Summary
Overview
This episode delves into the escalating terror of the Jack the Ripper murders in London's East End during September 1888. Following the brutal murders of Polly Nichols and Annie Chapman, the press fuels mass hysteria while the police struggle with an unprecedented serial killer case. The episode explores the victims' final hours, witness accounts, police investigations, and the media frenzy that transforms these crimes into a cultural phenomenon, culminating in the infamous letter signed 'Jack the Ripper' and a horrifying double murder on September 29th.
The Press Frenzy and Public Panic After the Whitechapel Murders
The late Victorian newspapers seized upon the Whitechapel murders with sensational headlines designed to maximize readership in an era of unprecedented mass literacy. The Evening Star declared London under the spell of a 'great terror' by a 'ghoul-like creature,' while papers like the Pall Mall Gazette pioneered tabloid journalism. This media phenomenon was as much about the emerging publishing industry and mass literacy as it was about crime, with newspapers both stoking and reporting the fear on the streets of the East End.
- The Evening Star ran headlines about a 'ghoul-like creature' stalking London after the discovery of another Whitechapel victim
- Britain had become a nation of readers following the 1870 and 1880 education acts which mandated state education and drove adult literacy to 100%
- W.T. Stead's Pall Mall Gazette pioneered tabloid journalism with sensational exposés, including campaigns against child prostitution
- Much of what we know about the Ripper murders comes from newspaper reports rather than official documents, many of which have been lost
" London lies today under the spell of a great terror. A nameless reprobate, half beast, half man is at large, who is daily gratifying his murderous instincts on the most miserable and defenseless classes of the community. "
" Life ain't no great thing with many on us but we don't all want to be murdered and if things go on like this it won't be safe for nobody to put their heads out of doors "
The Murder of Annie Chapman at 29 Hanbury Street
On September 8th, 1888, the body of Annie Chapman was discovered in the backyard of 29 Hanbury Street in Spitalfields. The brutality of the murder was unprecedented—her throat slashed, abdomen cut open, and internal organs removed with what police surgeon Dr. George Baxter Phillips described as considerable anatomical skill. Witness testimony, including from Elizabeth Long who saw Annie with a man around 5:30 AM, provided crucial details about the killer's appearance and narrowed the murder to a window of just 15 minutes.
- John Davis discovered Annie Chapman's body at 5:45 AM in the backyard of 29 Hanbury Street, between the steps and the fence
- Dr. Phillips found that Annie's uterus, most of her bladder, and part of her vagina had been removed with clean cuts, suggesting anatomical knowledge
- Elizabeth Long saw Annie talking to a man around 5:30 AM—described as dark complexioned, over 40, wearing a brown deerstalker hat, about 5'3"-5'5" tall, and looking like a foreigner
- The killer completed the murder and mutilation in approximately 15 minutes during daylight hours on a busy market morning
" I at once proceeded to number 29 hanbury street and in the backyard found a woman lying on her back dead left arm resting on left breast legs drawn up abducted small intestines and flap of the abdomen lying on the right side above right shoulder attached by a cord with the rest of the intestines inside the body "
" He was dark complexioned and wearing a brown deer stalker hat. He looked to me like a foreigner as well as I could make out. He looked what i should call shabby genteel. "
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