This article is
about the serial killer. For other uses, see
" Jack the Ripper "
" Jack the Ripper "
"Jack the Ripper"
is the best-known name given to an unidentified serial killer who was active in the largely impoverished areas in
and around the Whitechapel district of London in 1888. The name originated in a letter, written by someone
claiming to be the murderer, that was disseminated in the media. The letter is
widely believed to have been a hoax, and may have been written by a journalist
in a deliberate attempt to heighten interest in the story. Other nicknames used
for the killer at the time were "The Whitechapel Murderer" and
"Leather Apron".
Attacks
ascribed to the Ripper typically involved female prostitutes from the slums
whose throats were cut prior to abdominal mutilations. The removal of internal
organs from at least three of the victims led to proposals that their killer
possessed anatomical or surgical knowledge. Rumours that the murders were
connected intensified in September and October 1888, and letters from a writer
or writers purporting to be the murderer were received by media outlets and Scotland Yard. The "From Hell" letter, received by George Lusk of
the Whitechapel Vigilance Committee,
included half of a preserved human kidney, supposedly from one of the victims.
Mainly because of the extraordinarily brutal character of the murders, and
because of media treatment of the events, the public came increasingly to
believe in a single serial killer known as "Jack the Ripper".
Extensive
newspaper coverage bestowed widespread and enduring international notoriety on
the Ripper. An investigation into a series of brutal killings in Whitechapel up to 1891 was unable to connect all the killings
conclusively to the murders of 1888, but the legend of Jack the Ripper
solidified. As the murders were never solved, the legends surrounding them
became a combination of genuine historical research, folklore, and pseudohistory. The term "ripperology"
was coined to describe the study and analysis of the Ripper cases. There are
now over one hundred theories about
the Ripper's identity, and the murders have inspired multiple works of fiction.
Credit : Wikipedia
