Jack the Ripper is one of history’s most notorious criminals, and also possibly one of it’s most depraved. He murdered prostitutes in the Whitechapel area of England in late 1888. But it wasn’t the number of murders that this man is famous for, it was how severely the bodies of these women were mutilated and how he was never identified or arrested. There were many murders during the same time period, that had similar qualities to the, but only five can be truly tied to Jack the Ripper.

Jack the Ripper

The first was Mary Anna Nichols, killed on August 31st. Her throat was slit, and there were several deep jagged wounds to her abdomen. The second was Annie Chapman, killed on September 8th and discovered with her throat cut, a completely slashed open abdomen, and a missing her uterus. The third was Elizabeth Stride, killed on September 30th. It was suspected that The Ripper was interrupted during her murder because she lacked the abdomen slash and slit throat of the previous two women. Her injuries were to her jaw and left artery, meaning that she must have bled to death. The fourth was Catherine Eddowes, September 30th as well, suggesting that after he was interrupted he had to find someone else to finish the job with. Her mutilations were similar to the first two, but her left kidney as well as the majority of her uterus. The fifth was by far the most graphic; Mary Jane Kelly, killed November 9th. It was different from the other murders, as she was found in her own bed in the small apartment where she lived. The others were all found outside on the street, which might explained why she had been the most badly mutilated. He had more time in the enclosed space to do all that he wanted. When they found her, her heart was missing, most of her organs had been removed from her abdomen and tossed about, and her throat had been slit all the way to her spine.

But Jack the Ripper didn’t just commit these crimes and wander off into oblivion without leaving a little bit of evidence to taunt the police with. In fact, he wrote them letters. The most interesting of the three that the police of the time had deemed authentic (understandably they received hundreds of letters, most from people attempting to provide information that would help them catch the ripper, but some were from individuals falsely claiming to be the killer himself.) was the “From Hell” letter, or the “Lusk Letter” as it was sent directly to Inspector Lust himself. This letter was accompanied by a box that contained half of a human kidney preserved in ethanol. Eerily he claimed that he had fried and eaten the other half.

Some call Jack the Ripper the greatest serial killer of all time, but what I would most like to know is not his identity; but what the heck he needed all those uterus for.

May we reconvene under the blood red moon,
-Black Widow