You Don't Know Jack

Amy and Rachel, two millennials who share a love for creepy and spooky things, discuss Jack the Ripper. They suggest two cocktails to accompany the topic: the Cali Mocho, a mix of red wine and Coca-Cola, and the Bloody Jack and Coke, made with Jack Daniels and Coke. They then discuss the grim living conditions in Whitechapel during the 19th century, including poverty, prostitution, and disease. They mention the high levels of crime, especially violence against women, and the lack of organization in the police force. Jack the Ripper is highlighted as one of the most notorious serial killers of all time. Hello! I'm Amy. And I'm Rachel. And we're just two millennials who share a passion for the creepy and the spooky, harbor a true love for true crime, and share our favorite spirits. So sit back and have a cocktail with two creepy ghouls. What's our topic today? Jack the Ripper. You don't know Jack. Jack the Ripper. No one knows Jack the Ripper. And what lovely cocktail goes with this today? So I have a couple of options for us today. The first one, actually I'm going to talk about the main one and then another one that you can do, which I was originally going to have as the main one, but I'm going to go with this one instead. So let me go for it. Okay. So the main cocktail I have is the Cali Mocho. And that one is basically equal parts red wine and Coca-Cola over ice. And you can add a lemon wedge to it. Very inexpensive drink. And it doesn't matter what type of red wine you use. You can use a Merlot. You can use a red blend. You can go for a sweet red wine. You could do a Cabernet Sauvignon. It's kind of whatever dealer's choice there. But whatever red wine you have on hand, the Coke will hide any imperfections. That's the beauty of this drink. You might have, and you have that balance of the acidity, the sweetness. So it's very, it's a fun drink. And so like I said, add a garnish, a lemon if you so choose to, but simplicity at its finest, I believe. And the other one I was initially going to do was going to be called a Bloody Jack and Coke. Oh, I like that. And this one you could do pretty much one part Jack Daniels, two parts Coke. Or two part Jack Daniels, one part Coke. Yeah. You know, whatever dealer's choice. Throw in some cherries and maybe a splash of cherry juice and then just throw around the rim, do grenadine to make it bloody. Oh, I like that a lot. So you have two options. So if you're not feeling the Kelly Mocho with the Coke and wine, then go for a nice Jack Daniels whiskey and Coke. You can't go wrong either way. I like it. All right. So that is that. Do you want me to set the scene? I was going to set the scene too. Okay. I was going to do life in Whitechapel. What are you going to do? Well, I was just going to play. You know what? Do yours. All right. Let me set the scene of what this place looks like to set the scene for all these atrocities. So the area was steeped in poverty and all manners of crimes and diseases. Growing up in this part of London offered a challenge in itself. Many children were seen as a strain on their parents' resources. And it is believed that two in every ten children died before reaching five years old. I know. Victorian London was not a happy place to be. And the facts speak for themselves. Prostitution was rife, poverty and crime were prevalent, and the 19th century housing was barely habitable. Finding work in 1888 was extremely difficult for the residents of Whitechapel, feeding into the cycle of destitution and depravity. Whitechapel also offered a breeding ground for crime and poor behavioral habits, including murder and violence. And vicious circles like these were rarely broken in such poor districts. The streets were unimaginably dirty. Fresh food was hard to come by. Pollution and the smell of sewage hung in the air. Life was much harder for women, shocking. The lack of proper work and money led many women and girls into prostitution, a service in high demand by those wishing to escape the grim realities. The women, commonly referred to as unfortunates, owned only what they wore and carried in their pockets. Their deeds would pay for their bed for the night. However, a lack of contraception meant that unorthodox abortions were performed in dirty facilities, including the back streets, which is terrifying. This, of course, fed into the cycle of disease, and many women would die of infection from these ill-performed surgeries or from ingesting chemicals or poison, which is absolutely awful. While the streets were lined with the starving, penniless inhabitants of the drab and dark capital, the insides of the houses throughout the borough were no less uninviting and more reminiscent of slums than actual houses. Many were manxious brothels, offering a bed and a room for those wishing for a short-term escape. However, this was a dangerous trade, as disease like gouting was passed from person to person very quickly, and doctors did not come cheap. Housing also was extremely overcrowded, with entire families or groups of strangers crammed into a single room for cooking, eating, and sleeping. We thought COVID isolation was bad. They would share beds or sleep on the floor with rugs covering broken windows, and often flee from insect-infested environments. These damp and cold conditions offered an ideal climate for further disease and sickness to develop. Surviving in the late 19th century often came through casual or sweated labor like tailoring, bootmaking, and making matchboxes. These professions came with very little job security, and the work premises would more than likely be small, cramped, dusty rooms with little to no natural light, which is terrifying. Workhouses were another alternative set up to offer food and shelter to the poorest of the community in return for hard, grueling labor in even worse conditions. These horrible working and living conditions resulted in large portions of the population turning to drinking or drugs to cope with everyday life. Pubs and music halls were many in number in the East End, and drink was cheap too, making it a viable means of escape for many as well. It came as no surprise that as a result, crime rates spiraled and were unmanageable by London's police force in 1888. Petty crime like street theft was commonplace alongside more serious disturbances like alcohol-related violence, gang crime, and even protection rackets. The high level of prostitution meant that vulnerable women were often forced to earn a living on the streets, leaving them easy targets for assault, rape, and even murder. It is noted that all of Jack the Ripper's victims were addicted to alcohol, it says. Some believe this would have made them easier targets for the killer. Police stations and the detectives at the helm lacked structure and organization, with many crimes being mislabeled, evidence going missing, or being tampered with, and in the case of Jack the Ripper, violent serial killers left to roam the streets of London. The maze of dingy alleyways and dark courtyards, each with multiple entrances and exit points, only made the district even more difficult to police. There were even some parts of Whitechapel that police officers were afraid to enter, making them crime hotspots. Jack the Ripper was one of the most notorious serial killers of all time, and one of the most notorious serial killers of all time, and one of the most notorious serial killers of all time, and one of the most notorious serial killers of all time, and one of the most notorious serial killers of all time, and one of the most notorious serial killers of all time, and one of the most notorious serial killers of all time, and one of the most notorious serial killers of all time, and one of the most notorious serial killers of all time, and one of the most notorious serial killers of all time, and one of the most notorious serial killers of all time, and one of the most notorious serial killers of all time, and one of the most notorious serial killers of all time, and one of the most notorious serial killers of all time, and one of the most notorious serial killers of all time, and one of the most notorious serial killers of all time, and one of the most notorious serial killers of all time, and one of the most notorious serial killers of all time, and one of the most notorious serial killers of all time, and one of the most notorious serial killers of all time, and one of the most notorious serial killers of all time, and one of the most notorious serial killers of all time, and one of the most notorious serial killers of all time, and one of the most notorious serial killers of all time, and one of the most notorious serial killers of all time, and one of the most notorious serial killers of all time, and one of the most notorious serial killers of all time, and one of the most notorious serial killers of all time, and one of the most notorious serial killers of all time, and one of the most notorious serial killers of all time, and one of the most notorious serial killers of all time, and one of the most notorious serial killers of all time, and one of the most notorious serial killers of all time, and one of the most notorious serial killers of all time, and one of the most notorious serial killers of all time, and one of the most notorious serial killers of all time, and one of the most notorious serial killers of all time, and one of the most notorious serial killers of all time, and one of the most notorious serial killers of all time, and one of the most notorious serial killers of all time, and one of the most notorious serial killers of all time, and one of the most notorious serial killers of all time, and one of the most notorious serial killers of all time, and one of the most notorious serial killers of all time, and one of the most notorious serial killers of all time, and one of the most notorious serial killers of all time, and one of the most notorious serial killers of all time, and one of the most notorious serial killers of all time, and one of the most notorious serial killers of all time, and one of the most notorious serial killers of all time, and one of the most notorious serial killers of all time, and one of the most notorious serial killers of all time, and one of the most notorious serial killers of all time, and one of the most notorious serial killers of all time, and one of the most notorious serial killers of all time, and one of the most notorious serial killers of all time, and one of the most notorious serial killers of all time, and one of the most notorious serial killers of all time, and one of the most notorious serial killers of all time, and one of the most notorious serial killers of all time, and one of the most notorious serial killers of all time, and one of the most notorious serial killers of all time, and one of the most notorious serial killers of all time, and one of the most notorious serial killers of all time, and one of the most notorious serial killers of all time, and one of the most notorious serial killers of all time, and one of the most notorious serial killers of all time, and one of the most notorious serial killers of all time, and one of the most notorious serial killers of all time, and one of the most notorious serial killers of all time, and one of the most notorious serial killers of all time, and one of the most notorious serial killers of all time, and one of the most notorious serial killers of all time, and one of the most notorious serial killers of all time, and one of the most notorious serial killers of all time, and one of the most notorious serial killers of all time, and one of the most notorious serial killers of all time, and one of the most notorious serial killers of all time, and one of the most notorious serial killers of all time, and one of the most notorious serial killers of all time, and one of the most notorious serial killers of all time The victims were Mary Ann Nichols, murdered August 31st, 1888. Annie Chapman, murdered September 8th, 1888. Elizabeth Stride, murdered September 30th, 1888. Catherine Eddowes, murdered September 30th, 1888. And Mary Jane Kelly, murdered November 9th, 1888. And I said this because the dates and everything, because I didn't know if maybe there was a pattern emerging. Like how often did he kill? Was it one or two weeks? Was it this? Was it a full moon going on? These are just kind of... Two were on the same night? Yes, two were on the same night. So all of these ladies were sex workers, and they were all in the Whitechapel area. And almost all of them were killed in the similar method and put on display, if you will. So a strange thing to note about the murders was that each was missing vital organs when the police found the victims. These five murders are known as the Canicle Five. Canonical? Canonical. Thank you. I got you. Thank you. An issue faced with the Ripper murders is exactly how many there were. We know the Canicle Five, but for all we know, there could be more. They're just not documented or they didn't meet the pattern, so to speak, but they could be his additional victims. And we should all remember that the five is based upon a statement made in 1894 by Melville McNaughton, Chief Constable and Assistant Commissioner. And this may not be a definite number, like I said. So there could be more, for all we know. I did. I was looking at my research at different readings, and some are saying there could be as many as 10. There could be like 20. So it's just, we don't really know, except for those five that had a distinct pattern with missing body parts and just the manner in which they were killed. Very diabolic, it seems. Very gruesome. So I also had here a little bit, they argued that Mary Nichols wasn't the first. It could have been Emma Smith. And she was murdered before Mary Nichols, attacked in the early hours of April 3rd, 1888. Later, she died of her injuries in the London Hospital. And this resulted in Smith becoming the first name in the Whitechapel murder file. So I guess her name was in this murder file. But she wasn't, it's kind of, yes she was, no she wasn't. So we don't really know, but her name was in this file. There's Martha Tabram. A few months later, on August 7th, 1888, the body of Martha was found in George Yard of Whitechapel High Street. She was subjected to a horrendous and violent attack where she had suffered 39 frenzied stab wounds to her throat, chest, and abdomen. So throat, chest, abdomen, 39 times. And Martha was also referred to as Martha Turner, possible victim of Old Jack. The only thing that makes us second guess her being a victim of the ripper is that her throat hadn't been cut. And that was kind of his trademark, was like a slitting throat. And she was not disemboweled like the canonical five. But her throat and abdomen were affected and were stabbed at. So it's just another little fine detail. So we're still counting Mary Nichols as like the first one, if you will, for his reign of terror. And Inspector Frederick George Abberline, love that last name, was an officer who had knowledge of the East End criminal underworld and led the investigation. Abberline was a respected officer by both the press and the public, so he was known. And there is the police inquiries amongst sex workers provide a possible suspect, a man whom local street walkers nicknamed Leather Apron, due to him always sporting a leather apron. A leather apron was running an extortion racket amongst them and threatening to rip them open if they did not give him money. Unfortunately, once the press got a hold on this info, several newspapers began emphasizing the man's supposed Hebrew appearance, which led to anti-Semitism. One of the podcasts that I was listening to, well, she does have a podcast. Her name is Bailey Therrien. And I didn't finish it, but she did say that they're like anti-Semitism. I can't ever pronounce it. Thank you. I always struggle saying that. Like that was very much a thing. It was happening in Russia. I mean, it was the poor Jews, man. They can't catch a break. So that was, but so you've had a lot of people that were escaping Russia and to come into England for to try and live a better life. So she's shed some light on there. So I would recommend, and I love her special murder mystery and makeup. So that's where I got that little tidbit of information. But again, let me focus back on the main story here. But I did want to say that, you know, anti-Semitism was a thing. It was a very much a thing. So just keep that in mind. So with the next murder of Annie Chapman, it was noted that the violence had escalated with the killer having removed and stolen her womb. So Annie had her womb stolen. There was also a freshly washed leather apron was found close to the body. Mix this with the press sensationalism concerning the identity and race of police main suspect caused anti-Semitism to run rampant and grow to the racial unrest. So everyone's like blaming the Jews now. Authorities flooded the area with officers, which helped in calming the people and no murders occurred for weeks until the killer would strike again. Leather apron was arrested shortly after the murder of Annie Chapman. Sergeant William Sick arrested local man, John Pizer, also known as Leather Apron. And Pizer was able to provide strong alibis as his whereabouts at the time of the murders. Therefore, he was ruled out as a suspect. Then we have the Mile End Vigilance Committee on September 10th, 1888. This goes back to what you said that you didn't understand about what you said in your little thing. How did you word it? It is called a thingy. Okay, anyway. So a group of local businessmen and tradesmen formed the Mile End Vigilance Committee. Protection racket. Couldn't remember it like I had it. So they formed this Mile End Vigilance Committee and elected local builder, Mr. George Lisk, as their president. The goal of this was to supplement the police officers in the area and to raise sufficient funds to offer a reward for information that might lead to the killer's arrest. So they were just helping the police kind of keep an eye on the streets, if you will, making sure that I guess if you live in that area, you would feel safer knowing that there were actually more people out there trying to figure it out, find the killer. So could the killer be a doctor? This is an interesting theory. What's the theory I have? Oh, I'm sorry. Do you want to go into it? No. You haven't talked for a while. Let me scroll down my notes to my theories section. That's a little wonky right now. I'll see what your notes compare with what I have. So all I had is during the Ripper's prime time, Londoners were eager to point the finger at medical doctors. Jack evidently had some anatomical knowledge and doctors had a shady reputation in Victorian England. Their professional needs for corpses catalyzed a market for dead bodies. They were known to exhibit callous treatment towards living patients because, you know, ladies. Some have pointed to the surgeon, Dr. Stevenson. Have you done that as the killer? He was believed to have contracted sexually transmitted infections from prostitutes and to have been a Satanist at the time, of course. Thus, he would have had motivation for removing the victim's internal organs for the purpose of black magic rituals. Okay, so he sacrificed. I got it. The main evidence for this lies in the apparently symbolic patterns of the murders, including taking place at cardinal points indicating some oculus degree. Others have linked the eccentric American charlatan, Dr. Francis Tumbletee, to the murders. He was in London at the time that the crimes occurred where he was actually arrested for a misdemeanor and held by Scotland Yard. Suspiciously, after he passed the bail and snuck back to the United States, the murder stopped. Interesting. So this is what I have. But I do have one other. Oh no, you go first. Let me just go through mine and I'll let you continue with your little bit and then we'll go from there. So with Annie Chapman's murder with a divisional police surgeon, Dr. George Baxter Phillips believed the killer to have working knowledge of dissection with how he removed her womb with both the speed and skill he could process anatomical knowledge. This theory progresses when coroner Wynne Baxter caused a sensation by revealing that the sub curator of a pathological museum at one of the London medical schools had approached him with information about a certain American doctor who had offered him 20 pounds for each womb that he could provide him. Baxter had begun to believe that the knowledge of this demand had motivated some deranged wretch to carry out murder to obtain wombs and then sell for profit. The medical profession itself, it should be mentioned, were just to disapprove Baxter's allegation and such a theory was not mentioned at any of the inquests into the deaths of subsequent victims. So that's my little bit on the medical doctor. Yeah. Which I always kind of like that theory, but what's the one other thing you had? Well, then the only thing, but most of my evidence points to, it had to be someone who knew something about how to cut open, but I didn't necessarily, it wasn't like the degree that they had to be a doctor per se. I like the notion of it being a butcher too, because they have to have knowledge of whenever they're like cutting the meat, like just the basic knowledge of anatomy. So that's the other thing that I thought about at one point. No, that's good. So that's all I have for that. Okay. Onwards. No Moss. No Moss, but on September 30th, 1888, the Ripper returned and killed two women in less than an hour. This goes back to the two women that were killed the same way. And I think it was him for both because of the way they were killed. Yeah. And were they found near each other? So let me continue. I think there were pretty close, but the first victim was Elizabeth Stride. She was found by Louis Diemshultz as he had returned his pony cart to a dark yard off of Burner Street at 1 a.m. Her throat had been cut, but the rest of her body was not mutilated, which led the police to believe that this Diemshultz had interrupted the killer, causing him to flee the scene. So he didn't get to finish his work. Which is why he needed to get someone else. So yeah, he was like, well, it's unfinished. So the second victim that morning was Catherine Eddowes. She was mutilated, and her corpse was found a meter square in the city of London at 140 a.m.? Yeah. I think that's what I was trying to go for. Or 145 a.m., sorry. 45 minutes after Elizabeth's death. That's crazy. So in that timeframe, he left one woman that he just murdered, and he found another one. Which, at this point, it's like you said, London had, I think, estimated 5 million people living in London at this time. Yeah, it's populated. It was one of the largest cities in the world at this time. Mm-hmm. So that does make sense that people would still be out late hours of the night because they were probably still looking to make a living. Mm-hmm. And so that makes sense that he would find somebody that quickly. Yeah. So a single clue was discovered. As the police combed the streets of East London, they discovered a clue. In a doorway in nearby Golston Street, police constable Alfred Long Kane came across a piece of Catherine Eddowes' blood-stained apron in the doorway of an apartment block. Scrawled on chalk on the wall above the apron was a message which read, The Jews are the men that will not be blamed for nothing. No, wait. The Jews are the men that will not be blamed for nothing. Sorry, it is hard to read because they spell Jews, J-U-W-E-S. Oh. Jews. Jews. Got it. So this cryptic message was met with great debate between the Metropolitan Police who wanted to erase it, lest it would lead to more racial unrest in the district, and the City of London Police wanted to photograph it since it was a great lead in the case to catch the Ripper. But alas, Sir Charles Warren, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, arrived at the scene and ordered some immediate erasure. Does that not just fume you because it's late today? Yeah. Don't touch it. Don't even breathe near it. Yeah. You don't need to have people come in and photograph it. This is evidence. Mm-hmm. Did they erase it? Ah, jeez. So, and then I'm going to get into, do you have anything to interrupt me with? Nope. I just have, I was going to talk about the suspects afterwards. Okay. Well, that's good because obviously, I think I'm getting to my end of my brief summary of everything. So the killer is given the name Jack the Ripper. Yeah. That's how he gets the name. He describes the end of the two murders as the double event. Classy. The police made a public letter which a few days previous had been sent to a London news agency. Written in red ink was reported to have been written by the killer and boasted that the police won't fix me yet. Having gloated over yet what he had done to his supposed victims and stating that what he'd do to his next victim, the author signed the letter Jack the Ripper. Oh. Once the police made the letter public, the name Jack the Ripper caught on immediately and helped turn a series of sordid East End murders into an international phenomenon. Part of the reason this is still famous today is credited to the name. But releasing this letter had proven mistakes. The police quickly deducted that it hadn't been written by the killer but rather was the work of London journalists. Oh. However, the allure of the name caused a number of letters with some similar signatures to come flowing in. So it's basically then everyone was like doing it as like a joke. Like, oh, I'm going to turn in the letters. I'm going to put it in and pretend I'm Jack the Ripper. Yeah, and I was actually going to read some of the letters. Okay. I'm here for it. And it pulled up. Hold on. There's so much stuff on here. Okay. So this is going to be one letter. The letter written in boastful tone was addressed to Boss Central News Office, London City. It read, Dear Boss, I keep hearing the police have caught me, but they won't fix me just yet. I have laughed when they look so clever and talk about being on the right track. That joke about Leather Apron gave me real fits. I am down on whores and I shan't quit ripping them until I get buckled. Grand work the last job was. I gave the lady no time to squeal. How can they catch me now? I love my work and want to start again. You will soon hear of me with my funny little games. I saved some of the proper red stuff in ginger beer bottles over the last job to write with. But it went thick like glue and I can't use it. Red ink. It fits me enough. I hope. Ha ha. The next job I do I shall clip the lady's ears off and send to police officers just for jolly. Wouldn't you? Keep this letter back till I do a bit more work. Then give it out straight. My knife's so nice and sharp I want to get to work right away if I get a chance. Good luck. Yours truly. Jack the Ripper. Yours truly? I know. What is that? Are we writing thank you notes to mother? Yeah. Yeah. That's just. When I was reading it I was like oh my god. There's so many. I can't even. I can't even Jack. I can't even. So one of the most famous of these pranks was sent to George Lusk the president of the Mile End Vigilance Committee in mid October 1888. Famously this letter was addressed from hell and it contained half a kidney which according to the letters the writer he took from one of the victims. So despite lurid press speculation that the kidney sent to Mr. Lusk was indeed half of the one taken from the body of Catherine Eddowes the police and doctors conclude that this was a sick prank done by a medical student. Oh that's awful. But then the rest of October went by without an accident. Because the next murder happens in November. Yeah. So and of course we're going to get into the murder of Mary Kelly. On November 9th 1888 Mary Kelly was found in her room at 13 Miller's Court off Dorset Street in Spittlefield. Spittlefield. That's what she's going to say. Her body had been skinned down to the bone. Ew. Her mutilations were horrific and so extreme that only her living lover Joseph Barnett could identify her by her ears and her eyes. Oh my gosh. Talk about needing therapy after that. It is believed that Mary Kelly was the last victim. However several more names for later murder victims on the Whitechapel murders file exist. And the evidence that proves the identity of Jack the Ripper. So I'm going to let you get into more suspects. Because I feel like that's where you'll shine. Are you ready? Also let me know who you think you like. I have my theory that I'll tell you at the end. Okay. First of all do they ever say the age ranges of these women? I don't think they did actually. I would assume that they would be like 20's. I was wondering. I was hoping like 30's. I wonder if they'd all be in the same age range or if they all looked similar even. That would be a good clue. I know. Here I am. I'll tell them. I'll help solve the case. I know right. Well there are people that are still working on this. I know they are. There was like a Smithsonian documentary and the guy was like piecing together. Yeah. I feel like it was somebody that had to live in the Whitechapel neighborhood who knew how to get away quick. Yeah. Who knew the area very well. Yeah. So if he had to make a quick escape he knew the route to take. Yeah. So here are some suspects in no particular order though. So one is Montague John Druitt. What a name. Who was born in Dorset on August 15th 1857. He came from a privileged background. He was educated at Winchester College and excelled at sports developing an interest in cricket from an early age. Following graduation in 1880 Druitt decided to pursue a career in law. He set up practice as a barrister in a special pleader in 1885 renting legal chambers in the Temple area of London. It is unclear whether his business struggled or he simply wished to find a more lavish lifestyle but either way he also worked as an assistant schoolmaster at a London boarding school to supplement income earned from his legal businesses. For reasons that remain unclear to this day Montague was dismissed from his position at the London boarding school on November 30th 1988. 1988? Or sorry 1888. Damn he old. So after all these had kind of taken place but kind of just barely. The only clue we have is a newspaper report from the time which quoted that he had been dismissed because he had gotten himself into serious trouble. Exactly what that trouble entailed we will probably never know yet. They could be more specific. Whatever transpired in Druitt's life at the time clearly affected him deeply as he went missing in early December 1888 and as far as we know he was never seen alive again. The body of him was discovered in the River Thames on December 31st 1888. It quickly became clear that his body had been in the river for a while presumably since his disappearance. His pockets were full of stones which had most likely contributed to the considerable period of time between his death and the discovery of his body. At first glance it may seem as though this will do gentlemen with a keen interest in law and sports could surely have nothing to do with the horrific tale of Jack the Ripper. However, his unexpected death suddenly threw his name into the spotlight. After the murder of Mary Jane Kelly, the last of the canonical five Ripper victims, rumors began to circulate saying that Jack the Ripper had drowned in the River Thames. Later in 1891, Henry Richard Parkinson, the MP for West Dorset, publicly declared that the Ripper was the son of a surgeon who had committed suicide following Kelly's brutal murder. He gave no name but this description and circumstances clearly pointed to Druid. Another on the list is Carl Fagenbaum. It is unlikely that anyone knows who the real Carl Fagenbaum is. It is reported that he changed his name several times, meaning that we may never know his true identity. What we do know, however, is that he was born in Germany around 1840 and died in the New York Sing Sing prison in 1894. Carl was killed through the electric chair after committing the brutal murder of Mrs. Juliana Hoffman in 1894. She was his landlady and in the early morning, Carl was found standing over her body, brandishing a large carving knife. Like Jack the Ripper, Carl reportedly had a desire to mutilate women. He also knew more than most of the human anatomy and after his death, Fagenbaum's lawyer gave an interview saying that he believed his former client to be Jack the Ripper. Like the murder of the five Ripper victims, Mrs. Hoffman was attacked with a knife, stabbing her and cutting her throat while her son watched from the window. The woman died in what was said to be an apparent robbery. The similarities between the crimes seem to be the use of the weapon and the brutality of the crime. However, that is where it ends. Some reports suggest that Carl was never even near Whitechapel during the Ripper's killing spree, although he didn't arrive in America until around 1890 and it has always been suggested that Jack the Ripper traveled. An e-fit photo of Jack the Ripper was produced in 2011 and the face is reportedly that of Carl Fagenbaum. The description that used to create the image came from his admittance in the New York prison. However, no photos of him actually exist, so it is entirely presumptuous to suggest that the image is of Carl. Also, due to the lawyer's report, it may suggest that Fagenbaum at most only committed some of the Ripper murders, but I don't think. I think he's also a lousy suspect. What are you laughing about? Okay, you know what, I just yelled out Carl, you know what it made me think of? Carl! Little Walking Dead? Carl! Little Walking Dead? Yes. Sorry. That name is forever late. Alright, this is the one that most people think it is, but I don't think it is. It is Aaron Kosminski. Oh yes, tell me this now. Believed to have been born in Russia in 1865, Aaron Mordork Kosminski, later known as Aaron Kosminski, was a Polish Jew who immigrated with his sisters when he was just 15 years old. He moved to Germany before eventually traveling to London where he took up residence in the slums of Whitechapel. Aaron worked sporadically as a barber, but is believed to have been heavily reliant on support from his family. In July of 1890, he was admitted, so this is after all the murders, he was admitted to Mile End Old Town Workhouse before being released just three days later. However, he was admitted again in February the following year following claims that he had been exhibiting threatening behavior with a knife towards women. He spent a short time there before a transfer to a lunatic asylum before being moved again to a different asylum in April of 1894. Known to hear voices and have a fear of eating or drinking from anything from others, Aaron was paranoid and enunciated before and during his incarceration. This was in addition to his outright refusal to wash. He was just 53 years old when he died of gangrene in February 1990. At the time of the Jack the Ripper killings, Aaron was 23 years old, believed to have a poor grasp of English and a slight build thanks to his peculiar eating habits, which is a stretch from the late 30 to 40 something stocky male that many describe the Ripper as being. So how did he find himself named as one of the suspects on the biggest murder investigation of all time? How? Tell me. The biggest piece of evidence that points the finger firmly as Aaron, however, has to be the discovery of the stained and bloody shawl that was found at the murder scene of the fourth victim, Catherine Eddowes. After allegedly being removed from official police evidence and handed down through the family, the shawl was brought at auction by author Russell Edwards in 2014, who immediately commissioned a DNA test to be undertaken at the hands of Dr. Jerry Luthilaney. The results were met with skepticism as they lacked peer reviews. However, they were re-run again in early 2019 by Liverpool, John Moores University, and the University of Leeds, which corroborated the fact that the mitochondrial DNA was present, which matched descendants of both Catherine Eddowes and Aaron Kaminsky. Here, the legitimacy of the shawl is then brought into question as no such item was ever recorded as being found with the body or as part of Eddowes' personal effects. Also, I didn't add it in here to my notes, but also it describes him in the same asylum as not a threat to others or himself. Like, he wasn't violent. So, I think he was insane. And they used him. He had a nebula, she was no doubt, but I just feel like... I know DNA is very interesting. Yeah, and I think that's a little far-fetched. I mean, I don't know, because I don't... I don't think he would have Mary's... I don't understand he would have... I guess because her blood is on there, so that's how you would have Mary's DNA. But then, I don't know, I feel like it's just cross-contamination or anything. Yeah, anything could have affected the shawl by then. Like, anybody. Yeah, particles. And it's not... It's said descendants, and you say him, so it's not like 100% his DNA, you know? So, I don't know. I get why there's a strong grasp for it to be him, but I still think it's just an easy way out, other than who the real killer is. So, another person I have is Francis Craig. In 2015, a new name in the form of Francis Craig was raised as a suspect in the Jack the Ripper case. Born in Acton, London in 1837, Francis was a Victorian newspaper reporter and would enjoy success in his career working in the United States of America between 1864 and 1866, which is two whole years. Despite being found to have been plagiarizing the Daily Telegraph, Francis would assume the role as the editor of the Indicator in West London News. On December 24, 1884, Craig married Elizabeth West Davies in Hammersmith. However, according to Dr. Wynne Weston Davies, Craig discovered that his wife was engaging in prostitution and filed for divorce in 1886. What? According to Dr. Weston Davies, he is the great-nephew of Elizabeth Weston Davies and claims that while she was working in prostitution, she would use the fake identity and that she was in fact Mary Jane Kelly, the fifth victim of Jack the Ripper. Weston Davies' theory revolves around Francis Craig, whom he believes to be his great-uncle, to have plotted to kill his estranged wife for revenge. As a reporter, Craig had covered many criminal cases and had become familiar with police methods. Therefore, appealing for a woman as a cover-up for a true motive, the team investigating the true identity of Mary Jane Kelly has been pushing for an exhumation of the body for DNA testing with reports that the Ministry of Justice would grant a license. Although it is unlikely that at this point the true identity of Jack the Ripper would be unveiled, this does add an interesting dimension to the case. I like the far-fetchedness, I don't believe it. Yeah. Alright, I think this is my last person. But I have, yeah. So, it's a man named Walter Sickert. Walter. Walter. He was born on May 31, 1860 in Munich, Germany to artist Oswald Sickert and his wife Eleanor. The family relocated to Britain when Walter was eight years old and they were granted nationality soon after that. With Walter's senior's work having been recommended to the keeper of the National Gallery, it comes as no surprise that young Walter went on to study art. He eventually became an assistant to an American artist, James Abbott McNeill Whistler, before discovering his own style. Walter's earlier work was known for its somber tones and depictions and this soon developed into his own version of Impressionism. He was known to be fascinated with urban culture and worked from studios where he had observed the working class life around him. Over time, his artistic work evolved into realism and modernism with a number of his most famous paintings depicting well-known personalities as well as those he saw around him. While Walter's name has been mentioned in relation to the Jack the Ripper killings by a number of different authors, the nature of his connection with the case is widely disputed. Some, like Stephen Knight, believe he was complicit in the murders while others, such as Jean Overton Fuller and Patricia Cornwell, believe that Walter was responsible entirely for the Autumn of Terror and was the real Jack the Ripper. In fact, Pam Cornwell was so confident of her own theory that in 2002 she released a book about it titled Portrait of a Killer, Jack the Ripper Case Closed. So what was it that made one of the world's most successful and famous novelists go out on a limb to name Walter as her primary suspect? There's a number of reasons, apparently. At the heart of her theory, she believes him to be impotent, with an intense hatred of women due to a number of operations he had as a child. In addition to this, she also believes his fascination with Jack the Ripper is more than just a coincidence and ultimately put forward that she believes he wrote many of the infamous letters and was subsequently the killer himself. Pam Cornwell also put forward that Walter's secret was responsible for the majority of the famous Jack the Ripper letters. It was the aspect of her theory that prompted Cornwell to fund her own DNA test to prove it. She had stamps tested for DNA and then compared it to that found on the letters and a match was found for one of them. However, as the match was focused on mitochondrial DNA, like before, it is not wholly accurate to presume that Walter was responsible for the letter, no less for Jack the Rippermers as between 1 and 10% of the population shared the same mitochondrial DNA at the time. So it narrows it down, but not a lot. The hospital where Walter's secret was thought to have had its operations as a child, too, there were not specialists in the area, which brings down to whether he would have had those kind of operations that made him impotent. There's also evidence to suggest that he was far from being impotent, having had many wives and several mistresses in his lifetime, alongside reports of an illegitimate child. But she was so confident, right? While his fascination with the murderer can certainly appear macabre, it in no way counts as concrete proof that he was even involved or that he hated women. In addition, it is reported that Walter wasn't even in London at the time of the many killings. Finally, while he may have been responsible for at least one of the Ripper letters, a Ripperologist, which I love that phrase, and experts on the case are all in agreement that none of the letters were written by the actual killer, which you have just covered. Yeah, they were all just jumping on that bandwagon. Not to like poo-poo on the police or anything, but these are like lackluster lists of people. Real lackluster. They're not really. And I've been thinking why he chose women street workers. I wonder if he also did that because a lot of sex workers, I mean I'm not going to say all of them, but maybe runaways. They don't have family. Oh yeah. So they're not really going to know what he was looking for. Also, they're not investigated as harshly. Yeah, they're not. Yeah, that is the thing. My question is like, so he did this for five or maybe a year, if we include those first couple people, but it's a hard stop. Why do we think that is? What happened to him? Did he move and did it end up somewhere else? I actually have a theory about that. I was telling all my people. Do you have one more? No, no. Those are all my suspects. I mean, they have like a million, but these were like always the top five or top six that came up. People know too. Yeah. But let me scroll all the way down because I have a couple fun theories, but my favorite ones are at the end where it's Reddit theories. I think I know one theory, which I'm kind of like, I don't know if I'm fully leaning toward it, but when you get to it, I will tell you because I think I saw it on your notes. I like the person on Reddit said, I like the theory that it was a sailor because apparently the murder spread with the timeframe of the boat being in the dock and then similar murders taking place at a next destination where the same boat was docked. But they said, I don't know if this is pure BS, so they don't give an account of like where the next boat docked and what killings happened there. But I like that theory. I mean, it makes, it's, there's some, but I do think about it. I like, uh, I do think, I do agree with one person that I think it was most likely to have been a random local person who just went into the background. He would have probably malnourished, felt to be wearing tight clothing, et cetera. But it doesn't explain how, like why stopping unless he got sick himself and passed away. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. I mean, I do think it was someone who lived in the area. Oh yeah. Just because they would have to know the area. So say if they needed to escape the cops quick, I'll go down the street, up the back alley and then make a left. You know what I mean? They would have a kind of a route in their head to not be detected. So I do think that is very possible. And, but they described him as older and being strong and overtaken. I mean. Yeah. But who saw him? Who says that they see him? You know what I mean? Yeah. I mean, they would probably see him running away. Just the gentleman with the cart that interrupted that one murder. Yeah. And then he went after another one. Another wit, right? Yeah. But I mean, you didn't get a good look at him. I do like the theory that it's Jill the Ripper. Okay. Tell me about Jill. One genetic analysis of letters sent to the police by a person claiming to be Jack the Ripper suggests that the murder could have been committed by a woman. Take that glass ceiling. Yeah. The incident may have seen that such vile and diabolically misogynistic crimes, which include the removal of some of the victim's uteruses, and part of the genitalia could have been committed by a woman, it isn't that far-fetched. While wounds of the victim were indeed messy, hence the name of the villain, they were surgical enough to indicate that the killer had some anatomical knowledge of the female internal system. This had led some to believe that the killer was a deranged mental wife. She's had it. Stop getting pregnant. After all, who else could have strolled through the London streets, literally red-handed at a time when the city was ridden with mass hysteria over crimes and gone on second? A woman at the time would have prowled almost completely under the radar. This Jill the Ripper theory was actually suggested by Frederick Abberline, the detective who led the investigation. It is rooted in an intriguing account of the fifth Ripper victim, Mary Kelly, who is allegedly seen by a witness hours after she was said to have been killed. Could the murderer have been a woman who inconsistently slunk away in her clothing? Only one woman has come up as a serious suspect, Mary Piercy, who's convicted of murdering her lover's wife and child in 1890 and hanged. According to the independent Hermas Operandi, it was apparently similar to that of Jack the Ripper, but Jack the Ripper didn't kill children, so I don't know about that one. No. You know? Yeah, he had a type, let's just say. Yeah. So, I don't know, who do you think it would be? Or do you have... I still like my theory of... A doctor? Yeah, I do like the idea of a doctor. I guess I'm thinking American Psycho vibes of like a Patrick Bateman in London. Oh gosh. Like some... I almost want to say, I picture someone handsome in his 30s, because that could have been a reason why he was so easily to... Yeah. Come up to women and talk to them. They may have thought he was a potential client. Yep. And then he, of course, took them to like a dark area and did them in. I like that idea. I like the idea of him having a working knowledge of dissection. Yeah. Or at least being familiar with anatomy. Hence why I like my other theory of a butcher. I do like that theory a lot. Because they would know... Because I did read that humans have certain similarities with pigs. Oh yeah, we absolutely do. So, picturing a butcher, knowing where to cut, and knowing, you know, human and pig were not too, too different. So, that, I like that idea. But yeah, I'm just... I like the idea of, ooh, what if it's like a royalty? Like someone... There was a theory about a prince. But I didn't... Maybe not a prince, but let's say, maybe, I don't know. Put something high up, but... Like a count or something. Yeah. And then it being like swept under the rug. But then what do they do to him? We won't know because they swept him under the rug. Opium. Oh, okay. Drug him up. My other theory that I thought while you were talking was like, what if it was just an alcoholic who did it while he was on a bender and had no idea and then just got sober one day and had no recollection of ever doing it. Doesn't make an excuse. It's a theory. I like the theory. Is it... Do you think that's what happened? No. But I think it's a fun theory. What if it's like a Jekyll and Hyde theory? They were... Oh, fair enough. And then, ooh, split personality. But then why would the personality go away? Yes. Come on, admit, that is a fun theory. It's a fun one. That they, you know, one personality was just this gentle soul who was a gentleman and the other one was just this bloodthirsty maniac who just brought out his inner Hyde. Or the old theory that it was someone in the police force. Ooh, that's a good one too. We could keep doing this all night. We could, but I'm good. I'm done. Let's get into our recommendations. Yes. I have a couple for film and TV. What about you, dear? I'm here to listen. And I'm here to provide. So I'm going to start off with first. This is a movie I've seen. It's called From Hell. It's from circa 2001. Is it like the letter? It is. That's where they got it. Oh, okay. So that's why a couple of things I was like, ah, I remember that movie, ah. But the story is starring Johnny Depp, Heather Graham, some other well-known actors in it. In Victoria-era London, a troubled clairvoyant police detective investigates the murders of Jack the Ripper. Okay. So he kind of has some insight. There's a lot of mystery, a lot of intrigue. Give it a watch. It's interesting. It's been a long time since I've seen it, but it's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie. It's a good movie.