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Jack the Ripper Facts

Jack the Ripper Facts
Jack the Ripper was the name the press and locals gave to a serial killer that stalked the Whitechapel district of London, England in 1888. The killer was so-called because he removed internal organs from some of his victims. The name was first used in the press when in a letter to a London newspaper that was supposedly from the killer, although many historians now believe the letter was a hoax. Jack the Ripper preyed on prostitutes and working class women who were out on the streets alone at night and is among the first well-documented serial killers in the modern press. Although Jack the Ripper was never caught nor identified, several possible suspects have emerged in the century since he prowled London's streets.
Interesting Jack the Ripper Facts:
The Whitechapel neighborhood was one of London's first immigrant neighborhoods in the nineteenth century. The neighborhood had a large Jewish population at the time of the Jack the Ripper murders.
Although there are five known Jack the Ripper murders, many believe that he killed before and after those.
Mary Ann Nichols (1845-1888) was the first known victim. She was an alcoholic and part-time prostitute who was found dead and probably raped in the early morning hours of August 31. Nichols' throat had been cut and her stomach mutilated and was probably killed at another location.
Annie Chapman (1841-1888) was the Ripper's second known victim. Like Nichols, Chapman was also an occasional prostitute with a drinking problem. Her throat had been slashed and her uterus had been removed.
Elizabeth Stride (1843-1888) and Catherine Eddowes (1842-1888) were both murdered on September 30. Both women were drinkers, known to associate with criminals, and Stride had a past as a prostitute in Sweden. Stride was stabbed in the neck but not mutilated, while Eddowes had her throat cut with her uterus and part of her kidney removed. The women were killed in two different events.
The final known victim of Jack the Ripper was Mary Jane Kelley (1863-1888). Kelley was a bit younger than the other victims, but was living on the edge of society at the time of her murder. She was murdered on November 9 in her room in a boarding house, which was a difference in M.O. from the other murders. After stabbing Kelley in the neck, the Ripper extensively mutilated her body from head to toes.
Part of Eddowes clothing was found near an apartment on Goulston Street where the phrase "The Juwes are the men that will not be blamed for nothing" was scrawled on a wall. Some believe it points toward the ethnicity of Jack the Ripper, while others think it may instead have something to do with the high number of Jews in the neighborhood at the time.
Many believed that Jack the Ripper claimed up to six more victims in the neighborhood until 1891.
The police had several suspects but never made an arrest.
Because there were never any arrests, conspiracy theories began circulating, including members of the British Royal Family somehow being involved.
Circumstantial and newly revealed DNA evidence points to Aaron Kosminski (1865-1919) as being the top suspect. Kosminski was a Polish Jew who was admitted to a mental hospital later in his life.


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