Reinvention

[Guest]

Hello all,

It seems to me that the Immigration issues that besieged London in the later 19th century created an opportunity for many people to re-invent themselves abroad,...to start a new life, perhaps with a new name and imagined past. The US saw similar circumstances when the West was opened up, and serious economic issues caused a flood of emmigration from the UK and Europe.

In these cases, many people are using or have used aliases, and some still defy tracing using the story of their roots we are given. Some had to re-invent themselves to adapt...Mary the couture hooker forced to do street work in her civies...Annies decline,.. and some likely re-invented themselves soley to hide a past life.

Symbolically....could the term re-invent also refer to a new creation, a birth of something or someone new? This is of interest to me as I have not abandoned the idea that at least some of the killings were to obtain wombs.

Im wondering whether this run of Jacks was his coming out party, or a return to a life he once knew? And if a serial killer was ever known to kill and see that as a re-birth of himself or his victim.

Any ideas would be welcome, its just a discussion piece.

Best regards all.

[DVV]

Hello Michael,
I don't know what to think about your post, and it doesn't matter.
I was pleased to read such thoughts, and I happily thank you for sharing them.

Amitiés,
David

[Supe]

Michael,

Ripperologist 71 (Sept 2006) carried a fascinating article by Andy Aliffe about Sadie Orchard. Sadie was a famed bordello madam in America's Old West who left London's East End in the 1880s to start a new life in the free and easy atmosphere of what became New Mexico.

Except that "Sadie" actually came from a respectable middle-class family family in the American midwest even though everyone believed her story. The story of Sadie only underscores, as you suggested, how easy it was back then to start new lives without the intrusive government bureaucracies we "enjoy" today. And that fact certainly needs considering anytime the subject arises of Mary Jane Kelley's background.

Don.

[perrymason]

Thanks David and Don for the posts, and for the reference to that article Don.

Its good to see that musing aloud is still acceptable on these boards.

Im not sure where this line of thought goes either David, but Im glad some folks are still interested in discussing.. as much as being correct.

Cheers gents.

[Stephen Thomas]

Thank-you Michael

A fascinating post there. Musing aloud can be constructive. Many years ago I had a schoolfriend whose surname was Newman, a guy as British as they come. One day he told me the story of his father, a jeweller, who had escaped from the Nazis in Poland during WW2 by hiding in forests and eating rats and suchlike. After finding his way to England he changed his name to Newman because once here he felt like a new man.

[perrymason]

Hi Stephen,

Appreciate the sentiments. That story is exactly what I had in mind when I posted the thoughts....obviously with a more malicious underpinning.

Ill tell you why the idea seemed intriguing to me when placed in the Ripper context.

I feel that the man police sought that Fall, one that was responsible for at least some of the Canonical Five, was not unfamiliar with committing murder from the outset, he was quick and effective from the get go, and I also feel he was not unfamilar with the streets and alleys of the East End. So the idea that he recently arrived and began killing is less likely....the street knowledge alone indicates some time spent in that area. But evidently not killing there, until that Fall of 1888.

That led me to wonder how long he might have lay dormant until the time when his urges or compulsions took hold of him. Was this a man who transformed into a monster later in his life....or a monster who had been trying to live life as a normal man, but finally succumbed to a past life and habits? In Paris in the early 1880's I believe there was a knife killer of "street" women who was never caught.

Was birth, re-birth, renewal, re-invention, a concept that was incorporated in his actions? Could someone supress those kinds of fantasies and desires if he had previously expressed them in murderous fashion? Was this a moth to an evil butterfly.....or an evil butterfly trying and eventually failing to live as a moth?

Im very pleased that you and David and Don took the post for what it was....an interesting concept of how this killer might have evolved, and how he might see himself and his actions...or his victims.

My best regards.