MysteryQuest - Jack the Ripper Season 1 Episode 8

Jack the Ripper Date Range August 31-November 9, 1888 Location Whitechapel district of London's East End, England History In 1888, a string of gruesome murders gripped the city of London. The unidentified murderer, who came be known as Jack the Ripper, sliced the throats of five unsuspecting prostitutes, mutilating all except one of them. Jack the Ripper's first victim was Mary Ann Nichols, whom he killed on the night of August 31, 1888. The mother of five children, Nichols was found dead with her throat slit and her stomach mutilated. A week later, on September 8, 1888, Jack the Ripper struck again, murdering Annie Chapman, a 47-year-old prostitute who was found dead and disemboweled. On September 30, Jack the Ripper killed his third and fourth victims: He cut the throat of Elizabeth Stride but did not touch her body--investigators believed he was interrupted before he could. Later that night he killed Catherine Eddowes and savagely mutilated her body and face. Investigators initially made no headway in discovering the perpetrator of the grisly crimes, which were known popularly as the "Whitechapel murders", after the location in which they occurred. Then on September 27 a news agency received a letter that began "Dear Boss." It was written in red ink and signed "Jack the Ripper"; the pseudonym stuck. A few days later a postcard smeared with blood arrived at the same location, and soon after, a deluge of letters claiming to be written by Jack the Ripper were sent to the police and the press. One letter, sent on October 16 to the Mile End Vigilance Committee, a group of non-professionals convened to help solve the murders, arrived with a piece of a human kidney, which the author claimed belonged to Catherine Eddowes. The fact that the killer had the surgical skill to remove a kidney caused investigators to suspect that he might be a doctor, but they still made no progress on the case. The last murder thought to be tied to Jack the Ripper was Mary Jane Kelly, whom he killed on the night of November 9. To this day, Jack the Ripper has not been identified.