His personality has worried historians and conspiracy theorists for more than a century, and his biography becomes a plot for the most terrible stories and movies. We talk about the most interesting and incredible versions of who the mysterious Whitechapel killer really was (and how the royal family was connected with him).
130 years have passed since the chilling events on the London streets of Whitechapel, where the famous serial killer Jack the Ripper brought to life his inhuman fantasies. Today, as in those days, there are many versions of who this person really was - and each guess is more incredible than the other. Some suggest that this was a well-known surgeon at that time, others write that he was an artist, and still others believe that the Ripper could be one of the members of the royal family.
From Victorian England to the present, Jack the Ripper has been the prototype for many fictional characters in literature and cinema, and even the inspiration for serial killers who wish to continue his work. His mystical image has been used a record number of times, becoming the classic depiction of a mysterious villain today.
Each of his demonstrative murders was planned down to the smallest detail and executed with incredible brutality. Despite the fact that the gloomy streets of the East End were almost always filled with people, Jack never left a witness. And even after more than a hundred years, his identity remains undisclosed, which makes him the most mysterious killer in history.
Miter Square in London, circa 1928. It was here that prostitute Catherine Eddowes was murdered by serial killer Jack the Ripper on September 30, 1888.
The investigation begins
According to the Whitechapel police, five women were killed by the Ripper in 1888. These murders are officially considered canonical, although in fact there were much more similar crimes. Their bodies were thrown in crowded streets, which confirms the theatricality of his actions - Jack always needed a reaction. His victims were 42-year-old Mary Ann Nichols "Polly", Annie Chapman (her belongings were arranged around her mutilated body, and threatening words about Jews were left on the wall next to them), Liz, a Swede, nicknamed "Long," as well as Katie Eddows and Mary Kelly. They were all prostitutes. The third and fourth victims were killed on the same night on September 30, 1888, their bodies were found with a difference of only 40 minutes, but only the internal organs were removed from the last, because for the first time the killer was frightened away,and he did not have time to complete his terrible plan.
Promotional video:
According to some indications, the last person to see Annie Chapman alive was Andrey Kadosh. According to him, the woman was then communicating with an unknown man with a small twisted mustache, dressed in a dark suit and carrying a valise in his hands. Later, the writers completed this image, dressing the killer in a long cloak and top hat. This is how Jack the Ripper is depicted in our imaginations until now.
The police did everything possible in those days: searches with dogs, numerous investigations, night patrols, arrests, but they failed to stop and expose the killer. Scotland Yard was ready to do anything in order not to lose its reputation, even for the most desperate and ridiculous actions. So, for example, one night the police put a bait on the street - a boxer dressed up as a prostitute. But this only caused ridicule and ridicule from reporters, since the substitution was too obvious to be true.
Penny Illustrated News issue on October 13, 1888, featuring a portrait of one of Jack the Ripper's victims, Kate Eddowes, and a sketch of a person believed to be the killer.
An autopsy revealed that the killer was most likely a practicing surgeon: the accuracy and speed of his actions, as well as brilliant knowledge in the field of anatomy, left no doubt about this. Each time the Ripper unmistakably removed the organs of women he needed, without affecting the rest.
What if Jack the Ripper is not one person, but several? Then it becomes clear why his identity was never established, and the testimony of potential witnesses is so vague - after all, they could simply describe different people. In a word, there were countless versions, one more monstrous than the other. And in each of them there were reasons to believe.
Great performance
Newspapers escalated the situation, with headlines screaming "The Whitechapel Murders." Panic broke out in London. People fled the East End, tried not to go out into the streets after dark, brought in civilian patrols, but it was all in vain. Prostitutes could not be isolated from the threat, because the night out was still their bread. And the killings continued.
An 1888 illustration depicting the police discovering Jack the Ripper's victim, likely Catherine Eddowes. London, England.
The police were flooded with letters from the killer, many of which, however, were written only by journalists, in order to once again add fuel to the fire and stir up a sensation. It was they who signed their messages "Jack the Ripper", which soon became a household name and entered circulation. Other letters, as it turned out, were sent by mentally ill people posing as a murderer.
The last of them, which went down in history, was the famous letter "From Hell". In it, the killer wrote: “I fried and ate the kidney. It was wonderful. Catch me. " Medical examinations confirmed that the kidney attached to the letter did indeed belong to the fourth victim, Kathy. However, somehow this letter was lost, while the rest are still stored in the archives of Scotland Yard in the file of unsolved cases.
The killer was presumptuous and played to the audience, knowing that everything would be printed in the newspapers. The investigation has reached a dead end.
All of the killings were carried out on a Friday or weekend, leading the investigators to believe the killer was most likely a working person. But who exactly?
From Van Gogh to the Royal Prince
The last murder, on November 9, 1888, was the culmination of this series. The victim was found at home, in bed, but she was unrecognizable: her body was completely gutted, there was blood everywhere, and her face was disfigured. Internal organs were neatly laid out around the bed, and only one, the main one, was never found - the killer took her heart. Mary Kelly was the first person not to be killed on the street, and the villain had enough time to fully enjoy his scary ritual and fulfill his sick fantasies to the last drop. The murders ended there - just as abruptly as they began.
Still from movie Jack the Ripper, 1976
Jack the Ripper, pub sign, early 20th century, private collection.
In the morning the incident was reported to Queen Victoria, to which she replied: “Our courts must be burned and the detectives replaced by others. We need police officers to be men, and they are not! These were the first sexual serial killings. People were not ready for this, and the metropolis was consumed with horror. Neither then, nor now, no one can understand what it was - black magic, mutilation of the dead, Masonic ritual murders, sacrifices or revenge?
Lawyer with a mental disorder
In December 1888, just as the murderer had completed all his atrocities, the mysterious corpse of a young man was discovered in the Thames. The dead man turned out to be a wealthy lawyer named Montague Druitt, who, according to some researchers, may have suffered from a hereditary mental illness. While practicing law, Montague also worked part-time at one of the local schools, but shortly before his death, he suddenly lost his position. The version that he was the killer was confirmed by the confession of his relatives about his involvement. But the matter went further only in the versions of independent authors and detectives, but not the police.
Montague Druitt.
Nemesis of Neglect, illustration by Joseph Swain, 1888
The barber who hated women
Barber Aaron Kosminski was a Polish Jew who, by a strange coincidence, was not only mentally ill, but also pathologically hated by women. He ended up in a psychiatric hospital at the beginning of 1889, where he remained until the end of his days, but in 2014 one of the amateur detectives declared him the Ripper, pointing out the similarity of the DNA of Kosminski's descendants and the traces left on the shawl of one of the victims. However, the authorities have not confirmed the authenticity of this version. As well as more than a hundred years ago, Scotland Yard did not find any grounds for accusations.
Aaron Kosminski.
A note in the book The Bright Side of My Life, made by Chief Inspector Donald Swanson, including the phrase: Kosminsky was supsect.
Doctor - "collector"
Another suspect is Dr. Francis Tambolty (died 1903). After his death, many expensive jewelry and only two simple rings were found in his things, which surprisingly did not fit into his collection. Why? Perhaps because they did not belong to him, but to one of the Ripper's victims, two similar jewelry were removed from her fingers.
Francis Tambolty.
Killer Street, Bucks Row, now Durward Street, where the body of Mary Ann Nichols, one of the victims of Jack the Ripper, was found, east London, 1888
Francis was an Irish-American physician who specialized in abortion and sexually transmitted diseases. Conducted personal medical practice. Contemporaries described him as a very strange person. He never invited women to his house, and when his friends asked why, he replied that he would rather get poisoned than let this "nasty floor" into his house. After these words, he took the guests to one of the rooms, where he kept a collection of preserved female queens in glass jars.
Tambolty's hatred of women began with his mother, who did not spare him in the least when he was a child. And his bride turned out to be a former prostitute and continued to cheat on him even after marriage. Francis came to Whitechapel in June 1888, and preferred the company of underage boys. He was eventually arrested, but after three days of unsuccessful interrogation, the police were forced to release him on bail, after which he immediately fled London.
Tambolty sailed to France and then to the USA. Under the law of that time, hiding from the scene of a crime or after interrogation was considered tantamount to admitting guilt. The American police confirmed his anti-human tendencies in medical practice by sending his file to Scotland Yard. In 1889, the murders of prostitutes were repeated, but this time in New York. But for some reason, the British police, despite the indisputable facts, did not connect these events. Francis Tambolty never became the main suspect, although it is believed that, most likely, he wrote the letter "From Hell" - the examination confirmed the handwriting.
Famous post-impressionist
The Whitechapel murders began just two months after moving to London … Vincent Van Gogh. The police noted the similarity of his handwriting to that of the killer. Moreover, the most meticulous investigators saw the similarity of the setting and lines in some of his paintings with scenes of murders and the location of the bodies of victims. Such accuracy of knowledge could only be possessed by those who conducted the investigation or saw the bodies. But was it just a coincidence, or did Vincent really know something?
Famous Self-Portrait with Severed Ear, Vincent Van Gogh, 1889
One of the artist's works.
Irises. Vincent Van Gogh, 1890s It is believed that the outlines of the flowers resembled the position of the body and face of one of the victims of Jack the Ripper, Mary Kelly.
Seriously traumatized artist
Another famous English artist who lived in the Whitechapel area at that time, Walter Sickert, did not hide from suspicion. He often portrayed the East End, and went down in history thanks to the gloomy mood of his paintings.
Walter Sickert.
… and his "Jack the Ripper's Bedroom", 1908
And it is his brush that belongs to the work called - attention! - "Jack the Ripper's bedroom", in which the legendary assassin is depicted during one of his bloody acts. As a child, Sickert was diagnosed with a genital anomaly - a kind of hole that should not be in male nature. The doctors ordered an urgent surgical operation, which was not performed under full anesthesia. Young Walter was conscious all the time while the doctors wielded scalpels and other medical instruments on his body - and, of course, this could not but leave an irreparable wound in his psyche.
Letter from Hell received by George Lask of the Whitechapel Vigilance Committee in October 1888.
Summer Afternoon, Walter Sickert, 1907-1909
In addition, there are versions that Jack's letters belonged to Walter's authorship, since the killer's messages were written on paper from the same stack that the artist owned (there were only 24 sheets in it). In 2017, the American writer Patricia Cornwell published a book entitled Portrait of a Killer, in which she attempted to prove that Sickert was the mystical killer from Whitechapel.
Doctor who was fond of black magic
The next suspect was Robert Donston, a doctor with a dark background. In Africa and India, he studied black magic, and in London - what a coincidence - he was so closely associated with prostitutes that he even contracted a venereal disease from them. His wife mysteriously disappeared a few weeks before the Ripper murders began, which brought the police attention to him. At the end of August 1888, he checked into an East End hospital with a diagnosis of sleep disturbance, but did so not as a doctor, but as a journalist, hiding his true profession. And it was near this hospital that the first murder was committed on 31 August. Donston later personally volunteered to participate in the murder investigation and was as knowledgeable about the Ripper case as any police officer in Whitechapel. Why's that?
Robert Donston.
Portrait of Jack the Ripper being represented, circa 1890
Queen Victoria's grandson and frustrated king
And finally, the most scandalous assumption about the identity of the killer, which, however, has since been refuted more than once, was made in relation to Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarens (1864-1892). He was the grandson of Queen Victoria and the eldest son of the future King Edward VII, that is, the second contender for the throne. In 1891, he became engaged to a German woman, Maria of Teck (future wife of King George V and mother of the infamous King Edward VIII), but died suddenly a year before the wedding, at the age of 28. According to the official version, the reason for such a sudden death of the heir was the flu. But historians have put forward many guesses according to which the prince could have died from diseases such as gonorrhea, syphilis and pneumonia - since there is evidence and information from contemporaries that Albert Victor was a frequent visitor to Cleveland Street.where there was a brothel for homosexuals. It was with these his visits, for example, that the scandal of 1889, unpleasant for the royal family, was associated.
Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarens.
he is also the grandson of Queen Victoria.
Many speculate that if this had not happened, Albert Victor could have been named in the reign as the next Edward VIII. An interesting coincidence, because the real king, who ruled under this name (Prince David, later Duke of Windsor), also provided the Windsor dynasty with many problems. But that's a completely different story.
Returning to Prince Albert Victor, it is also known that sometimes he did not disdain Whitechapel street prostitutes, although he himself, in all honesty, could afford almost any woman. And here historians refer to the theory of royal conspiracy: one of the prostitutes, with whom the prince once spent time, became pregnant from him, which put the entire royal line under attack. And she also told her four other friends about it, who made their living the same as she did. This was unacceptable for the Crown. These women had to be removed at all costs.
The London police made many more other guesses who might be suspected - even the famous Lewis Carroll, the father of "Alice in Wonderland", did not escape the blow. But all the traces were confused, there was no direct evidence, and the case remained unsolved. Who was the real Jack the Ripper, we, most likely, will never know. Any research or guesswork in this matter is tantamount to trying to find Atlantis, the Holy Grail or the most mystical killer of all time … Jack the Ripper.
Arina Polyakova