Who Was Jack The Ripper?
The year 1888 in London, England, saw the emergence of one of the planet’s most iconic serial murderers. Stories about him would terrify the district of Whitechapel, an impoverished area of the city from where he found his victims. The killer’s notoriety has seen him become a global legend: He is typically known as Jack the Ripper.
Only 5 murders were officially committed by Jack the Ripper, although it is possible that he had many more victims. He was known for cutting his victims open, mutilating their genitals, and also removing their organs. Another factor that helps make Jack the Ripper such a legend is that he was never caught. Here is a look at some of the most likely candidates.
1. Prince Albert Victor
It is thought by many that Jack the Ripper would have been a well-educated person, perhaps even somebody that lived in the highest echelons of society. They don’t come any higher than royalty. Prince Albert Victor was a grandson of Queen Victoria, who was the ruling monarch at the time. At the time there were many rumors regarding the Prince’s activities. It is thought that he suffered from poor mental health and his sexuality was also often called into question. Some believe he was involved in the Cleveland Street scandal, which was a male brothel that supposedly had some very notable patrons. Despite the rumors, there was no evidence that the Prince was involved in the scandal, or that he was Jack the Ripper.
2. Sir John Williams
As already mentioned, it is thought that Jack the Ripper may have moved in the highest circles of society. Because of the way that he was able to cut open his victims and remove their organs, it is also thought that he had knowledge of anatomy.
These two factors, plus others, have compelled some people to point their finger toward Sir John Williams, Queen Victoria’s surgeon. In addition, a locket has surfaced that supposedly belonged to Mary Kelly: one of the Ripper’s victims. Mary’s descendants claim that the locket contains an old photograph of none other than Sir John Williams himself.
3. Lord Randolph Spencer Churchill
This gentleman shares the same surname as one of the most respected statesmen ever to have lived: Sir Winston Churchill, the British Prime Minister who stood up to Hitler in WWII. It is no coincidence that the two share the same name either, because Lord Randolph was Sir Winston’s father.
Some people believe that the murders were carried out as part of a masonic ritual and that Lord Randolph was the most powerful of all masons. There are also rumors that a royal had an affair with a prostitute. This supposedly led the to the Royal family being blackmailed, and that Lord Randolph set about silencing the blackmailers to protect the Royal family’s name.
4. Charles Dodgson
You have likely never heard the name Charles Dodgson before, but there is a very good chance that you have heard the name Lewis Carroll. They are actually the same person, and Dodgson wrote one of the world’s most famous literary works: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. It has been proposed that Dodgson was Jack the Ripper.
The writer did live in London at the time, but the reason he was suspected was because of certain anagrams from two of his books: The Nursery Alice, and Sylvie and Bruno. It has been proposed that these anagrams could be deciphered to reveal an admission from Dodgson that he was the Ripper. The theory is generally not taken at all seriously.
5. Mary Pearcey
The very name “Jack the Ripper” suggests that the killer was a man, and this is widely thought to be the case. We can’t really be sure either way, however, and it has been proposed that Jack the Ripper might actually have been Jill the Ripper. Some have even gone as far as suggesting a name: Mary Pearcey.
Mary was a midwife, so she would have had some anatomical knowledge and access to her victims. In 1890, Mary was hanged for the murder of Phoebe Hogg and her 18-month-old baby. She even carried out the deed in a manner similar to how the Ripper dispatched their victims.
6. Aaron Kosminski
Kosminski was a Polish immigrant who worked as a barber after emigrating to the English capital in the 1800s. A gentleman going by the same surname was a suspect of police officers investigating the murders at the time. Kosminski was said to have homicidal tendencies, and also had an intense hatred of women. Nobody by the name of Kosminski was ever charged for the murders.
Aaron Kosminski himself later ended up in an asylum where he lived out the rest of his life, although he was described by the asylum as harmless. In 2014, a DNA test on a shawl was claimed to prove that Kosminski was the killer, but doubts have been voiced over the validity of the claim.
7. Walter Sickert
Born in Munich in 1860, Walter Sickert moved to London with his family in 1869. He has long been one of the leading contenders for being Jack the Ripper, although he was never charged for the murder before his death in 1942. There are various factors that point to him being the killer. Walter was a painter, and his specialty was painting prostitutes.
Many experts claim that Sickert left behind clues in his paintings, and that the clues he left could not have been known by anybody but Jack the Ripper himself. It is also believed the Sickert was impotent, and this fact would fit with the profile of somebody that would carry out such brutal attacks against women.
8. Carl Feigenbaum
Carl Feigenbaum was another immigrant that is suspected of being the famous murderer. Feigenbaum was a merchant sailor and was 54 years old at the time of the murders. He allegedly confessed to mutilating women and it was known at the time that he Feigenbaum was a psychopath. He worked on the dockyards close to Whitechapel, and was present in the area when each of the five official Jack the Ripper murders occurred.
It was also known that he was a frequent visitor to brothels in the area. Around 1890, Feigenbaum moved to America where he was eventually executed for murder. Even his lawyer believed he was Jack the Ripper.
9. Francis Craig
It is well known that criminals, particularly murderers, will often return to the scene of the crime at some point in the future. Doing so could possibly make people suspicious of them, but not if they are expected to be there regardless. For example, if the culprit was a reporter, nobody would blink an eye if they are seen reporting at the scene. Francis Craig was a reporter in the area at the time of the killings and was covering the proceedings.
It is thought that he had a mental illness and that he discovered his wife was secretly working as a prostitute in Whitechapel. It is thought that his wife, Elizabeth Davies, also went by the pseudonym Mary Kelly, and was the Ripper’s last official victim.
10. Montague John Druitt
Montague John Druitt was an Englishman that came from a relatively well-off background. Druitt was Oxford educated and his employment record included working as an assistant schoolmaster and as a barrister. Druitt was living close to Whitechapel at the time of the murders and was often seen in the area. It is thought that Druitt had mental health problems and was “sexually insane.”
In November 1888, several weeks after the murder of the Ripper’s last official murder, he was found floating in the Thames River. It is suspected that he committed suicide, and that he took his life shortly after Mary Kelly’s death.
