After almost 30 years of debate, where do you stand on the Maybrick Diary?

[erobitha]

I believe the answers to these polls are anonymous, so I am hoping we get people to give their honest viewpoint.

I have not set an end-date.

[Iconoclast]

I'm glad you made your poll anonymous, ero b - I'd hate anyone to know it was I who voted '100% genuine - I believe it was written by James Maybrick'.

I wonder if we'll get a second one eventually?

Ike

[erobitha]

I can’t say I am particularly surprised that hoax favours undecided, real or possibly real.

I am a little surprised so many people think the Barretts in one form or another hoaxed it. Even
now.

Still, be interesting to see if that remains the case in the next few years.

[Iconoclast]

I can’t say I am particularly surprised that hoax favours undecided, real or possibly real.

I am a little surprised so many people think the Barretts in one form or another hoaxed it. Even
now.

Still, be interesting to see if that remains the case in the next few years.

I think the easiest interpretation of the Maybrick scrapbook is that it is a hoax - it looks dodgy, it isn't always perfectly aligned with what we believe we know is true about Jack, people not unreasonably don't want to be wrong, there is a lack of direct evidence which we would have otherwise expected to see (e.g., handwriting), and it superficially lacks a solid body of additional evidence which adds to the case. So seeing it as a hoax allows people to skip the greater effort of digging deeper to check that all of these surface issues are actually the deeper issues they infer them to be.

And then there's the problem of who did it and when. And that's where Mike Barrett bumbles like a buffoon into every wall the likes of Lord Orsam erects for him, so it is then easy for those who now assume the scrapbook is a hoax to rationalise Orsam's timeline as true. Orsam's position then becomes the dominant hoax theory so any poll which offers the Barretts as master hoaxers is inevitably going to see a large proportion of votes heading their way.

I trust that all of our dear readers are bearing in mind that arguments made ad populum are the very worst sort of bad science?

Ike

[Herlock Sholmes]

I'm glad you made your poll anonymous, ero b - I'd hate anyone to know it was I who voted '100% genuine - I believe it was written by James Maybrick'.

I wonder if we'll get a second one eventually?

Ike

I surveyed the evidence, examined the clues and came to the definite conclusion that it was you that voted for ‘genuine’ Ike

Elementary.

[mpriestnall]

I surveyed the evidence, examined the clues and came to the definite conclusion that it was you that voted for ‘genuine’ Ike

Elementary.

Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth.

[Herlock Sholmes]

Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth.

Exactly Martyn.

[rjpalmer]

Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth.

Or, in the case of the diary: "If you deny the undeniable, the impossible, no matter how incomprehensible, becomes tenable."

[rjpalmer]

And then there's the problem of who did it and when. And that's where Mike Barrett bumbles like a buffoon into every wall the likes of Lord Orsam erects for him, so it is then easy for those who now assume the scrapbook is a hoax to rationalise Orsam's timeline as true. Orsam's position then becomes the dominant hoax theory so any poll which offers the Barretts as master hoaxers is inevitably going to see a large proportion of votes heading their way.

Ike -- This is 'dirty pool,' so characteristic of your cause. Even a child knows you can't campaign within 500 yards of a polling place! Tsk, tsk.

[mpriestnall]

Or, in the case of the diary: "If you deny the undeniable, the impossible, no matter how incomprehensible, becomes tenable."

Quite!

[c.d.]

I think I would add another category -- Are you absolutely amazed by the amount of time people spend debating the damn diary?

Put me down as a very big yes.

c.d.

[Iconoclast]

I surveyed the evidence, examined the clues and came to the definite conclusion that it was you that voted for ‘genuine’ Ike

Elementary.

And that is why you are the brilliant detective we all know you to be, Herlock - and recently knighted, I see!

[Herlock Sholmes]

And that is why you are the brilliant detective we all know you to be, Herlock - and recently knighted, I see!

I don’t like to brag about it of course.

Have a good Christmas Ike

[Iconoclast]

I don’t like to brag about it of course.

Have a good Christmas Ike

And you, Sir Herlock!

[Meet Ze Monster]

It has been well established that the language used in the book doesn't tally up with common use idioms from the era. Besides, there's the 'a bloke in a pub swears he has Jack the Ripper's diary!' angle...