Jack the ripper
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Posted by Gus Leous in Weird section |
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Between the months of August and November, 1888, the Whitechapel area of East London played witness to a series of horrific murders, which remain to this day unsolved.
The unknown assailant, formerly known as "Leather Apron", later to be referred as "Jack the Ripper", stalked the dimly lit, fog blanketed streets of the East End of London with a single , brutal ambition..............MURDER MOST HORRID.
With malice aforethought, undercover of darkness he lurked within the shadows, awaiting his prey......"the street women" of Old London Town.......the despicable diary of death had begun......!
FRIDAY 31st AUGUST, 1888
The Star newspaper reported "No murder was ever more ferociously and more brutally done" MARY ANN NICHOLS had been slain in BUCKS ROW. Last seen leaving the "Frying Pan" Public House in Brock Lane, drunk and looking for her next customer, "Polly" was to meet her grisly end, found lain on the old cobblestones, first victim of the beast who was to become England's most notorious knife man.
SATURDAY 8th SEPTEMBER, 1888.
From the back yard of number 29, Hanbury Street, Albert Cadoche was thought to have overheard the muffled sounds of an assault. Shortly before 6.00 a.m. ANNIE CHAPMAN’S mutilated body lay exposed in the dank morning air. The Mysterious monster had struck again. The police begged the question - could it be a tall foreign stranger whom “Dark Annie” was seen approaching earlier that misty morning?
SATURDAY 30th SEPTEMBER, 1888.
A day of double murder in London. From “Leather Apron” had now spawned the cursed “JACK THE RIPPER”, a “trade name” he had aptly adopted in his alleged letter to the police, again Jack was at large, his blade “nice and sharp” and “ready to get to work”. At 1.00 a.m. in Duffield’s Yard, BERNER STREET, the body of ELIZABETH STRIDE was discovered, cut from ear to ear. Had Jack been disturbed?.....almost caught blood-red handed?....but again evaded capture, shrinking back into the shadows cast by dim gas lamps and the ice glow of a deathly full moon.
He reappeared to claim another victim in MITRE SQUARE,Aldgate. Merely 10 minutes on foot from Berner Street, through the acrid alleyways of Goodmans Fields, an area Jack knew well, with murderous intent, he struck again. At almost 1.45 a.m. CATHERINE EDDOWES bloodied corpse was found, silently slaughtered by the fearsome, and now, clearly practiced killer.
It was on this fearful night that the chalked message appeared on a wall in GOULSTON STREET next to a bloodied piece of Kate Eddowes apron. The message read “The Juwes are the men That Will not be Blamed for nothing” A sinister confession perhaps? A false accusation? Inspector Frederick Abberline was again left to ponder.
FRIDAY 9th NOVEMBER,1888.
the month of October had passed with no further clues as to the identity of the infamous Ripper. Indeed, had the murders ceased? Sadly for MARY JANE KELLY, Jack would strike for a fifth and final time in a frenzied yet clinical assault that would shock even the most hardened criminologist. Jack had more time to indulge in his brutal blood lust this time, slaying the pretty 25 year old behind closed doors.
At number 13 MILLER’S COURT, the savaged remains of MARY KELLY were discovered. A young irish girl, led astray by the East End way of life, of drink and prostitution, “Black Mary” was believed to be the Rippers last victim. The attack was so dreadful, police believed that the killer’s taste for macabre murder and thirst for blood had finally been satisfied.
With the last entry in the diary of death complete, the devil in disguise crept silently back into the shadows as stealthily as whence he first carved his infamy into the heart of Whitechapel.
Baffled detectives were left to puzzle over half clues and supposed suspects. Theories and arguments still rage to this day, as to the true identity of Jack the Ripper.
East End London has been left with the chilling reminder of a man who singlehandedly terrorized one of the worlds greatest cities.
His final mocking blow at the police was taunted in a letter he wrote.... “How can they catch me now? I love my work and want to start again....soon”
Good Luck
Yours Truly JACK THE RIPPER
So.....who was Jack the Ripper?
Over the years since that ill-fated November in 1888 the media has periodically resurrected interest in this most infamous of characters.............Jack The Ripper.
Films have been made, books have been published, newspapers have been sold.............people have talked about and debated who really perpetrated these vicious and heinous crimes over 100 years ago.
In recent years......the press in the UK and indeed the world over waited with baited breath for the release of “official UK government” archives which were originally marked “Secret..not to be opened until 1988”...............only to find that no further clues were forthcoming, and some information had mysteriously gone missing!
The truth is that we are nowhere near finding out who the culprit was than we were in 1888, perhaps we shall never know the truth.
One thing is for certain though............the Jack the Ripper tale has lived for over 100 years and many newspapers/filmakers/writers etc have made a lot of money out of the ghost of Jack The Ripper.
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