,

THE LETTER'S AUTHENTICITY HAS BEEN HIGHLY DEBATED.

ACCORDING TO ANOTHER THEORY, MAYBE JACK WASN’T

"JACK" AFTER ALL, BUT A WOMAN, WHICH WAS A

THEORY POSED BY FAMED INSPECTOR FREDERICK

ABBERLINE AT THE TIME OF THE KILLINGS. ACCORDING

TO DONALD MCCORMICK, AUTHOR OF THE IDENTITY

OF JACK THE RIPPER PUBLISHED IN 1959, ABBERLINE

RAISED THE THEORY IN A CONVERSATION WITH HIS

MENTOR, DR. THOMAS DUTTON AFTER THE MURDER

OF MARY KELLY. TESTIMONY GIVEN BY CAROLINE

MAXWELL, WHO LIVED IN THE AREA, WAS CENTRAL

TO THE ARGUMENT.

THE HARSH REALITY OF THAT ERA WAS THAT

COUNTLESS “LADIES OF THE NIGHT” WERE

SUBJECTED TO VIOLENT ATTACKS, WHICH IN SOME

CASES RESULTED IN THEIR DEATHS. ACCORDING TO

CRIMINAL PSYCHOLOGY WE LEARN THAT SERIAL

KILLERS TEND TO HAVE A VERY GOOD GRASP OF

OTHER PEOPLE’S EMOTIONS AND ARE QUICK TO PICK

UP ON ANY VULNERABILITY OR WEAKNESS IN ORDER

TO CONVINCE THEM INTO DOING THINGS THEY NORMALLY

WOULDN’T. THAT'S WHY IT IS BELIEVED THAT JACK THE

RIPPER WAS PROBABLY A KIND CHARMER WHILE

APPROACHING HIS VICTIMS. 

THE EAST END WAS A DISTRICT VIEWED BY

RESPECTABLE LONDON SOCIETY WITH EITHER

COMPASSION OR CONTEMPT. DESPITE BEING AN AREA

WHERE SKILLED IMMIGRANTS, MAINLY JEWS AND

RUSSIANS, CAME TO START A NEW LIFE AND BUILD UP

BUSINESSES, THE DISTRICT WAS NOTORIOUS FOR

EXTREME POVERTY, VIOLENCE, AND CRIME.

ACCORDING TO MODERN-DAY CRIMINAL INVESTIGATIONS,

THIS WAS THE MAIN REASON JACK THE RIPPER PICKED

THE SPECIFIC AREA TO COMMIT HIS HORRENDOUS CRIMES.

THE GRUESOME MURDERS OF PROSTITUTES IN

WHITECHAPEL CAUSED AN UPROAR IN LONDON AND

PEOPLE DEMANDED THAT THE POLICE ACT EFFECTIVELY

TO SOLVE THE CASE, BUT NOTHING COULD EVER BE

PROVEN ABOUT JACK THE RIPPER’S IDENTITY.

ALTHOUGH PSYCHOLOGISTS CANNOT CLAIM ANYTHING

ABOUT A MAN THEY NEVER MET, THEY STILL ASSUME

HE HATED WOMEN AND THOUGHT THEM LOWLY AND

WORTHLESS. THE EXTENT OF THIS HATRED WAS BEYOND

LIMITS AND THIS IS THE REASON WHY HE DISTORTED

THEIR FACES IN AN EFFORT TO DESTROY THEIR

IDENTITIES. ACCORDING TO OTHER THEORIES HOWEVER,

HE WAS JUST A MANIAC WHO SUFFERED FROM

MENTAL ILLNESS, WHICH IS THE REASON HE BRUTALLY

KILLED AND BUTCHERED PROSTITUTES, MUTILATING

THEIR BODIES AND REMOVING THEIR ORGANS.