Jack the ripper is an alias name of an unknown serial killer who killed many prostitutes in London in 1888. The criminal came to be called so after someone wrote a letter at the time of the murders, claiming he was the killer. He was also called by two other names, ‘Whitechapel murderer’ and ‘leather belt.’ The murders were around and in the districts of Whitechapel, Spitalfields, Aldgate. City of London proper was also involved in some of them. Jack the ripper became famous because he was the first to do so many crimes at a time when the people were literate and the press played a huge role is a society. There are no correct details of how many women were killed by him. It is generally believed that he killed five, but there are also other opinions that he killed only four and seven and so on. The press and some of the junior police officers believe that he killed women. Out of that, five are known to everyone.
The method used by Jack the ripper was understood only after several years. He stood face to face with the victims and as the victims lifted their skirts, and was defenseless, he strangled the victims’ throats until either they were dead or unconscious. After one of his operations, he wiped off his knife with a piece of the victim’s apron and also left a chalked message which read, “The Juwes are the men That Will not be blamed for nothing.” (Ryder and Johnno). The police could not charge any suspect in the cases, because there was not enough evidence in any of them. The police received two letters and a postcard, all claiming to be from the criminal. Five days after the first letter, the police received a postcard in which was written about a ‘double event’. This came the day after he killed two women and the earlier letter was mentioned in it. This initially made the police wonder if it was actually the criminal. But later on, police came to the conclusion that it was the work of probably a journalist. Years later, it was proved that a journalist was behind the letter and the postcard. The next letter sent to the police also had a packet with it, containing a part of a kidney. This one seemed more probable because one of the victims suffered from Bright’s disease and the description of the kidney seemed to be similar to Bright’s disease kidney.
In 1894, Sir Melville Macnaghten, then Chief Constable, in a report mentioned three names that he called as top suspects, but the later investigation and studies failed to find the real culprit. After a long unsuccessful investigation, the police closed the file in 1892. In the later years, many books and articles were written about Jack the ripper. But all of them were just myths and attempts to unveil what actually happened in London during that autumn. Even after almost two centuries, Jack the Ripper remains a fascinating case.
There have been several conjectures to the actual identity of the Ripper even though none of them have been proved to date. A British surgeon had conjectured that he was from an aristocratic family and even hinted that the person might actually be Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence and Avondale. What was more dramatic was that this person was the grandson of the reigning monarch of England at that time, Queen Victoria. According to this doctor, the ripper had a stint in the West Indies and had contracted syphilis during his stay there. Advanced stages of this disease had driven him insane and resulted in the brutal killings mentioned above. There is no proof either of the fact of the Ripper contracting syphilis or that he was indeed related to the Royal family of England. It is one of the more fascinating and gruesome crime mysteries in the world today and it is doubtful whether the original identity of the serial killer will ever be known. The story remains fascinating to those who are addicted to crime. It is also one of the most famous cases where the killer had never been caught and his identity revealed.
Works Cited
Ryder, Stephen P., and Johnno. Larry S. Barbee. Casebook: Jack the Ripper. 2009. Web.