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A Psychological Profile of the Ripper
Hi, everyone! I'm Kristen and I'm new here, but I have been an amateur Ripperologist for decades. As I was growing up, I found myself in an unusual position that led to hands-on experience in the fields of criminal investigation, human anatomy, and the treatment of mental illnesses. My father was a sergeant in the local police force and while he couldn’t speak to the specific details of any of the cases that came across his desk, he often explained to me how criminal investigations as a whole and all of the components thereof typically played out on a day-to-day basis. We would watch television shows like Forensic Files together, but as television is often sensationalized and is therefore never a valid source for a complete education, my father would mostly talk over the show, answer my questions, and share his personal experiences as a criminal investigator and his vast knowledge of the process that was being shown on the screen. I thereby became fascinated with criminology from a very young age and continued to pursue it as a personal interest throughout my adolescence and adulthood.
On the other side of this coin is my mother, who has been a registered nurse assisting orthopedic surgeons in the operating room for almost fifty years. My mother is the person that sterilizes and preps the instruments, serves as one of the scrub nurses that aids the doctor in the actual surgical procedure, and sometimes closes the incisions. Growing up around her produced many unique educational experiences. I began reading when I was three years old and instead of having storybooks growing up, I had books that detailed anatomy such as The Atlas of The Human Body by Professor Peter Abrahams. I read more books on the various sciences than I ever read with fairy tales and by the time I was in grade school, the school bus was letting me off at the local hospital rather than at a babysitter or family member’s home. I spent much of my time learning from the scrub techs and doctors at the front desk of the operating room while waiting for my mom to finish her cases so we could head home.
In addition to these events, I was diagnosed with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, Attention Deficit Disorder, Generalized Anxiety Disorder, and Major Depressive Disorder when I was 6 years old. Because my mother was a nurse, she had access to extensive medical research on these disorders as well as access to the very best doctors who treated them. She was therefore able to explain to me exactly what was going on and over the last 28 years of personally living with these disorders, I have learned much about the chemical make-up of the mentally ill brain and how its various disorders are treated.
Now, I do not in any way claim to be a professional investigator with a degree in criminology. I do, however, believe that my unique personal experiences throughout my lifetime so far— along with extensive research, of course— might lend itself to a better understanding of the Ripper case I have always been so fascinated by. My favorite suspect is a relatively new one— H.H. Holmes, but I have also put together a bit of a profile on Ripper that I would enjoy hearing everyone's thoughts on. I only ask that everyone please be respectful. If you think psychology is a pseudoscience, this probably isn't the best topic for you because my struggles with mental health issues have taught me that it is certainly not and it is hurtful when people discredit it. Thank you for your kind consideration and here is the profile.
On the other side of this coin is my mother, who has been a registered nurse assisting orthopedic surgeons in the operating room for almost fifty years. My mother is the person that sterilizes and preps the instruments, serves as one of the scrub nurses that aids the doctor in the actual surgical procedure, and sometimes closes the incisions. Growing up around her produced many unique educational experiences. I began reading when I was three years old and instead of having storybooks growing up, I had books that detailed anatomy such as The Atlas of The Human Body by Professor Peter Abrahams. I read more books on the various sciences than I ever read with fairy tales and by the time I was in grade school, the school bus was letting me off at the local hospital rather than at a babysitter or family member’s home. I spent much of my time learning from the scrub techs and doctors at the front desk of the operating room while waiting for my mom to finish her cases so we could head home.
In addition to these events, I was diagnosed with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, Attention Deficit Disorder, Generalized Anxiety Disorder, and Major Depressive Disorder when I was 6 years old. Because my mother was a nurse, she had access to extensive medical research on these disorders as well as access to the very best doctors who treated them. She was therefore able to explain to me exactly what was going on and over the last 28 years of personally living with these disorders, I have learned much about the chemical make-up of the mentally ill brain and how its various disorders are treated.
Now, I do not in any way claim to be a professional investigator with a degree in criminology. I do, however, believe that my unique personal experiences throughout my lifetime so far— along with extensive research, of course— might lend itself to a better understanding of the Ripper case I have always been so fascinated by. My favorite suspect is a relatively new one— H.H. Holmes, but I have also put together a bit of a profile on Ripper that I would enjoy hearing everyone's thoughts on. I only ask that everyone please be respectful. If you think psychology is a pseudoscience, this probably isn't the best topic for you because my struggles with mental health issues have taught me that it is certainly not and it is hurtful when people discredit it. Thank you for your kind consideration and here is the profile.
- Psychopathy (manipulative and volatile; lacking a conscience or empathy towards others)
- Letters thought to be authentic reveal narcissistic tendencies, but I am not comfortable labeling Ripper as an officially diagnosed narcissist absent evidence of his psychological state at the time of the murders
- Hematomania (obsession with blood)
- Always sliced the left carotid (right handed killer), but subdued the victim through strangulation into a position where the slice could be made from behind with limited blood spurting
- Mutilations usually involved the severing of both femoral arteries, often in the process of removing organs, which produced a massive flow of blood, yet were always carried out postmortem to avoid spurting with the pulse, indicating careful calculation
- “Dear Boss” letter refers to “proper red stuff” and how he saved some from a victim to write with, further leading towards an indication of hematomania
- Superficial charm led victims to let down their guard; may have enticed them with grapes, which were far too expensive for any Whitechapel resident to afford in the time period
- Intelligent and careful; too calculated and arrogant to be a simple case of a man experiencing schizophrenic episodes
- Targeted prostitutes not for what they were, but for their availability and ease
- No sexual motive; women were butchered, but never sexually assaulted
- No sadism; mutilations occurred after quick deaths; doesn’t get off on pain and terror, but on blood and damage
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