The Elephant Man

[DVV]

Hi all,

did Merrick play cricket ?

Amitiés,
David

[Hunter]

Hi Nschaal,

Congratulations. You proved that people will argue about anything, even a joke. Your point is well taken. Merrick is just as qualified as 90% of the other so called suspects that are implicated with about as much evidence.

[Uncle Jack]

I find Dr Treves a more likel suspect than Joseph Merrick!! How ridiculous this theory is. The poor man could barely move le alone murder women on the streets.

[Mike Covell]

FACT: London Hospital Standing Orders for Night Porters, 1888 (Royal London Hospital Archives document reference LH/A/1/17) states:

' 2. They shall see that the gates and doors of the Hospital are duly secured by 11 p.m.'

' 3. After that hour the Head Night Porter shall register in the night-book the names or particulars of all persons, whether officers, servants, patients, or others, entering or leaving the Hospital,...'

' 3. He (The Night Porter) shall not allow any patient to leave the Hospital without written permission from the House-Governor; nor admit any person contrary to the rules of the Institution'.

I expect you can present here, for the first time ever, a primary source showing that Merrick was allowed to leave, and the signed permission slip allowing him to do so?

[kensei]

Um... Nschaal, are you even interested in actually studying the real facts of the case and seeing what you can glean from them, or are you fishing for tidbits to write a B-grade straight to video monster movie?

[Monty]

Nschall,

Go see where Im from.

Bear in mind the fact I use to work a stones throw from Lee Street, use to play football on the workhouse grounds...the same grounds Merrick worked in, that Ove studied his birth and medical records, that my first article was about Merrick, that Ive been inside the Sari shop and the Gaitey, that Ive met a distant relation, that Ive studied Merrick in almost as much detail as Jack....just bear that in mind when I say Merrick was not Jack the Ripper.

Firstly he was physically incapable.

Throat wounds and mutilations indicate Jack was most likely right handed, the hand that was severly disformed on Merrick.

The obvious fact he would have been spotted and noted if he walked the streets, which is why he rarely did. He certainly never left the hospital on his own.

Still, what do I know. After all, I just watched a film.

Monty

[Nschaal]

I think your chain is being yanked Phil.

The evidence, left hand and throat cuts for example, lead away from Merrick.

Its extremely unlikely he was Jack the Ripper.

And some of the 'facts' presented are incorrect.

Monty

Which facts are incorrect? Just because David Lynch made a sympathetic movie about the elephant man doesn't mean that you can rule him out as a suspect.

Here's the thing, no one will ever know the true identity of Jack the Ripper. The murders happened over 120 years ago and it's still a mystery. It might as well have been the elephant man because the concept of a former circus freak with Proteus syndrome killing prostitutes in London is too awesome of an idea to ignore.

Hell it could have been a tag team between Treves and Merrick for all we know. There is little to no evidence on the case to name a "real" murderer. Anyways, does it even matter if a few prostitutes were murdered? It wouldn't be the first time, or the last.

Cinematically Jack the Ripper should be the elephant man, Dr. Victor Frankenstein, or Daniel Day-Lewis. Then Sherlock Holmes and Jack the Ripper have a sword fight on Big Ben ending in a screen death. It would be revealed that Professor Moriarty orchestrated the entire thing, using the Ripper as a middleman for some satanic plot.

[kensei]

Bullying has a huge effect on people, just look at Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold.

Sorry this is slightly off topic, but the recent book "Columbine" by Dave Cullen exposes the belief that Harris and Klebold were bullied as being largely a myth.

[Monty]

I think your chain is being yanked Phil.

The evidence, left hand and throat cuts for example, lead away from Merrick.

Its extremely unlikely he was Jack the Ripper.

And some of the 'facts' presented are incorrect.

Monty

[Nschaal]

FACT: Eyewitness reports are notoriously inaccurate and are often discounted by even the most hardened police officers.

Joseph Merrick could have easily used the tunnel system running underneath Whitechapel and the Royal London Hospital to avoid detection. People give Joseph Merrick a pass because of his disability, if anything it gives him more motive than the average person. He was taunted and teased by the majority of the impoverished people of Whitechapel; he took out his rage on drunken prostitutes then killed himself because of the immense guilt he felt. Bullying has a huge effect on people, just look at Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold.

Also, this isn't a game, you're just jealous I solved one of the greatest murder mysteries of all time.

[Phil Carter]

Hello Nschaal,

Oh God, here we go again...right... one chance.

FACT:- There is a 100% chance that this poor man would have been recognised.
FACT:- Hiding his deformed face and body could only have made him even more suspect, thereby recognisable.
FACT:- Men didnt normally walk around in the dead of night with their heads and faces covered up by an oversized cloth bag on their head, with slits for eyes.
FACT:- He does not fit any description of any person seen near the murders, in the area and was never even seen at all outside during the whole of the WM.

Now please go somewhere else and play little games..

[Nschaal]

I think people should start to seriously consider the possibility of Joseph Merrick as Jack the Ripper. Let’s look at the facts…

• His mother, Mary Jane Potterton (also somewhat deformed) died when he was just 12 years old.

• It has also been speculated that his mother was in fact a prostitute.

• His father remarried and his stepmother didn’t want him (rejection by women).

• Marrick worked and lived in the Whitechapel before Dr. Fredrick Treves discovered him (259 Whitechapel Road, E1 - now called the Ukay London Sari Centre).

• Merrick admitted himself in the freak show willingly and wasn’t abused (contrary to the David Lynch film).

• The Royal London Hospital, where Merrick lived out most of his life, is located in Whitechapel on Whitechapel Road, E1 1BB.

• The Hospital was connected to an intricate series of tunnels that could have been used by the Ripper to evade the police (double event).

• While accepting the hospitality of Dr. Treves by being admitted to the Royal London Hospital, Merrick had access to a wide range of medical utensils.

• Dr. Openshaw examined the Kidney from the “From Hell Letter” at the Royal London Hospital. A letter allegedly sent by Jack the Ripper to Openshaw was mailed to the Royal London Hospital.

• It has been speculated that Jack the Ripper was left handed, Joseph Merrick could only use his left hand due to his disfigurement.

• Take a look at the penmanship of the Openshaw letter and a letter written by Joseph Merrick...





• The eyewitness reports of Jack the Ripper match the “public clothing” that Merrick wore…



• We all know the psychological effects of bullying/maltreatment, Merrick had this plus the stigma attached to being deformed.

• Joseph Merrick was a local celebrity at the time and one can hypothesize that possibly Dr. Treves/ the Queen covered up his homicidal tendencies to get funding for the Royal London Hospital.

• Serial killers are often very kind on the surface (Ted Bundy), but in reality are sociopaths covering up their true feelings towards humanity.

• Joseph Merrick committed suicide on the 11th of April 1890, two years after the death of Mary Jane Kelly.

Joseph Merrick had the opportunity, the motive, and the capability to perpetrate the Whitechapel murders. Just because he was a celebrity at the time and had the façade of a kind man doesn’t make him exempt as a serious Ripper suspect.

[Eastender]

An interesting point about Joseph Merrick is that he used the vast underground network of tunnels and stores under the London Hospital to get about without being troubled by observers. I have often wondered if JTR did the same. What better place to hide stolen organs than in a gigantic store of bottled organs and tissue samples. As late as 1975 the entrances to the tunnels were not kept locked, and any student, porter or hospital cleaner knew how to get into them.

[belinda]

Not very funny.Joseph Merrick suffered enough in life.It's not fair to go on mocking the poor man.

*****I was thinking about Jack The Ripper and Joseph Merrick. Not in the way of him being a suspect. But you have a young man who looks like a monster but could be a kind hearted caring man.

On the other hand, you have Jack The Ripper. (I'm assuming here) A man who's appearance may be charming, nice and trusting but a real monster on the inside.*****

Very interesting point

[Fictionnaire]

I was thinking about Jack The Ripper and Joseph Merrick. Not in the way of him being a suspect. But you have a young man who looks like a monster but could be a kind hearted caring man.

On the other hand, you have Jack The Ripper. (I'm assuming here) A man who's appearance may be charming, nice and trusting but a real monster on the inside.

I also believe that it couldn't be physically possible for Joseph to have committed these acts.