Jack The Ripper
A series of brutal murders shocked the masses of 1888, victorian London, committed by the mysterious serial killer known only as “Jack the Ripper”(Keppel, 1). Jack the Ripper would haunt London for decades to come (Keppel, 1). Even to this day, the killer’s identity has never been discovered (Keppel, 1). First, we will see what Whitechapel, London was like before Jack the Ripper made his mark, then the Canonical Five, the Whitechapel Murders, the suspects, and finally Jack’s suspicious public relations (Keppel 1).
The infamous Ripper murders took place in Whitechapel, a district of London (Rubenstein 1). The district of “Whitechapel, adjacent to the city of London and only a mile form the Bank of England, was synonymous with Urban poverty and squalor” (Rubenstein 1). So much so that Londoners referred to it as the “Abyss” (Rubenstein 1). And while Whitechapel did have the highest poverty rates of any London district, for the most part it functioned as a district and was not quite the “Abyss” that the world refers to it as (Rubenstein 1). Actually, in the year 1887, not a single murder was recorded in Whitechapel (Rubenstein 1). Whitechapel “was thus characterized by chronic underemployment” from a lack of industrial business and large companies, leaving “tens of thousands constantly on the borderline of dire poverty” (Rubenstein 1). The underemployment “was an even more drastic situation for women than men”(Rubenstein 1). In other districts “most
Jack the Ripper terrorized the streets of London of unknown reasons. With his ability to disappear he was impossible to track, therefore making him one of the most interesting and clever criminals known to man. In 1888, five prostitutes were brutally murdered within a tiny area of the East End of London. The killings rapidly occurred over an 11- week period but they have both haunted and fascinated people for over a hundred years. (Jakubowski 16)
Jack the Ripper was one of the most famous and renowned killers in history. Even though he was not the first serial killer, he was the first killer to strike on a metropolis setting. Jack the Ripper was in his prime at a time when the media had a strong control over society and society as a whole was becoming much more literate. Jack started his killing campaign at a time of political controversy between the liberals and social reformers along with the Irish Home rule partisans. The reports of Jack the Ripper were collected and reported by the police, but then the different newspapers with their political influences slightly distorted the stories to give them their own effect. It has been more the one hundred years since the last murder
Thesis Statement: A research paper of the mysterious and famous 19th century serial killer Jack the Ripper and how it is that the legend came to be.
The Jack the Ripper Murders happened in the East End of London in 1888 and, although the Whitechapel Murderer was only a threat to a small section of the community in a small part of London, the murders had a huge impact on society as a whole.
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
The media attempted to make profit anyway they could by exaggerating in addition to creating hoaxes, this gave the ripper greater chances of escaping in addition to putting pressure on the police’s abilities to catch the psycho serial killer. With the press interfering countless times, the ripper was emerging as the most undetected notorious killer of Whitechapel however the police were falling due to the press interfering with the case by publishing false information on newspapers.
Bell witnesses the progression of evil around his own county and the way things have taken a turn for the worse when he says: “This county has not had a unsolved homicide in forty-one years. Now we got nine of em in one week” (216).
August 7th, 1888 Martha Tabram, a local prostitute, is found stabbed to death. This is the beginning of a mystery still unsolved to this day. Whitechapel, London is where Jack the Ripper would do his killings. The only problem is nobody knew who he was.
Jack the Ripper has been accused of murdering five prostitutes in the East End of London. Each of these killings happened late at night with the bodies, badly stabbed and mutilated in most cases, found early the next morning. These five women have since been called the “canonical five”. There are many cases of people who believe Jack the Ripper
Has Jack the Ripper remained a prominent figure in society? The following will investigate the changing nature of the historiography of Jack the Ripper as recorded through the media across the ages and evaluate why and how this has influenced his image. By considering the changing nature of this specific component of Jack the Ripper’s historiography, the investigation will highlight how this mysterious figures’ presence has successfully endured from the time of the murders to the present. Many factors were crucial to the formation of Jack the Ripper’s position in both modern and past society and popular culture and this report will cover and discuss what these were and why they have affected the enduring nature of the prominence of the Ripper’s steadfast position in society and public interest. There have also been significant debates throughout the course of the case which have also been discussed and evaluated.
Despite many Western countries having strong law systems and firm roots in Christianity, it might seem peculiar to think they also are obsessed with murder. From Nancy Drew to the TV shows Murder, She Wrote and How to Get Away With Murder, murder and crime investigation have become bestsellers in Western societies. There is just something intriguing about a good “whodunnit” crime, a good mystery that cannot be solved or explained, regardless of how many people and years have been spent speculating on it. In England, one of the most popular unexplained homicide cases is none other than the infamous 1888 murders of Jack the Ripper. While the killer was never found and convicted of the murders, several conspiracy theories have emerged over the years concerning Jack the Ripper’s identity and the motive behind the gruesome slayings.
Lussen, the Assistant Chief Inspector on the Genovese case, he once said “the Kew Gardens slaying baffles him – not because it is a murder, but because the ‘good people’ failed to call the police” (Gansberg 129) it is astounding that not one of the thirty-eight would call the police because these were normal law abiding people who could not be compelled to call the police and save this young woman’s
In the year 1888, Whitechapel of London was targeted in a stream of ferocious murders so explicit that it grew to a response that came from all of Victorian England. The media, police investigators and local civilians were deeply impacted upon these occurrences in several ways. Jack The Ripper is to this day infamously known as the killer of at least 5 female prostitutes in the span of only one month, and is recognised to have changed society forever.
In the morning at 2:30, an acquaintance of hers had greeted her while she was heavily intoxicated and stepping into the darkness between Osborn Street and Whitechapel Road. The encounter was the last time anyone had seen Mary Ann alive, before she met her hands with Jack the Ripper. Around a quarter to four in the morning, two male friends were strolling along Buck’s Row and had claimed to see a waterproof cloth lying listlessly on the pavement. The woman’s throat was slashed and when inspected closer, her abdomen had even worse cuts. This murder with an excessive display of barbarism had made Mary Ann’s death noteworthy. The second victim was much better off than most backgrounds of prostitutes go, a one Annie Chapman. Her childhood and, later on, marriage was spent in Windsor, home to the Windsor Castle. She even had a photograph taken of her and her spouse, John. The image being discerned in 2001 and the only known photo of any of the victims in their personal life. Be that as it may, Annie had begun to undertake a hazardous path as she distance herself from her family and drank more. By 1888, she was underfed and alone, suffering chronic illnesses. Later, she was caught fighting with another woman,
In the autumn of 1888, the murders took place in the “East End” of inner London, mostly in ‘White Chapel’. Living conditions of the people were very poor. The place was busy, crowded and full of crime. People were homeless and unemployed. People were struggling to survive