The killer went out of his way and put himself at great risk by slaughtering women in the open. By comparison, he was at little risk chalking a message. The message makes a good deal of sense when related to the murders, at least that's how I see it. But as a stand-alone piece of graffiti, it makes very little sense. If it's supposed to be anti-Semetic, then it does a rather poor job of conveying the message. Gary Ridgway, the Green River Killer, wrote a rather lengthy letter to the police at the time of the murders, but on the advice of FBI profiler John Douglas, they ignored it. John Douglas is also the man who advised Ripperologists in the 1980's to ignore the graffiti (the same men who wrote the books that have caused all this doubt in recent years). When Ridgway was arrested in the last decade, he talked about the letter he wrote. It was legit! But there was nothing in it that was unique knowledge to the killer, nor was that Ridgway's intention. In the case of the graffiti, we have Eddowes' apron, so its akin to the Zodiac letter that contained a piece of victiim Paul Stein's shirt.
To have the apron piece laid down by pure coincidence under the most ambiguous piece of graffiti in all of London is to my mind far more of a stretch than to put the two pieces together into one piece of evidence. Particularly since both appeared in that spot within minutes of each other. That would be absolutely incredible. However, the graffiti being legit poses a problem for those who want to paint the Ripper with the brush of the anonymous East End schlub who was no different than any killer before or sense. This ideology is a product of the now largely discredited serial killer profiling movement of the 1980's and 90's.
Since no one was present to see the graffiti written, we have no solid answers. But if we ignore everything written in the last 125 years and just look at the contemporary evidence, what emerges is the likelihood that it was written by the man who killed both Stride and Eddowes.
Yours truly,
Tom Wescott
To have the apron piece laid down by pure coincidence under the most ambiguous piece of graffiti in all of London is to my mind far more of a stretch than to put the two pieces together into one piece of evidence. Particularly since both appeared in that spot within minutes of each other. That would be absolutely incredible. However, the graffiti being legit poses a problem for those who want to paint the Ripper with the brush of the anonymous East End schlub who was no different than any killer before or sense. This ideology is a product of the now largely discredited serial killer profiling movement of the 1980's and 90's.
Since no one was present to see the graffiti written, we have no solid answers. But if we ignore everything written in the last 125 years and just look at the contemporary evidence, what emerges is the likelihood that it was written by the man who killed both Stride and Eddowes.
Yours truly,
Tom Wescott
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