This was originally posted to Fisch and Chips on November 17, 2013. As per usual, I have made modifications to create grammatical consistency and preserve privacy.
Lock your doors, turn out your lights, and have your mouse at the ready-we’re about to get a lot more murder-y than usual. Today, it’s all about Jack the Ripper, who dominated the non-theatrical elements of this past week!
This week’s highly anticipated Ripper-fest started on Wednesday, when my history class took an excursion to the East End of London, particularly Whitechapel, where Jack the Ripper’s killing spree took place. In the Victorian Era, it was a horrible slum filled with crime and populated chiefly by Irish and Jewish immigrants. Today, it is 80% Bangladeshi and is still somewhat poor, but conditions have improved and it has several vibrant markets. As we wandered the streets, our professor mentioned in passing various details about the place, including a few Ripper details…
…which were expanded greatly the next day, as my classmate M gave a presentation on the Ripper killings in class. For those who aren’t familiar with the notorious serial killer Jack the Ripper, here’s more than everything you need to know. WARNING: THIS IS GOING TO GET GRUSOME. WHITE TEXT DEPLOYED. Still reading? OK, here we go: In the autumn of 1888, 5 prostitutes, all with drinking problems, were savagely murdered in Whitechapel. All five victims were slashed twice in the throat, and their bodies were mutilated in various ways. The first victim, Mary Ann Nichols, was slashed up in her abdomen. The second victim, Annie Chapman, had had her intestines slashed about and her uterus torn from her body. The third victim, Elizabeth Stride, had a slit throat like the others, but no other mutilations, as it appears the killer had been interrupted and had been forced to abandon her remains. He (despite my use of the masculine pronoun, keep in mind that the killer could have been a woman; I use the masculine pronoun because virtually all known suspects have been men) made up for it later that night by quickly murdering the fourth victim, Catherine Eddowes, whose uterus and left kidney were slashed out (this gets extra creepy, as a police officer had patrolled the murder scene previously a mere 15 minutes before he found her dismembered remains there upon his return, meaning that the killer had been extremely determined and extremely quick). At this point, London was in a panic about these murders, the Metropolitan Police and the City of London Police were interfering with each other’s investigation (Eddowes was murdered in the Square Mile, right on the border with the East End.), and the media was whipped into a frenzy. An anonymous letter from a person claiming to be the killer caused quite a stir, as it was signed “Jack the Ripper,” leading to the popular nickname for the killer (although most historians and Ripperologists--yes there are fanatics called Ripperologists--consider the letter a hoax). The fifth (and officially final) victim was Mary Jane Kelley, who was found horrendously cut up in her apartment and missing a heart. After this, the killings stopped, and wild speculation took over regarding the perpetrator. To this day, no one has any clear idea who this monster was (M suspects that he was Kermit the Frog--considering how mysterious the case is, he may as well been.), why he did what he did, what happened to him, or whether or not he claimed more victims. Barring some miracle discovery or use of time travel, no one will ever know…
Anyhoo, I was fascinated by the presentation--so fascinated, that I decided that I wasn’t done with Jack the Ripper quite yet. After digging around, I found a walking tour that visited some of the actual murder locations. As such, on Friday night, within two days of visiting Whitechapel during the day, I visited Whitechapel (and part of the City of London) at night! With fellow AHA student J, I got to absorb Whitechapel’s spooky nighttime atmosphere, visit the square where Eddowes was murdered (second photo below), see Kelley’s apartment complex (third photo below), view the site where a bloody cloth believed to connect to Eddowes’ murder was found (fourth photo below, at the site of the hilariously named Happy Days restaurant), and have an overall wonderful time!
All in all, it was a fantastically homicidal week for me, fulfilling a visit to one of my most anticipated CJP stops…and then some!
One final note: I meant to have this blog post up yesterday, but I accidentally slept in late and felt pressured to work on upcoming assignments. How late did I sleep in? Until 1pm. My late-nighters are starting to catch up to me…
Modern reflections:
My walks around Whitechapel were some of the most memorable stops on the CJP. As the wall of white text shows, I ate up every grisly detail of the Ripper killings back then. My inner historian is pleased that I recorded all these details for posterity.
London very much feels different at night, and it becomes eerily quiet in many neighbourhoods. However, I've noticed that that seems to be the case with many European and American cities (aside from red-light districts). I guess I'm used to seeing cities bustling at night thanks to being born in New York, "The City That Never Sleeps." It's taken nearly thirty years for me to understand that nickname, but there you go.
I meant to repost this entry on the ten-year anniversary (yesterday) but was off by one day. Clearly, I still have occasional delays when posting blog entries.
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