The Ripper's Intellect

[Barnaby]

Indeed. But often the test is given after the fact, so for example you could go to a prison and give everyone an IQ test. The average score probably will be below 100.

To your point: In one classic study one group of students were given rats and were told that the rats had been bred for generations to quickly learn mazes. Another group of students were told that their rats were learning impaired. The task was to train the rats to run the maze. Of course there was absolutely no difference among the rats. But the "smart" rats learned faster nevertheless.

[Mr.Hyde]

You are both right!

[perrymason]

Hello,

I believe in these cases, there are not overt signs that Jack the Ripper possessed any intellect superior to average intelligence. Neither are there signs he was sub-average.

But I do believe that there are signs he thought about what he was doing. He never bumps into Police or a neighborhood posse afterwards. When you consider that this kill zone is less than a square mile, despite the lanes and alleys, when you look at how many people were out at night trying to catch him, that seems like something more than just luck.

If it appears as if there may have been forethought, to what extent might that be a factor? Does he pick women based on the location he chooses to kill at.. ahead of time? Does he watch or know foot patrols? Does he have more than one room in the area?

There may be evidence the last one has some legs...there is the possibility that over an hour elapsed between his taking an apron piece in Mitre Square, and leaving it in the entranceway off Goulston.

Best regards.