Jack the ripper real story movie. Who exactly was Jack the Ripper

Some secrets and mysteries are destined to remain unsolved. These include the history of the brutal murders that shook London at the end of the 19th century. We are talking about the biography and personality of Jack the Ripper - a butcher who took the lives of women in a poor area of ​​Victorian England.

Victims

The murders of the brutal maniac of the nineteenth century were committed in the area of ​​London, which rightfully deserved the title of the sewer of the East End. Whitechapel in 1888, overcrowded with emigrants and poor rabble, dirty and criminal, this is a picture of the scene of Jack the Ripper. It is not surprising that out of desperation and need, most women were engaged in an ancient profession.

Police estimated that there were 62 brothels and about 1,200 prostitutes in Whitechapel. Women of easy virtue became the object of a maniac's hunt. In a place like Whitechapel, dozens of murders were committed every day, including prostitutes who were unprotected by anything and no one. Therefore, the number of crimes of Jack the Ripper is not exactly known, ranging from 5 to 14. However, researchers agree that five of them, called canonical, were committed by a maniac.

All of them were distinguished by the extreme cruelty of execution, the unchanged location in the East End and the identity of the occupation of the murdered women. The victims' throats are slit with two deep stabs of the blade, the abdomen is opened and removed. internal organs, some of them the killer took with him.

Mary Ann Nichols, or Polly, as her friends called her, was the first to fall from the killer's knife in August 1888. The 42-year-old woman had a husband and five children, but she drank herself and found herself on the social bottom. On the night of the murder, not finding money for a rooming house, she went to earn extra money. At four in the morning, Polly's still warm body is found by a passerby.

The next to be killed was 47-year-old "Dark Annie" - Annie Chapman, an alcoholic with severe tuberculosis and syphilis. The day before, Annie got a black eye in a fight over a bar of soap. The unpresentable appearance did not allow the woman to earn money to pay for the night. Wandering through the night streets of Whitechapel in search of a client ended in brutal reprisal for the prostitute.

A passer-by prevented Elizabeth Stride ("Long Liz") from completing the Ripper's usual abdominal opening procedure. The body of the fourth victim of the maniac remained intact, only crown wounds of the throat caused death. However, the killer made up for lost time just 45 minutes later, killing and disemboweling Katherine Eddowes. Despite the limited time, the maniac took with him the woman's uterus and kidney.

The most brutal is the murder of the last canonical victim of the Ripper. The young and attractive Mary Jane Kelly was found tormented beyond recognition in her room on November 9, 1888. Photos of the victim, preserved in the police archives, amaze with the insane fury of the massacre. The maniac had more than enough time to literally turn the girl inside out - the internal organs were scattered around the room, and the killer took Mary Jane's heart with him.

Investigation

The story of Jack the Ripper gained publicity thanks to the maniac's outright mockery of the London police. In addition, the Flesh Tearer sent several letters to the press and constables, who were powerless to catch him.

The first letter, "Dear Boss," was initially found to be a forgery. However, three days later, the body of Katherine Eddowes is found with half of her ear cut off. The author of the letter promised to do this with the next victim, so the police had to recognize the authenticity of the message. In this letter, the maniac comes up with his nickname.

The next news from the maniac was the postcard "Daring Jackie". By the way, later the police declared that the letters were fake, and the hoax-journalist who sent both letters was identified.

The final macabre letter was a "Message from Hell" accompanied by part of a kidney from the murdered Eddowes. Researchers are skeptical about all the messages sent by the maniac, their truth still causes controversy and disagreement.

In addition to postage, the file contains information about graffiti made near the site of the death of Stride and Eddowes. Near the wall, on which the inscription was made in chalk, a bloody piece of Eddowes' apron was found.

The exact wording of the text is unknown, since the photo is missing from the materials, and the graffiti itself was erased at the direction of the constable. It is known that the message had an anti-Semitic meaning. By the way, many historians are inclined to believe that the inscription had nothing to do with the murders, and the apron was thrown away after it was made.

One way or another, a series of brutal crimes stirred up the London public. The case, which received wide publicity in the press, and the helplessness of law enforcement officers outraged the residents of the capital. The rumor about the Ripper reached . Infuriated, the head of the country gave a dressing down to the prime minister, the question of reforming Scotland Yard was raised.

Shortly after the events of Whitechapel, the police had a criminal division and a fingerprint file. The secret of the identity of Jack the Ripper has not been established. Maniac just disappeared for unknown reasons. Until now, the solution captivates contemporaries. It is not surprising that the killer became the hero of books, films and TV shows. A whole area of ​​investigation was formed - ripperology.

Alleged killers

Contemporaries of Jack the Ripper, as well as ripperologists, put forward a lot of conjectures regarding the individuals suspected of murder. None of the versions is reliably proven and remains only a theory. By the way, even the assertion that the Ripper was a professional surgeon, which made it possible to extract the internal organs of the victims with incredible speed, is in doubt.

Some of the medical experts who worked on the case of the maniac argued that for such executions it was enough to master the butcher's craft. And in one of the letters, the killer laughingly mentions the absurdity of such a theory.

The list of suspects is built mainly on conjecture and speculation, circumstantial coincidences and suspicions. Even the woman Mary Piercy, later hanged for the murder of her lover's wife, was among the possible killers.

John Druitt, Montagu's lawyer, who committed suicide, was the candidate for the role of the Ripper, after which the murders of Whitechapel prostitutes stopped. The police also named the name of a Polish emigrant who poisoned three wives, for which he was executed.

One of the most likely candidates for maniacs is Aaron Kosminsky, a young hairdresser in Whitechapel. Later arrested while trying to kill his own sister and declared mentally ill. After the suspect was placed in an asylum for the mentally ill, a series of brutal murders ended.

In 2006, according to the evidence contained in the surviving archival records, an identikit of a maniac was compiled. According to nineteenth-century witnesses, the alleged killer wore dark clothes, a felt hat, a mustache, and a bag.

Three messages from Jack the Ripper have been lost from the archives. It is not known if they were lost or deliberately stolen. In 1988, a century later, the killer's first letter was anonymously returned to the London Police Department.

In 2014, DNA testing was carried out on the shawl of one of the victims of the Ripper, allegedly confirming the presence of traces left by Aaron Kosminsky on it. Preserved from the 19th century, the shawl was bought at an auction and has never been washed since it was taken away by a constable from the scene for his wife. The DNA samples matched those of the descendants of the Whitechapel barber.

Among the contenders for the identity of the Ripper was a famous artist. This version was put forward by Dale Larner, the author of the book Vincent Nicknamed Jack.

The researcher compares the facts of the artist's life with the chronology of the murders. He cites as evidence the coincidence of the elements of handwriting, the images in the paintings, the madness of Van Gogh.

One of the suspects was the grandson of Queen Victoria - Albert Victor, who has an obscene lifestyle. However, at the time of the death of the third and fourth victims, a descendant of the queen was absent from the country. By the way, the plot of the film "From Hell", based on the biography of the Ripper, develops around the suspicion of a crime by the top of the nobility.

Surprisingly, even a mathematician and author of books about Alice's adventures became an object of suspicion. The writer fell under the scope of researchers due to the similarity of handwriting, ornate sayings. Ripperologists found anagrams in the text of the works, allegedly indicating involvement in brutal murders.

Memory

Books

• 1992 - Robert Bloch, "Forever yours - the Ripper"
• 2002 - Patricia Cornwell, Jack the Ripper. Who is he? Portrait of a killer"
• 2015 - Cassandra Clare, "Whitechapel Villain"

Movies

• 1924 - "Cabinet of Wax Figures"
• 1927 - "The Tenant"
• 1976 - "Jack the Ripper"
• 1988 - "Jack the Ripper"
• 2001 - "From Hell"
• 2008 - "Asylum"

Series

• 1995 - episode "The Inquisitor" of the series "Babylon 5".
• 1999 - episode "Ripper" of the series "Beyond the Limits"
• 2001 - episode "Knife" of the series "The Lost World"
• 2009 - "Modern Ripper"
• 2012 - Ripper Street

AT UK has identified the serial killer known as Jack the Ripper.
The Daily Mail writes about it. This is a Polish immigrant Aaron Kosminsky, a London hairdresser who was born in the Polish city of Klodava, which is located just 250 kilometers from the Kaliningrad region.

A series of DNA tests, commissioned by enthusiastic businessman Russell Edwards, identified the maniac with 100% certainty. Aaron Kosminsky was one of the main suspects in the Jack the Ripper case, but was released due to insufficient evidence.

New books about Jack the Ripper are published every year. In each of them, their likely candidates for the role of the killer are named, and in each, the authors share new conspiracy theories.

There are hundreds of websites and online forums devoted to Jack the Ripper, where enthusiasts exchange opinions and argue endlessly about new theories. And now the time has come when science allowed to declare the disclosure of the secret of who was the first officially recognized serial maniac in the history of mankind.

There were many SUSPECTS:

Prince Albert Victor - grandson of Queen Victoria
James Maybrick - Liverpool cotton merchant
Walter Sickert - artist
Aaron Kosminsky - Polish Jewish immigrant
Michael Ostrog - thief
Montague John Druitt - lawyer and teacher
Francis Tumblety - American physician
Joseph Barnett - friend of one of the victims
And many others ... but it was not possible to solve the crime "in hot pursuit".

Investigation by enthusiastic businessman Russell Edwards began in 2007, when Edwards, out of research interest, purchased at auction a shawl allegedly found near the body of one of Jack the Ripper victims, Catherine Eddowes.
The first examination showed that traces of blood remained on the shawl, as well as, presumably, the maniac's sperm.

During the following examinations, scientists took DNA samples from the living descendants of Eddouz and Kosminsky, whom Edwards managed to find. One of them - a certain Karen Miller, a direct descendant of Eddowes through the female line - had previously appeared in documentary about the Ripper.
Edwards did not disclose the identity of the descendant of Aaron Kosminsky's sister. Research conducted by Dr. Jari Louhelainen and Dr. David Miller showed that DNA samples taken from the relatives of the defendants in the case were identical to those that scientists were able to take from the shawl.

Aaron Kosminsky, fleeing Jewish pogroms, came to Great Britain in 1881 from Poland, which was then part of Russian Empire. After the police began searching for the killer, who became known as Jack the Ripper, in the fall of 1888, Kosminsky was arrested.

He was even identified by one of the witnesses, but later withdrew his testimony, as he was a Jew and did not want to testify against another Jew.

In 1891, Kosminsky was placed in a hospital for the mentally ill. The medical history stated that he suffered from auditory hallucinations, refused to accept food from other people's hands, and was prone to masturbation ("self-abuse"). Kosminsky died in a hospital in February 1919.

A series of brutal murders of women in the London Borough of Whitechapel and surrounding areas was committed in the second half of 1888. The victims of these murders were usually prostitutes.

Several people were suspected in the case, but none of them was ultimately found guilty. At some point, the police decided to classify the crimes as the result of the actions of one serial killer, who was nicknamed Jack the Ripper.
This was facilitated, in particular, by the so-called "letter from Hell", written allegedly by a maniac and received by law enforcement officers in the Whitechapel area.

Attached to the letter was a kidney from one of the victims, the aforementioned Katherine Eddowes. However, the authenticity of the letter and the kidney attached to it was called into question by some researchers.

They speculated that it might have been a prank by local medical students deliberately fueling interest in the story of a serial killer.

The exact number of victims of Jack the Ripper has not been established, according to the latest data, there were at least 11 of them.

Years after the terrible events in London, Sir Melville Macnathan, head of the city's Criminal Investigation Department, wrote:

“I can’t forget those foggy evenings and the piercing cries of the newspaper boys: “Another terrible murder! Mutilated corpse in Whitechapel!”

DIRTY CRIMES

The first serial killer in the history of world capitals, Jack the Ripper was an urban demon. His name enchanted the gloomy Victorian streets - the most suitable place for the birth of terrible legends. One of them was himself. His secret gave the world the adventures of Sherlock Holmes and several variety musicals. A kind of science "ripperology" appeared (from the English ripper - "Ripper"). Jack the Ripper grew up
into a truly cult figure, but over the past century, his story has been so much dissolved in unconfirmed “facts” that it is becoming increasingly difficult to find out what, in fact, is known about him.
From August to November 1888, Jack literally gutted his victims and disappeared without a trace. He acted brutally. The first victim was Mary Ann (Polly) Nicole. On August 31, she was found with her throat cut and her stomach ripped open, "like a pig in the market." A week later they found Annie Chenman, mutilated in much the same way. Despite the beginning of the hunt for the killer, the list was soon replenished by Martha Tabram, whose body was discovered in mid-September.

The Ripper hid for a couple of weeks, and on September 30 dealt a “double blow”: In one street of Whitechael, Elizabeth Strijd lay with her throat cut, but without any other injuries. It is believed that Jack was prevented from completing what he started, so he immediately went to look for a new victim. On another street in Whitechael, he met Catherine Eddowes. Having ferociously disembowelled her, the villain disappeared along with the woman's kidney.
The last murder “hanged” on Jack happened more than a month later - on November 10 - and was the bloodiest. Jane Kelly (Black Mary) has been found. in her room terribly disfigured. She had her heart cut out. Although the Ripper seems to have vanished into thin air, rumors about his identity continue to live on. The police do not know the name, but the whole world knows the ominous pseudonym by which
signed one of the many letters allegedly sent by the killer. Dear boss! I heard rumors that the police tracked me down, but they want to take me red-handed. I laughed so hard when they said with a smart look that they were on the trail ... I hunt for. whores and I will disembowel them until I find myself in handcuffs ... My knife: thawed beautiful and sharp, I want to use it at the first opportunity. Good luck to you!
Yours sincerely
Jack the Ripper. P.S. Do not be offended that I sign with a pseudonym.

This letter was later considered a fake, composed by a newspaperman for the sake of another sensation, as, indeed, almost all other messages from Jack.

THE HOUSE IN THE PRESS

One of the reasons for the popularity and persistence of the Jack the Ripper story is the increased attention it receives in the press. There was a lot of crime in prim Victorian London, and the slums of Whitechael were generally considered a dangerous place.
However, the ominous sight of the corpses left by the Ripper gave the newspapers their bread - a sensation. Just at that time the press was becoming an important factor in the fight for social reforms, and unusual murders made it possible to emphasize the abyss that separated the rich metropolitan quarters of the impoverished working outskirts.
Indeed, in Victorian London, 6% of the female population traded in their bodies. Attacks on Whitechapel prostitutes gave rise to talk about several social ulcers at once, and at the same time about the incompetence of the authorities. While describing the gruesome details of the murders, the newspapermen mocked the helplessness of the Metropolitan Police. When its commissioner, Sir Charles Warren, upon learning of Jack's latest victim, resigned, no one doubted that his move was due to a desire to protect his name from further attacks by the yellow press.

MYSTERIOUS JACK

Who is this elusive killer? One of the main suspects was the fraudster Michael Ostrog, who worked under various aliases. However, there was not enough evidence for an arrest. As long as the image of Jack is alive in books, films and our imagination, the search for his true face will continue - perhaps even more fervently than a century ago. Ripperologists study many versions - from a cannibal maniac to a deranged social reformer.
In 1970, Dr. T. Stowell stated that the cold-blooded killer was Duke Edward of Clarence, the grandson of Queen Victoria. However, in his book Was Clarence Jack the Ripper? Michael
Harrison rejects this candidacy by offering her place as the tutor of the Duke - the Cambridge poet and ardent misogynist J. Stephen. However, this suspicion is also devoid of evidence. Perhaps the truth about Jack the Ripper will someday be revealed - among stolen documents from the case and hidden diaries. However, now the ruthless maniac killer manages to keep his secret.

RANGE OF SUSPECTS

The search for Jack the Ripper has been the idol of many amateur detectives and professional detectives, but we still don't know who he is.
For unclear reasons, the police dropped the case just three weeks after the November 1888 murder of Jane Kelly. The version here is this: the Whitechapel Public Order received a note saying that Jack drowned in the Thames. In early December, a body was washed ashore, which was identified as Montague John Druitt. He became the prime suspect.
However, the data collected on Druitt, including his age and occupation, were questionable. A butcher, a midwife, a mad professor were also suspected. There was talk about Aron Kosminsky, a Jewish barber who ate in the garbage dumps and in 1890 was sent to a psychiatric hospital.
Suspicions against all these people cannot be called absolutely groundless, but nothing more definite has been found out in any case.

Jack the Ripper - a photo of a robot made in our time according to a psychological portrait

Jack the Ripper is possibly incorrectly described in Wikipedia. People wrote about the maniac, not seeing before them the acts of interrogation of all participants in those events. We will show everything as it happened.

In 1888, London's East End witnessed a series of brutal murders of prostitutes attributed to a maniac nicknamed Jack the Ripper. To this day, these crimes have remained unsolved. Was Jack the Ripper a maniac surgeon? Or an adherent of ritual murders? Or maybe a mentally ill member of the royal family? ..

AT late XIX century british empire experienced its heyday. Her possessions were scattered all over the globe They were inhabited by people of various races and religions. But at the center of this vast empire was a place where, as journalists wrote, the sun never set. The East End of London was a disgrace to Britain and the entire civilized world. People lived here in poverty and squalor. Child mortality in this area of ​​the British capital was twice the national average.

Prostitution and unbridled drunkenness, sexual molestation of minors, murder and fraud have become common features of the local way of life. It all turned out to be well manured nutrient medium for a killer whose black fame has reached our days. The streets and back streets of the East End became the scene of his bloody deeds.

The crimes of Jack the Ripper are incomparable, of course, with those massive horrors that the twentieth century presented to mankind. He killed, however, with savage cruelty, only five women. But in this case, the question is who the perpetrator was. There are serious suspicions that Jack the Ripper was a member of the upper strata of British society. It was these suspicions that aroused so much public interest in the Beast of the East End.

First victim of Jack the Ripper

While Jack the Ripper went down in crime history as a vile killer, his dark hold on the East End was short-lived. He struck the first blow on August 31, 1888. Mary Ann Nichols, a prostitute who traded in the Whitechapel area, was brutally murdered that day. Her corpse was found in a labyrinth of dark streets. Forty-two-year-old "Pretty Polly" was known as a drunkard and frequenter of all local eateries. With a high degree of probability, the police assumed such a scenario of the crime. "Pretty Polly" addressed a tall passer-by with the usual question on such occasions: "Looking for fun, mister?" Most likely, she asked for four pence for her services. This measly amount was enough to pay for a place in a rooming house and get a few sips of cheap gin.

As soon as the man took her to a dark place, the prostitute's fate was sealed. A hand reached out to her throat, and in a couple of seconds it was cut from ear to ear. “Only a crazy person could do something like that! exclaimed the police doctor. “I have never seen anything like it. Only a person who knows well how to handle a knife could slaughter her in this way. Since murders in the impoverished and dangerous area of ​​the East End were common, the police did not attach much importance to this case. But only for one week. On September 8, "Dark Annie" Chapman, a forty-seven-year-old prostitute, seriously ill with tuberculosis, was found stabbed to death near the Spitelfiod market.

And although there were no signs of rape, the nature of the murder, as in the first case, indicated that the perpetrator cut and gutted the victim under the influence of strong sexual arousal. In addition, the dismemberment of the body of "Dark Annie" (all her insides lay next to the corpse) spoke of the killer's knowledge of anatomy or surgery. So it was clearly not an ordinary criminal.

Jack the Ripper victims

The second murder had an unexpected continuation. On September 28, a mocking letter arrived at the news agency in Fleet Street. It said: “Rumors are reaching me from all sides that the police have caught me. And they still haven't even figured me out. I prey on a certain type of woman and will not stop slaughtering them until I am tied up. The last one was a great job. Lady didn't even have time to scream. I love this kind of work and I'm ready to repeat it. Soon you will know about me again by a funny trick. When I finished my last job, I took the ink in a ginger lemonade bottle with me to write the letter, but it soon thickened like glue and I couldn't use it. So I decided that red ink would do instead. Ha! Ha! Next time I will cut off the ears and send them to the police, just like that, as a joke.

The letter was signed "Jack the Ripper". The following letter, sent to the Whitechapel policing commission, had half a kidney enclosed. The sender claimed that the kidney had been cut from the victim he had killed and that he had eaten the other half. Of course, the investigators were not sure that the same person who sent the first letter sent the second letter. But it was already known that Jack the Ripper cuts out some organs from his victims. Skillfully cutting their throats, he dismembers the bodies, cuts the faces, opens the abdominal cavity, removes the insides. He leaves something next to the corpse, takes something with him.

The third victim of Jack the Ripper was Elizabeth Stride, nicknamed "Long Liz" because of her height. On September 30, a junk dealer, passing with his cart on Burner Street in Whitechapel, noticed a suspicious bundle and reported it to the police. So the body of forty-four-year-old Liz was found. As in previous cases, the victim's throat was slashed. The killer was behind her. But there were no injuries or signs of sexual excesses on the body. The police decided that the criminal was ashamed of his vile deeds. However, on the same day, they discovered victim number four.

Jack the Ripper murders

Katherine Edows, in her forties, was found dismembered, her face was cut, the extracted entrails lay on her right shoulder, both ears were missing. By that time, London was already gripped by a wave of fear. Many women began to carry knives and whistles to call the police. The Illustrated London News jokingly suggested that noble ladies get pearl-handled pistols in case the Ripper wanted to expand social sphere murders.

One of the stores even began to advertise steel corsets. And in Whitechapel itself, policewomen began to dress and make up like prostitutes in the expectation that the criminal would take the bait and get caught. It came to a farce. So, a journalist dressed up as a woman of easy virtue approached a disguised policeman and asked: “Are you one of us?” He replied: “No way!” — and arrested a nimble reporter.

The murder of Iddowes alarmed the police to the extreme. Her body was mutilated much more than in previous cases. A bloody path led from the corpse to the scraps of a tattered apron lying around the entrance. And next to the door on the wall was written in chalk: "The Jews are not the kind of people who can be blamed for anything." Sir Charles Warren, the head of the police, personally erased the inscription and in doing so may have destroyed a very important piece of evidence. But he feared that with the then influx of Jews from the East End of Eastern Europe this inscription could cause a wave of hostility towards them.

Who was Jack the Ripper?

Rumors about who the killer might have been spread at a rapid pace. forest fire. Some frightened residents of the area even said that some policeman was doing this while patrolling the streets. Among the suspects was a certain Russian doctor named Mikhail Ostrog. From somewhere, a version was born that he was allegedly sent by the tsarist secret police to incite hatred towards Jewish emigrants. There were those who claimed that the criminal was some kind of crazy surgeon. Suspicion touched even Sir Charles Warren himself, a well-known Freemason. It has been suggested that he erased the inscription on the wall in order to save the killer-Mason from retribution.

The last murder took place on November 9th. The only difference was the fact that the victim belonged to a higher category of prostitutes - she had her own room. Mary Kelly, twenty-five years old, was murdered and brutally mutilated in the room she rented.

This time, Jack the Ripper had plenty of time to enjoy his nefarious work to his heart's content. On the morning of November 10, the owner of the house, Henry Bowers, while going around the tenants and collecting rent, knocked on Mary's door. The attractive blonde spent the entire previous evening doing her usual job - pestering passers-by, begging for money. The last man she was seen with, tall, dark-haired, with a mustache and wearing a felt hunting hat, was probably her killer.

At autopsy, by the way, it turned out that the woman was in her third month of pregnancy. This chain of brutal murders ended. However, even now, more than a century later, the mystery of the short but bloody revelry of Jack the Ripper remains unsolved. In 1959, seventy-one years after the series of murders, an old man recalled how, as a child, he once pushed a cart down Khanburi Street and heard shouts of "Murder!"

The old man said: “I was a boy, therefore, without hesitation, I ran up and squeezed through the crowd ... And there she lay, and steam still came from her insides. She was wearing red and white stockings. The then boy saw Jack the Ripper's second victim, Annie Chapman. One of the suspects caused particular excitement in the community, as it was the grandson of Queen Victoria, Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence.

Suspicion fell on him only because there was a lot of talk about his madness. Immediately after the series of murders, the prince was rumored to have been sent to a psychiatric hospital to avoid scandal. The Duke was the eldest son of the future King Edward VII. He was said to be bisexual and mentally damaged after contracting syphilis. But the number one suspect was likely John Druitt Montagu, whose body was found in the Thames a few weeks after Mary Kelly's murder.

Jill the Ripper?

Another author, William Stewart, suggested that Jack the Ripper did not exist, but in fact there was Jill the Ripper, a midwife who traded in clandestine abortions. At one time she was in prison for prostitution. After being released, Jill allegedly began to cruelly take revenge on society.

High-ranking police officer John Stalker, who retired from his post as Deputy Chief Constable of Greater Manchester, after studying the Ripper case, said: “There is still not the slightest real evidence against anyone that could be presented in court. The truth is that Jack the Ripper was never afraid of getting caught. I'm sure the police have been close to him more than once, but...

The police in 1888 were faced with a rather new phenomenon for them - a series of sexual murders committed by a man who was unfamiliar with his victims. Even now, a hundred years later, it is very difficult to solve such crimes.” And yet there is a man who is intimately familiar with the Ripper case and who is convinced that the culprit of those horrific murders can be named. John Ross, a former police officer, now runs the so-called "black museum" of the police. Not at all inclined to jump to conclusions, he tells visitors to his unusual exhibition that Jack the Ripper is actually an immigrant named Kosminsky.

By the way, almost nothing is known about this man, except for his last name. Nevertheless, Mr. Ross claims that the data obtained by the police at the time when examining the scene of the incident point precisely to Kosminsky. By the way, not only Ross thinks so. In February 1894, Mr. Ross's predecessor, the equally avid analyst Sir Melvy D. McKnaughton, wrote a seven-page memo and pinned it to the Jack the Ripper documents.

In this reference, he tried to refute some of the most common versions of the time. The certificate says: “Kosminsky is a Polish Jew. This man went crazy as a result years a life of loneliness and vice. He hated women, especially prostitutes, and was prone to murder ... He is associated with many crimes, which makes him suspect.

Famous artist?

More recently, the American writer, best-selling detective author Patricia Cornwell announced to the whole world that she had finally managed to rip off the mask behind which the psychopathic killer was hiding: Jack the Ripper, the writer claims, was none other than Walter Sickert, the famous English artist, founder of English impressionism. “I literally put my reputation on the line, because if someone manages to refute my evidence, I will feel like an idiot and look like an absolute layman,” says the eminent writer.

To unravel the old mystery, Cornwell put not only her reputation, but also a significant part of her (it should be noted, considerable) fortune. The mystery of Jack the Ripper haunted her for several years, becoming an "idea fix". Looking for clues, she bought over 30 paintings by Walter Sickert, several letters, and even his desk. But the queen of the American detective did not stop there: in the hope of finding traces of the killer's DNA, she gutted one of the artist's paintings, which caused anger on both sides of the ocean.

Cornwell is far from the first to associate the name of Walter Sickert with Jack the Ripper. The artist was known for his decadent lifestyle, dark plots and active interest in the murders committed by a mysterious maniac.

Turned out to be Jack the Ripper hairdresser of Polish origin Aaron Kosminsky. The identity of the most famous homicidal maniac of the 19th century was established by John Mores University Liverpool Professor Jari Louhelainen.

The scientist made a conclusion based on the examination of the criminal's blood left on the shawl of one of the victims. According to the results of the research, it turned out that the DNA samples on the scarf match the DNA of the descendants of Kosminsky's sister.

Image in The Illustrated Police News. (London, October 6, 1888). Photo: www.globallookpress.com

Thus, it was confirmed main version Scotland Yard, which in 1888 considered Aaron Kosminsky the main suspect in the case of a series of brutal murders of London prostitutes. The immigrant barber was then saved from prison by his religious affiliation. Kosminsky was identified by one of the witnesses, but later decided to retract his testimony. After all, the suspect, as well as the eyewitness of the crime, was a Jew.

After the case fell apart, the police were forced to release Kosminsky, however, he did not stay free for long. In 1891, the barber ended up in a hospital for the mentally ill, where he ended up after trying to kill his sister. After Kosminsky was isolated, attacks on prostitutes in London ceased.

AiF.ru tells the story of the most famous criminal of the 19th century and his cruel crimes.

What do you know about Jack the Ripper?

A serial killer under the pseudonym Jack the Ripper was active in Whitechapel and the surrounding areas of London in the second half of 1888.

The nickname comes from a letter sent to the Central News Agency. The author of the message claimed responsibility for the murders in Whitechapel. Many experts consider the letter to be a falsification created by journalists to stir up public interest. The Ripper is also called The Whitechapel Murderer and Leather Apron.

Methods of killing

suffocation

Many researchers are inclined to think that Jack the Ripper strangled his victims before slaughtering them. When examining some of the murdered women, doctors found signs of strangulation. This explains the fact that no one has ever heard the screams of the dead. However, some experts question this version, since there is no unambiguous evidence that the victims were strangled.

throat cutting

Jack the Ripper cut his throat from left to right, the wound was very deep. He managed not to get dirty in the blood due to the fact that, while cutting the throat of his victim, he simultaneously tilted the woman's head to the right. Jack the Ripper began to open the abdominal cavity after the death of the victim.

Victims

The main victims of the Ripper were prostitutes from the slums. Because of the unbelievable brutality of the killings and the various information that appeared in the newspapers, many were convinced that there was one serial killer operating in London, who received the nickname "Jack the Ripper".

According to various sources, the exact number of victims of Jack the Ripper ranges from 4 to 15. However, there is a list of five victims that most researchers agree with.

Letter "From Hell", sent in a package along with a kidney from one of the victims. Photo: commons.wikimedia.org

Mary Ann Nichols ("Polly"), born August 26, 1845 in Great Britain, killed August 31, 1888. Mary Nichols' body was discovered at 3:40 a.m. on Bucks Road (now Durward Street). The throat was cut as a result of two blows inflicted by a sharp blade. The lower part of the abdominal cavity was ripped open - the wounds were lacerated. In addition, several wounds inflicted by the same knife were found on the body.

Annie Chapman ("Dark Annie"), born September 1841 in Great Britain, killed September 8, 1888. Annie Chapman's body was discovered around 6 a.m. in the backyard of 29 Hanbury Street in Spitalfields. As with Nichols, his throat was slit in two slashes with a razor. The abdominal cavity was opened completely, and the uterus was removed from the woman's body.

Elizabeth Stride ("Long Liz"), born in Sweden 27 November 1843, killed 30 September 1888. Stride's body was discovered at approximately one o'clock in the morning at Dutlefields Yard on Berenre Street, her earlobe had been cut off.

Katherine Eddowes, born April 14, 1842 in the UK, killed September 30, 1888 on the same day as another victim, Elizabeth Stride. The body of Kate Eddowes was discovered on Miter Square at 1:45 a.m.

Mary Jane Kelly, born in Ireland in 1863, killed November 9, 1888. Mary Kelly's mutilated body was found in her own room at 10:45 am. It is also important to note that the last victim of Jack the Ripper, Mary Janet Kelly, was the youngest and most attractive of all, and therefore earned more than others and had the opportunity to rent the room in which she was killed.

Investigation and suspects

The lack of confirmed information about the identity of the killer allowed "ripperologists" (from Ripper; ripperologists - writers, historians and amateur detectives studying the Ripper case; the name "ripperologists" is also found in Russian literature) to look for a maniac not only in the slums of London, but also in Buckingham palace.

According to one of the most popular versions of ripperologists, serial killer was Prince Albert Victor. True, such a possibility is ruled out by a number of researchers who managed to establish that the prince during the series of murders was not only in London, but in general in England.