The Ultimate Vampire Resource and Directory

The Setting, the Crimes, and the Victims

Who Was Jack the Ripper?

Jack the Ripper is the name given to the most notorious serial killer in history. The Ripper terrorized the Whitechapel district on the East side of London, England in 1888. This frightening period is often referred to as the "Autumn of Terror." The name Jack the Ripper is derived from letters written to the police and newspapers at the time of the crimes by someone who claimed to be the killer. Jack the Ripper has been believed by various historians and researchers to have been in turn a doctor, a lawyer, an artist, a butcher, a barber, and has through speculation assumed countless other identities. Some even believe that he was more than one man and that the Ripper murders were the result of a complicated conspiracy. Several witnesses claimed to have sighted Jack the Ripper at the time of the murders, yet he was never caught. The known murders took place from between August 31 to November 9, all in the same area. Jack was responsible for the deaths of at least five women.

The Whitechapel district and a brief sketch of his victims will be described as well as the details of the murders of Mary Ann Nichols, Annie Chapman, Elizabeth Stride, Catherine Eddowes, and Mary Kelly. There are many good books about the Jack the Ripper case. Because some of them are older and difficult to obtain, the main sources used in this course will be Portrait of a Killer--Jack the Ripper:Case Closed by Patricia Cornwell and The Mammoth Book of Jack the Ripper by Jakubowski, Maxim and Nathan Braud. Any reading assignments will be from these two sources. Another good source for general information is The Complete History of Jack the Ripper by Philip Sugden. (revised edition) The most comprehensive website on the Jack the Ripper case is Casebook: Jack the Ripper. There you will find a wealth of information about the victims, the suspects, theories and much more. We will be visiting there often. Though by no means the first serial killer in history, Jack the Ripper was the first to attain a large amount of news coverage. This was due to the growing literacy of the general population as well as the fact that the political climate at the time served as a breeding ground for a sensational story such as the murders. The brutality of the crimes as well as the fact that he was never caught is responsible for keeping his legend alive. Even today, over 100 years later, books and movies are being made and experts are still speculating....who was Jack the Ripper?

The Setting

Whitechapel, London was not a pleasant place to be in the late 1800's. In the time of Jack the Ripper, it was the poorest slum in London, a downtrodden district filled with drunks, vagrants, sailors and prostitutes. In fact, Jack London had once referred to this area as "the abyss."Over a million people populated the poorer area of London called the East End. The population of the Whitechapel district was around 76,000. According to police reports and statistics at the time of the Ripper murders, there were approximately 233 common lodging houses, 62 brothels and 1200 prostitutes working in the East End district. Overcrowding, inadequate employment, and poor sanitation plagued Whitechapel. Lack of industry led to intermittent employment. Work, if it could be found, for men usually consisted of grueling fifteen to eighteen hour days in sweatshops or work as a butcher or dock worker. Women took on low-paying jobs as seamstresses or factory workers. An influx of foreigners, mostly Jews fleeing persecution and poor economic conditions, had immigrated to London and ended up in Whitechapel. The fear that the foreigners were taking jobs away from the native population led to a climate of anti-Semitism and political unrest.

The more affluent population of the West End largely ignored the plight of the poor, for there was an attitude that the underprivileged brought their conditions upon themselves. The East End was viewed as an immoral place filled with freak shows, cheap entertainment and whores who brought their lifestyle upon themselves. Life for the women of poverty-ridden Whitechapel wasn't easy. In addition to low-paying jobs as seamstresses or maids, many also resorted to casual prostitution to make ends meet. Many of these poor "unfortunates" didn't even have a place to sleep at night. The ones who were lucky enough to have a roof over their heads had very shabby accommodations. Most of them, when they had the money, bought a bed in a "doss house", which provided rows of cheap beds and often had no heat. Others were forced to sign up at workhouses where they were put to hard labor to earn their food and keep. Poor living conditions led to alcoholism. Most of the prostitutes were alcoholics or were forced into the life by desperate circumstances. Many had young children to support and no husband.

Most of the women were alcoholics who became prostitutes for the money, servicing the sailors and other men who hung around the pubs. They roamed the labyrinth of dark, fog-shrouded streets searching for a customer in order to make a few coins to pay for a bed. Sex was an unglamorous act, mostly performed standing up in an alley.In addition to this, the women were often bullied by local gangs demanding protection money. It was a miserable existence. Most of these women were neither young nor beautiful. They were simply down and out, desperate to earn a few coins, enough to get out of the cold for the night and to buy drinks and put food on the table. Most of them had little future, their main concern was daily survival. To learn more about the the setting of the Ripper murders, read chapter Three, The Unfortunates and Chapter Seven The Gentleman Summer in Portrait of a Killer Jack the Ripper:Case Closed.

The First Two Murders

At least five murders can be attributed to Jack the Ripper, though he might have been responsible for many more. All of his victims were women, prostitutes that worked in the poor district of Whitechapel. Their ages varied from twenty five to forty-seven. All died violent deaths which included mutilation. The more he killed, the bolder Jack the Ripper became. Most of his victims had their throats slashed and many were disemboweled. In some cases, body parts were removed.

Mary Ann "Polly" Nichols

Mary Nichols, also known as "Polly", was the first known victim of Jack the Ripper. She was 43 years old. Mary was short with dark hair and grey eyes, and had lost her front teeth in a fight. She had left her husband and had five children. Her body was found on a side street called Buck's Row in Whitechapel August 31, 1888 at 4:00 AM.Mary Ann was a prostitute and an alcoholic. She often spent her money on drink and had no place to lodge. The night of her murder she had told a friend, "I'll soon get my doss money, see what a jolly bonnet I've got."She parted company with another prostitute, Ellen Holland, around 2:30 AM, vanishing into Buck's Row. Her body was discovered by two men, and the police were summoned. Her skirt had been pulled up, her throat had been slashed and her abdomen viciously stabbed. Though later Jack the Ripper would take trophies of his crime, nothing was taken from the crime scene of Mary Nichols. The first suspect on the case was John Pizar, also called "leather apron."

Annie Chapman

Annie Chapman was the Ripper's second victim. She was found seven days later, on September 8, 1888. Also known as "Dark Annie", she was plump with dark, wavy hair and blue eyes. She was 47 years old. Annie was suffering from a chronic disease of the lungs and probably didn't have long to live when she became the Ripper's victim. A few days prior to her death, she had been in a fight with another prostitute.Despite her illness, Annie was described as being a strong woman, capable of fighting off an attacker, but she was also an alcoholic. Just before she was killed, another woman told police she saw Annie talking to a man who might have been Jack the Ripper. She described him as being around forty years old with gray hair, and as a "foreign man." They left together.

Annie was found at 6:00 AM. Her throat had been slashed and she had been disemboweled. Her uterus had been removed from her abdomen. Several brass rings and coins had been taken from her person and were placed near her feet.To read more about Jack the Ripper's victims, read the chapter "Just the Facts" starting on page 15 in The Mammoth Book of Jack the Ripper.Information about Mary Nichols is also interspersed throughout Jack the Ripper Portrait of a Killer: Case Closed, chapters 8-14. Annie Chapman's murder is described in chapter 14.

Glimpses of the Elusive Killer

Several witnesses alleged to have seen Jack the Ripper at the time of the murders. His appearance, though varying in age and sometimes in other factors, seemed fairly consistent. An official notice that circulated throughout the police district after the murder of Annie Chapman carried this description garnered from one of the witnesses, "Age 37; height 5 ft 7 inches, rather dark beard and moustache. Dress-shirt, dark vest and trousers, black scarf, and black felt hat. Spoke with foreign accent." Some witnesses described him as being Jewish. Jack the Ripper's victims were "unfortunates", most of them poor, middle-aged prostitutes who worked and lived in the Whitechapel district. It is possible that he targeted them because their poverty made the women desperate enough for him to be able to lure them into secluded areas with the offer of money. The victims had their throats cut from left to right and mutilation followed in varying degrees. Though forensic testing was not available at the time, it is generally concluded that the victims were not raped before their murders.

Jack the Ripper appeared to derive some kind of sexual satisfaction from the vicious attacks and spilling of blood. Since the violence escalated with each attack, it is believed by many that the Ripper was a lunatic who was growing increasingly mad. It is also obvious from the attacks he held a strong hatred toward females in general and prostitutes in particular. There is speculation that he was a mad fanatic attempting to rid the world of "ladies of the night." The weapon used in the crimes was a sharp instrument, possibly a razor. Because of this, the police were looking for a suspect with a medical background or perhaps a butcher or even barber whose sharp instruments were part of their trade. In a bold and fearless gesture, the killer struck again, this time twice in the same night. This dual murder is often referred to as the "Double Event."

Elizabeth Stride

Jack's third victim, Elizabeth Stride, was 45 years old. Also known as "Long Liz", she had dark brown hair, grey eyes, and like Mary Nichols, was missing front teeth. On the damp night of September 29, Liz left "The Bricklayer's Arms" pub with a young man. A short time later a local grocer claimed to have sold her unidentified companion a pound of grapes. Liz was seen by a constable at 12:30 AM, standing and talking with a man.A while later, a witness claimed to have seen her thrown to the pavement by an intoxicated companion. The witness was frightened away by another man who called out the word "Lipski." Because this word, the name of a famous murderer, was at the time often hurled as an anti-Sematic insult, the man feared trouble and left. Around 1:00 of the 30th the body of Elizabeth Stride was discovered by another man driving a trap and pony. Her throat was slashed, but because the attack was interrupted, her body was not mutilated. Because she was not mutilated like the rest, some experts argue that she was not one of Jack the Ripper's victims. However, it is generally accepted that he was the killer, and that he was scared off before he was finished. Another woman was murdered later that same night.

Catherine Eddowes

That same night, Jack murdered Catherine (sometimes spelled Catharine) Eddowes. She was forty-six years old, and had deep auburn hair and hazel eyes. She had a "TC", initials of a former husband or lover she had separated from, tattooed in blue ink on her left forearm. She had just been released from jail. At 1:30 AM (less than an hour after Stride's death), she was found slashed in the throat. Her body was discovered in Mitre Square. Shortly before her murder, she had been seen talking to a man. A constable patrolling the area a short time later saw and heard nothing. At 1:45 AM another constable entered the square and found her body. Jack's murders seemed to grow more gruesome as he became bolder. Perhaps because his attack on Elizabeth Stride had been interrupted, he was making up for lost time. Catherine's face was horribly mutilated. Her nose and one of her ears had been cut off. The slash around her neck was referred to in a Ripper letter, "What a pretty necklace I gave her." Catherine's pancreas, liver, abdomen, and womb were torn from her body and one kidney had been removed.

Two people claimed to have seen Catherine with a man earlier. They described him as being around forty and as wearing a long black overcoat, a description that matched the first sighting of what was believed to be the killer.The source for this lesson was the chapter "Just the Facts" in The Mammoth Book of Jack the Ripper. Details of Elizabeth Stride's murder are also covered in chapter 18 of Jack the Ripper Portrait of a Killer: Case Closed. Catherine Eddowes murder is covered in the following chapter 19.

Mary Kelly - The Final Murder

Jack did not strike again until five weeks later, but when he did, it was the most vicious crime of all. Mary Kelly was murdered at 3:30 AM on November 9, 1888. She was the youngest and prettiest of the victims. She was in her early twenties at the time of her murder. No photographs save the one of her mutilated corpse remain, but sketches show her as being a fair-complexioned, attractive woman with a shapely figure.Mary was born in Limerick, Ireland. She was more educated than the other Ripper victims, and was literate. Her life seemed to have taken a turn for the worse after the death of a young husband in mine explosion. Mary moved to Cardiff where she began a life of prostitution, and in 1884 moved to England. For a while, she worked the more stylish West End. For a long time, she lived with Joseph Barnett. They became at odds with each other when Mary brought home another prostitute to stay, Marie Harvey. Barnett moved out, but the two of them were still on fairly good terms and he looked in on her once in a while. The other victims were all found outdoors, but Mary had been murdered in her lodgings at 26 Dorset street, also often referred to as #13 Miller's Court. Around midnight, she was still very much alive, for she had been heard drunk and singing "Sweet Violets" at the top of her lungs.

Shortly before her death, Mary was seen by a neighbor woman. She was wearing a dark, shabby skirt, red jacket and no hat. The neighbor said Mary was accompanied by a man with a thick, carroty mustache. She described him as being dressed in dark clothing and wearing a black billycock hat.At 2:00 AM, witness George Hutchinson saw Mary with another man near the Queen's Head pub. He gave a lengthy description of this gentleman who was "Jewish looking", with a heavy dark mustache, wearing a soft felt hat, a long dark coat, and white collar with black necktie. He also had a massive gold chain in his waistcoat. He had kid gloves in his right hand and a small package in his left. He saw the man give Mary Kelly a red handkerchief.Mary's body was not found until the next morning when the landlord, hoping to get back rent, peered into her window and saw the brutal crime scene.Inspector Abberline worked the case. The door was locked and the police had to open it with an axe. Through the window the doctor called could see that the victim was "not in need of immediate attention." Dr. Bond estimated that Mary Kelly had been dead about 12 hours.

At 4 AM a neighbor had heard a shout of "Murder!" coming from the apartment. Since Kelly's clothing was found neatly folded by the side of the bed, it is likely she had undressed for the killer and was taken by surprise when he pulled out a knife. Mary had been aware of the murders in the area, but she had no other way except prostitution to get by. She was in danger of being evicted and had no job prospects. Mary was found lying across the bed. Like the other victims, Mary's throat had been slashed. The killer had started a fire in the grate, probably in order to see. He had taken his time mutilating her corpse. Her face was virtually unrecognizable as her ears and nose were gone. The flesh had been torn away from her face, chest and ribcage. She had been literally torn apart and disemboweled. Her heart, among other organs, was missing.

Other Victims

Prior to the five deaths acknowledged to be the work of Jack the Ripper, two other women in the Whitechapel area had also been violently murdered.The first, Emma Smith, was a widowed woman who lived in a lodging house. In April of 1888 she left in the evening and returned to her lodgings in the early morning. She claimed she had been attacked and robbed, and had suffered head injuries and pains to the abdomen. She was taken to the hospital where it was found that a blunt instrument had been thrust into her. She died the following day. She had lived to tell that her assailants had been a gang of youths.

In order for her to have been a Ripper victim she would either have to have been lying about her attacker, or there would have to be some truth to the theory that the Ripper was more than one person. For this reason, the idea that she may have been the first Ripper victim has been generally discounted. Martha Tabram was more likely to have been a Ripper victim. Some believe her murder was the first Ripper crime. Like most of the other victims, she was short, overweight, middle-aged and a prostitute. Martha had separated from her husband who had left her because of her drinking problem. He stopped the small allowance he gave her after finding out she was living with another man. The other man also left her. She couldn't pay her rent and was essentially homeless, living in and out of shelters at the time of her death.The night of her murder, she and another prostitute had been drinking with two soldiers. Martha left with one of them, whose identity is unknown. That was the last time she was seen alive. She was not considered a Ripper victim because her throat had not been slashed and her body had not been mutilated. She had been viciously stabbed 39 times in a manner similar to the recognized Ripper crimes.

Some experts believe Elizabeth Stride was not one of the Ripper's victims because her body was not mutilated as were the others. Some believe her death could have been the result of a domestic dispute instead.There are those who believe that the killing did not stop after November 9, 1888. Other suspicious murders include a female torso which was found September 10 off nearby Pinchin Street. The corpse had been dismembered but there was no evidence the throat had been slashed. The case remains unsolved and the victim unidentified. On February 13, 1891 the body of a 26 year old prostitute named Francis Cole was found in the Whitechapel area. Her throat had been cut, but her body had not been mutilated.Many experts believe that Jack the Ripper may have moved to a different area and continued to kill in a more low-profile manner. Other unsolved murders which fit the Ripper's MO (modus operandi or method of killing) are also sometimes attributed to him. But only five murders are commonly accepted as being victims of the same man, Jack the Ripper.

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A Host of Ripper Suspects

Was Jack the Ripper a cunningly clever man or was he a dumb, animal-like butcher? Some believe the police encouraged the myth that Jack was a clever, educated man because of their failure to catch him.Modern detectives often make the mistake of trying to make the Ripper fit their pet theory, ignoring viable information that does not fit the idea they are trying to prove. Others try to fit the present into the past by applying modern motives to an old crime.Many suspects were looked at in the course of the investigation, including a man named Thomas Cutbush. Not much is known about Cutbush except that he was eventually ruled out as a strong suspect.There are countless other both likely and unlikely candidates for Jack the Ripper, including Dr. John Hewitt, poet Francis Thompson, George Hutchinson, James Kelly, magician Robert Stepenson, and Nicholas Vassily.

The most unlikely candidate who had come under suspicion of being Jack the Ripper appears to be Lewis Caroll. A number of Jack the Ripper suspects were not suspects at the time of the crimes, but came under fire much later as a result of historians digging up further research.

Francis Tumblety - An American Suspect

American Francis Tumblety was investigated by Scotland Yard at the time of the murders. He was rediscovered as a suspect in 1993 when some old papers were found in which Chief Inspector Littlechild identified him as the suspect whose name had been lost for over 100 years.Not much is known about his early years. There are conflicting views on where he was born, but it is believed he hailed either from Ireland or Canada. Tumblety set himself up as a doctor in Canada and many places throughout the United States, though his credentials were questionable and it is believed he was a "quack" with little medical education or training.In Canada, one of his patients died after taking medicine prescribed by him and Tumblety had to make a hasty retreat. He then moved to Boston. During the Civil War he professed to be a Union army surgeon.Wherever he went, he had a pomp and arrogance about him, and was several times arrested for wearing military garb and medals he had not earned. Tumblety used many aliases and was even under suspicion for the Lincoln assassination. He was cleared of this charge.

In the late 1860's, Tumblety left America for England. He found himself in trouble with the law on several occasions, mostly for homosexual activity. Tumbelty was known to have a profound hatred for women. He was fond of aliases and disappearing without a trace. He was in London at the time of the Ripper murders and may have been the infamous "Batty Street Lodger." He had some anatomical knowledge and was known to collect female wombs. This, more than anything else, makes him a likely candidate for being Jack the Ripper. That, and the fact that the Ripper murders stopped after he fled England. Tumblety was a suspect in the Whitechapel murders, but he fled first to France, then to the United States. He could not be arrested and sent back to England because there was not enough proof to extradite him. His escapades were followed closely in the American newspapers but not the British ones.Though he was considered a serious suspect in the Ripper murders, there was never enough evidence to bring charges against him. There is some proof that he was in police custody for some other crime when Mary Kelly was murdered, and that may be the reason he was not charged with the murders. Though suspicion hung about him all of his life, he was never arrested and died in St. Louis a wealthy man.

John Pizer

A shoemaker and a Jew, John Pizer was the public's choice for fitting the Jack the Ripper profile. The killer was believed to be a butcher or craftsman who had access to sharp blades and was in the habit of wearing of a leather apron.Pizer fit the profile to a tee, including the fact that he was often seen wearing such an apron, and was soon called "Leather Apron" in the media. He had prior stabbing convictions and also had a known dislike for prostitutes. He fit the stereotyped description of a short man with a dark beard, moustache, and foreign accent. However, since Pizer had a solid alibi at the time of the murders, it is unlikely he was the Ripper

George Chapman

George Chapman AKA Severin Klosowski (not to be confused with Aaron Kosminski) fit the police description of the people who alleged to have seen Jack. A Polish Jew, hairdresser and barber by trade, and resident of Whitechapel, he was a strong suspect for the crimes.The body of Martha Tabram, a woman murdered shortly before the Ripper killings, was found close to his shop. He was known to have a violent, homicidal streak. He was accused of poisoning three women, and was convicted of one murder, for which he was hanged. He was single at the time of the murders and would have been able to roam around at night.The only drawback to his being the Ripper is that he was much younger than the witnesses described. Chapman was only twenty three in 1888. Though Chapman was known for poisoning women, he had attempted to murder his first wife with a knife. It is possible that he switched to poisoning women to escape detection when Jack the Ripper gained too much notoriety.

William Bury

William Bury was hanged for the murder of his wife, Ellen Eliott. Not much was known about his childhood. He was a drunkard who married a prostitute--a match made in hell. He typically beat and abused her and gave her syphillis from consorting with other prostitutes.In Mile End, where he lived, two knife attacks on other women occurred. He was also in the vicinity where Martha Tabram lived. Bury was known to sleep with a knife under his pillow. He had at times in his life worked in the butcher's trade. He strangled his wife, but chopped up the body in a style very similar to Jack the Ripper's handiwork. His handwriting was also similar to the Ripper letters. It is possible he murdered his wife because she knew too much. Some believe he could have been the Ripper or a copycat killer. He did fit the general description of Jack the Ripper, and he lived in the vicinity where the crimes took place. He attempted to leave the country shortly after the last murder.

There is, however, question as to his whereabouts during some of the Ripper crimes. There is slight evidence that indicates he may have left London on a brief vacation with his wife during the time some of the Ripper crimes were committed. If so, he couldn't have been the Ripper. Before he was hanged, he made the ambiguous statement, "I suppose you think you are clever to hang me." The hangman believed he was referring to the fact that he was Jack the Ripper.

Joseph Barnett

Fish porter Joseph Barnett may be the only suspect to have a strong connection to one of the victims. He lived with Mary Kelly and hated her lifestyle, wished to control her, and may have murdered her friends to frighten her and keep her off from the streets.Most killers do turn out to be someone the victim knows, and if Kelly was the only murder victim, Barnett would be the prime suspect. Though Kelly had kicked him out after one of their fights, he had been at the house earlier that day.It would be believed Kelly's death was a case of domestic violence if not for the grisly way she was murdered. Despite their many domestic squabbles, it is questionable whether Barnett would have been capable of that kind of violence.The case for Barnett being the Ripper includes the fact that he lived in the area and probably knew the other victims as well, at least by sight. He had lost his job and that may have set him off. He was educated enough to have written the Ripper letters to the police.

Abberline identified him as a suspect after Kelly's murder. The most incriminating evidence against him was the fact that whoever murdered Mary Kelly locked the door when he left, and Barnett was likely to have still had a key. However, the window was broken and he and Kelly were also in the habit of reaching in through the window to lock and unlock the door. Either the killer figured that out, or Kelly was the one who reached back and locked the door.

An Examination of Popular Ripper Theories

"Ripperologists", or researchers of Jack the Ripper, have formed many theories on the crimes. Was The Ripper a mad doctor, a deranged midwife, a mysterious lodger? Or was he more than one person? Some theorists believe that a Royal Conspiracy existed that involved the royal family and Prince Eddie with a sensational cover-up to prevent a royal scandal. Prince Eddie's possible connection will be explored in the next lesson, as will the possible masonic connection.

Deranged Doctor Theory

Because he used sharp knives in his crime and was able to extract organs, many believe that Jack the Ripper was a crazed doctor or that the mutilations were the work of someone who had at least had some medical training. That is why the original investigation focused on doctors.There was a rumor that the Ripper carried a black leather bag in which he may have hidden his knives or used to pack away body parts. Some even went so far as to speculate that the Ripper was a medical student getting some outside training. They still remembered the case fifty years previously of Burke and Hare, body snatchers who robbed graves and committed murder to supply medical schools with body parts, which were hard to come by in those days for study and dissection purposes.However, this theory is pretty far-fetched. In fact, some experts - Pat Cornwell among them - argue that no particular medical skill was necessary to perform the crimes - only a sharp knife.

Thomas Cream

Thomas Neil Cream was an American doctor who came under suspicion because he had previously murdered prostitutes. He had killed four women, but his method of murder was poisoning them with strychnine rather than stabbing. He was hanged for his crimes in 1892, and made the dying confession that he was Jack the... Unfortunately, he was hanged before he could ever finish his sentence. It is believed Cream was in prison for another crime at the time of the Ripper murders so it is unlikely he was Jack the Ripper.

Alexander Pedachenko

Another mad Russian doctor supposedly linked to the Ripper murders was Alexander Pedachenko. Pedachenko, according to what little is known about him, was a lunatic with criminal tendencies. He had been trained as a barber's surgeon. He was convicted of murdering a woman in St. Petersburg, and was sent to an asylum, where he died. He was known to use a series of aliases and it was believed by some that Michael Ostrog and he may have been the same man.

Jill the Ripper

Some theorists have entertained the idea that Jack the Ripper might have been a woman. A woman could have moved about Whitechapel virtually unseen while the police searched for a man. Some believe Jack the Ripper could have been a deranged midwife. A midwife could go around with blood on her clothing without drawing attention to herself.Because Mary Kelly was killed indoors, it has been speculated her murder could be the work of a midwife summoned to perform an abortion. By some accounts Kelly was pregnant when she was murdered, by others she was not. But the he sexual mutilation of Kellly's body indicates the work of a male serial killer. It would also have taken a very strong woman to have the strength to subdue her victims and commit the Ripper murders.

The Mysterious Lodger

There exists a rumor, almost an urban legend, about a mysterious gentleman who rented a room on the East End. In some accounts he is a quiet man given to nocturnal wanderings. He was insanely religious and had a deep-rooted hatred for prostitutes. Most of this is based on fiction, namely an early Alfred Hitchock movie called The Lodger which was based on a fiction novel by Belloc Lowndes. The story may have some basis in truth. In 1889, a man named Forbes Winslow was told by an acquaintence that he had once rented a room to a gentleman who called himself G. Wentworth Bell. Bell was described as a gentlemanly man with a mustache, possibly foreign.After the murder of Martha Tabram, the maid found bloodstains in his room. Forbes also claimed to have bloodstained boots owned by the mysterious lodger, but there is no evidence he ever reported this story to the police.Walter Sickert also claimed to have been told a similar story about a Camden Town lodger. The elderly owners told him the previous occupant of his room had been Jack the Ripper, a sickly student who ended up in the insane asylum. This may have accounted for Walter Sickert's obsessive interest in the case.

The Royal Conspiracy Theory

In a nutshell, rumors abounded that Prince Eddie (Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence, Queen Victoria's grandson), had secretly married a commoner, Annie Crook, who became pregnant with his child. To make matters worse, Annie was Catholic.Word of the marriage could not be allowed to spread. Religious tensions were high, and there were even fears that news of a Catholic heir to the throne might cause a revolution.

The Queen turned the matter over to her prime minister, Lord Salisbury. Eddie and Annie were living in ignorant bliss with their child on Cleveland Street. In a raid, Eddie and Annie were taken away in separate carriages. Annie was supposedly locked away in a lunatic asylum. The child, Alice, escaped the raid with her nursemaid, Mary Kelly, who left her in a convent.Mary Kelly fled back to Whitechapel where she embarked upon a life of drink and prostitution. When she told the incredible story to her friends, she was encouraged to blackmail the Royal Family.Jack the Ripper was supposedly created by the Queen's Royal Physician, William Gull, with a little help from the Freemasons, to silence Mary and the three women she had told the story to, Mary Nichols, Elizabeth Stride, and Annie Chapman. But is there any evidence to back up this theory? We will discuss the theory's origin and an attempt will be made to sort fact from fiction.

The Origin of the Royal Conspiracy Theory

The Royal Conspiracy Theory came into being when, in 1973, the BBC decided to make a television program with modern detectives working to solve the Ripper case using actual Scotland Yard documents.The story was a blend of truth and fiction. During the course of researching the Ripper case, a man named Joseph Sickert told the story of his father, famous painter Walter Sickert (the same Walter Sickert in Pat Cornwell's book). Though Cornwell claimed Sickert had no children, it is believed that Joseph Sickert was an illegitimate son who took on the Sickert name.

According to Joseph, his father had told him that Jack the Ripper was created to avoid a royal scandal. Three men were involved in the killings--Dr. Gull, Inspector Anderson, and John Netley. The women were made unconscious by grapes injected with poison and the mutilations performed in the carriage. Gull did the killing, then the women were dumped into the street.One of the murders, that of Catherine Eddowes, was a mistake, a case of mistaken identity. She often went by the name of Mary Kelly, the same name as the intended victim. Montage Druitt was chosen as a scapegoat for the crimes.In a strange twist of fate, the daughter Alice became Sickert's ward. Later on they married (or in some versions simply had an affair) and Alice gave birth to their son Joseph. Dr. Gull later died in a lunatic asylum and Annie died insane in a workhouse.Joseph stated that his father suffered great guilt over his involvement as an accomplice in the Ripper crimes and because he was unable to speak freely about them, incorporated several clues into his paintings. The BBC version, confusing as it was, aired and Joseph Sickert appeared on the last episode and verified all that had been said.

The Final Solution

After the broadcast aired, author Stephen Knight interviewed Joseph Sickert and was convinced that his story was true. Knight based his book, Jack the Ripper-The Final Solution, published in 1978, on the same premise as the television production. However Knight attempted in his book to prove the conspiracy actually existed. Joseph was reluctant to participate in the book, having agreed only to an interview.The book, when released, created quite a sensation. It varied from the BBC version only by the identity of the third man, who Knight claimed was Walter Sickert. He tried to validate the story as a serious theory, but produced little actual evidence.Joseph Sickert made a statement at the ending of the book that it was possible Stephen Knight was correct about his father's involvement in the murders because his father appeared to know too much about the crimes not to have been in on them first-hand. However, Joseph later stated that he had fabricated the entire story which had been the basis for the TV production and Stephen Knight's book. Knight claimed Joseph retracted his story because he had named his father as the third killer.

Sorting Fact from Fiction

Annie Crook

In the course of his research, Knight was able to verify that an Annie Crook did live and had an illegitimate baby at the same time Sickert claimed she did. There is no proof the baby she gave birth to was Eddie's. Another Ripper expert, Donald Rumbelow, doubts that the location of the place where Eddie and Annie were supposed to have lived on Cleveland Street actually existed.

Dr. Gull

Though Dr Gull has been considered a Ripper suspect, he was 71 in 1888, had suffered a stroke and was severely disabled at the time of the crimes. If there is any truth to this theory, it is unlikely he could have physically committed the murders himself.

John Netley

It was rumored that John Netley wanted to kill the child as well, and Alice was chased down and stricken by a carriage. There is evidence that this did happen.There are two stories concerning the death of Netley. In one, after striking Alice, he was chased by a crowd and drowned in the river. In another story he was run over by his own carriage in an accident that may have been rigged by the Masons, who were afraid his erratic actions would draw attention to the Masons. (See next lesson, the Masonic Connection.)

The Masonic Connection

If that wasn't intrigue enough, Knight claimed in his book that the Masons were also involved in the creation of Jack the Ripper as a cover-up.

At the time, most political figures were Masons. The Masons originated in middle ages as a guild of stonemasons which evolved into a quasi religious secret society whose members are sworn to support each other. Warren, Gull, and Salisbury were all Masons.According to Knight's theory, the Masons were the power behind the throne. The Queen did not order the murders, and Lord Salisbury never intended for it to go so far. It was Gull's idea.Dr. Gull, a loyal servant of the brotherhood, went too far and the other Masons acted to protect him. Warren, also a Mason, was appointed to his post to cover up the Masonic connection. Sickert was ordered to be silent but told his son he knew more than anyone and was in danger because he had been coerced into helping the Freemasons.

Knight's reason for implicating the Masons is that the ritual reenactments of the Ripper crimes bear strange similarities to symbolic Masonic ritual. If the secrets of the Masons are revealed, the traitor's throat is slit from left to right just like the Ripper victims. Traitors were also murdered by being torn open and the heart and vitals taken out and thrown over the left shoulder.The brass rings and coins near Annie Chapman's body may also have symbolic overtones. Catherine Eddowes had a triangle flap of skin cut into each cheek, while a sacred sign of Masonry is two triangles. The murder of Mary Kelly, where her features were obliterated and her organs cut out, also bears similarity to a symbolic Masonic ritual. Knight believed the writing on the wall Warren obliterated also had Masonic overtones, and that the "Juwes" referred to the three apprentice Masons, Jubela, Jubelo and Jubelum who murdered Hirum Abiff during the building of Solomon's temple and are the basis of masonic ritual.This secretive society refused all requests for information and Knight believed they destroyed all evidence of the conspiracy. Some theorists believe this is his excuse for not having more evidence to support his theory.

An In Depth Look at the Royal Conspiracy Theory

The 2001 movie "From Hell," starring Johnny Depp, like the BBC production, is a work of speculative fiction. The movie itself was derived from the graphic (illustrated comic) novel of the same name written by Alan Moore and illustrated by Eddie Campbell. The graphic novel was based in turn on Knight's book, Jack the Ripper: The Final Solution. Though liberties were taken with the events and the characters, the background setting in this movie was highly authentic.Though no photographs of Inspector Abberline exist, he was described as being rather portly, and certainly not the handsome figure cut by Depp. There is no evidence to point to the fact that Inspector Abberline in real life was either an opium addict or a psychic. These and other changes were made to deepen the fictional character, and were not intended to be based on truth.

Some liberties were taken in the details of the murders, and minor changes were made in the descriptions of the crimes. The insinuation that Elizabeth Stride was a lesbian is unsubstantiated. However, it was believed that Mary Kelly may have been bisexual. Inspector Abberline and Mary Kelly never met before her murder. There was some speculation at the time of the murders that the last victim was not Mary Kelly. She was identified by Joseph Barnett but her face was mutilated beyond recognition and at the time forensic means such as DNA were a dream of the future. She was identified "by the eyes and hair."The theory that Mary Kelly may not have been the victim is based on a sighting of her hours after the murder occurred. However, it is probably more likely the time of death was incorrect rather than someone else was sleeping in Kelly's bed.

The Life of James Maybrick

James Maybrick was a wealthy cotton merchant who died in 1889. He was not a suspect at the time of the Ripper murders. Even without the Ripper angle, his is an intriguing tale, for it was his wife who was accused of murder - his murder.Maybrick was the son of William and Susannah Maybrick. He was born in Liverpool, England and had six brothers. One of his brothers, Michael, became a famous composer. In 1871 he formed Maybrick & Co. Cotton Merchants. He lived in England until 1874, when he left for Norfolk, Virginia to set up a branch office of the cotton company.Around that time, he contracted malaria. When quinine did not relieve his symptoms, he was prescribed a new medicine -- he was taking a combination of arsenic and strychnine to keep his illness under control. In the 1870's arsenic was taken by many as a health tonic believed to improve virility. Women also used it on their faces in beauty creams. Arsenic can be addictive and, unfortunately, Maybrick became addicted to the arsenic, which was ultimately responsible for his death.

On a ship back at England, aboard the SS Baltic, Maybrick was introduced and fell in love with a petite, pretty blonde Southern belle named Florence Chandler. He and the lovely young socialite Florence (Florie) were married soon after. She was seventeen years old and Maybrick was twenty-four years her senior. They had two children, James (Bobo) and Gladys. They spent time both in Norfolk and England and had a large mansion outside of Liverpool.By 1886 the marriage was in trouble. A slump in the cotton trade left them financially unstable. In 1887 Florie discovered her husband had a secret life. He had a mistress with whom he had been involved even before his marriage to Florie. On most documents, Sarah Ann Robertson was listed as a single 44-year old living in London, but on other documents she was named as Sarah Ann Maybrick. It is unknown whether Sara Ann and James Maybrick were ever officially married, but he had for years passed her off as his wife.

In 1888 the Maybricks moved to Battlecrease House, not far from Liverpool. When Florie found out about his mistress, she retaliated by being unfaithful herself. She soon had an affair with cotton broker Alfred Brierley. Though Maybrick was willing to look the other way about his own adultery, he sorely resented his wife's infidelity.Maybrick's drug addiction worsened. He was also described as a hypochondriac who often complained of headaches and numbness of the hands and feet. These could also have been symptoms of the arsenic gradually poisoning his body.

The couple began to fight and argue and there is evidence Maybrick blacked Florie's eye. In the spring of 1889, Florie purchased some fly papers soaked in arsenic. When Maybrick died on May 11, 1889, Florie was charged with poisoning her husband with arsenic.After a quick and unfair trial, in which the judge refused any admittance of evidence about Maybrick's drug addiction, she was sentenced to death. Florie was convicted and sentenced to be hanged, but was released after serving fifteen long years in prison. She later wrote an account of her imprisonment called My Fifteen Lost Years.

The Diary's Contents

If the Maybrick diary is a forgery, it is a very detailed and planned one along the caliber of the Hitler Diaries. The diary is well-written and convincing. Within its pages, the five murders attributed to Jack the Ripper are chronicled in gory detail. Furthermore, according to experts, the author appears to fit the profile of a serial killer who is suffering a gradual decline into madness.The writing alternates between serious thought and deranged ramblings. Handwriting experts believe the diary was written by someone violent, sexually deviant and possibly schizophrenic. This has led some experts to ask the question--would a hoaxer be that good?Though some experts feel that the handwriting and certain phrases in the diary are not in keeping with the Victorian era in which it was supposed to have been written, the actual content of the diary corresponds with the dates of Maybrick's trips to London. If Maybrick was Jack the Ripper, it is believed that Florie's infidelity set off the Ripper crimes, and that they were a reaction to her unfaithfulness.

Even though Maybrick himself did not keep his marriage vows, there existed at the time a double standard that made a woman's wandering more scandalous. If Maybrick was the killer, it would mean that he led a double life in a place over 200 miles away from his main residence. However, his lover or second wife lived in the same area the Ripper frequented.This means Maybrick would have been familiar with the Ripper's territory, and makes the idea he committed the crimes more plausible. Assuming the diary is authentic and Maybrick was Jack the Ripper, the final entry of the diary was made on May 3rd when he last visited his doctor. On May 11, 1889, Maybrick died. The Ripper murders also ended that same year.Some passages in the diary as well as aspects of Maybrick's life appear to have uncanny links to the Ripper crimes. The simplest link, which may be coincidence, is that the first two letters of James Maybrick's first name and the last two letters of his last name combine to form the name Jack. Also, the vague forming of the letter M appeared at some of the crime scenes, namely on the wall in Mary Kelly's bedroom. The mysterious M could stand for Maybrick.

The writing on the wall found after the murder of Catherine Eddowes was explained in the diary as being a private joke, instead of reading "The Juwes are the men that shall not be blamed for nothing," the writing actually read, "The James are the men that shall not be blamed for nothing." The words " ha, ha" appear in the diary and also appear in one of the Ripper letters.Though most of the diary is consistent with the details of the Ripper murders, some accounts appear to have been taken from newspaper articles written at the time rather than the actual murder, as some of the details are slightly different, especially concerning the murder of Mary Kelly. This might be the most important bit of evidence to indicate the journal could be a hoax.

The Diary Comes Under Scrutiny

Maybrick was never a suspect during his own lifetime. After the emergence of the diary in 1992, he came under serious suspicion as a Ripper suspect and the diary was also closely examined by experts in an attempt to find out whether or not it was authentic.Experts who analyzed the diary found many indications that it could be a clever hoax. The volume in which the diary was written had many pages torn from its beginning, as if it had initially been used for some other purpose. The fact that these kinds of volumes could be purchased in antique shops as well as the suspicion by some experts that the ink used was modern, led to some serious questions concerning the diary's authenticity. Just about everything about the diary is controversial. Experts were called in to analyze the diary. Scientific tests on the ink were inconclusive and it was generally accepted that the ink used in the diary could have been used in the late 1800's.

Criticisms of the diary include the suggestion that the handwriting does not look Victorian, that the diary was not written in a standard Victorian diary book, and that there are certain anachronisms to the text that are not in keeping with Victorian times. However, the late Victorian era was a time of change and new styles of handwriting and phrases were constantly emerging. That makes it difficult to say for certain whether or not certain phrases could have been used at that time.The handwriting in the diary does not match the neat handwriting found in James Maybrick's will. This, alone, could have proven the diary a fake, but Maybrick was so ill and his hand so shaky at the time of his death, it is believed that his brother may have signed the will instead of him.In 1995, Michael Barrett confessed that the Maybrick diary was a hoax, authored by him and hand written by his wife from his typed notes. In the confession, he tells how he had bought the antique album from an auction house and had purchased Diamine Manuscript ink to make the entries.

According to him, it took him only eleven days to actually write the diary after carefully researching Maybrick's history. He claimed that he chose Maybrick because the dates he was in England conveniently corresponded to the Ripper murders and made him the perfect candidate. Barrett claims he wrote the diary on a word processor first. He claims his sister destroyed all of the disks in order to protect him from scandal and possible prosecution for forgery.Despite the diary's questionability, many continue to believe in the diary's authenticity. Why would they continue to believe in it even after reading Barrett's signed confession that it was a hoax? Ironically, the confession itself has been questioned and some believe it is the fake and not the journal.

Some believe that it was written while Barrett was under extreme emotional stress and pressure from his family, the publishing world, and even the law, and that he wrote the confession to distance himself from the problems and notoriety the diary had brought him.To make matters more complicated, his wife later said that the diary had not been given to them by Tony Devereux as they had earlier claimed, but had come from her own family, and had been given to her by her father. Why she did not come out with this information in the first place is a mystery in itself. Of course, the changing stories and the fact that the Barretts had not told the truth from the beginning cast doubt on their credibility.

Even considering Barrett's confession, the authenticity of the diary has never been completely disproven, and there are firm believers that it is proof that Jack the Ripper was James Maybrick.

Curiously, another item belonging to James Maybrick, a watch bearing the inscription "J. Maybrick. I am Jack." also turned up in an antique shop in Lancaster, England in 1992. Also inscribed on the watch are the initials of the five Ripper victims. Though experts believe the inscription on the watch could date back to the late 1800's, the watch has also been viewed with great skepticism.

Artist Walter Sickert--An Overview of his Life

Walter Sickert was born on May 31, 1860 in Munich, Germany. He came from a long line of artists. Both his father Oswald and his grandfather were respectable artists. His father Oswald was described as a restless man, somewhat ill-tempered, who was careless with money. There was no evidence his father was violent, but he was described as being mean-spirited. His mother Eleanor, called "Nelly", was described as being charming and attractive. Walter was the first of the Sickert's brood of six children, five boys and one girl.Sickert's mother appeared to dote on him and called him her beautiful child. Most of what is known of his childhood comes from accounts of his sister Helena. According to her, he was charming, energetic and quarrelsome. He could also be clever, manipulative and somewhat deceitful. When growing up, Sickert was kicked out of at least one boarding school.

It is known that at an early age, Walter Sickert suffered some kind of medical trauma. He had three surgeries starting at the age of five for some kind of fistula. According to Cornwell's speculation, the fistula caused a deformity of his penis which may have rendered him impotent and fueled the rage behind the Ripper crimes. This is not well-documented. Cornwell admits there is no factual proof that he was impotent or evidence to document the specific type of surgery he had as a child.During his lifetime, according to most sources, Sickert had three wives and a mistress, which would be quite an accomplishment for a man presumed to be impotent. In 1885 he married Ellen Cobden. She was much older than him and their marriage was unhappy. During the course of the marriage he spent a lot of time away from home and they eventually divorced.

It was rumored that during the time of his marriage to Ellen he had an affair with his ward, Alice Crook, the daughter of Annie Crook, and that they had a son, Joseph Sickert. (In some accounts he and Alice were married). No mention is made of Joseph Sickert in Cornwell's book, but Joseph claimed to be Sickert's son and played a large part in the background for Stephen Knight's book, The Final Solution. Whether legitimate or illegitimate, Joseph went by the last name of Sickert. In 1911 Sickert married Christine Angus and after her death he later married a third wife, painter Therese Lessere.Sickert started out as an actor, but had also shown an early interest in art. He decided to become a painter. He was a disciple of Edgar Degas, and also an admirer of James Whistler. He studied under Whistler and they were friends, but the relationship eventually cooled.Sickert became a highly respected Impressionist painter. He was known for his Degas-influenced paintings of London music hall scenes. He often preferred to portray the grim side of urban life. His style is widely imitated by other artists.Among his admirers was author Virginia Woolfe. He was a dominant figure in British Impressionism, and is considered an important influence in the transition from Impressionism to Modernism. In fact, during his lifetime, Sickert was considered one of the most important artists living in England.

In addition to painting, he was an art critic and prolific letter writer. He maintained several studios during his lifetime where he instructed aspiring artists. He spent quite a bit of his time in Dieppe France, where he evenually moved. He died in 1942 at the age of 82. Suggested Reading: Portrait of a Killer: Jack the Ripper: Case Closed. Chapters 5 and 6

A Profile of Walter Sickert-Eccentric Artist or Psychopathic Killer?

In her book, Portrait of a Killer Jack the Ripper: Case Closed, Pat Cornwell paints a disturbing psychological profile of Walter Sickert. She characterizes him as being self-absorbed, clever, manipulative, deceptive, brilliant, with a volatile temper, and a lack of empathy for others.

According to Cornwell, Sickert displayed many of the traits common to people known as sociopaths or psychopaths. "Sickert had a contempt of all people, he thought he was smarter than anybody." Cornwell states. She compares his attitude to that of the author of letters sent to the police believed to have been written by Jack the Ripper, who was "a mocking arrogant spiteful man who thought everyone was an idiot or a fool."

In appearance, Sickert was described as being a handsome, slender man with a strong upper torso, thick blond hair and blue eyes. He was approximately 5'9 or 5'10 in height. Sickert was believed to be brilliant, possibly a genius. He was known to have an incredible memory and could recite long passages by heart without flaw years after he had heard them. Contrary to Cornwell's assessment of him, friend and artist Edgar Degas described Sickert as "young and beautiful with well known charm."

So who was the real Walter Sickert? During his lifetime, Sickert was also often described by his contemporaries as being arrogant, cold and manipulative. He could also be obsessive in his affections for the men and women he admired.He and James Whistler were good friends, but Whistler grew tired of his obsessive hero-worship of him, and Sickert resented his dropping their friendship and became spiteful.According to the people who knew him, Sickert was perceived as being self-centered, egotistical and secretive--a kind of temperament that may very well be common among the artistic community. Though Cornwell portrays Sickert as simmering with rage, she shows no specific examples of violent behavior to back this up. Cornwell assumes that friends and family may have glossed over his flaws, especially when he started to become famous.Sickert made no secret of his fascination for the Jack the Ripper murders. Because of his obsession with Jack the Ripper, some feel it's possible that Sickert was more likely to be an attention-grabber rather than a murderer. He may have purposefully cast a shadow of doubt upon himself as a sort of game.He was known as a prolific letter-writer and may even have written some of the Ripper letters to match wits with the police. If that was the game Sickert was playing, becoming an actual murder suspect so far in the future may have made his ploy work beyond his wildest dreams.

Dead Prostitutes and The Sickert Paintings

Later in life, Sickert told friends he had once stayed in a house where the landlady claimed Jack the Ripper had also once lived. She said she knew his identity, that Jack the Ripper was a sickly student who had died in an asylum. A series of paintings were done by Sickert in the Camden Town residence where Sickert believed Jack the Ripper had also once lodged.The rumor that Sickert might be the Ripper stems from this series of dark paintings, the Camden Town Murders, which he painted in 1908-1909. These dark works, which were painted twenty years after the "Autumn of Terror", appear to hold some uncanny similarities to the Ripper's crimes.Some of the similarities of Sickert's paintings to the Ripper crimes are included in the photographs in the center of Cornwell's book. These include the following:

* A sketch called Venetian Studies which depicts a woman with eyes wide open which vaguely resembles the dead face of Mary Ann Nichols.

* A painting called "He Killed his Father in a Fight" is believed to have similarities to the Mary Kelly murder scene.

* Perhaps more convincing is the painting "Putana a Casa", in which the mutilations of a woman's face bear a noted resemblance to the mortuary photographs of Catherine Eddows.

* In the background of the painting "Ennui", a man coming up behind a woman in the painting in the background is reminescent of a Jack the Ripper type stalker.

* Jack the Ripper's bedroom is perhaps the most haunting of them all.

If Sickert did have a sick and twisted side, there is no real proof that he ever took it to the extreme of murder. Artistic license comes to play in creative works. Many authors and artists, including Cornwell herself, explore the dark side of human nature without experiencing it firsthand as a killer.It's altogether possible Sickert was fascinated with the Ripper crimes so much he purposefully incorporated elements of them into his paintings. Experts besides Cornwell believe some of the similarities could have been based on crime scene photos Sickert actually saw; other similarities could have been due to stories he had heard here and there, and to the vivid imagination of an artist.

Was Sickert the Ripper? - A Wealth of Contradictions

Sickert was never a suspect at the time of the Ripper murders. Yet Pat Cornwell's book Portrait of a Killer is not the first time Walter Sickert's name has been associated with the Jack the Ripper case although he did not become a candidate for the Ripper until the 1960's.Highly confusing is the fact that Sickert's involvement in the Ripper case was previously mentioned in a totally different way. In some accounts of the Royal Conspiracy, it is a reluctant Sickert who either knows about and is sworn to secrecy, or, depending upon the story's version, is himself called upon to do the murders.In this account, put forth by his alleged illegitimate son Joseph, his father felt much guilt. But in this account Sickert was no stalker working alone but part of a large conspiracy to silence four women to prevent a revolution and keep them from exposing Prince Eddie's secret marriage and a Catholic heir to the throne.Are the paintings really an indication he was Jack the Ripper? Some of these similarities between the Ripper crimes and Sickert's paintings appear fairly general. Others are more startling. Sickert did paint, among his other works, scenes of violence and murder, and it appears he intentionally based some on the Ripper murders.

It is not certain whether he was actually involved in the crimes or became obsessed with them after renting a place where the Ripper had been rumored to have once lived. The positioning of certain victims in his paintings appear to match the positioning of the victims in the Ripper murders.Though some believe the paintings contain a series of clues pointing to his guilt, there is always the possibility that the similarities between Sickert's paintings and the Ripper crimes are an uncanny coincidence.It is also possible that Sickert viewed mortuary photos of the victims and either deliberately or subconsciously derived his artistic interpretation from them. These photos were published prior to his paintings, so it is very likely he could have seen them. Copies of the Mary Kelly photo and Eddowes mortuary photo were published in France in 1899, way earlier than his paintings. He could have used them as a basis for his paintings.

The idea has also been suggested that Sickert may have known the identity of Jack the Ripper, maybe even have been acquainted with him. Sickert did appear, at the very least, to be obsessed by the Ripper case, but then so was half of London. It is likely he had inside knowledge, but that doesn't prove him to be the killer.

Clues in the Ripper letters that Sickert may have been Jack the Ripper:

Some of the Ripper letters are signed, Mr. Nemo. This was Walter Sickert's stage name. However, this was a common phrase at the time, one used by many, and meant the same as signing a letter "anonymous". There is also the possibility that Sickert wrote some of the Ripper letters but didn't commit the crimes.The words "ha ha" are frequently found in the Ripper letters. Pat Cornwell believes this to be a "peculiarly American laugh". She suggests it is possible Walter Sickert was mimicking his ex role model James Whistler's annoying laugh.This fits in with Cornwell's theory that Whistler's marriage may have set Sickert off on a jealous killing spree because he was unable himself to have a normal relationship with a woman himself.Other experts call this a big assumption. Francis Tumblety was also American, so the letters could have been written by him. And the British have also been known to go "ha ha." The phrase also occurs in the Maybrick Diary.

Was Sickert able to have children?

By some accounts, the daughter of Annie Crook married Sickert and gave birth to their son Joseph, who later took the Sickert name. Cornwell makes no mention of Joseph Sickert in her book. Joseph said his father was fascinated by the Ripper murders. But was he his son? How was Sickert able to marry three times and bear an illegitimate son if he was impotent? Why would Joseph lie about being his son? Not having children is hardly proof one is a killer. His brothers never had children and none of them grew up to be murderers.

The Red Handkerchief

It was said that Sickert often kept a red handkerchief with him when he painted to stimulate his memory. It was believed the last man seen with victim Mary Kelly gave her a red handkerchief before her murder. However, it was 1917 before Sickert started to use a handkerchief in connection with his painting, and whether this peculiarity of his had anything to do with the Ripper crimes remains unknown.

The Camden Town Murder

While Sickert lived in Camden Town in 1907, a young prostitute who went by the name of Phyllis Dimmock was found with her throat slit. This crime bore a vague resemblance to the Ripper crimes. It occurred 19 years after the original crimes and Sickert was never a suspect. A man whom the woman knew personally was convicted of the crime. Sickert, however, drew inspiration from that crime scene for his paintings of murdered prostitutes.

Where was Sickert at the time of the Ripper murders?

This may be the most important question of all. Sickert was believed have left London for France on August 4th. No sources place him in London after that time. The first Ripper murder took place on August 31st. Sickert family correspondence places Sickert in France between August and October of 1888.A single letter written by Sickert from France exists, but it has no envelope or postcard so the actual date it was written cannot be determined. A letter sent by a French painter described a visit with Sickert on Septermber 16th, so he must have been in France at that time.Sickert also painted local scenes of the Dieppe area. Some believe he could have commuted from France to England by ferry to commit the murders. Though this is possible, there is no evidence that he did.

Forensic Evidence

In this section we will continue an exploration of Cornwell's book by looking at the actual forensic techniques employed by author and researcher Patricia Cornwell in her attempt to prove that Walter Sickert was Jack the Ripper. The evidence will be examined and the effectiveness of the forensic techniques used will be discussed. An attempt will be made to determine whether or not her evidence was conclusive. The primary source for this lesson will be Portrait of a Killer: Jack the Ripper--Case Closed.

A Search for Forensic Evidence

Patricia Cornwell first became intrigued by the Ripper case when she was invited to Scotland Yard in 2001 to do research for one of her fiction novels. She became so fascinated with the mystery of the yet unsolved Jack the Ripper murders she decided to write a nonfiction book about the case.Her idea to apply modern forensic techniques in an attempt to solve a crime over a century old had never before been attempted. Hers was not a small project. Cornwell spent six million dollars of her own money and purchased thirty of Sickert's paintings in an effort to prove her theory that Walter Sickert was Jack the Ripper. She hired a team consisting of a handwriting expert, forensic photographer, and a DNA expert.

DNA Evidence on Ripper Correspondence

DNA testing was performed on the backs of stamps and envelopes from 250 Ripper letters, which was then compared to Sickert's own personal correspondence. DNA testing of material over 100 years old had never before been attempted. Many of the letters had been sealed under plastic in order to preserve them, which destroyed the DNA. The experts went through the Ripper letters in order to find a trace of nuclear DNA evidence, but the results were disappointing. Not a trace of human DNA was found.One letter existed that had not been stored in plastic so DNA tests continued. Here, it gets complicated. Cornwell arranged for more sophisticated testing, this time for mitochondrial DNA.

On one letter called the "Openshaw" letter, mitochondrial DNA sequences were found that were similar to those on Sickert's correspondence. But mitochondrial DNA is not as specific as nuclear DNA. A match between two samples does not mean that one person left both, but only that a certain percentage of the population could have left both. It is estimated that the DNA sequence could match at least 33,000 other people besides Sickert.Because the letters tested had been handled by numerous people, the DNA evidence had also been contaminated. The DNA found on the Sickert letters was a blend of several different people.Also, since Sickert was cremated after his death and his DNA no longer exists, conclusive evidence was unobtainable. In other words, it is generally believed that the small trace of DNA evidence Cornwell's team was able to extract from the Ripper letters and Sickert's correspondence was inconclusive. In Cornwell's own words, the evidence served as a "cautious indicator" Sickert may have been involved in the Ripper crimes

Fingerprints and Watermarks

The stationary used on some of the Ripper letters had a watermark from Perry & Sons. This watermark was also found on some of Sickert's personal correspondence. On the "Openshaw" letter, both traces of mitochondrial DNA and the same watermark Sickert used in his personal correspondence were present.

Cornwell's Case against Walter Sickert-The Ripper Letters

Even though the outcome of the forensic examination was disappointing, the fact that the same watermark appeared on some Ripper correspondence and on Sickert's personal correspondence is pretty strong circumstantial evidence.Cornwell personally believes that most of the Ripper letters are authentic and the handwriting is disguised in some of the ones that don't appear to be written by the same person. She also believes that the Ripper disguised the language in the letters in an attempt to appear more ignorant than he actually was, for some of the words are not words a semi-literate person would use or even know.Also interspersed within the Ripper letters are several phrases that could be associated with Walter Sickert. She believes the words "ha ha" that appear quite often in the Ripper letters may stem from Sickert's mimicking James Whistler's annoying laugh. Some of the Ripper letters are also signed "Mr. Nemo", which was Sickert's stage name from his acting days. Mr. Nemo, however, was also a common phrase around the time and had the same meaning as signing a letter "Anonymous."



Experts Disagree about the Connection between the Ripper Letters and Sickert's Guilt

Experts argue that the Openshaw letter is not one of the three Ripper letters generally believed to be an authentic Ripper letter, which has long been considered a hoax. In fact, most of the Ripper letters are considered fakes. So many bogus Ripper letters were received by the police - over 600, postmarked around the world - that writing them appeared to have become quite a fad. If Sickert did pen one Ripper letter, that did not necessarily prove he was Jack the Ripper, but one of hundreds of hoaxers.If taken before a court of law today, it could be argued that Sickert wrote the letter as a hoax, or someone else used his stationary. The similar watermark could also be coincidence as there were few paper mills in operation at that time, and the stationary was in common use by a great number of people besides Walter Sickert. The same watermark did not mean that the paper came from the same batch.

The Sickert Paintings

In the course of her investigation, Cornwell also purchased thirty of Sickert's paintings to look for DNA evidence and fingerprints. The paintings Cornwell purchased were torn apart and the frames and canvas checked for fingerprints, blood, or other evidence. None was found. The case could not be solved through either DNA or fingerprint evidence.

Jack the Ripper: Case Closed--Fact or Fiction?

Despite her dedication and willingness to stake her reputation on her belief that Walter Sickert was Jack the Ripper, many experts are in disagreement with Cornwell's conclusions that renowned painter Walter Sickert was a psychopath and serial killer.Her broad statements have raised arguments from other experts who do not agree with her theory. Yale Center for British Art curator Scott Wilcox told the Associated Press that he disagreed with Cornwell's interpretations. She was also criticized by many in the art community for tearing apart at least one valuable Sickert painting to look for bloodstains, fingerprints, and other forensic clues.Michael Gordon, author of "Alias Jack the Ripper: Beyond the Usual Whitechapel Suspects," stated, "She could not be farther from the truth." He based his objections on the belief that Jack the Ripper had not written the letters that Cornwell examined. Walter Sickert's nephew dismisses her allegations that Walter Sickert was Jack the Ripper as "rubbish."Nevetheless, it cannot be denied that Pat Cornwell has indicated some disturbing similarities between the Ripper letters and Walter Sickert's own personal correspondence. The content of some of Sickert's paintings also seem to eerily reflect the Ripper crimes.However, experts point out that the evidence she brings against Sickert is circumstantial or speculative rather than scientific. According to Cornwell, Sickert's sexual dysfunction was the catalyst for the Ripper crimes, yet there is no proof that Sickert was physically deformed or impotent.

Perhaps the most damaging hole in Cornwell's theory is that there is some evidence to corroborate the fact that Sickert was in France between August and October of 1888. A letter exists that Sickert wrote from France during that time frame where he mentions a "nice little place to sleep and eat" in Dieppe, France.Though it bears no envelope or postmark, it was no doubt written sometime during his stay in France. He also painted scenes in the Dieppe area around that time, and friends had mentioned seeing him there.Pat Cornwell maintains that Sickert could have traveled back and forth to England by ferry to commit the crimes, but there is not a shred of evidence to place Sickert in London during the time of the Ripper murders.

In Conclusion

In her investigation, Cornwell attempted to use modern forensic techniques to solve this old crime. If it had worked, the case of Jack the Ripper would now be closed. However, despite a valiant attempt to prove her theory, the DNA evidence derived from Sickert's paintings and letters was disappointing and inconclusive."The heck with defense attorneys", Cornwell states, "A jury back then would have said, 'hang him'." However, before the advent of modern forensic detection, many innocent people were put to death for crimes they didn't commit.Pat Cornwell admits that the evidence she found against Sickert would not hold up in a modern court of law. Yet she maintained in an interview, "I do believe 100 per cent that the artist Walter Sickert was Jack the Ripper. Sickert led a horrifying double life, painting by day and killing by night. The case will soon be closed." Cornwell may continue to pursue the case against Walter Sickert with additional DNA testing.Because the scientific proof was inconclusive, it cannot be positively concluded that Walter Sickert was Jack the Ripper any more than any of the other wide range of suspects. Still, despite the title of her book, Cornwell's goal was not necessarily to find Sickert guilty, but to thoroughly investigate the facts using new methods.

Whatever the case, she did something worthwhile by breaking new ground, something that has never been done before, and the applying of DNA to a century-old crime will no doubt be used in other cases. In the meantime, the mysterious case of Jack the Ripper is still very much open.

The Profile of a Serial Killer

"One day men will look back and say I gave birth to the 20th Century", reads a quote attributed to Jack the Ripper.

According to former FBI agent and serial killer expert Robert K. Ressler, the "typical" serial killer is usually a Caucasian male in their twenties or thirties. They often come from dysfunctional families in which there is an absentee father. They are smart and may be employed beneath their capacity. Many have some kind of physical ailment that sets them off. Their impulse to kill may be triggered by some event such as the loss of a job or the breakup of a relationship. While the majority of serial killers fit this general profile, there are always exceptions to the rules.According to current research, a psychopath, also called a sociopath, can be either male or female. Though not always killers, they are dangerous because they have no respect for rules or regard for people other than themselves. They only fear getting caught. Despite this fear, they often enjoy playing cat-and-mouse games with the police, taunting them with clues and challenging them to catch them if they can. It is believed that serial killers are unable to stop killing on their own volition even if they wanted to.

A Comparison Between Jack the Ripper and the Zodiac Killer

The Zodiac killer stalked victims in the late 1960's and early 1970's. He claimed responsibility for seventeen deaths in the San Francisco area and five deaths in Northern California. He chose his victims based on their astrological or zodiac signs, which he often left scribbled around the bodies of his victims. He was never apprehended and it is unknown whether or not he is still alive. The Zodiac killer targeted both male and female victims. He used both knives and guns in his crimes. Most of his victims were shot. One victim, Cheri Jo Bates, was nearly decapitated.

The Zodiac killer liked to taunt the police and during the course of his crime spree sent 21 letters to the local press. Many of his letters were in code and when deciphered by experts made such statements as "hunting humans was the most exciting of all sports."In 1969, he mailed a piece of his last victim Paul Stine's bloody shirt to a newspaper with a letter. Though the killings stopped in 1969, letters kept coming to the media until 1974. Over 2500 suspects were investigated.

The prime suspect was Arthur Allen, who died in 1992. He was never charged and denied that he was the Zodiac killer to the end. DNA evidence recovered under a stamp on the Stine letter did not match Allen's DNA. Like his historical counterpart, it is believed the Zodiac killer gained some kind of perverse sexual satisfaction from killing. He was unlike Jack the Ripper in that he varied the method of his crimes, and he targeted both male and female victims. But his threats to the police bear an uncanny similarity, as well as the fact that the crimes stopped abruptly and the Zodiac killer, like Jack the Ripper, was never caught.

A Comparison between Jack the Ripper and Ted Bundy

Ted Bundy may have been Jack the Ripper's modern twin. Though handsome, he suffered from a poor self-image and was crushed by a rejection by a romantic interest, Leslie Holland, which may have set off his killing spree. Bundy was bright, and was studying to be a lawyer. He was clean-cut and had no prior record.Bundy began his murdering of women in 1974. His main targets were college students. He officially confessed to 11 murders in Washington, 8 in Utah, 3 in Colorado, 3 in Florida, 2 in Oregon, 2 in Idaho and one in California--30 murders in all, though the count may be much higher.

He often broke in and attacked victims in their bedrooms at night. He also was known to abduct victims by preying on their sympathy by wearing a cast or pretending to be hurt. He was also known to have impersonated a policeman. The crimes ceased, then started up again as he moved from area to area.Bundy first came under suspicion after an attempted kidnapping where the victim escaped. He was jailed but escaped to Florida and murdered again, this time killing two women and seriously injuring two more at the Chi Omega sorority house. Kimberly Leach, his last known victim, was only twelve when he abducted and killed her.Shortly after that he was recaptured; forensic evidence used to convict him included bite marks left on one of his victim's flesh.Even at the trial he displayed a fatal kind of charm. Groupies attracted to him attended his trial and he also married Carole Ann Boone, a woman he had been dating. She had his child while he was incarcerated. Bundy was executed Jan 23, 1989, after attempts at a stay of execution to spare his life failed.

Like Jack the Ripper, Bundy's victims were all women. He sexually violated, tortured, and sometimes dismembered his victims. Unlike Jack, who targeted middle-aged prostitutes, Bundy's victims were young and attractive and many bore an uncanny resemblance to the woman who had jilted him.Bundy's crimes grew bolder and more savage. For a long time he killed at night and managed to maintain a semblance of normalcy during the daytime. He had a steady girlfriend, Beth Archer, who was unaware of his crimes.However he soon began to kill in the daytime as well. In Seattle, Bundy abducted two women the same day from a crowded park and murdered them, reminescent of the "double event."Unlike the Zodiac killer and Jack the Ripper, Bundy tried to lay low and did not write letters about his crimes. However, after he confessed, he became boastful of his conquests.Forensic evidence that was not available at the time of Jack the Ripper's crimes was Bundy's undoing. It makes one wonder if Jack the Ripper would have gotten away with his crimes had fingerprinting, DNA, and other methods been at the police's disposal. However, it is possible, for despite the marvels of modern forensic techniques, many serial killers still go unapprehended.

Psychological Profile of Jack the Ripper

In the 1880's, such behavior as the Ripper may have portrayed was referred to as "moral insanity." In a project called the Ripper Project, modern criminal profiler John E. Douglas used modern techniques to set forth a profile of what Jack the Ripper may have been like.His profile speculated that the killer was probably a white male of about 28-36 years old. He likely lived or worked in the Whitechapel area. He probably had an absentee father, some physical abnormality that set him apart, and most likely worked as a butcher or some similar job.He was probably ordinary looking, quiet, maybe a loner who drank at the local pubs. He was not likely to commit suicide, but would stop killing because he was jailed or afraid of being caught. He would consider his crimes justified, that he was ridding the world of human garbage, and feel little remorse. Many of the suspects in the Ripper case files fit the psychological profile of modern times, though most of the suspects were older than thirty-two, and the descriptions of witnesses stated that the killer appeared to be middle-aged.

Jack the Ripper could have been much like Ted Bundy, a loner who stalked his prey in a similar way. Pat Cornwell's portrayal of Walter Sickert is reminescent of Bundy in many ways, as is the profile of several other Ripper suspects. Like Bundy, Sickert was believed to be charming and a master of disguise and deception. Similarities can also be seen between the Ripper crimes and those of the Zodiac killer. Though the method of murder is quite different, the letter-writing and the clues sent to the police are uncannily similar to the Ripper case.What happened to Jack the Ripper? Some believe that he either died or was put into an insane asylum which stopped the crimes. Others believe Jack the Ripper simply moved to another area and continued to kill. However, serial killers rarely change their method of killing, and no known murders similar to the 1889 murders were repeated in another part of the country. It is not impossible, however, that his random crimes went undetected or that he did tone down the way he killed in an attempt to avoid prosecution.

The intriguing mystery of Jack the Ripper is still alive today in the form of books, movies, and scholarly research. Patricia Cornwell is not by any means the only researcher who has offered a convincing theory as to the identity of Jack the Ripper.Others include Stephen Knight with his Royal Conspiracy theory, and the Maybrick Diary connection. Others point the finger of guilt at William Bury or Frances Tumblety. Several other researchers are convinced that Joseph Barnett committed the crimes, and the evidence against him is strong.

Who was jack the ripper?

First of all, I think we'll never know for certain who Jack the Ripper was because too much valuable evidence has been lost through the years. Based on the facts we do have, there are suspects I definitely believe weren't the Ripper.I personally do not think Walter Sickert, James Maybrick, or Montage Druitt were guilty. These three dandies would have stuck out like a sore thumb on the East End. Sickert and Maybrick were not even suspects at the time of the murders. I believe Sickert was more likely to be a temperamental and rather weird artist than a murderer and I think there's adequate evidence to prove the Maybrick Diary was a hoax. As for Druitt, I think he killed himself for personal reasons unrelated to the Ripper case.

Whoever the Ripper was, he was likely to have either been insane or a man with a serious grudge against prostitutes. Like Macnaghten, I had it narrowed down to three main suspects. Mine were Chapman, Tumblety and Barnett. At first I was convinced Tumblety had done the deeds, but was swayed in favor of his innocence by the idea that he might have been in jail when Mary Kelly was murdered. And Chapman was certainly mad enough, but he seemed too young to match the general description witnesses had given. So I decided that if I had to make a guess, Joseph Barnett would be my prime suspect.I based my hunch (and that's all it is--a hunch) on the fact that most killers have motive and opportunity. I thought Barnett had motive--a reason to hate prostitutes because he didn't want his lover working in that trade. The loss of his job made her go back to a lifestyle he despised. Maybe he felt worthless and blamed himself because he couldn't support her. He may have murdered the other women to scare her off prostitution.

He also had opportunity. He could have slipped around unnoticed because he lived in the area and people were used to seeing him. He could be nondescript and keep a low profile where someone like Sickert would have been noticed.Barnett was also the only suspect who had a strong connection to any of the women. And he may have had a key to Mary Kelly's lodgings. I think that bit of evidence is important. The crimes escalated and he may have been killing Mary Kelly in effigy all along. The most brutal murder of all he saved for the woman he both loved and hated, the one who broke his heart. Anyway, it makes as good a story as any.So the question still remains unanswered--who was Jack the Ripper? Was he mad doctor Michael Ostrog, or a local resident such as Joseph Barnett, or was Pat Cornwell right about him being a gentleman gone slumming, namely artist Walter Sickert? Did the Ripper actually exist or was his gruesome image part of a cover-up or conspiracy? Now that you have reviewed all of the basic facts, what is your opinion?

Bibliography

Cornwell, Patricia. Portrait of a Killer--Jack the Ripper: Case Closed. Putnam,2002.

Jakubowski, Maxim and Nathan Braud. The Mammoth Book of Jack the Ripper. Caroll & Graf, 1999.

Sugden, Philip, The Complete History of Jack the Ripper. Caroll & Graf, 2002.

Knight, Stephen, The Final Solution. Academy Chicago, 1988.

Harrison, Shirley, The Diary of Jack the Ripper. Pocket Books, reprint edition, 1995

Evans, Stewart and Paul Gainey, Jack the Ripper: First American Serial Killer. Kodansha America, 1998.

Resler, Robert K. and Tom Shachtman, I Have Lived with the Monster: Inside the Minds of the World's Most Notorious Serial Killers. St. artin's Press, (reissue) 1998

Robert Graysmith, Zodiac. Berkley Publishing Group (reissue), 2002.

Robert Graysmith Zodiac Unmasked. Berkley, 2002.

Ted Bundy True Crime Serial Killers, Editors of Time Life Books. Alexandria, VA, 1992

Moore, Alan and Eddie Campbell, From Hell, Eddie Campbell Comics, 2000.

Media: DVD

"From Hell: The Movie", Fox Home Entertainment,2002.

Websites: Casebook: Jack the Ripper http://www.casebook.org

Jack the Ripper, the most famous serial killer of all time-The Crime Library http://www.crimelibrary.com/jack/jackmai...

Jack the Ripper's Modern London (http://homepages.tesco.net/~Richard.Tarr...

Walter Sickert Online http://www.artcyclopedia.com/artists/sic...

News Articles on the Internet

Patricia Cornwell Fingers Painter as Jack the Ripper http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/11/1...

ABC article Jack the Ripper an Impressionist Artist? http://abcnews.go.com/sections/primetime...

BBC Arts Stalking the Ripper http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/ripper/

Photograph of Walter Sickert; WetCanvas Virtual Museum http://www.wetcanvas.com/Museum/Artists/...