October's London Fog

[Archaic]

I didn't know you taught meteorology, Mike, but it's really cool that the radio segment let you work your Ripper interest in! Glad I could help.

(I'm picturing you teaching the weather class in a black cape & top hat with a fog machine or at least some dry ice behind you... )

Archaic

[mklhawley]

Hi Mike, how are you?

You might find this story on NPR Radio interesting, it's about London's 1952 "Killer Fog". The eyewitness descriptions are fascinating and give one a vivid idea of what 19th C. London fogs/smogs must have been like. The foul air was largely the result of coal-burning fires, as it would have been in the 19th Century. People actually died of its effects.

Killer Fog of '52: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/s...storyId=873954

I think we discussed it a couple of years ago on the 'East End Photographs & Drawings' thread, but I couldn't find it again.

Here's a Wikipedia article called The Great Smog: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Smog

Best regards,
Archaic

Hi Archaic,

I just saw your post. I'm doing great. Rubyretro is right -How interesting! I teach a weather/meteorology unit, so I had the opportunity to add some of my ripper interest into my lesson because of this. Thanks Archaic!

Sincerely,

Mike

[Rubyretro]

Utterly, fascinating stuff...

[Archaic]

I just listened to the NPR radio segment again where Rosemary Merritt tells of her father dying after walking home though the December fog.

She said there were so many dead in London (close to 8,000 in a weekend) that they couldn't bury her dead father for nearly 3 weeks, and he lay in the front room of their house the whole time - shades of 19th C. Whitechapel!!

Interestingly, Rosemary said the fog came "right through the windows"...which made me wonder what it might have been like in Mary Kelly's little room with the gaping holes in the window-glass.

Best regards,
Archaic

[Archaic]

London's Killer Fog

Hi Mike, how are you?

You might find this story on NPR Radio interesting, it's about London's 1952 "Killer Fog". The eyewitness descriptions are fascinating and give one a vivid idea of what 19th C. London fogs/smogs must have been like. The foul air was largely the result of coal-burning fires, as it would have been in the 19th Century. People actually died of its effects.

Killer Fog of '52: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/s...storyId=873954

I think we discussed it a couple of years ago on the 'East End Photographs & Drawings' thread, but I couldn't find it again.

Here's a Wikipedia article called The Great Smog: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Smog

Best regards,
Archaic

[Barnaby]

Occams Razor

Of course, although it was very foggy in October, the lack of a kill could have nothing to do with the fog and simply a consequence of the increased police force.

[Barnaby]

Barnaby,

I disagree with that. All of JTR's murders, with the exception of Kelly, included escape routes, or so it seems. Heavy fog would hinder escape if routes were not easily seen, and I definitely believe he was about speedy getaways. I do believe that the fog may have provided fewer victims as well. This would have meant more time prowling in obscured circumstances. I'm sure he would have felt trepidation in this environment.

Mike

I agree that fewer potential victims would be available. That huge caveat aside, I still believe the fog works in his favor. Yes, there were a score of policemen on the lookout for him. But they were looking and they wouldn't be able to see him unless they stumbled onto him. Jack probably would make little noise as he went about his mutilations. The question becomes, how much noise was the average beat person making as he conducted his rounds? If slight, then I suppose I agree with you and this was a game of probability and there were many more of them than Jack. But if he could hear them coming and if he was quiet, I contend Jack had the advantage. As far as escape routes, I'm not sure it really mattered where he went, as long as he distanced himself from the body.

[Rubyretro]

I think that you're right Mike.

It is hard for us to imagine what those smogs were in reality.

My Mum has recounted a tale to me from her teenage years in the 1950s, about one of the last London 'smogs'.

She said that she got off the train from her job in London, to walk back to her home in Perivale, and she could not see a hand in front of her face; She had to go and knock on a stranger's front door to find shelter.

I know where the station is, and where her home was, and the distance is not so great. That must have been a helluva smog !

A London smog could hardly have been conducive to prostitution or mutilating murder, nor to anyone with health problems !

[mklhawley]

These unfortunates had to survive. Instead of not being on the streets, didn't many just double up? ...but, maybe a bigger reason why unfortunates did not populate the streets in October was because these female objects of health may have been forced inside because of the health effects of the fog.

Just thinkin'

Mike

[mklhawley]

A London Fog

A London fog is brown, reddish-yellow, or greenish, darkens more than a white fog, has a smoky, or sulphurous smell, is often somewhat dryer than a country fog, and produces, when thick, a choking sensation. Instead of diminishing while the sun rises higher, it often increases in density, and some of the most lowering London fogs occur about midday or late in the afternoon. Sometimes the brown masses rise and interpose a thick curtain at a considerable elevation between earth and sky. A white cloth spread out on the ground rapidly turns dirty, and particles of soot attach themselves to every exposed object . R Russell, London Fogs (London: 1880), p. 6

The Medical Times and Gazette in December of 1873 described one recent fog as “one of the most disastrous this generation has known,” going on to point out that “to persons with cardiac and respiratory disease it has in numerous instances proved fatal.” In fact, 273 people died as a result of bronchitis caused by the coal-smoke saturated fog which enveloped the city for days.
http://vichist.blogspot.com/2006/11/london-fog.html

People didn't just couch or get sick, it seems many even died.

Sincerely,

Mike

[Jon Guy]

Hi Barnaby

Yes, he might not see the police, but he is listening for the police. The police are not necessarily listening for him. He is the predator who has the element of surprise. The fog would work in his favor.

The Police and Vigilantes were most certainly listening out for him, and during October they were probably turning every dark corner half expecting to find the Ripper hunched over a body.

Although a predator, as you put it, the Ripper was the one that was been hunted, especially during October.

[The Good Michael]

Barnaby,

I disagree with that. All of JTR's murders, with the exception of Kelly, included escape routes, or so it seems. Heavy fog would hinder escape if routes were not easily seen, and I definitely believe he was about speedy getaways. I do believe that the fog may have provided fewer victims as well. This would have meant more time prowling in obscured circumstances. I'm sure he would have felt trepidation in this environment.

Mike

[Barnaby]

A heavy fog would hinder the Ripper only to the extent that it kept working women indoors. Otherwise, I can't help feeling it would help him. Yes, he might not see the police, but he is listening for the police. The police are not necessarily listening for him. He is the predator who has the element of surprise. The fog would work in his favor.

[Bridewell]

Good Point

It might be that prostitutes, normally unafraid enough of the bogey man (JTR) to stop plying their trade, were quite a bit more uncomfortable when they couldn't see a bloke approaching them. I imagine they generally thought, "This can't happen to me. I'm too clever. I can tell the difference between a customer and a killer." Yet, when the fog was too thick, the fears were heightened. Jack's too perhaps.

Mike

I think that quite likely, Michael.

Regards, Bridewell

[Bridewell]

Hello Colin.

"There must have been some reason why there were no Ripper murders in October. "

Indeed. Could it be that there was no RIPPER in October? (Or any other month, for that matter.)

Cheers.
LC

Hi Lynn,

It could have been but, in my view, probably wasn't.

Regards, Bridewell.