JACK THE RIPPER

From his first appearance on the streets of Whitechapel until the end of’’ the autumn of terror’’, Jack the Ripper held London, and indeed the world in a vice like grip of fear. Striking down his victims like ‘’some nameless, faceless reprobate’’ he appeared to embody the very worst excesses and aspects of the late Victorian era, not surprisingly, mainly to do with women- hatred and fear of females, sexual violence born of repression, numbing grinding poverty, fear of the’ other, ‘xenophobia, and an age old mistrust of doctors. That his victims all comprised of alcoholic, female, impoverished, drifters and sex workers (a trait carefully followed by seemingly countless serial offenders of this type ever since) and street people; at high risk, and largely of the unwanted and unneeded section of society, speaks volumes about societies facilitation of certain types of sex crimes and serial killing in general due to the propagation of a ‘’less dead culture’’.

Apparently afflicted and driven by picquerism, a paraphilia , leaving what the FBI would possibly classify mixed category offender’s crime scene, the sheer depths of this persons rage and violence still genuinely disturb more than a century on. Picquerism is a ‘’ compulsion to substitute the sexual act with stabbing and slashing’’, perhaps explaining the lack of conventional sexual contact with the victims, either before or after their deaths. Paraphiliacs are linked to traumatic childhood and adolescent experiences that are reinforced, or short circuited to sexual drives. Perhaps this explains the selection of mainly older women as his victims?

Victim no. 1. Mary Ann ‘’Polly’’ Nichols (1845-88)

It was approximately 3.40 am on the morning of August 31st , 1888 when local workmen discovered the partially disemboweled body of a 43 yr old prostitute or unfortunate,as they were euphemistically termed at the time, lying lengthways across the gutter. In addition to the abdominal mutilations, the killler had initially cut woman’s throat back to the spinal column. What had killed her however, was strangulation, suggesting that the taking of life was secondary and that he was motivated by the post-mortem mutilations.

Victim no.2. ‘’Dark Annie’’ Chapman (1841-88)

The oldest of the Ripper’s victims at 47,suffering from malnutrition and already dying of tuberculosis, Annie Chapman’s sad life ended when she was murdered on September 8, 1888. Discovered at approximately 6 am in the backyard of no.29 Hanbury St, where she had taken her client/killer, expecting business. This victim was practically decapitated and in addition had been ‘’ripped’’ open, disemboweled and her uterus and part of her vagina had been cut out and taken away as a trophy by her killer. Here the theories about ‘’medical skill’’ and ‘’mad doctors’’ are completely debunked- a degree in medicine or surgical skill are not prerequisites needed to eviscerate a human being. The impact of this second murder changed criminal history forever, and galvanised the people of London. They were dealing with something new and terrifying.

The Double Event September 30th, 1888 –Elizabeth Stride and Catharine Eddowes (1842-88)

Victim no.3 ‘’Long Liz’’ Stride(1843-88)

A 45 yr old prostitute from Sweden, ‘’Long Liz’’ had been soliciting in the Berner st area of Whitechapel when her body was discovered at 1am on the morning of September 30th 1888. This victim sustained only a slashed throat- apparently her killer had been disturbed and had fled. Fled, it would seem , to Mitre Square, within the city border of London ; to vent his rage and fear in unimaginable ways upon Catharine Eddowes, victim no. 4- till then the most extensively mutilated victim.

As well as the now signature post-mortem ‘’rips’’ to the thorax, groin and throat, the murderer had hacked and slashed this woman’s face almost beyond identity. Not, it would seem to conceal who she was; no such rational motivation compelled this man, for the victim had in her possession a pawn ticket in the name of ‘’Jane Kelly’’. Not her real name as it transpired, but i.d nonetheless.

Victim no. 5 Mary Jane Kelly (c.1863-88)

Victim no. 5 remains an enigma. Very little is known of her life before she arrived in the East End, and what is known is certainly embellished, and possibly invented. What is accepted as fact is her age(25) and her height(5’’7). Unlike the earlier victims, this woman unwittingly took her killer indoors, unlike the other women; she had a room of her own. Here the killer was at his grisly work for what could have been hours, time enough to inflict the most heinous destruction and violence it is possible to visit on another human being. The following is taken from the official post –mortem: ‘’the body was lying naked in the middle of the bed, the shoulders flat, but the axis of the body inclined to the left side of the bed. The head was turned on the left cheek. The left arm was close to the body with the forearm flexed at a right angle & lying across the abdomen. The right arm was slightly abducted from the body & rested on the mattress, the elbow bent & the forearm supine with the fingers clenched. The legs were wide apart, the left thigh at right angles to the trunk & the right forming an obtuse angle with the pubes.

The whole of the surface of the abdomen and thighs was removed and the abdominal cavity emptied of its viscera. The breasts were cut off, the arms mutilated by several jagged wounds & the face hacked beyond recognition of the features. The tissues of the neck were severed all round down to the bone.

The viscera were found in various parts viz: the uterus & kidneys with one breast under the head, the other breast by the right foot, the liver between the feet, the intestines by the right side & the spleen by the left side of the body. The flaps removed from the abdomen and thighs were on a table....the neck was cut through the skin & other tissues right down to the vertebrae the 5th and 6th being deeply notched....the skin and tissues of the abdomen from the costal arch to the pubes were removed in three large flaps.... the left thigh was stripped of skin, fascia and muscles as far as the knee. The pericardium was open below and the heart absent.’’

Who was the person known was Jack the Ripper? As the authors of ‘’the Jack the Ripper a-z’’ point out, people would be very disappointed (in both senses of the word) if his identity was ever truly known. However, the chances of truly unmasking this man’s identity are slim to nil. Geographical profiling strongly suggests a local, specifically from the areas of Thrawl St. , Flower and Dean St. and Dorset St. – the scene of the last murder. His actions indicate a need to create a legacy of fear and shock, and sadly, this aim was realised.