Jack The Ripper A-Z

Jack the Ripper was a serial killer in the United Kingdom in 1888. Why is Jack the Ripper so famous? He was essentially a media star. He is believed to only have 11 victims but, the media is what made him famous throughout England. “All of his victims were alcoholics who turned to prostitution,” says Thomas K. Grose from Time Magazine. Also, the area where Jack the Ripper killed all his victims was well known. It was known as a “hotbed of vice and villainy, and a breeding ground for social unrest.” Jack the Ripper was never found and over the course of these many years there have been hundreds of suspects but nobody has been brought to justice.

She was raped and murdered in a dugout built as a trap under the earthen soil of a cornfield on December 6, 1973. Can you explain why and how’d you do it?

All the victims of Jack are truly unknown, but it is believed that he was only responsible for five of the killings that took place in the London area. There were other killings that happened around the same time as Jack’s, but these murders were dismissed as the work of “copy-cats” looking to share the spotlight with “The Ripper.” The five women that were accepted as the victims of “Jack the Ripper” were Mary Ann (Polly) Nichols, Annie Chapman, Elizabeth Stride, Catharine Eddowes, and Mary Jane (Marie Jeanette) Kelly. It is also presumed that Martha Tabram was a victim of Jack but the exact number is uncertain. Some sources say that he killed as few as four women while others say that he killed a minimum of nine and mostly likely killed several more. The first killing in this spree began on Tuesday, August 7, 1888 with the murder of Martha Tabram. Next came the slaying of Mary Ann Nichols on Friday, August 31, 1888, and that death was followed with the murder of Annie Chapman on Saturday, September 8, 1888. Then on Sunday, September 30, 1888 came the killings of Elizabeth Stride and Catharine Eddowes. It is uncertain whether or not the murder of Stride was

Jack the ripper the notorious and legendary London murderer started his reign of terror in the August of 1888. Jack the ripper is a fairly difficult character to find proper information on (regrettably noted) however his murders are not. It is speculated that he killed more than five people but the Canonical five are a definite. All of them where prostitutes from the Whitechapel area of London; a poor and deteriorating side of town. The first of these murders was Mary Nichols she was murdered on August 31st 1888 (www.jack the ripper.org). The murders that happened after followed in this order. Annie Chapman was the second of the five main victims she was murdered on September 8th 1888(www.jack the ripper.org). The third and fourth victims shared the same day of death with a peculiar twist. Jack the Ripper was known to deface and mutilate all the bodies in which he slayed, Elizabeth Stride the third victim was wholly intact(www.bbc.co.uk/history). Both Elizabeth Stride and Catherine Eddowes died on the same day September 30th 1888(www.jack the ripper.org). The final victim to be famously associated with the case of Jack the Ripper was Mary Kelly who was killed on November 9th 1888. All of the victims were more than likely unaware of their fates beforehand, he typically knocked them out before he would kill and maim them. Jack the Ripper's scenes in which he left the corpses were calculated, he was informed and educated on how it is he done what he did. It was believed at the time that he was potentially a doctor or a butcher due to the tools needed to do what was done to the bodies. In addition to this the cuts left on the body showed that the killer had knowledge of the human anatomy and the way it worked. He usually always started the

Mary Eugenia Surratt was the first women who was put to death by the federal government. Her son, who was believed to also be involved with the plot, was tried in 1867. He was not released from prison until June, 1868. The hanging of his mother has been considered as a gross miscarriage of justice. Her prosecution never established that she knew anything about the plot and that she was not even part of the assassination plans. (De Witt, Campbell,

in the most horrible manner, breaking her nose and breastbone with a stick” and “most horrid murder”.

To clarify, Henry Howard Holmes known as H. H. Holmes was America’s first serial killer. As a child, Holmes was terrified of the doctor, however a few bullies from his school forced him to touch the real skeleton in their doctor’s office which started his obsession with human anatomy. When Holmes was a teenager he interned at his local doctor’s office and later went to Michigan State for a medical degree and became a skilled doctor. Holmes took out fake insurance policies on the bodies he used in medical school after pouring acid on their face so they were unrecognizable in order to afford college. In 1889 Holmes designed and built a hotel to assist his murders.

The Whitechapel Murders and those of Jack the Ripper are not generally one and the same. Over a period of three years towards the end of the nineteenth century a number of prostitutes were murdered under different circumstances – the murder of prostitutes was not an especially unique occurrence during those times but several of the murders drew particular attention on account of the savagery with which the victim's bodies were mutilated. Within the Whitechapel Murders was a cluster of murders that demonstrated sufficient similarities as to suggest that they were committed by the same person. One of the first instances of serial murder was thus identified and sensationalised in the media as the work of ‘Jack the Ripper', nicknamed on the

On the 4th of August, 1892, Abbey Borden and Andrew Borden were murdered in their house. Also,

Lizzie Borden took an axe, and gave her stepmother nineteen whacks. When she saw what she had done, she gave her father nine plus a killer one. On a hot August 4, 1892 at 92 Second Street in Fall River, Massachusetts, a cry came from the daughter of Andrew and Abby Borden; Lizzie Borden. Her cry attracted her neighbor Adelaide Churchill next door, so she went to Lizzie’s house. Immediately the body of Andrew Borden, Lizzie’s father, was found. A few minutes after authorities came investigating Andrew’s body, the family maid Bridget brought Adelaide with her to check upstairs for Abby, and they found out that Abby was also dead. She lay in a pool of blood and the blows from her head were dark, so she died before her husband. After the investigations of the two victims, police questioned Bridget, Emma, John Morse and Lizzie. The most suspicious suspect turned out to be Lizzie because of her change in alibis, her dress and her presence at the time being of the murders.

In the early days of July 1865 history was made as Mary Surratt scaled the gallows at the Fort Worth Penitentiary (Kingseed). She was the first woman to be hung by the United States Federal Government (Blakemore). Mary Surratt was executed unjustly by the U.S. Government. Toward the end of her trial she asked for a reduced sentence, being jailed for life, and this was the best option. She lied many times at first, but she proved to be trustful toward the end; but she also was associated with John Wilkes Booth, the murderer of U.S. President Abraham Lincoln.

Mary Surratt was from Maryland and raised on a tobacco farm. She then later became a farmer’s wife. Mary Surratt is said to have conspired with John Wilkes Booth to help kill the president Abraham Lincoln. She was the first woman executed by the U.S. federal government. Mary Surratt was innocent and didn’t deserve to be executed. Surratt had maintained her innocence and was defended by many people.

named Ingmar Guandique was convicted of killing her. After a new trial was granted, the

Most of his victims were women prostitutes. He would sexually abuse them and murder them by beating them and strangulation. In some cases, he ate the vagina and/or other parts of his victims.

Ever wondered what happened to Jack the Ripper? Did he actually get away with it and die free, or was he arrested for different misdemeanors? It is possible that he had a connection to another well-known murderer, H.H. Holmes, but not just any connection. By looking at The Devil in the White City, we can see that there are things about murderer H.H. Holmes that are very similar to Jack the Ripper. This could mean that we finally have an answer to the mystery: who was Jack the Ripper?