Handwriting analysis by anyone?

[amarti9]

FBI? Scotland Yard experts. I know its probably a dumb question to ask now but has there been ANY recent attempts to analyze the handwriting to link the letters to see if they were done by the same hand???

[AmandaG]

I keep wondering the same thing. I've looked at a few of the letters, and at least two of them (the "Dear Boss" and the "I will finish you") letters look like they were written by the same person. If you put them right next together on the screen, the lines in both letters have the same slope to them and the first letter in a word is detached from the rest of the word, etc.

Whoever wrote those was a serious nutbar.

[chudmuskett]

FBI? Scotland Yard experts. I know its probably a dumb question to ask now but has there been ANY recent attempts to analyze the handwriting to link the letters to see if they were done by the same hand???

I dont know if this answers your question but I have just watched a program about the Dear Boss letter, it was analyzed by a writting expert and then compared to a reporters hand writting who worked for the Star, their concusion was that the letter was indead written by this reporter (not JTR) but, not only that, he was copying it
.

[perrymason]

I keep wondering the same thing. I've looked at a few of the letters, and at least two of them (the "Dear Boss" and the "I will finish you") letters look like they were written by the same person. If you put them right next together on the screen, the lines in both letters have the same slope to them and the first letter in a word is detached from the rest of the word, etc.

Whoever wrote those was a serious nutbar.

Hi Amanda,

Always good to see fellow Canadians here.

A point you made above is critical when considering the letters as potential evidence....there may well have been a few writers that wrote multiple hoax letters. Thats why even if Sickerts DNA is identified one day on a "Ripper" letter or envelope, it may just mean he wrote a hoax letter.

I think its fair to say that the Ripper didnt need to prod the press into publishing his "stories", and the letters most are familiar with do not suggest torment or someone struggling to subdue an alter ego gone wild. Something that would prompt a killer to reach out via communiques, I would think.

The only handwriting analysis of any consequence in my opinion, is that of the alleged Diary. And that hasnt yielded any clues to the Rippers identity thus far.

That is as far as crime evidence is concerned.

But it would be nice to know for sure that the journalists thought to have concocted Dear Boss and Saucy Jack were in fact the culprits.

All the best

[Gman992]

Didn't a criminalist analyze the handwriting in the late 1960s?

[corey123]

Gman,

I can tell your new to this subject,
but there are over 100 ripper letters and quite a few suspects.

So Im sure you can add it up.

One analyze won't make a difference.

Happy New Year.

[DVV]

Jack was actually a huge team of writers, Corey.

Amitiés,
David

[curious]

I dont know if this answers your question but I have just watched a program about the Dear Boss letter, it was analyzed by a writting expert and then compared to a reporters hand writting who worked for the Star, their concusion was that the letter was indead written by this reporter (not JTR) but, not only that, he was copying it
.

Which might suggest that the writer took his time composing and re-working what he wanted to say.

Once he was satisfied with the content, he copied it in the red ink and on the paper that he actually mailed.

Writers rewrite all the time, honing and polishing the product until it's ready for public consumption.

curious

[corey123]

Jack was actually a huge team of writers, Corey.

Amitiés,
David

I know so david,

I,personally, on give credence to the "Lusk letter" the rest, in my opinion, are most likely hoaxes.

[Johnr]

Yes, someone did back in ,I think, 1962.

Didn't a criminalist analyze the handwriting in the late 1960s?

Yes, someone allegedly a graphologist or somesuch, did analyse the few available JTR letters found in the basement of the London Hospital way back in, I think, 1962.

The criminologist/graphologist, from memory was a ". C.McLaren" or a ". Mcgregor"...,
some Scottish name. Published, I think, in the London Hospital Gazette or The Criminologist.

I've just this second looked up my ancient "A to Z of JTR", a Canadian(!!) named "C.M.MacLeod".He suggested the author of the letters was aged 20-45with rudimentary education; possibly a heavy drinker; cockily self-confident.
He also thought the writer showed a mind with a vicious drive, great cunning, the capability of conceiving and carrying out any atrocity, and enough brains to hold down a steady job and mask his personality.(Paraphrased).

Apparently someone else named Thomas J. Mann also contributed his opinions.

There was a recent book on the JTR letters, I think, by the illustrious duo,
Stewart P. Evans and Keith Skinner. JOHN RUFFELS.

[looby64]

I know so david,

I,personally, on give credence to the "Lusk letter" the rest, in my opinion, are most likely hoaxes.

Yes Corey, for some reason I also feel the Lusk letter stands out more as genuine.

[JosephDurham]

I am a Graphologist and have been in search of larger scans of the documents in order to put together such a work. If anyone is willing to help me with this endeavor, and supplying me with the scans, your name will certainly appear in the work.

Thank you,

Joseph

[JSchmidt]

I have to say I am highly skeptical of Graphology. There seems to be not much evidence for Graphology as a meaningful discipline when it comes to making informed statements about the psyche of the writer.
Forensic document examination on the other hand may provide some clues but more about the context of the writing (is it a genuine letter from that time? what paper was it written on? where and when was that paper produced and/or sold?) and maybe on whether a person we actually have sample of has written the document in question.
For some further reading I'd suggest http://www.skepdic.com/graphol.html as a starting point.

[JosephDurham]

Yes, JSchmidt, I am familiar with the site that you provided. And while I understand your doubts regarding graphology, I can assure you that it is highly effective, and very useful. No, we do not look at the tools the writer uses, that is to say not where the paper or pen was purchased, but the type of writing instrument, the kind of paper, the context, and the manner in which it was produced.

The small analysis that are read online are nothing to be compared to the real analysis that are done when done in-depth for a client.

Joseph

[caz]

I am a Graphologist and have been in search of larger scans of the documents in order to put together such a work. If anyone is willing to help me with this endeavor, and supplying me with the scans, your name will certainly appear in the work.

Thank you,

Joseph

Make sure you get any necessary permissions first, Joseph!

Love,

Caz
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