Most ridiculous suspect

[KatBradshaw]

Little Big Knife?

I did hear once that people at the time looked for Native Americans for the crime. That seems pretty ridiculous to me. When I was teaching about this to the kids I pointed out that the Ripper really had to be someone that people wouldn't notice or remark on. Therefore people dressed in certain ways or looking very diffferent to the usual inhabitants of the East End would have stood out like sore thumbs and been noteworthy.

[kensei]

When I went on Phil Hutchinson's Ripper tour last year he humorously said that the only noteworthy British personality not so far named as a Ripper suspect was Florence Nightengale, and that it probably wouldn't be long before someone did name her (what with the medical knowledge and all).

But in all seriousness, I think that some of the main suspects are ridiculous. Druitt became a suspect only because his family suspected him, and I've never heard a clear explanation as to why. If he'd had any idea what would follow after he jumped into the river he just might have changed his mind. Ostrog was a career thief who tried to act dangerous but never physically hurt anyone in his life. Kosminsky- ok, he's a little more plausible but seems to have been much too mentally unbalanced to have presented himself to the victims in a guise charming enough to be trusted.

My current position is that the Ripper was probably someone never named, but if he was, more study should be done on James Kelly and William Bury. That's my two cents worth.

[j.r-ahde]

Hello Mascara and Paranoia!

Jack the Ripper was most likely so common looking and had such a common profession, that obviously we'll never catch him!

All the best
Jukka

[Mascara & Paranoia]

Gull, Sickert, Maybrick, all the suspects who have been proven to have been elsewhere at the time of the murders, like Ostrog et cetera. The list is way too long; I think there's only a small handful of interesting 'suspects' amongst the boring and stupid lot we that have to choose from.

[Mike Covell]

Mike Holgate published The Celebrity Suspects last year which is full of amusing suspects. My fave would have to be the escaped monkey though!

[kensei]

King Leopold of Belgium seems pretty unlikely.

I also read a fictional short story once that suggested it was a vampire.

[babybird67]

i think some of you have been talking to Ally...

she actually stole the ground-breaking research Hatchett and myself did...we are planning a book and a documentary and everything...

all i will say is, don't think certain high-born suspects are as ridiculous as they first may seem...

all the men seen with the victims shortly before their deaths were wearing hats, right?

Well, what would that hat be for...covering a jewelled sparkly thing perhaps? Same with the suspicious bags...crowns always come with sceptres don't they and she'd have to put that down somewhere while she did the deeds.

Of course the most vital clue has always been misinterpreted...that grafitti...until now, nobody realised it actually said

"[t]her [ma]Juwes[ty] is not the one that shall be blamed for nothing"

Obvious really why that had to come down pretty sharpish!

Anyway, we are already going to have to share our 'royalties' with Ally, so you lot better keep off our highly sensitive theory, right?

Don't worry we will still come back and post here when we are famous!

[Phil Carter]

1. A piece of putty

2. A cheese-mechanic from Dunbar

3. A small pink pussycat

4. Two frogs, one called "Kipper" and the other one not


... oh, sorry, that was from the Monty Python "Election Night Special" sketch

I bow to your greater insight in lunatic humour...

but I must say that I hoped that Edmund Blackadder's last series (Goes Forth) would have centered around JTR and not WW1.. Lord knows what the writers could have come up with there. Would have been hilarious!

best wishes

Phil

[Sam Flynn]

1. A piece of putty

2. A cheese-mechanic from Dunbar

3. A small pink pussycat

4. Two frogs, one called "Kipper" and the other one not


... oh, sorry, that was from the Monty Python "Election Night Special" sketch

[Chris]

Edgar Cayce

That's a new one on me! According to online sources he was only 11 at the time of the murders. But I suppose it would be more ridiculous to suggest someone who hadn't even been born ...

[Nell Lance]

Lewis Carroll, Good Queen Vic, any of the princes or princesses, Gull, Sickert-because he talked too damn much, possibly Druitt--manic depressive/bipolar?, Conan Doyle, Edgar Cayce, Dickens--because he was already deceased


Nell Lance

[JTRSickert]

I dont know about that - I always thought the "From Hell" graphic novel presented a strong case for Gull as the "Grand Architect". Doesnt seem so ridiculous to me.

Hey Adam.
As Lynn just pointed out, the Gull suspect theory has little or no substance. Gull was in his 70s and had a stroke the year before the murders. The circumstances surrounding the Royal Family/Freemason theory have been proven to be either made up or convoluted. "From Hell" is a take on Stephen Knight's book Jack The Ripper: The Final Solution, which has a number of errors in it's so-called research. Also, Allan Moore himself has stated he personally did not believe the Gull suspect theory but that it would be a good story for his graphic novel.

I myself enjoy the graphic novel since Moore and Campbell put a lot of detail in their work, but at the end of the day, it's just a fancy fictional take on a true series of murders.

[Robert]

Well, as this is a fun thread, my choice of detectives would be David Frost and Loyd Grossman - "Through The Keyhole."

"Can you guess who lives here?"

[lynn cates]

Gull

Hello Adam. A chap past 70 with a stroke to boot?

The best.
LC

[AdamWalsh]

Since we've all done speculating on who the Ripper may have been, I was just curious to see who everyone believes to be the most ridiculous suspect ever put forward as being Jack the Ripper. I will provide with my top 3 and see if you all agree or disagree and let me know who you think is the most ridiculous.

1. Lewis Carroll

2. Prince Albert Edward Victor (tied with William Gull)

3. "Jill the Ripper"

I dont know about that - I always thought the "From Hell" graphic novel presented a strong case for Gull as the "Grand Architect". Doesnt seem so ridiculous to me.