EP76: Jack the Ripper (Part 1)
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Alright, welcome back to another episode of the Psychopedia Podcast. I'm your co-host, Dane Sinatra, here with my mega micro co-host... Investigator Slater! What was that? That was better than the song I tried to sing before we hit record. We actually were recording already when you did that, and we will be releasing it to the public. Okay.

Excellent. I'm so full of it from the 4th of July we just had. I know it's going to date the episode and you're going to hear it at the end of July. Listen, time isn't real. Exactly. And this feeling that I have right now is very real. Same. Very real. Same. It was such a great 4th of July. Oh my God, it was the best. For those who don't know, Tank and his family came over to my family's house, my parents' house,

We used their pool. Amazing day. Yeah. The grownups were happy. The kids were happy. We saw fireworks. We ate really well. You cooked some burgers. I did. To relieve firefighter Dave, who was really slaving away on that grill. Yeah, he really was. I made the corn. Yep. I mean, it was a group effort. You made salmon. I did, but nobody except your son ate it. Quite literally, no one except your son ate it. Oh.

I wish I was hungry for salmon. I would have eaten it. You should have maybe, can I just make a really like gentle suggestion? Yeah. Cause like, you know, I was really excited to make it. I was showing you how I was preparing it. Yeah. Maybe just take like a little bite next time somebody like puts that much effort into something. Yeah, maybe.

The problem was I ate so much cured meats and cheeses. I know, I saw. That anything, salmon would have tasted like dirt. Not my salmon. No, no, any salmon or anything even remotely healthy. Yeah. I mean, I'm dealing with spices and flavors that have been sitting in this meat for, I don't know. Quite some time. Quite some time and cheese and I really didn't do an appetizer portion of it.

I ate... A lot. Pounds, probably. Yeah. So anyway... We do have a video of something amazing that happened that when this episode comes out, I will publish the video on Instagram. So if you don't follow us on Instagram, come over there.

My father kept bragging to Tank, to everyone, that he could shoot the flame off of a match or a candle with a rubber band. And just to contextualize it, Investigator Slater makes outlandish claims all the time. And I'll be honest, I kind of am more inclined to believe you now. As you should be.

because what happened was amazing. So my father's making what Tank thought was an outlandish claim, that he could shoot the flame, just the flame, off of a match or a candle using a rubber band. Let's be honest about it. He was hitting the candle. He wasn't just hitting the flame. Okay, okay. But whatever, still mega impressive.

I think back in his time, he could just shoot the flame. He did it over and over again. Your hand was moving. I got scared that the rubber band was going to hit my hand, and I started like wiggling to get away and moving, and my father still across the room-ish shot the rubber band.

the flame out. And he did like a look away. Yeah. He was like, yeah, it was nothing. Yeah. It was, it was impressive. Very impressive. Right. So maybe now you believe me when I say I have no fear of heights. I'm a really good, you know, surfer, surfer. Exactly. Shuffle a deck of cards better than me. Yeah. Just let me take my nails off and then practice for a couple of weeks. No, just the nails. That's all I need. Okay.

Well, we have a two-parter. Yes, yes. And I told you to drink a Monster and I brought you an iced coffee because it's legit. Well, it's working. Good. You're shaking. Tell me the whole fucking case right now. I would. I would. Download it into my brain. I plan to. Okay, so we're going to get into the case, but...

As always, thank you for those of you who listen. Thank you to the people, shout out to the people who are addicted to this podcast. Oh, man. I see you. I feel you. I hear you. We see you. We feel you. Yes. And

And I just, I mean, that's the best compliment anybody can tell me. I was saying yesterday with your cousin where they were like, we listened to three episodes. I'm like, that's all, that's it. Yeah. I don't want to, saying you like it is one thing. Telling me you binged 10 episodes on a road trip is a very, it's a very different thing. Oh, she was bringing up nuances of the cases. I was like, you were really in those cases. Yeah, yeah. I think we do a good job on this podcast. I hope so. I listen, it is created with such passion.

And I hope that that's what's conveyed and compassion as well. And I hope that that's what's conveyed for the victims. Yeah. But yeah, I mean, listen, I hope we only get better and better. The Patreons of the week, because I'm going to do one normal name and one fancy name because I think both deserve their shouts. Carolyn Robles. Carolyn Robles, we see you. We appreciate you. You're here. And then also shout out to Tingle Me Spidey. Yes. Which is...

All you. Yes, it is. I see you and I love you. And what they get over there, if you don't know what Patreon is for us, patreon.com slash psychopedia pod for bonus episode of true crime, real full-blown case, fully investigated, fully whatever I do. Presented. Whatever I do here.

You do so much here. An episode of Tankopedia, which is me presenting the case and me researching and all that. And then one episode of Unhinged per week, which is where we revisit a case barely and talk about it, but then talk about a lot of other stuff. And Tank is off the leash completely during those episodes.

So Patreon is there. We also love seeing you guys on Spotify with the comments and Apple with the reviews and the ratings. And on YouTube, the do your part, leave a heart thing has been really cranky. You guys are amazing. It's taken the world by storm. Every single time I see a new heart go on there, my heart throbs. Yeah. So thank you for everything that everybody does. Thank you. Thank you for listening. Thank you for participating. And without further... Do you need my inhaler?

Let's get into the case. Okay. I just want to see how much air I could expel from my lungs. That's a decent amount.

In the fog-choked streets of Victorian London, where gas lamps flickered dimly and shadows seemed to possess a life of their own, a sinister presence lurked. The city was a labyrinth of narrow alleyways and cobblestone passages, a perfect hunting ground for a predator who thrived in the darkness. The residents of the district of Whitechapel in the east end of London lived in a constant state of unease.

Their whispers carried on the cold night air, speaking of a phantom who moved like smoke, striking with surgical precision. Each dawn brought with it the grim discovery of another victim, bodies left mutilated in a manner so grotesque it defied comprehension. The newspapers fed on the fear, as they do, dubbing the elusive killer with monikers that only added to his terrifying legend.

The streets of Whitechapel had become a theater of fear, with each murder unfolding like a macabre play, and the residents as unwilling audience members to the bloody performances. The police, baffled and worn out, found themselves chasing shadows, their efforts mocked by the ghostly figure who vanished as quickly as he appeared.

Panic spread like wildfire through the slums, and the women of the East End began walking the streets with heightened weariness, their eyes darting to every corner, every stranger being a potential threat. In homes and pubs, in factories and markets, the topic on everyone's lips was the same. Who was this butcher, this fiend who seemed to delight in their terror?

Rumors swirled, suspects were named and discarded, and theories abounded. Yet the true identity of the most notorious murderer to ever stalk the night continues to remain a chilling enigma. And as the body count rose in the year 1888, so did the murder.

So too did the infamy of the killer, who would come to be known by a name that still evokes a shiver over a century later and has the true crime community in an absolute chokehold. A name that, according to author Robert Block, belongs to the world as surely as Shakespeare. And that name is Jack the Ripper. Ha ha ha! Yeah! Fog choked, bitch! Ha ha ha!

Oh, yeah. And I dedicate this one to you. Oh, my God. I can't believe I'm about to...

I was going to say something crazy. I'm going to say it. Say it. I'm going to pay attention. Oh, yeah. Imagine what this episode is going to be like now. Because when I am unfamiliar with something, I think out of protection, I just like when it gets really gnarly. Yeah. I just like tune out because I'm like, I can't know about more of these people. But I always obviously I'm still here and listening. Yeah, yeah. But this one, I feel like I'm about to sit through a seminar.

You asked that I signed up for. Well, you, you literally asked for this case. I mean, I'm going to say months ago and it's not that I didn't want to do it, but it is no joke. And there are ripperologists all over the world who know this case inside and out. So there's a lot of pressure, obviously, as there always is to get it right. Number one, but number two, there are so many avenues to explore. And I actually want to just bring this up quickly because,

I realize there are 500,000 ways to present this case and millions of pieces of evidence and nuanced information and theories and conversations that we could have. No piece of evidence too small. Right. So we could literally, I mean, there are entire documentaries about this, obviously, series, podcasts, books for decades, for centuries. Yeah.

So I pulled together what I consider to be the most interesting, the most relevant, the most fascinating, the most food for thought, right? Best of greatest hits. In my opinion. But I want people, the Ripperologists, to know that I know that I could have made a 500,000 page script right now.

So at least it's two parts. It's not just one. So I didn't trim all the fat, but I'm going to give you what I think you need to know about Jack the Ripper. The most notorious serial killer of all time, right? I'm going to argue that, yeah. Yeah. And I know nothing about it. I don't know who he killed, how, when, where. You will. Oh, my God. Okay, well, without further...

Without further, fog choked Victorian London streets. Oh, fuck yeah, man. It stuck with him already. It rattled my brain. I love it. I love to see you like this. I wonder if it was not easier for him to kill, but I wonder if the nighttime and the fog played into his ability to... And the windy alleyways and the fact that it was slums and there was no police presence or very little police presence. I mean... Because fog, you get less visibility in the night sometimes. And if they're both, you know... Yeah. Yeah.

If they're both choking out the Victorian streets of London, then... You're right. Bad time to be a citizen in Whitechapel. Very bad time, especially a female and a sex worker at that. So let's get into it, okay? So I'm going to start out by providing an overview of key pieces of information before we start. I'm going to give you some bullet points, basically, so that you can sort of pre-organize your thoughts. All right, let me pre-organize my thoughts. All right. This is how I learn best, so I'm just going to assume that it's going to work for you.

Between August 31st and November 9th of 1888, the Whitechapel area of London was the scene of 11 brutal murders.

As a whole, those 11 murders have been referred to as the Whitechapel murders. What were the years again? 1883, back to what? No, 1888, but it was between August 31st and November 9th. One year? Some of those murders, I should say, some of the 11 murders actually happened before August 31st, but five victims out of the 11 have been officially linked to Jack the Ripper, and they are known as the canonical five victims.

Okay, do you know what canonical means? Because I had to look it up, to be honest. Like the history or a story or something? It refers to something that has been accepted. It's sort of like authoritative. It's standard. It's officially recognized. All right, so there are only five out of the 11 Whitechapel murders that are deemed to be, for sure, Jack the Ripper victims. I've heard somebody say like...

This story has become canon. Okay. Meaning like it's not disputed. Exactly. Yeah. In part one and part two, we're going to be focusing on those confirmed canonical five Ripper victims. Okay. All right. All the five victims were women, all were sex workers, and all but one were horrifically mutilated.

The killer, who was dubbed Jack the Ripper, had a very clear signature and modus operandi and killed over the course of a nine-week period. The victims' names and exact dates of death are as follows. Mary Ann Nichols, August 31st, 1888. Annie Chapman, September 8th, 1888. Elizabeth Stride, September 30th, 1888. Catherine Edos, September 30th, 1888. And Mary Jane Kelly, November 9th,

That's the dates that they were killed. Yes. Okay, because I thought you were listing their birthdays and I was like, damn. No, no. A lot of September birthdays. Again, I'm just sort of laying a foundation so you can kind of keep these little tidbits in the back of your mind. And also, I wanted to name the victims by their names to give them the justice as human beings that they deserve.

There are countless theories and conspiracy theories out there relating to this case, and we will be exploring the main ones, which are absolutely mind-blowing. Really? And include English royalty, the Freemasons, and religious symbols and patterns.

Several suspects were and still are, depending on who you talk to, considered to be the killer responsible for the canonical five as well as the other six Whitechapel murders. So a lot of people think that one person was responsible for all 11. Others do not. And the canonical five...

How are they different than the other six? The evidence that was found just sort of unequivocally links to one person who has been named Jack the Ripper, whereas the other, technically based on evidence, not so conclusively linked. Got it. The police investigation was one of the most intense and complex operations of its time, yet faced numerous challenges and criticisms, which we will be exploring today.

And to that end, Jack the Ripper's identity continues to remain one of history's greatest unsolved mysteries. Crazy. I know. You still active? I think it's possible. Maybe, maybe, just maybe we're going to solve who he was. I would love that. Give me the info. Yeah. You're going to become a Ripperologist. I know it. I'll figure it out. This episode is brought to you by BetterHelp.

Investigator Slater. Yes, Tank? What are, if any, your self-care non-negotiables? Ooh, I must take cash for a walk every single day, rain or shine. I never skip leg day or therapy day. When your schedule is packed with kids' activities, big work projects, or whatever, it's easy to let your priorities slip. But I'm here to tell you, you are not one of those priorities that you should let slip.

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So, you know, I love therapy. Yes. I swear by it. I think it's done more for my life than maybe anything else out there. And it is a little inconvenient sometimes to drive to an appointment, sit there for an hour, then drive back. But I always made time for it because I read this thing long ago that said, time is not something that you have enough of ever. That's why you have to make time for something or create time for something if it's important to you. I always felt so good immediately after therapy and for the time in between appointments that I was like,

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Visit betterhelp.com slash psychopedia today to get 10% off your first month. That's betterhelp, H-E-L-P dot com slash psychopedia. Okay, so with all of those little bullet points said...

Let's get into the case. Whitechapel in the late 19th century was a microcosm of the broader social issues facing London and other industrial cities and reflected a cross-section of Victorian society. Throughout the century, economic migrants arrived in increasing numbers from regions such as East Anglia and Essex, where traditional agricultural and cloth-making industries had been decimated.

Large numbers of Irish immigrants also began arriving during the potato famines of the 1840s. Additionally, the area saw a significant influx of Jewish refugees fleeing religious persecution in Russia, Poland, and Romania. Anti-Semitism in the area was rife as Jewish immigrants dressed differently, spoke differently, and were accused of snapping up English jobs, thereby fueling resentment and tension amongst the already resentful and tense underbelly of the city.

I'm only going to say it once. Yeah. People have been people forever. Yeah. Like you're hearing what she's saying right now. This group of people is the problem. If they weren't here, I could do this. It's all bullshit. It's all absolute, just evasive, not wanting to take responsibility for your own life. Garbage. Okay. Always has been, always will be.

In fact, that entire area had become known as outcast London. But regardless of specific cultural or regional background, the influx of diverse populations led to dense, impoverished, and unstable living conditions in the entire area. Every single day in the east end of London was a daily battle for survival.

particularly in the District of Whitechapel. By 1888, the population of Whitechapel was approximately 76,000 people living within a one-square-mile area. Oh, my gosh. With over 55% of families confined to one-room accommodations. And even worse or harder, multiple families were often forced to share a single room within dilapidated housing. Oh, my gosh. Sanitation was poor.

non-existent, with horses and horse manure covering the streets, and most lives were lived in cramped alleyways, off the grid, and in the putrid shadows.

About 15,000 people were homeless and employment was primarily driven by unstable casual labor. Well, they all seem kind of homeless. I mean, if you're 12 people living in a one-bedroom apartment, you're... I think there's homeless and then there's homeless. You know what I mean? Yeah. It's not great conditions, but it's a roof over your head and a shared bathroom. True, true, true. Many residents worked in nearby docks, factories, or as street vendors...

if they worked at all. In Whitechapel during this time, there were 233 lodging houses where 8.5 thousand women, children, and men sought shelter within the decaying walls. Even within the lodging houses, not everyone could afford an actual bed and would be forced to use what was known as a rope bed for a very minimal fee. So this is what a rope bed was. People could sleep by folding themselves over

over a rope that was stretched across the room. Oh, my God. This method of resting was far from comfortable and did not provide proper sleep, obviously. I can't even sleep in a fucking king-size 14-inch... Exactly. ...super soft mattress. I can't even...

Well, this is interesting, right? So people would wake up feeling groggy and unwell the next day. I think. Hence the origin of the phrase hangover. That's where it came from. Really? Yeah. Oh my God. Yep. You've seen people sleep on the planes, right? Where they lean onto the tray table in front of them. Oh, I've done that. That to me is always like, how are you, how could you be doing that? But. Easily. But that's like. But I'm also small. So like for me, it's not like a.

Yeah. True. Yeah.

This legislation was intended to reform the system of poor relief in England and Wales by providing shelter and basic necessities in exchange for manual labor. But get this, the conditions in the workhouses, which house children as well, mind you, were made deliberately harsh and disgusting so as to discourage people from seeking public assistance immediately.

Jeez. Okay.

B, pick up dead rodents from the streets, store them inside their tucked-in shirts, and bring them back for mass burning. Oh, my God. C, manually crush the bones of large animals with human remains sometimes appearing as well to be used as fertilizer. B. No, I made that up. Ew, dude. The detail of that...

Large rodents inside their tucked shirts. Yeah. The devil's in the details, you know? No, you are the devil. The devil's right in front of me. See.

Yes. Isn't that wild? Crushing the bones? Yep. And sometimes human remains would mysteriously show up. Mysteriously? Well, I'm just saying. Oh, yeah. Unexpectedly. Fine. Yeah. Yes. This instability of the time forced many individuals to turn to crime and or sex work to survive. By October 1888, the Metropolitan Police estimated that 1,200 women were engaging in survival sex work. Out of the 76,000? Yeah. But it wasn't

76,000 women. No, no, I mean, yeah, yeah. But yeah, the canonical five were all women who either lived in or frequented Whitechapel and had been involved in sex work. Amazing that even in that type of conditions, the dilapidated slums, men will still carve out money for sex. Yeah, they will find a way. Fucking dirty. Why are men...

Given these conditions, Whitechapel, with its rampant poverty and desperation, became an ideal hunting ground for a killer like Jack. The chaotic area was teeming with the poor, the destitute, and those perpetually in fear for their lives.

In many ways, Jack the Ripper, whose crimes we're obviously going to start hearing about in like 25 seconds, became the very embodiment of the terror itself that gripped the area. To say nothing of the lack of law enforcement and the anonymity provided by the area's overcrowded and labyrinthine streets that essentially allowed him to strike with impunity. Yeah, his neighborhood was like Charles Entertainment cheese, but for killers. Basically, just as official too.

As the murders began, the fear and paranoia among the residents grew, making Whitechapel not just a place of economic despair, but also a psychological nightmare. Oh my God, yeah. Jack the Ripper's brutal crimes turned the district into a macabre, favorite word, said it twice now, symbol of Victorian London's underbelly, where the most vulnerable were preyed upon by a ruthless predator. Now, let's descend into the depths of this haunting tale.

The first unfortunate victim of the canonical five was a 43-year-old woman named Marianne Nichols. Marianne's mutilated body was discovered on Friday, August 31st, 1888 at 3.40 a.m. by a man named Charles Cross on the south side of Buck's Row in the Whitechapel District of London. Her corpse was found lying face up with her skirt raised almost to her stomach and

She had vicious gashes across her throat that were so deep they had nearly severed her head from its body. Marianne's hands were lying open by her sides, her legs were spread apart, and her eyes were fixed in a wide-open gaze of terror, frozen in a moment of sheer horror that seemed to capture her last desperate moments.

Mary Ann Nichols was, of course, pronounced what they refer to as life extinct by the medical examiner called to the scene, Dr. Reese Ralph Llewellyn. That was the terminology back then? Yep, like dead on the scene, dead on arrival, life extinct. It's like people saying unalive on TikTok now. I do see that a lot. I see that on YouTube as well. It's so dumb. It's because I wondered, like, do you run the risk of getting... They think it's one of those things that just caught fire. They think if they say was killed, killed, dead, kill...

killer, that somehow they're going to get flagged when it's like, they're just, people are so concerned with getting the most views possible. It's like one of those things where it's like, man, just say the word. I was watching actually a true crime clip on YouTube and it was about somebody who died by suicide, but this person didn't want to say suicide. So she kept saying self exit and it took

It took me a minute. I was like, I don't understand what this case is about. Yeah. Because self-exit was like confusing for me. Then I got it. But I guess that's another risky word to. It's not. It's just these people think, because they make so many videos. If one video doesn't do well and one does, they assume, oh, I have to do that. I have to do the thing that did well in the first video. I see. But really, it just could have been a better piece of content. Got it. But it has taken over by storm, the internet.

So the medical examiner, Dr. Reese Ralph Llewellyn, showed up at the scene, declared life extinct. And according to Dr. Llewellyn, Marianne could not have been dead for more than half an hour. What? As parts of her body and legs were still warm to the touch. Oh, my God. Interestingly, only a small amount of blood was left on the pavement beneath, about two wine glasses worth. It's interesting. They're measurements back in the day. Two cup of teas worth. That was funny.

This initially led investigators to believe that Marianne had been killed at a different location and then staged where she was found, or at the very least dumped at that second location where she was ultimately found. However, when Marianne's body was lifted off the pavement, it was discovered that her entire back had been soaked in blood, meaning that her dress likely absorbed much of it. And what time was she found? 3.40 a.m.,

But keep something in mind. I bring up the amount of blood that was found because later when we get into conspiracy theories, it is mentioned again. So just kind of keep this in your brain. Okay. Two wine glasses full of blood. Very good. Once back at the mortuary on Old Montague Street, after lifting up Marianne's dress, Dr. Llewellyn discovered that in addition to her near decapitation...

Marian's abdomen had also been savagely ripped open from her sternum to her groin, exposing her intestines and essentially disemboweling her. Thanks. Now, in terms of specifics, according to the autopsy report, Marian's throat had been cut from left to right in two distinct cuts, one four inches long and the other eight inches long.

The windpipe, esophagus, and spinal cord had been sliced through and both carotid arteries were severed. Marianne had a thumb bruise on her right lower jaw and a circular bruise on her left cheek, likely caused by the perpetrator holding her face tightly with one hand while striking her with the other.

The coating of Marianne's stomach was cut in several places and two small stabs from a strong bladed knife were made to her private parts. And the knife was not particularly long bladed either. There was a little controversy at the time about the length and size of the blade.

Again, when we talk about potential suspects, this becomes important. So I'm mentioning it now. But again, the cuts were made from left to right, leading Dr. Llewellyn to believe that the murderer was left-handed. So here they believe they have a clue. Additionally, Dr. Llewellyn believed that Marianne had been strangled and noted that her murderer had some, quote, rough anatomical knowledge, for he seemed to have attacked all the vital parts of

The murder could have been executed in just four or five minutes. And they would not know that back then, right? Typically, they wouldn't know the internal organs. Not like this. And when we go through the rest of the victims, it becomes very clear, I agree with Dr. Llewellyn, that the murderer had some type of anatomy problem.

knowledge. He was a learned doctor is what you're trying to say. He could have been a learned doctor. He could have been a medical student. He could have been somebody fascinated with the human body and studied it. But these were all relevant clues to explore. Or he could have just been a psychotic killer who wanted to make sure that he knew...

Exactly. What he was doing. He studied up for this reason. Yeah. At first, identifying Marianne was difficult, even though she had a small scar on her forehead, three missing teeth, and was small in stature, only about 5'3", which would have had her towering over me. Sounds huge. Whatever.

Eventually, as news of the crime spread, Marianne's former roommate from public housing named Ellen Holland, as well as another woman from the housing facility named Marianne Monk, identified her remains and notified both her father and her estranged husband that she'd been killed. So who exactly was she? And how the hell did she wind up in the history books as being conventionally regarded as the first victim of Jack the Ripper's reign of terror?

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Marian Walker was born on August 26, 1845 at Dawes Court off Shoe Lane in the City of London. She was the second of three children to Edward and Caroline Walker. Marian married William Nichols in 1864 when she was 18 years old in the Church of St. Bride's Fleet Street where a plaque actually now hangs to this day to commemorate their union there. The couple went on to have five children together, Edward, Percy, Alice, Elizabeth, and Henry. The

Over the next five years after Henry was born, Marianne began drinking very heavily. Her mental state worsened when her husband, William, had an affair with the nurse who cared for their youngest baby, Henry, after his birth.

And while William vehemently denied this affair, which he would do, Marianne was positively convinced of her husband's infidelity and sought solace in the bottle, which contributed towards the collapse of their marriage officially in September 1880. Did he have an affair? It's believed that he had an affair, yes. I actually think I remember reading a source that said he went on to marry this person, but I've read so much, so don't quote me on that.

Because the reason I bring that up is because as an alcoholic, sometimes, I'm not saying she did, but sometimes you will make up problems so that you can feel justified. Mm.

And just drinking more and more and more. But it doesn't mean it didn't happen at all. Right. I believe that he really did cheat on her, but she also had like very real issues, which we're going to get into right now. Yeah. So at this point, Marianne moved out of the family home and into a lodge house called Lambeth Workhouse, where William, her sort of now ex-husband, but not officially, continued to pay her weekly maintenance of about five shillings, like an allowance. Right.

until he discovered that Marianne was living a, quote, immoral life, likely meaning sex work, though some sources say that she moved in with another man, even though they were technically still married. Regardless... What about what he was doing? Exactly. Well, he denied it. William, at this stage, the point is that he stopped giving money to Marianne. So now she's drinking, and she has no source of income.

So by October 1887, she joined the hundreds of homeless individuals who were sleeping rough in Trafalgar Square and picked up odd jobs as a domestic servant here and there. By early August 1888, Marianne made her way to the east end of London where she moved into Wilmot's, which was a female-only common lodging house located at 18th Raw Street in Spitalfields. And I mentioned Spitalfields because you can't not mention it. No. Because it comes up in all the research and because it's Spitalfields. Great name. Yeah.

Shout out to the future Patreon. Spit a field of dreams. Here, she went by the nickname Polly, mentioning that because again, all the sources refer to her as Polly. This is Marianne still? Yeah, it gets a little confusing. I'm going to stick with Marianne. Yeah. She shared a room with an elderly woman named Ellen Holland. If you remember that name I mentioned five minutes ago, she would be the one to go on to later identify Marianne's butchered remains at the morgue.

So on the night of Marianne's death, after having her last drink at the frying pan pub at the junction of Thrill Street and Brick Lane, she was told that she lacked the four pence needed for a bed back at the workhouse, or Doss house, as it was referred to. So Marianne was denied entry and she was escorted out. Now, Marianne had been wearing a new bonnet that no one had seen her in before, but that she felt would help attract men to her who would pay her for sex instead

You're dying. I just saw you fighting that smile. Well, yeah. It's like me getting the Etna shoes and thinking I'm going to kickflip. Exactly. The bonnet is, I mean... But it might have been like a pair of like what sexy stilettos are today. Yeah, yeah. You know what I mean? It might have been like a... But that's even funnier to me to think of. Right. The fact that the bonnet was just like guys were going crazy.

Crazy. They were going mad for it. I've seen Marianne's bonnet, dude. I'm going to lose my fucking mind. She's going to ruin my life, dude. Man, imagine going back in time and just like, you'd be like, what the fuck are you wearing? Yeah. She'd think she was like hot shit. So, but I bring up the bonnet. Wait till these guys see this bonnet. Oh my God. Maybe because like it accentuated the face.

And if you had a pretty face, I don't know, whatever. I don't know why I'm trying to figure this out. Listen, drink a bonnet, scream fuckabees. I'm sorry. Put a bonnet on, scream fuckabees, drink tea. Eat chocolate. Yeah. But there's a reason I bring up the bonnet. Because those who know this case well will know that Mary Ann's famous last words spoken to the deputy keeper of the workhouse where she wanted to have a bed for the night, which is so sad, was this.

I'll soon get my DOS money. See what a jolly bonnet I've got now. They became like sort of somewhat famous last words. And those were literally her last words heard by anybody. I'll get my DOS money. So remember I said a DOS is another way to say a workhouse, a DOS house. So she's saying, I'll get my DOS money. I'll get my money to stay at this workhouse.

See what a jolly bonnet I've got now. Like, watch. Watch what I'm going to be able to do with this bonnet. See what a jolly bonnet I've got now. Yeah. It's sad. But with that said, Marianne headed off into the early morning, never to be seen alive again.

Inspector Frederick George Aberline from Scotland Yard, who came with 25 years experience on the force with the London Metropolitan Police, 14 of which he served in the slums of Whitechapel, was called to investigate her murder. He wound up becoming one of the most important detectives on the ground in this case. Off the bat, Inspector Detective Aberline, as well as the other detectives from Scotland Yard and with the J Division of the Metropolitan Police,

had nothing in the way of clues to help identify Marianne's murderer. There hadn't been any eye or ear witnesses, and obviously forensics back then was not at all what it is today. Yeah. On that note, pop quiz. What year did Scotland Yard get their first scientific laboratory? Okay. A, 1899. Okay. B, 1912. C, 1935. Okay.

What year did Scotland Yard get their first scientific laboratory? 1899. 1912 or 1935. I was going to impress you with my memory. Jeez. Fuck. I wanted to help you. I'm a good friend. See what a jolly bonnet I've got. Oh, boy.

1935. Very good. Yes, 1935. So the Fingerprint Bureau was established in 1901, but the full-on Metropolitan Police Forensic Science Laboratory wasn't established until 1935. Yeah, forensics, I mean, it's crazy to think.

about how all this stuff that just seems so given, like, yeah, of course, fingerprints. Watch out. Don't do fingerprints on the crime thing, whatever. I couldn't get it out, but you know what I mean. I knew exactly what you meant. But for like, who knows how many years. Yeah. Thousands and thousands of years, they were just touching everything at a crime scene without a- They were licking it. Without a care in the world. They could do whatever. They could take a nap. Yeah.

Oh my God. So in the absence of real clues, suspicion initially fell on three horse slaughterers who had been working nearby on the night of Marianne's murder.

However, 12 days later, without any motive or evidence to prove their guilt, the horse slaughterers or butchers were no longer considered suspects. And Marianne Nichols was laid to rest without her killer having been identified or brought to justice. She was buried in a polished elm coffin in the City of London Cemetery, Ilford, on the afternoon of Thursday, September 6th, 1888.

So they had one group of suspects that they thought may have done it and then they didn't and they were like, ah, forget it. For like a minute. And it made sense because they were located close. This woman was butchered. They figured that the killer had to have experience of some kind. Medical, abattoir, whatever.

At this stage, word of Mary Ann's brutal murder had spread like wildfire and people lived in paralyzing fear of the unknown homicidal maniac on the loose. Oh, just wait. Just wait is right. Because remember, though, before Mary was killed, two other women were brutally murdered in the East End as well. Remember, there were like 11 total. That are not part of the canonical five. Exactly. Okay.

which was my next line, they're not conventionally believed to have been victims of Jack the Ripper, who, by the way, I should mention this, he had not yet been given that sick moniker. Oh, yeah, of course. Those two victims who died before Marianne and Whitechapel were named Emma Smith and Martha Tabram. But in terms of keeping our coverage to the canonical five, the second confirmed victim of Jack the Ripper was 47-year-old London-born woman named Annie Chapman.

Like Mary Ann Nichols, Annie had also experienced a downward spiral at this later stage in life due to tough economic times, family issues, and a descent into alcoholism. Additionally, Annie had also been living with undiagnosed tuberculosis.

Throughout the 1880s, tragedy seemed to follow Annie Chapman wherever she went. She'd actually been given the nickname Dark Annie, although ironically the nickname was given to her apparently because she had dark, long, brown, wavy hair. But I feel like maybe that got funky in the history books and it was given to her because of her constant tragic circumstances. Yeah.

But that's my own, you know, musing. Annie's little boy, John, was disabled and had been placed in the care of a charitable school. That's what they called it. Her daughter, Emily, died of meningitis at age 12. And her other daughter, named Annie as well, joined the circus in France.

Her marriage with her husband, a coachman named John Chapman, fell apart, which is when Annie turned to alcohol for solace. So think about everything I just said about her children. Yep. And now she's drinking. Her marriage falls apart. John sent Annie periodic allowances until he died in 1886.

After which Annie supported herself by selling her crochet work as well as matches and fake flowers and supplemented her earnings with occasional sex work. So being a sex worker was like last ditch. Similar to Marianne Nichols, on the night of Annie's death, she too had been turned away from the boarding house where she'd been staying, which was called Crossingham's Lodging House due to not having the money.

And like Marianne, Annie indicated that she would return shortly with the money needed for a bed that night. I think this guy worked at the house or something. Hmm. Interesting. I mean, there were different lodging houses, these two women, but interesting theory. Yeah. I mean, I can't believe that. I can't imagine that theory has not been proposed to somebody. I gotta tell you, I researched. I don't think I came across that one. Damn. I'm saying. I am so smart. I'm saying. Like, yeah, you are. Yeah.

I should be a detective. It's never too late.

But like Mary Ann, sadly, Annie would not wind up returning with the money because at 6 o'clock a.m. on September 8th, 1888, outside 29 Hanbury Street in Spittifield, which is a district adjacent to Whitechapel, an elderly man named John Davis discovered Annie's horrifically mutilated body lying between the steps and the fence in the backyard of a private residence operating as a lodging house. In terms of the scene,

Annie's skirt had been hiked up to expose her private area and six spots of blood were found by Annie's head located 18 inches above the ground, as well as some clotted blood on the wooden fence behind her. According to the inquest conducted by divisional police surgeon, Dr. George Baxter Phillips. The what? The inquest, like the inquest that was done. Oh, okay. By the divisional police surgeon. So it's like the, it's like the Emmy. I,

I thought Inquest, I-N-Q-U-E-S-D. Yeah. I thought it was I-N-K something, like some kind of inkblot, Rorschach. Oh, no. I don't know what the hell I was thinking. No.

No, you're going too deep on that. I am. Dr. George Baxter Phillips said the following. Okay, so just prepare yourself for what I'm about to say. It's graphic. Quote, the face was swollen and turned on the right side and the tongue protruded between the front teeth, but not beyond the lips. It was much swollen. The small intestines and other portions were lying on the right side of the body on the ground above her right shoulder, but were still attached.

Oh my God. There was a large quantity of blood with a part of the stomach above the left shoulder. The body was cold, except that there was a certain remaining heat under the intestines in the body. Stiffness of the limbs were not marked, but it was commencing. The throat was dissevered deeply. I noticed that the incision of the skin was jagged and reached right round the neck. End quote. Okay. The fact that...

I'm trying to imagine being, so Spitalfield was a community adjacent to Whitechapel, right? Correct. But Whitechapel was a one square mile town with 76,000 people in it. Spitalfield was probably something similar, right? So you're dumping bodies in an area where there are an unfathomable amount of possible witnesses and eyeballs involved.

And you're doing it like as they're dying or right after they've died? Depends what you believe. I don't know. Yeah, it just is like... But this is why the bodies were warm when they were found. That's what I'm saying. Right? Because there's so many people. How long are you going to get? Oh, my God. Unbothered or unseen. Yeah. Again, like Marianne Nichols, the...

First victim, Annie's throat had been cut from left to right and bruising on her chin was discovered that suggested that her face was held in place with the perpetrator's right hand as the left hand cut her throat. It's believed that Annie was strangled before her throat was cut and her body mutilated, given her swollen tongue and the bruising around her neck and beneath her earlobes.

Additionally, since Annie's skin was not yet blanched at the time in which her body was discovered, she likely did not bleed to death. What does blanched mean? Pale, like a total loss of color. It's not blanched. Correct. It means that her throat was cut and her body was mutilated post-mortem. Because if she was alive, she would have actively bled out and she would have blanched. But as harrowing as all of this was, and it was, here's the most disturbing aspect. Mm. Mm, boy. Mm.

Part of Annie's abdominal wall, including the navel, as well as her uterus, the upper part of her vagina, and the greater part of her bladder were all missing. Very cool.

Just as Dr. Llewellyn had indicated in his post-mortem analysis of Marianne Nichols, police surgeon Dr. Phillips also indicated that Annie's killer demonstrated anatomical knowledge to a large degree. He even went so far as to say that not even he would have been able to conduct with such precision the incisions and extractions in under a quarter of an hour.

The uterus was removed entirely intact, and the murderer had divided the vagina low enough to avoid damage to the cervix. No meaningless cuts were made. Should we start calling him Dr. Jack the Ripper to give him his propers? His propers? He doesn't deserve it. Yeah, fuck this guy. You can call him Fuckface Ripper. I feel like one of the theories has to be that he is some kind of a medical professional, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Or an abattoirist.

like I said, 10 minutes ago. Yeah, well. It bears repeating, but yes. Yeah. Did you just want to say abattoir also? I did, yeah. You nailed it. Yeah. And you made it fancier. Yeah, I mean, he has to. Some guy just going out and trying to figure out the best way to detach a uterus from somebody, like, that's not going to happen on the fly. No, it is not.

According to Dr. Phillips, Annie was killed where her body was found. Now, 17 residents lived in eight rooms around the backyard where Annie was believed to have been killed, with five residents living directly above the scene of the crime. Yet, once again, not one person saw or heard anything conclusive at all.

However, there were three witnesses who either saw or heard Annie prior to the murder and or were in the vicinity of the murder and therefore able to help paint the timeline. Yeah, I mean, I guess he is hiring them for sex work, assuming, right? Right, under the pretense of sex work. Well, to get them somewhere where they wouldn't normally go with some guy on the street at 3 a.m. And then he is like...

holding their face, but also holding their mouth closed. Well, it's also, they believe that the victims were all strangled before anything else so that she couldn't scream. Yeah, you can't scream when you're getting strangled. Okay. Exactly.

Here's what the few witnesses saw and or heard, which helps to paint a picture of the timeline. One, a neighbor named Elizabeth Long, who was in the area of 29 Hanbury Street at 5.30 a.m., claims to have seen and heard Annie speaking with a man of a, quote, shabby genteel appearance, was around 40 years old and slightly taller than Annie, wearing a dark brown deerstalker hat and a long black coat.

Dear stalker hat. I think it's the one with the flaps on the side. Oh, like the most London hat of all time. Oh, yeah. The Dr. fucking Sherlock Holmes hat. Yes. He also appeared to be a quote-unquote foreigner with a dark complexion. Mrs. Long reported hearing the man ask Annie, will you? And Annie replied, yes.

Maybe like an exchange for sex under the guise, anyway. Yeah, yeah. Okay, the second witness, John Richardson, a carman, later testified that he was in the backyard of 29 Hanbury Street around 4.45 a.m. in the morning. Obviously, it's in the morning, I said a.m., which is 15 minutes before the previous witness I just talked about to check the cellar door. And he said at that time, he did not see anyone alive or dead. Okay. So now only 15 minutes later, suddenly a witness is saying she saw Annie dead.

and a man. Yeah, that's how things work. People appear. Quickly. Yeah, I mean, 15 minutes, it could appear in two and a half seconds. You're right. And the third witness, Albert Kadish, he lived at 27 Hanbury Street and later testified that he heard voices coming from the direction of 29 Hanbury Street, the backyard area, around 530.

Shortly after, he heard a noise that sounded like something or someone falling against the fence. So 4.45, no one. 5.15. 5 o'clock. Oh, 5 o'clock, the woman sees the shabby genteel man. Right. With the deerstalker hat. 5.15, this guy sees. 5.30. 5.30.

4.45, 5, 5.30, this guy sees and hears something. Exactly. Okay. Exactly. That's actually a lot longer than I would think. Yeah, 45 minutes. Yeah. Like, to your point, a lot can happen in two seconds. Yeah. Essentially, though, the timeline provided by these witnesses was crucial for understanding the events surrounding Annie Chapman's murder while helping to pinpoint the time of death, the sequence of events, and, crucially...

a description of the suspect. Yes. And lastly, in terms of Annie's tragic and ghastly murder scene, the contents of her pockets appear to have been removed and intentionally arranged by her feet. The contents included a piece of coarse muslin. Do you know what muslin is? No. It's like a fabric. A small toothed comb in a paper case and a scrap of envelope containing two pills. Okay.

Removed from Annie's fingers were the brass rings that she had been known to wear, which fueled a wild-ass conspiracy theory that her death was Masonic in nature, which I promise, promise, promise we're going to dive, like, very deep into when we discuss conspiracy theories, but for now, put it on ice. Okay. But the arrangement of Annie Chapman's personal belongings near her feet indicated several things to the police that were investigating her murder—

One, that the perpetrator maintained a level of composure and control at the crime scene enough to stage it, showing that he wasn't panicked. You're getting some insight into his psychology.

Two, that there may have been a ritualistic element to the crime. Yeah. Three, that the perpetrator had a signature behavior, which was something to look out for in the future, should there be additional victims, which, spoiler, of course there were. Yep. And four, that the perpetrator was attempting to control the narrative of the crime scene, whether he was trying to throw detectives off his scent, whether he was leaving clues. However you look at it, it could have suggested that he was trying to control the narrative.

Annie Chapman was buried in the City of London Cemetery in Manor Park, London. Her burial took place on September 14th, 1888, six days after her murder. Due to the practice of reusing burial plots, her exact resting place within the cemetery is now sadly unknown. I said, I mean, as they should.

I mean, I guess what's the alternative? They're doing it only because they have to, but it's sad that there's no indication of where she's buried. I know, but like every hundred years or so, like all the person, all that family's gone. Nobody's, you know what I mean? Like,

I don't know. The casket is completely disintegrated. The body's disintegrated. Yeah, but it's... How long do you want your grave to be? Well, I want to be cremated and mixed with my dogs and Firefighter Dave. And then I don't really personally care what happens from there. Yeah. I mean, I think claiming a piece of land for eternity is a little selfish. When you say it like that... I called shotgun on this spot forever. Yeah.

So by now, and even before now, the media response following Annie Chapman's murder was intense, and it was sensational. Yeah, this is the second one. Now they're really getting it. Yeah. Well, second or fourth. You know what I mean? But yes, we're going to say the second one.

It was a total frenzy, a buffet of salacious, gruesome information on which journalists feasted before regurgitating it to the community. Sounds like me with the cured meats and cheese. I almost did regurgitate last night. I did wake up with a food hangover this morning. Oh, I ate a lot. Wait, the s'mores cookies? Well, when you heated it up, I knew it was over for you. Yeah, that's it.

The murder of Marianne Nichols had already shocked the public, but the brutal killing of Annie just eight days later escalated the fear and hysteria, not just in Whitechapel, but also in quote-unquote civilized England as well.

The Daily Telegraph even published the following piece, quote,

Oh, my God. Who wrote with, was that one of your ancestors or something? Very good.

The press played a significant role, which is my point, in shaping public perception of the murders. Journalists even began inserting themselves into the investigation and published emotional, outrageous information aimed at suggesting police incompetence

and starring public outcry. They even went so far as to provide investigative suggestions to law enforcement in newspapers. So they would like publish something like basically talking shit to the cops, like try this, try doing that. And they even insisted that Annie Chapman's eyes be photographed in the event that her retinas had retained images of her murderer, which actually apparently they tried.

Wow, really? Like her fucking retina is going to be like a negative, a film negative or something? That was the suggestion. Some journalists even went so far as to do which of the following things? I feel a pop quiz coming. Pop quiz?

I knew it. A, plant false evidence to create even more salacious content. This is the reporter telling the police to do... It's what else do journalists do? They even went so far as to do which of the following things? Plant false evidence. Dress up as sex workers and prowl the streets at night. C, conduct secret interviews with potential suspects to publish exclusive stories.

So, plant false evidence, pose as sex workers, or the last thing? Arrange for secret interviews with potential suspects and then publish exclusives. Ooh, I think it's B.

Yes. Very good. That was the most ridiculous one. Yeah. Yeah. Isn't it though? They dressed up as women and prowled the streets at night. Wait, dressed up as women? So it was men? It was male journalists dressing up as female sex workers hoping to be approached by the Ripper himself. Jack the Ripper probably saw them from a mile away. Oh my, you could smell it. I don't think so. He's a female anatomy expert, basically. Yeah. Yeah.

Vigilante watch groups, like one called the Mile End Vigilance Committee, were set up around Whitechapel in September of 1888 so that ordinary citizens could join the efforts in bringing Jack the Ripper's reign of terror to an end once and for all. But first, they had to find him. Yeah. And for a hot minute, they thought they had. Because there existed a man who ominously became known as Leather Apron.

And Leather Apron was a man named John Pizer who was a Polish Jew who worked as a bootmaker and wore a leather apron. That is such an 1880s description of somebody. Isn't it just? A Polish Jew who was a bootmaker. Wearing a leather apron. According to sex workers in the Whitechapel area, Leather Apron was known to carry a knife, wear slippers, and attempt to extort and intimidate the sex workers.

He beat sex workers and scared the shit out of them, which they conveyed to law enforcement. John's behavior was both bizarre and menacing, according to witnesses, which landed him in the hot seat in terms of potential suspects.

However, the situation was far more complex and became less about the fact that the man in the apron was suspected of murder and more about the fact that the man in the apron was Jewish. The intense scrutiny placed on John Pizer highlighted the deep-seated prejudices of the time and transformed a criminal investigation into a focal point for societal tensions.

The fear and anger that permeated Whitechapel were exacerbated by existing anti-Semitic sentiments, making Pizer a convenient scapegoat.

This shift in focus from evidence-based suspicion to ethnic and religious profiling not only impeded the investigation, but also intensified the cultural and social unrest within the community. Yeah. I was just looking to see if this was during the same time, like in the Les Mis universe. Oh, yeah. The Les Mis was 1832. Okay. Doesn't seem like much change then.

The thing I'm focusing on the most internally is how much it sounds like this could be something that happened, everything, all the aspects, last week. Yeah, because people are just people. People are people. It's not just CNN, Fox, and all the major news stations trying to get...

the worst piece of news imaginable and putting their opinion to it. Yeah. Talking about 1880s reporters. Yeah, you're right. Ultimately, John Pizer was able to provide alibis for the times of the murders and he was cleared by the police. However, the resulting backlash against the Jewish community left a lasting stain on the investigation and created an atmosphere of mistrust and anxiety that

that not only complicated the efforts to capture the real murderer, but also deepened the social divides within the community.

So there's unrest fucking everywhere. So because this guy, this potential suspect, was Jewish, the whole Jewish community was now on notice. It became about hating Jewish people and further villainizing Jewish people than it was about the murders themselves. Unfortunately, this is when the real killer amongst all of this extra unnecessary chaos decided to strike again on September 20th, 1888. Twice. Hmm.

The first victim found on that day, who was victim number three of the canonical five, was Swedish immigrant Elizabeth Stride, also known as Long Liz. Before I tell you about the state of her body... Dark Annie, Long Liz. Yeah, pretty simple back then in terms of... Anything was original back then. Good point. Good point. Yeah.

But before I tell you about the state of her body, which is heartbreaking, let me first tell you a bit about the woman. Yes. Elizabeth Stride was born Elizabeth Gustavusdottir in Sweden on November 27th, 1842. She was raised on a farm and took up work as a domestic servant when she turned 17. After marrying John Thomas Stride in 1869, the pair moved to the east end of London where they opened a coffee shop in Crisp Street, Poplar.

Unfortunately, Elizabeth and John separated around 1877, after which Elizabeth began residing at various common lodging houses and occasionally engaging in sex work. Your theory is fucking brilliant, Tank. Why? That the killer may have been involved in workhouses and such because each... Oh, yeah. Right, just...

I don't know. Well, there's like, there's a, I mean, this is not like a new theory. There's not a hot take. No, it's, I mean, in regards to this, it might be, but like, I've heard of people that have been at a restaurant, walked out and gotten robbed. Theory is that like there's someone at the restaurant that works there going, all right, this guy is with this woman. This is how they're dressed. He's got like $120,000 watch on. I know it. I'm going to call you when he's leaving. I'm going to text you when he's leaving. Okay. He's out. So,

So they're like, you know, crime is so prevalent and there's so many different ways to do crime. Yeah. Well, that's for sure. Yeah. As evidenced by the fact that we're on episode number 70 something. We have not even scratched the tip of the iceberg. We have not. Mix of sayings there. I like it. No, I know. Oh, you did that on purpose? I Kendricked it. That's cute. Yeah. Okay. Okay.

Unfortunately, as I mentioned, Elizabeth and John separated and she began engaging occasionally in sex work. Over the next few years, Elizabeth began drinking heavily and made numerous appearances before magistrates on charges of being drunk and disorderly. That said, she was described as having a calm temperament, rarely fought with anyone, was good-natured, and would do a good turn for anyone.

On Saturday, September 29th, 1888, Elizabeth Stride spent her afternoon cleaning two rooms at the lodging house for which she received six pence from the deputy keeper. All you need is four. That's correct. That's impressive. And I over exaggerated my response. By 630 p.m., she was enjoying a drink at the Queen's Head Pub located at the junction of Fashion Street and Commercial Street.

After returning to the lodging house, she got dressed for a night out on the town and left around 7.30 p.m. Over the next five hours, there were several sightings of her, and by midnight, she'd made her way to Burner Street off Commercial Road.

Mm-hmm.

It's highly likely that Schwartz actually witnessed the early stages of her murder by Jack the Ripper. Yeah, sure. At 1 a.m., Louis Deimschultz, who's the steward of a club adjacent to Dutfield's yard, arrived on Burner Street with his pony and barrow. How?

How 1888 is that line? Yeah. As he turned into the yard, his pony shied and pulled left. Peering into the darkness, Lewis could see a dark shape on the ground. He tried lifting it with his whip but failed, so he struck a match to see what he was looking at.

Despite the wet and windy conditions, the brief flicker of light revealed a woman lying on the ground. It's probably so dark. And beneath the light, though, a pool of blood was evident beneath the woman who had like a checkered print silk scarf turned left and tied around her neck. Oh, to cover her.

Right. The police and a doctor were summoned at 1 a.m. and confirmed that the woman, Elizabeth Stride, was life extinct. Although her throat had been cut like the previous two victims and her windpipe was severed in half, her body was not mutilated. This led the police to believe that Louis Dimeschutz had interrupted the killer. Mm-hmm.

Less than an hour after Elizabeth Stride's body was discovered, the eviscerated body of Catherine Edos was found by a beat cop in Mitre Square, a financial district in London, just a short distance from where Elizabeth's body had just been found. Catherine had been viciously, viciously attacked. Her throat was cut and her body was severely mutilated. Yeah. As indicated by the responding coroner, P.C. Edward Watkins, quote,

I saw the body of a woman lying there on her back with her feet carrying the square and her clothes up above her waist. I saw her throat was cut and her bowels protruding. She was ripped up like a pig in the market. I have been in the forest a long while, but I never saw such a sight. So he definitely got interrupted then. I believe so. Because she took on the mutilation of two people at once. Right. Yeah. Yeah.

And he is escalating. How so? The mutilations were escalating. Okay. Not with the one that he likely got interrupted killing. No, I'm saying that definitely happened. Yeah. And then he took that out on the next person. On this second victim of the night. Yeah. A second coroner named Dr. Frederick Gordon Brown reported that Elizabeth's entrails were wrapped around her cut throat.

and then placed over her right shoulder, leaking fecal matter, while about two feet of intestines were intentionally placed between her body and her left arm. Her throat had been cut so deep that her head was barely attached. Her nose had been cut off her face and repositioned on the right cheek just above her jawline, and her ear was also mutilated.

Additionally, she had V-shaped slashes carved into her skin just beneath her eyes. And that coroner said, quote, a more dreadful sight I never saw. It quite knocked me over. And lastly, Elizabeth's left kidney and uterus were missing. Like the other victims, sadly, the brutality of Catherine's murder had showcased the killer's gruesome precision. Mm-hmm.

Now, before Elizabeth was killed, a witness by the name of Joseph Lewendy recalled seeing her speaking with a man outside Dutfield's yard at about 1245 a.m. He described the man as being about 30 years old, between 5'7 and 5'8, medium build, wearing a dark coat, having a fair mustache and fair complexion, and the look of a sailor. That's what he said.

what he said. It is entirely possible that Joseph saw Jack the Ripper. Yeah. But even more crucial was the fact that the Ripper had left behind his first clue. Ooh. On the fourth body. Yes. No. Oh. I was going to say the plot. Oh, yeah. But first, I have one more sentence. Okay.

At 2.55 a.m., PC Alfred Long turned into Galston Street, and there, in a doorway, was... Pop quiz. A. A piece of a bloody apron and a cryptic message written on the building wall. Okay. B. A deerskin hat and a broken pocket watch. C. A sailor's cap and a brass ring. Deerskin or deerstalker? Deerstalker. Okay. Okay.

So an apron, the hat with the thing. An apron with a message written on the building wall. Yeah, yeah. The hat and a pocket watch or a sailor's cap and a brass ring. Well, if it was a hat and a pocket watch, I mean, that's really Sherlock Holmes-ing it up. Okay. Where do you think Sherlock Holmes, like, got the vibe from? You think Sherlock Holmes is based on Jack the Ripper? Maybe I mention it in a little while. We'll see. Okay. All right.

The apron or the Captain whatever the fuck Navy. Crunch? Captain Crunch cereal box. A.

Yes. Knew it. Crushing it. Totally knew that. You were not stammering on your words and blinding in the, blinding, shooting blind. You knew it. I was not guessing at all. Well, well done. Okay, so first, a piece of bloody apron taken from Catherine Ito's body with which the murderer had presumably wiped his hands and cleaned his knife was found. And why is this important, you ask? Well. Did I? Yeah.

I wish you would. It helped investigators establish a more precise timeline as well as the route taken by the killer. Yes. This geographical link suggested the killer moved between those two areas where the body was found and where the apron was found. Now, this wound up complicating the investigation due to jurisdictional boundaries, but it at least provided something in the way of new information.

And the second clue left behind was a message written in chalk on the wall above the doorway where the apron was found. And the message said this, the Jews spelled J-U-W-E-S. J-U-W-E-S? The Jews are the men that will not be blamed for nothing. The grammar's...

Unfathomable. Yes. That's how my first grader would spell Jews. Yeah. Yeah. Phonetically spelled.

The message, which may or may not have been written by the Ripper, ignited and continues to ignite conspiracy theories up the fucking wazoo. Some theorize that the message was written by the killer and intended to further incite anti-Semitic sentiment. The misspelling of Jews and shitty grammar might have been intentional to make it seem like the author was not a native English speaker, thereby directing suspicion towards the Jewish community.

Others theorize that the message was a red herring and otherwise meaningless, just created to distract law enforcement from looking into real clues. And of course, others think it was just graffiti that was left by someone totally unrelated to the crimes. Oh, wait, what did it say again? The Jews are the men? The Jews are the men that will not be blamed for nothing. That will not be blamed.

It's a lot of double negatives. It's tough, but I think... But also, to be fair, I think back then being able to write at all was like high level. Probably also in that area, but you're right. So even just the fact that somebody wrote it could suggest like an educated person or somebody from a different area. I studied anatomy way more than grammar. Right, right. Yeah.

Or was the grammar intentionally fucked up? Maybe. So just put this on ice because we circle back to it when we dive into conspiracy theories, which is in part two. Again, because of where the message was left, now the city police have been looped into the investigation. And they were already butting heads with the Metropolitan Police as the city police wanted to keep the message up longer and look into it while the Met wanted to eliminate it.

But at 5.30 a.m. on the morning of Elizabeth's murder, the Metropolitan Police Chief Commissioner, Sir Charles Warren, arrived and in a highly controversial move, ordered the message be erased before it could even be photographed. Ooh. Both law enforcement agencies were feeling pretty low at this point. And you need to remember what I just said, by the way. That they were told? Yeah, that the police commissioner said, take it down immediately. Because it's...

Part of a conspiracy theory. Well, I'm making my own conspiracy theory. Oh, good, good. Your wheels are spinning. Yeah. Two murders on that night alone had been committed essentially right below their noses and they still hadn't been able to prevent the crimes from happening or from catching the perpetrator. I think they were in on it.

It's a theory. On October 2nd, 1888, there was a huge demonstration by the unemployed in Hyde Park that centered around a banner that said, the Whitechapel murders, where are the police? Yeah.

But the police were not exactly taking these murders lying down either. Extra patrol officers and undercover operatives were peppered throughout the area. Some officers, like the journalist that I mentioned earlier, even dressed up as women and posed as sex workers in an undercover effort. Door-to-door inquiries were made and over 2,000 residents were questioned. 76 butchers and slaughterhouses were visited. Sailors from nearby docks were interrogated.

80,000 flyers were distributed, essentially instructing citizens, if you see something, say something. This is all in Whitechapel? Yeah. 76 butchers? I mean, there's 76... I mean, it could have been the areas around Whitechapel also. 1,000 people. Yeah. That is... Packed in. I mean...

That is so, and I'm sure they weren't, they weren't high rises back then. It's not like they were, you know. Not to my knowledge. I shouldn't say that so definitively. No, I mean, there definitely weren't. Maybe they were maybe two, three stories max back then. Yeah.

In the weeks following the double murder, it's largely considered to have seen the most important developments of the entire case. In fact, this is when the moniker Jack the Ripper was officially born. Ooh. Pop quiz. Okay. How was the moniker Jack the Ripper officially birthed? Okay. A, it was a title given by Queen Victoria to describe the brutal nature of the murders during a public address. Okay.

B, it came from a letter sent to a news agency by the alleged killer himself who signed the letter, Jack the Ripper. C, it was a pseudonym created by a famous playwright who was fascinated by the murders and wrote a play about them. Oh my God. Can I use a lifeline?

So it was, what was the first option again? Queen Victoria. Queen Victoria. A letter sent in by the killer and then... A pseudonym by it. Pseudonym by a playwright. A. False. C. False.

False. Very good. Back on track. B. It's the tank we know and love. Welcome back. Correct. On September 29th, 1888, following the murder of victim number two, Annie Chapman, and the timeline will make sense, so just stay with me, okay? The self-identified real killer sent a taunting, boastful letter to the central news agency addressed to the boss, which he signed as Jack the Ripper. And now we know he's literate.

If it's him. Well, whoever's writing the letter is literate. Right. Yeah. And the letter, which was written in red ink and now famously known as the Dear Boss letter, said this. You're going to read it. Oh, okay. It's in red. Okay. And do your best Jack the Ripper voice. Why am I reading this? Because I just want to add some creative flair to the episode. Okay. All right.

Dear boss, I keep on... I regret this already. Uh, try to do like a... Yeah, I know, I want you to channel. No, I can't. Yes, you can. You can and you will. Dear boss, I keep on hearing the police have caught me, but they won't fix me just yet. I have laughed when they look so clever and talk about being on the right track. That joke about Leather Apron gave me real fits.

I am down on whores and I shan't quit ripping them till I do get buckled. Grand work the last job was. I gave the lady no time to squeal. How can they catch me now? I love my work and want to start again. You will soon hear of me with my funny little games. I saved some of the proper red stuff in a ginger beer bottle over the last job to write with, but it went thick like glue and I can't use it. Red ink is fit enough, I hope. Ha ha.

The next job I do, shall clip the ladies' ears off and send to the police officers just for jolly wouldn't you? Keep this letter back till I do a bit more work, then give it out straight. My knife's so nice and sharp, I want to get to work right away, if I get a chance. Good luck, yours truly, Jack the Ripper. Don't mind me giving the trade name. Wasn't good enough to post this before I got all the red ink off my hands. Curse it, no luck yet. They say I'm a doctor now. Ha ha.

I obviously knew you would knock that out of the park. If they gave podcast awards for whatever I just did. Awesomeness. Yeah, I would definitely win. He mentioned in the letter, which arrived to the news agency after victim number two, that he was going to mutilate the ear. What did I tell you? Oh, yeah. Yes. Yes. And he attempted to write this letter in blood, but it congealed, so he used red ink. Mm-hmm.

And then he signed it, Jack the Ripper. But it went quite thick. It did indeed. And this is where we leave off with part one. Oh, wow. But the story is far from over. We still have the Ripper's final victim to discuss who, tragically, if you can even believe it, displayed the worst form of violence and mutilation out of all of the women. Wow. In part two, we're also going to discuss the major conspiracy theories regarding Jack the Ripper.

some potential suspects as well as his criminal and psychological profile. You are so excited. I love it. It's so fascinating. I'm devastated for the victims. Yeah. Truly. Above all else. Yeah. But analyzing the Ripper has been a fucking trip. For you. Yeah. Yeah. And I hope our listeners as well. So please. You're going to become a Ripperologist. Come back.

For part two. Yeah, it's not going to take long. Don't worry. We're going to hook you guys up. Wink, wink. All right. So, I mean, I want to say nothing except the necessary words for us to stop this episode and get to the next case. But do you have a tank tidbit for us? You want to say that, right? Nope. I do have a tank's tidbit. So...

This is something that appeared in my consciousness during COVID, right? So I feel like everyone has, first of all, I was listening to something last night, like your time is your time.

Everyone else is a part of your story, but they're also on their time. Like your kids have their own time, birth to death. Your parents, birth to death. People you meet on the street, birth to death. Like they're all parts of your time, but your time is your time and your time only. So you have to take care of yourself.

If you want to have a happy, fulfilling, free, joyous life, right? If you don't or you don't even think it's possible for you, that's a different story. But it is available to you. But you have to clean up. You got to clean up all the stuff that got jammed up inside you over the years. Usually painful experiences, which are, you know, Michael Singer says, if something's stored with pain, it's going to be released with pain. And you have to be willing to go through that. Damn. Yeah.

So during COVID, I was operating, in my opinion, as far as spiritual, emotional health and wellness goes, at like 98%. I was pretty good. I was like very close most of the time. I would slip up here and there, obviously. But for the most part, like percentage-wise, doing great. The problem is, like I imagined...

Somebody driving past my house, aka my life or my soul or my whatever, and seeing a manicured lawn, beautiful home, cars, everyone's happy playing outside, whatever. I'm inside the house driving myself crazy because there's some dust in the corners of this massive, beautiful mansion, right? So...

I took the time during COVID to clean out those corners as best as I possibly could. You mean not literal corners. You mean like of your brain? Of my brain. Okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Took me a second. Got it. No, no, no. So I'm in the metaphorical house. Oh, this is metaphorical. I literally thought this happened during COVID. No, no, no. So I'm in my metaphorical house, my spiritual home. And from the outside looking in, it's like, man, wow, really?

really like seem to have it all together somewhat. Yeah. You know, but I, because I know where the dust is, can only focus on the dust. So there's one of two things. You can either keep focusing on it

I'm sorry, three. Keep focusing on it, forget about it, and realize that like 98% is 100% or clean up the fucking dust. But then I thought of the exact opposite where people go through life and when painful experiences happen, you lodge it inside your being because you want to make sure that you never feel that again. And when good things happen, you lodge those in your being because you want to make sure that

You know, you don't forget how good it once felt to be you, even for a moment. So everything winds up getting jammed up inside you. So the opposite of like a clean house would be like a hoarder. But like people hoard pain and they don't even realize it. People who hoard don't realize it. But once you're hoarding pain, your whole life is filled with just like, ah, fuck that. No, fuck that. Fuck this guy. Fuck that experience. Whatever. Oh, everything sucks. It's like, dude.

You're so dirty inside. Yeah. Take a week and just put a dent in it. You know what I mean? And try and... That takes work, maybe professional guidance. Yeah. Because it's not easy. Maybe you need to hire a cleaning company. Right. You may not... To get you started. Exactly. You may not have the right chemicals to clean it out at that point. Yeah. You may need help. Right. Yeah. So just something to be aware of. If you find like you're constantly frustrated and annoyed and whatever...

I'm not saying it's your fault, but it is your responsibility. Yeah. Yeah. Very good. Thank you. That's it. Those big, big titties. Huge.

Oh, man. Well, I thank you, Tank, for making it through that part one. Oh, that was nothing. Yeah. Oh, good. That was light work. And you loved it. Yeah. Because we've had different cases before and I worry about you sitting over there. How many more pages is it? Exactly. I need a break. Three? Fuck. No, you're in it. You're in it. Yeah, I'm in it. So I'm going to end this episode, right, so that we can get them into the next episode. I want to say thank you for listening or watching. Thank you. And we'll see you guys in the next episode in like

Two seconds. Thanks for listening. Bye. Bye.