Jack the Ripper

This is not going to be an exhaustive history of this case, there is just too much information out there to encapsulate in a blog post. I offer two links, the Wikipedia entry about the case and THE definitive website, the Casebook of Jack the Ripper. I also recommend a comprehensive A-Z book of the case.

Here I just wish to confess myself a confirmed Ripperologist and to try to explain why. What is the fascination? The murders were gruesome but not excessively so by today's standards. The Ripper was a serial killer in the autumn of 1888 but not a prolific one. There were 11 suspected killings of women who were all prostitutes, only 5 of which are considered canonical and even one of those has been questioned as a Ripper victim. There are letters supposedly from the killer which are now considered hoaxes.

The fascination for me is the fact that, after 127 years we still don't know who committed these crimes. The Ripper's hunting grounds were the most poverty stricken areas of Victorian London. It is also his seeming ability to kill, mutilate and disappear within minutes that fascinates. At least twice he must have been nearby when his victims were discovered. There was talk of his being linked to that great British bogeyman, Spring heeled Jack. Some even suspect a demonic Ripper. The mutilations were nasty by Victorian standards.

The conspiracies associated with the case are well documented and the Casebook website will tell you all about them but I don't think we are looking at a famous Ripper. He is just an ordinary man driven mad by syphilis or his poverty stricken surroundings. Try one of the links, you may get hooked on this Victorian mystery. Or maybe you will solve this ultimate cold case.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_the_Ripper

http://www.casebook.org/

Why we need a little mystery.

 

The above pictures are fairly well known. Crop circles have been a part of our lives for a few decades. Nessie (Or the Loch Ness Monster.) even longer. The one with the Leg is a case of Spontaneous Human Combustion, whereby a human body is almost totally consumed by burning (Which would require extremely high temperatures.) yet there is little or no damage to the surroundings.

 

The rise of the internet has proved one thing. We love our mysteries. The more inexplicable the better. While researching this I typed 'Unexplained' into Google and clicked images. The hundreds of results included a time travelling man, a 1940's girl with a suited astronaut behind her, a man with two faces, various supposed Ghost images, Ditto UFO images. The list went on. Many sites collate these things. There is a crossover with conspiracy theories here because all are covered by the title unexplained. Allow me to present you with a uniquely British example.

 

Spring Heeled Jack

 

This was a diabolical figure with fiery red eyes and clawed hands and was reported fro 1837 till 1877 and in various parts of the U.K. He was scary enough but his true terror for Victorian witnesses was that, from a standing start, he could leap 9 feet or more in order to escape. Various explanations were put forward, mainly upper class pranksters. Phosphorous and metal claws accounted for the physical aspects. Even the 1888 Jack the Ripper case was briefly attributed to this British bogey man. More often his appearances were put down to superstition or mass hysteria. More information can be found HERE.

 

 

Time slips.

 



This is another unexplained phenomena. One of the best known is two ladies who went to Versaille, France in 1901. They got lost on their homeward journey but noticed many anachronisms. The clothing was different. The atmosphere changed. Everything seemed flat and lifeless and they observed phenomena strongly suggesting they were in the 16th century. The full story is HERE

There are many other stories of unexplained events. Some point to modern watches found in Ming dynasty graves. Others maintain that the JFK story in 1963 involved time travellers and/or the Illuminati. The British at the battle of Mons in early ww1 swore that Angels had appeared and protected them from the German guns. The Irish Banshee appears on the roof of a house only when a member of the family's death is imminent. The Nazca Lines in Mexico are designed to be seen from the air despite being made in a time before flight.

Now I am a sceptic, I try to debunk Ghost images and it isn't difficult. I like to think we possess innate telepathic or telekinetic abilities but have never been convinced by stories of these abilities. I believe in Alien life but do not believe they would bother travelling all this way just to examine our bodies. I think the Illuminati died out in the far past. I really don't believe in a lot outside our own knowledge as a race.

BUT I get a thrill at the idea of a high jumping monster, banshees scare me, I get shivers at the idea of witches and hags. I like a good Ghost story provided research has given it at least a fighting chance of being based in fact. I would love to slip in time. I want a convincing story of a telepath. The man with two faces- Edward Mordake- would seem feasible as a conjoined twin but is just creepy enough for me.

I think this is the point. Our lives are full of the known and explained that we are desperate for something we can't explain and if it is slightly creepy so much the better. I have given myself some shivery moments looking at pictures for this post and I am oh so rational. If no one has ever managed to explain something with all our modern science and the facts cannot be put down to fakery then it might just BE supernatural. Personally I need something that can't be explained.