1. Clues for today’s lesson…
He’s notorious…
He probably had a medical background...
Nobody can tell you his name...
He is one of London’s biggest mysteries...
We are going to rip right through this lesson…

2. And the Whitechapel Murders
Jack the Ripper
And the Whitechapel Murders

3. Quote of the Day
“No one ever saw the Whitechapel murderer; many homicidal maniacs were suspected, but no shadow of proof could be thrown on any one…”
-M. S. Macnaghten
23rd of February, 1894

4. Guiding Questions Is this fact or legend?
Why do you think I included it in legends?
Why do people think he might have been a doctor?

5. The Murders Although we have no positive identity for Jack the
Ripper, he is definitely not a myth. The murders
took place in London, between the months of
August and November, They took place in a
part of London called Whitechapel, and thus are
known as the Whitechapel murders. This was
called the ‘Autumn of Terror’ in London.

7. Patterns All the victims were killed on certain days: either a
holiday, or on the weekend. In addition, all the
murders took place between the hours of midnight
and 6 a.m.
What do you think that tells us about the
murderer?

8. Working Man We can assume, like the police did, that he may
have been working during the week, allowing him
only the time on weekends and on holidays to kill
his victims.

9. The Victims Because we do not know for sure who Jack the
Ripper is, we cannot determine the exact number
of victims. Generally, we count five murders as his
work, although it may have been as high as seven.
All of the victims were women, and all of them
were prostitutes who had no connections to their
families.

10. The Suspects Because of the kinds of murders that were taking
place, many on the police believed him to be a
lunatic. For this reason, many people were thrown
in jail just for being insane, although none were
ever proven to be the Ripper himself.
How do you think this helped Jack the Ripper?

11. A different profile Jack the Ripper benefited from this because we
know now that serial killers tend to be normal
people, who have jobs and families. They do not
show crazy behavior. Therefore, his family and
friends probably never suspected that he was the
real killer, and nor did the police.

12. Who could it have been?
Each of the murders was quite disgusting, and this
led many people to think that Jack the Ripper
could have had a job as a doctor or even a butcher.
Does anyone know why? What did he do to the victims?

13. Accuracy Jack the Ripper removed the organs
of some of his victims, usually the
kidney, in complete darkness and
with speed. This led many people to
form the idea that he was, in fact, a
doctor or butcher, since he seemed
to be skilled with a knife.

14. The Flaws In The System Remember that it was over 100 years ago! The
police system did not use fingerprints, DNA
testing, fiber testing, or any of the CSI-style tests
and processes we know today.
What do you think they did use?

15. The police were very limited in their ability to use
science to solve crimes. They had to rely on
intuition, and eyewitnesses to try and give them
information about a case.
What do you think that meant for criminals in the
19th century?

16. Unfortunately it meant that many criminals
escaped justice, and conversely also meant that
some innocent people were put in jail instead.

17. Letters from Jack One of the shocking things for London was how
many letters arrived, claiming to be from Jack the
Ripper. This was a new occurrence for the police,
and they had to sort through hundreds of letters to
try and establish if any were real. They even arrested a few
people, including two women, for creating hoax letters.
Who remembers what hoax means?

18. The Real Thing? There was one letter, however, that the police
could not ignore. It had many spelling errors, and
arrived in a little box, which was different from the
others. In addition, it contained one shocking
piece of evidence.
Any guesses what was in the box?

19. Evidence
Inside the box was a piece of a human kidney. The last victim, Catherine Eddowes, had had her kidney removed, and police believed this to be hers. Of course, at the time they could not prove it.

20. Rumors Some people believe, and in fact there is a book
about it, that the murders were performed by
Queen Victoria’s royal surgeon. They claim that Victoria’s
grandson, Prince Albert Edward (Eddy) had a child with a
common girl, and that these women knew about it and
wanted to spread the news to all of London.
Victoria had them all killed.
True, or not true?

21. Not True There are several reasons why, but the most
important ones were that the Royal Surgeon was
72 at the time, and Prince Eddy, by all accounts,
homosexual and not married to any common
woman. He died without children and his brother,
George, became King George V.

22. Why Is He Notorious STILL?
Jack the Ripper was the first serial killer in a big city where
the population could read and write. Therefore, there
were daily updates, and citizens of both Whitechapel, and
all of London, lived in terror of an attack. In addition, he
made no attempt to hide the bodies. He wanted people to
find the victims.
Of course, there is one more reason it remains famous
today. What is it?

23. A True Mystery The mystery of Jack the Ripper remains just that; a
mystery. Nobody knows who he really was…or
why he did what he did. You can still go on a
Ripper Walk in London, to visit the sites of the
murders, and be a part of the legend of Jack the
Ripper…if you dare.

24. Trivia
What do you call someone who is still doing research about Jack the Ripper?
There are not many police files about Jack the Ripper: true or false?
Prince Albert was considered a suspect of the murders: true or false?

25. They are called Ripperologists.
Not many. The police had a tendency to take
things as souvenirs, or just throw files in the
garbage to make room for new files.
Prince Albert was added as a suspect many years later, but
letters have proven he was not in London at the time.

26. Key points about the lesson
VOCABULARY
notorious: famous, for a bad reason
background: history
lunatic: a crazy person
intuition: a feeling you have
eyewitness: someone who saw something happen
conversely: on the other hand

27. A few clips…
London walk

28. Final question….
Who do YOU think it was? Why?