Poll What's the most important aspect of Ripperology?

[HelenaWojtczak]

Wow I am so glad I started this - what interesting posts - and the poll results so far are very revealing!

He seems to have made 'friends' quite easily Beowulf, but he only kept them for a few minutes.

I know I shouldn't, but Ruby's comment here literally made me burst into laughter. A quip of sheer genius, Ruby!

Helena

[Robert]

I'm not attracted to the goriness, but the goriness is an essential factor in giving the case its notoriety and the Ripper his legendary status. If the murders consisted solely in several women being stabbed once, I do not think I'd be as interested. I heard the nickname "Jack the Ripper" when I was a kid, and found out what it meant when I read Farson's book in the early 70s. The fact that the crimes are still unsolved is an essential factor too.

[Beowulf]

Hi All,

Establish the facts in order to demythologise the case and arrive at the truth.

Regards,

Simon

Yes. That is it.

[ChrisGeorge]

Hello K. Permit me to disagree. I have an aversion to such trauma, so such gore NEVER attracted me to the WCM.

The only attraction for me is that someone (as I believed) could kill under the police's nose and get away with it.

Cheers.
LC

Hi Lynn

I would agree that it's not the bloodiness of the crimes that attracted me to the case per se, although the blatant nature of the bloody crimes factor in to how the killer or killers got away with it time and again.

I find that it is the additional details we are learning about the crimes and the peoples involved (victims, witnesses, policemen, etc) that provide the fascination of the case, rather than trying to find out who Jack was, something that many of us agree will most likely never be known.

Best regards

Chris

[lynn cates]

aversion

Hello K. Permit me to disagree. I have an aversion to such trauma, so such gore NEVER attracted me to the WCM.

The only attraction for me is that someone (as I believed) could kill under the police's nose and get away with it.

Cheers.
LC

[Simon Wood]

Hi All,

Establish the facts in order to demythologise the case and arrive at the truth.

Regards,

Simon

[K-453]

I voted for the last option, because that's the first thing that attracts us to the case. What everybody knows about Jack the Ripper: He killed prostitutes in a very brutal way.

This is not the only reason to stick to it. May not even the main reason. But would that case be so interesting if it was about, say, environmental pollution?

[John Bennett]

Establishing the facts - but that's not an option on the poll.

Ditto. Surely everything else can then use that as a starting point.

[PaulB]

Establishing the facts - but that's not an option on the poll.

[Rubyretro]

Admittedly, I tend to feel a certain pity for the Ripper. Like Frankenstein's monster I suspect he hadn't a friend to his name and was mentally debilitated and a victim of psychosis. I am constantly trying to decide if he chose to be evil or was reacting to what life did to him.

He seems to have made 'friends' quite easily Beowulf, but he only kept them for a few minutes.

[sdreid]

I voted for the penultimate although #2 and #6 are aspects.

[HelenaWojtczak]

Hello Helena. Thanks for starting this poll.

Even though I don't believe in "Jack the Ripper" I voted first option as I assumed it would include "to find out what really happened."

I wish I could have voted for a nobler option, but why lie? (heh-heh) I am driven by morbid curiosity--the kind for which good old St. Thomas would have sent me to Purgatory.

Cheers.
LC

Hi Lynn

I didn't want to spend hours painstakingly wording the questions to include every nuance

[lynn cates]

Purgatory

Hello Helena. Thanks for starting this poll.

Even though I don't believe in "Jack the Ripper" I voted first option as I assumed it would include "to find out what really happened."

I wish I could have voted for a nobler option, but why lie? (heh-heh) I am driven by morbid curiosity--the kind for which good old St. Thomas would have sent me to Purgatory.

Cheers.
LC

[HelenaWojtczak]

For me, it is learning more about human nature. Human behaviour in extreme situations. Extreme mindsets.

(Helena, did you intend this to be a poll where, at the beginning of the thread, the participant has to chose from some given answers? Then, you forgot to set that poll up ...)

Yes. Something seems to have gone wrong. I was thinking up a list of poll replies and somehow accidentally posted the thread without the poll!

Have added it now.

Helena

[Beowulf]

Curious to read your replies,

Helena

To be honest it's probably quite a bit the escape of the present day back to a time that resonates with horse hooves on cobblestone, rain and fog, windy mysterious streets, characters and outfits that seem to me to be of a theatrical nature and simpler approaches to life's problems.

It also reminds me of my grandparents who came from Ireland and Scotland but who carried with them many of the times expressions and beliefs. I feel comfortable there.

Admittedly, I tend to feel a certain pity for the Ripper. Like Frankenstein's monster I suspect he hadn't a friend to his name and was mentally debilitated and a victim of psychosis. I am constantly trying to decide if he chose to be evil or was reacting to what life did to him.

I wonder always what would God make of him. Can he be forgiven?