Who do you think Jack the Ripper was?

Scaeva · Nov 20, 2018

Res Ipsa Loquitur said:
My prime suspect would be Charles Lechmere. He worked on nightshifts as a cartman for a butchery business. He was actually seen standing over one of the murder victims. His working clothes would have been blood-smeared. Human or bovine blood, who could tell?

But that said, If I were Inspector Abberline, I wouldn't rule out the possibility of the Ripper having an accomplice or even one or more copycat killers. Francis Tumbelty would've been number two on my list of suspects.

Lechmere is interesting not only because he was the first known person on the scene of one of the murders, but because he subsequently lied to police about his name and falsely indicated to the constable he notified of the murder that police were on scene. He also lived and worked in the area of the murders.

Of course none of that necessarily makes him the Ripper, but had the murders occurred the 21st Century instead of the 19th Century, he is certainly someone Scotland Yard would be interested in.

Tumblety however I don't take seriously as a suspect. Tumblety was Irish and eccentric, both of which would made him stand out from the usual crowd of men trolling Whitechapel for prostitutes. There are several people who may have seen the Ripper with one of his victims, as a few witnesses gave descriptions of men they saw with victims shortly before the murders. None match Tumblety, though of course given that all of the victims were prostitutes it is difficult to say whether the men seen with the victims were the Ripper.

I watched a program a few years ago where someone who profiled Serial Killers for Scotland Yard did the same for Jack the Ripper, and she described him as someone who was likely a sexual sadist who was aroused by the mutilation of his victims. Assuming that is the case, that would seem to rule out Tumblety, as he appears to have been homosexual. Sexual sadists who are serial killers tend to target their gender preference.

Peaceful · Nov 20, 2018

Scaeva said:
Lechmere is interesting not only because he was the first known person on the scene of one of the murders, but because he subsequently lied to police about his name and falsely indicated to the constable he notified of the murder that police were on scene. He also lived and worked in the area of the murders.

Of course none of that necessarily makes him the Ripper, but had the murders occurred the 21st Century instead of the 19th Century, he is certainly someone Scotland Yard would be interested in.

Tumblety however I don't take seriously as a suspect. Tumblety was Irish and eccentric, both of which would made him stand out from the usual crowd of men trolling Whitechapel for prostitutes. There are several people who may have seen the Ripper with one of his victims, as a few witnesses gave descriptions of men they saw with victims shortly before the murders. None match Tumblety, though of course given that all of the victims were prostitutes it is difficult to say whether the men seen with the victims were the Ripper.

I watched a program a few years ago where someone who profiled Serial Killers for Scotland Yard did the same for Jack the Ripper, and she described him as someone who was likely a sexual sadist who was aroused by the mutilation of his victims. Assuming that is the case, that would seem to rule out Tumblety, as he appears to have been homosexual. Sexual sadists who are serial killers tend to target their gender preference.

That's stretching it. He referred to himself as Cross and Lechmere, both of which were at points in his life his actual name, so he didn't lie, and he certainly isn't the first to find a body and be completely innocent of the crime (actually he'd be in among the 99.9999%). It's another non starter. Apparently he walked past certain spots on the way to work: so did most of the working population of Whitechapel.

It's the same situation with the Anarchist/Socialist/Jewish club in Berner Street. Because those at the scene gave inconsistent times when moving around, some have deduced that there was some sort of cover up among the members, when the reality very probably is that they didn't have a watch and were guessing.

People feeding off scraps due to the lack of source material as most of it was destroyed.

paranoid marvin · Nov 21, 2018

Quite possibly a butcher, as it's not easy to disguise blood soaked clothes in 19th century. Back then an apron full of blood could be animal or human, and carrying a sharp knife and in the streets in the early hours would not be unsurprising for someone of that trade.

Personally I agree that he was likely sexually frustrated and maybe if he'd had the time to rip his first victim as badly as he did his first then he could have stopped at that. After he'd done what he did to poor Mary Kelly, whaere could he go from there? Probably satisfied all his sick fantasies with her.

dupuydumazeldan · Nov 21, 2018

We must not forget that if he met and killed prostitutes,this significates that he had enough money,and so the hypothesis of the psychanalists about the frustration is not good.More,as the technic of cutting was the same as what it was praticed in the universities of medecine,it significates that we are not in presence of a poor worker (butcher ….) but in presence of a man belonging to the social elite,student,doctor etc...What was the percentage of men who went in the university at this time ? 1 % ? We are in presence of a man of the middle class or more ......If the crimes would have been committed by a member of the poor classes,the knife would have been utilized on the stomach or the neck.

PrivateInThePotomac · Nov 21, 2018

dupuydumazeldan said:
In France,"Jack the ripper" is most well known than Nelson and Wellington.He his at the level of Henri VIII….When in 1966 the french TV programed a special broadcast about him with the exceptional Alain Decaux, who utilized old photos, the % of audience was near 90 %....The EDF told that the consumption of electricity climbed at + 20 % because in the countries a lot of people had slept with the ligh opened.During weeks a lot of letters have arrived at the TV explaining what was the solution of this exceptional interrogation.A new explication had a lot of succes:a social conflict.At the end of the XIXth century,the women didn t support the male dominance in the society.So the prostitutes wanted to win their emancipation by working for them-independant workers-and not for a "protector".So the benefits of the protectors were in danger..The solution of the "protectors" was to prove to eveybody that they had a usefull and strong place in the society,the organization and the discipline in the business of love."Jack the ripper" is the name of a criminal organization.A witness had told the police that during the slaughter of a prostitute two men were at his pursuit.Crazy men don t function by bands of three men,but gangsters perhaps….

I know that as 1888 became 1889 there were a series of murders that were attributed to Jack the Ripper in Paris, France because he was reportedly "on his travels" and murders had ceased in Whitechapel. However, I am not familiar with the 1966 broadcast you cite and, therefore, cannot really speak to anything you have said but this story would explain the rise in folklore regarding The Ripper in France. Jack The Ripper Visits Paris

In addition, there was a widely publicized theory that Jack was a Frenchman committing the murders in the name of black magic, when the news on the case was slow. This stemmed from the graffiti found at the scene of the Mitre Square murder. One of the words written above the victim, claimed to be written by the murder "in an attempt to throw suspicion", was "juives", which is supposedly French for the word "Jews". So, while I cannot find much evidence to suggest that Jack was in fact a band of individuals, the French connection you point out is actually a critical piece of the theories surrounding the case. Jack The Ripper's Black Magic Rituals - A French Connection

dupuydumazeldan · Nov 23, 2018

It is sure that one of the victims had travelled and worked in France.But the hypothesis of a french costumer who had caught a MST (TSH in English) and who went in GB to venge himself with killing this woman and her friends is really hypothetic…..

Futurist · Apr 20, 2019

Scaeva said:
Lechmere is interesting not only because he was the first known person on the scene of one of the murders, but because he subsequently lied to police about his name and falsely indicated to the constable he notified of the murder that police were on scene. He also lived and worked in the area of the murders.

Of course none of that necessarily makes him the Ripper, but had the murders occurred the 21st Century instead of the 19th Century, he is certainly someone Scotland Yard would be interested in.

Tumblety however I don't take seriously as a suspect. Tumblety was Irish and eccentric, both of which would made him stand out from the usual crowd of men trolling Whitechapel for prostitutes. There are several people who may have seen the Ripper with one of his victims, as a few witnesses gave descriptions of men they saw with victims shortly before the murders. None match Tumblety, though of course given that all of the victims were prostitutes it is difficult to say whether the men seen with the victims were the Ripper.

I watched a program a few years ago where someone who profiled Serial Killers for Scotland Yard did the same for Jack the Ripper, and she described him as someone who was likely a sexual sadist who was aroused by the mutilation of his victims. Assuming that is the case, that would seem to rule out Tumblety, as he appears to have been homosexual. Sexual sadists who are serial killers tend to target their gender preference.

Are you sure that Tumblety wasn't bisexual?

Also, it really does make me wonder whether Jack the Ripper might have had syphilis or some other disease that caused his brain to stop working properly. I mean, it would be very strange for someone to just begin killing and mutilating women out of nowhere. It's just a theory, but maybe Jack the Ripper really did have some kind of infection or disease that made him go crazy. This might also help explain why he stopped killing after November 1888. Maybe the disease or infection--if he indeed had either of these two things or even both of these things--was too much for him to handle after that point in time. As in, maybe after November 1888, he was not only crazy, but also incapacitated in some way, shape, or form. It's just a theory on my own part, of course.

dupuydumazeldan · Apr 20, 2019

Perhaps would it be interesting to know what were the common points between the five victims ?

Futurist · Apr 20, 2019

They were all women, prostitutes, murdered at night (I think) while no one was around. A lot of them were also mutilated--with the significant exception of Elizabeth Stride (where the killer might have been interrupted).

Peaceful · Apr 21, 2019

Futurist said:
Are you sure that Tumblety wasn't bisexual?

Also, it really does make me wonder whether Jack the Ripper might have had syphilis or some other disease that caused his brain to stop working properly. I mean, it would be very strange for someone to just begin killing and mutilating women out of nowhere. It's just a theory, but maybe Jack the Ripper really did have some kind of infection or disease that made him go crazy. This might also help explain why he stopped killing after November 1888. Maybe the disease or infection--if he indeed had either of these two things or even both of these things--was too much for him to handle after that point in time. As in, maybe after November 1888, he was not only crazy, but also incapacitated in some way, shape, or form. It's just a theory on my own part, of course.

There are scores of examples of serial killers who have gone out and mutilated women and have had no disease whatsoever.

I think what marks these people out is they're psychopaths who lack the capacity to empathise with another human being.

'Chances are: he looked perfectly normal, as they all do, I mean if they looked like serial killers then we'd be able to stop them in their tracks before they get going!

Peaceful · Apr 21, 2019

Futurist said:
They were all women, prostitutes, murdered at night (I think) while no one was around. A lot of them were also mutilated--with the significant exception of Elizabeth Stride (where the killer might have been interrupted).

Life was different back then. People in the East End of London would be coming and going at all hours of the morning to and from work. 3 or 4 o'clock in the morning would have been a lot busier than the same time today. They didn't have the regulated lifestyle that we do that affords us 8 hours sleep or whatever. In those days, in that part of London, they took whatever work they could get and that often meant being at work, or going to or from work, in the middle of the night.

Naomasa298 · Apr 21, 2019

If the murders had taken place in Edinburgh, would he have been Jock the Ripper?

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Who do you think Jack the Ripper was?

Scaeva

Peaceful

paranoid marvin

dupuydumazeldan

PrivateInThePotomac

dupuydumazeldan

Futurist

dupuydumazeldan

Futurist

Peaceful

Peaceful

Naomasa298

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