gdhistory09: Jack the Ripper

Through the dark, foggy, ere nights of the Whitechapel area and adjacent districts of London in late 1888 came a "monster" serial killer known as Jack the Ripper. These events all occurred during the Victorian Era in the United Kingdom during Queen Victoria's reign. He comes from out of the fog, kills violently and quickly, and disappears without a trace. Then, for no apparent reason, he satisfies his blood lust with ever-increasing ferocity, culminating in the near destruction of his final victim, and then vanishes from the scene forever. Jack the Ripper targeted prostitutes, woman who gave up there bodies involving sexual favors in return of a sense of income. During the Victorian Era, prostitution was legal and an easy way for woman to earn money. All though some think Jack was responsible for more killings, five bodies of different prostitute woman were discovered brutally murdered in some fashion.

All the victims had their throats cut, often from ear to ear. The name "Jack the Ripper" was discovered in his letters he would write and leave behind at the crime scene with no evidence to trace where he could be. Jack the Ripper was physically unknown and the only evidence the police had were his letters and of course the remains of the 5 victims bodies left behind. Only five women were murdered, all within nine weeks, so this appears to have been a plot.

The Victorian Era was also a time of the thought of psychology (Sigmund Freud) and the thoughts of Abnormal Psychology. There is no doubt in my mind that this so-called "Jack the Ripper" character had some kind or kinds of psychology disorders that may have led him to committing such horrific, brutal crimes.

Jack the Ripper has remained popular for a lot of reasons. He was not the first serial killer, but he was probably the first to appear in a large metropolis at a time when the general populace had become literate and the press was a force for social change. The Ripper also appeared when there were tremendous political turmoil and both the liberals and social reformers, as well as the Irish Home rule partisans tried to use the crimes for their own ends. Every day the activities of the Ripper were chronicled in the newspapers as were the results of the inquiries and the actions taken by the police. Even the feelings of the people living in the East End, and the editorials that attacked the various establishments of Society appeared each day for both the people of London and the whole world to read. It was the press coverage that made this series of murders a "new thing", something that the world had never known before. The press was also partly responsible for creating many myths surrounding the Ripper and ended up turning a sad killer of women into a "bogey man", who has now become one of the most romantic figures in history. The rest of the responsibility lies with the Ripper. He may have been a sexual serial killer of a type all too common in the 1990s, but he was also bent on terrifying a city and making the whole world take notice of him by leaving his horribly mutilated victims in plain sight. Lastly, the Ripper was never caught and it is the mysteries surrounding this killer that both add to the romance of the story and creating an intellectual puzzle that people still want to solve.