Jack the Ripper is a notorious serial killer who stalked and killed women on the streets of London during the Victorian era. But, even though a lot of time has passed since then, his personality continues to attract the attention of both historians and writers, screenwriters and directors. Perhaps it's only a morbid curiosity, or everyone is attracted by the fact that his name was never revealed.
However, the other day, a statement emerged stating that the identity of the killer was revealed by a Victorian diary, allegedly written by a wealthy Liverpool cotton merchant, James Maybrick. According to The Telegraph, the author of the diary confesses to the bloody murders of five women in the East End of London and another in Manchester.
However, since the diary was found, doubts have been constantly raised as to whether it is genuine or just a fake. Mike Barrett, who first revealed the diary back in the 1990s, says he received it from a family friend before he died.
Thus, there was no way to find out if it really happened that way. This leads most people to think that the diary is just an extravagant get-rich-quick scheme.
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Certificate of authenticity of the document
And now, just recently, a book by Robert Smith entitled "Diary of Jack the Ripper 25 Years Later: Truthful Facts" was published, in which the author claims that the document is authentic.
According to new testimonies from the writer, the book was found in 1992 by three electricians working in the house where James Maybrick lived. Further, the facts seem a little vague. It turns out that the electricians did indeed work in Maybrick's old house on the same day that Barrett called one of the London literary agents and claimed that he had Jack the Ripper's diary. Electricians are also known to have frequent pubs with Barrett.
Barrett was known for boasting that he wrote books himself, so when electricians found this diary in Maybrick's house, they assumed he could help them sell it to a publisher.
The truth is that Barrett's only significant literary achievement was writing random puzzles for a weekly TV children's magazine … He was not very literate, so it's hard to imagine that he could create such a complex fake.
The secret is revealed?
So is it worth saying that the secret of Jack the Ripper has been revealed? Was it really the cotton seller James Mybrick? Undoubtedly, this theory has some interesting evidence, but it is only one of the few about the identity of this mysterious London assassin.
Over the past century, there have been dozens of potential suspects, from respected surgeons and scientists to poor artists. Most likely, this case will remain a mystery and a popular plot for books and films.
Anna Pismenna