Why do we do this to ourselves?

[Harry D]

Let's face it, we're NEVER going to know who Jack the Ripper was. We can't even agree on how many of the victims can be attributed to this serial killer, what chance do we have of ever naming him? Obviously, half the fun of this field is engaging with fellow Ripperologists, challenging your own perceptions and learning more about all aspects of the case, but to quote the late great Alan Watts, it's all retch and no vomit, because while some have their own pet theories, ultimately we're no nearer to knowing who he was.

I want to know who this guy was, what his story was and what compelled him to do what he did, but the further we get from the case, the less evidence survives. For the rest of human history, Jack the Ripper is going to remain a shadow of the past. There is no escape from this Sisyphean torture.

[GUT]

Let's face it, we're NEVER going to know who Jack the Ripper was. We can't even agree on how many of the victims can be attributed to this serial killer, what chance do we have of ever naming him? Obviously, half the fun of this field is engaging with fellow Ripperologists, challenging your own perceptions and learning more about all aspects of the case, but to quote the late great Alan Watts, it's all retch and no vomit, because while some have their own pet theories, ultimately we're no nearer to knowing who he was.

I want to know who this guy was, what his story was and what compelled him to do what he did, but the further we get from the case, the less evidence survives. For the rest of human history, Jack the Ripper is going to remain a shadow of the past. There is no escape from this Sisyphean torture.

I too suspect that short of some "lost" documents coming to light we will never KNOW who it was. Thus we must rely on logic but we will never get anywhere near a consensus.

The escape is find another interest.

[martin wilson]

Hi all

Through the thousands of posts, research, argument etc has been created the world's finest resource on crime in the late Victorian era. Not bad at all.
To some extent, I don't care who Jack is,some creep carving up drunk defenceless woman is hardly worth the time and energy spent on him.
I suppose there is some dark glamour in the mist shrouded gentleman with his top hat,red lined cape and shiny black bag, but you soon discover that's all rubbish and actually it's a sordid, desperate tale of people barely clinging on in a cruel, hypocritical society.
The fascination is in the theories, the new insights, the passion of those who believe, it's addictive.
All the best.

[Paddy Goose]

the mist shrouded gentleman with his top hat

A bowler will do in a pinch

[Spider]

I too suspect that short of some "lost" documents coming to light we will never KNOW who it was. Thus we must rely on logic but we will never get anywhere near a consensus.

The escape is find another interest.

Problem being that the "lost" documents will be debated and create pro and anti camps.
We all know that a signed contemporary bona fide confession would fare no better
.

Regards

[GUT]

Problem being that the "lost" documents will be debated and create pro and anti camps.
We all know that a signed contemporary bona fide confession would fare no better
.

Regards

Somew documents might be accepted but on the whole I tend to agree.

[pinkmoon]

We do it because it's fun this case is the ultimate whodunit it has everything but the one thing that stands out for me is the name without the dear boss letter I don't think this case would be discussed and dissected today.

[Spider]

The whole appeal of JTR is as much about the period it occurred and how we imagine or conjur up images of what it was really like, sights and sounds, daily lives etc.

After all there were many murders around the time of JTR, his were set apart by the mutilation aspect. That aside there is no big deal really is there? He killed say 5 women and was never caught and today we have an industry built upon it, with over 100 suspects and not one piece of evidence against any of them It has become a fascinating but ridiculous consuming monster



Regards

[Spider]

We do it because it's fun this case is the ultimate whodunit it has everything but the one thing that stands out for me is the name without the dear boss letter I don't think this case would be discussed and dissected today.

Yes I'd agree with that ;-)

[Errata]

I'm not even sure the lost documents will shed any light. There's just as much chance that they will snarl the web.

Serial killers are endlessly fascinating to me. They defy behavioral norms and breeze past social constructs like they don't exist. As someone who has constantly felt imprisoned by convention, I admire that a little. Not the killing people part. The social abdication part.

But this case is a snarl of symbolism, aberrant behaviors, social and political interference, with hints of mental illness, conspiracy, and filled with overblown assumptions. Which means it's my personal heroin. Everything I ever studied on my own because I was so interested in it is in this case. It's nigh tailor made for me to get sucked in.

[pinkmoon]

Two documents which I would find interesting if they ever turned the list of people taken by the police who were found in dutfields yard when they arrived at the scence and druitts inquest notes.

[gnote]

Problem being that the "lost" documents will be debated and create pro and anti camps.
We all know that a signed contemporary bona fide confession would fare no better
.

Regards

While i agree, i think the majority of the initial wave from the "anti camp" would be those with an agenda. People who already claim to have "solved" the mystery being chief among going into attack mode. Next would be the obscurantists.

Any new evidence has to be viewed with healthy skepticism (especially something that claims 'case closed') but those who don't have a personal stake would judge it more honestly.

Consensus would be difficult yes, but in other words the likes of Edwards, Cornwell and their ilk to me don't factor into that particular equation.

[gnote]

I'm not even sure the lost documents will shed any light. There's just as much chance that they will snarl the web.

They would almost surely do a bit of both.

[Ginger]

Let's face it, we're NEVER going to know who Jack the Ripper was.

I'm by no means convinced of that. Tom Wescott's "Bank Holiday Murders" certainly doesn't approach naming a suspect, but I think he's uncovered enough information, and enough connections between persons who were previously seen as entirely unrelated, that's it's not unreasonable to once again view the Ripper murders in the light of a cold, but possibly still-solvable case.

[Pcdunn]

I think a mystery is always attractive to human beings, and some of us love puzzles. I was very impressed by some of the research and arguments on these boards, and it is evident you folks are smart, if nothing else.

I just stumbled across a site called N I N E S (Nineteenth-century Networking for Scholars) at www.nines.org while looking at another academic library's website. This is a very cool, open web database that allows searching of millions of journal articles, books, reviews, e-publications, documents related to the nineteenth century. Thought some of you scholarly types would be interested in checking it out.