Can you see an 'FM' on the backwall in the famous Mary Kelly photograph?

[spyglass]

Hi, something I noticed whilst watching the repeated "JTR case closed" last night.
when they reconstructed MJK room, I noticed they had the bed at an angle away from the wall, they stated this was exactly how everything was laid out.
This is new to me as fact,( or I have simply forgotten ) although I think I recall a debate on this here some years back.
I also recall Simon Woods suggesting the bed had been moved for the photographer to be able to take the second photo.
But if the the bed was away from the wall when the Police went in, did the killer do it for a reason?

[Lombro2]

Ike is like Noah seeing a cloud in the desert.

It doesn't hurt to cover all the bases just in the off-chance it really is cloudy with a chance of FMs.

[The Baron]

Now I know it, why Ike is so desperate to believe that the phrase "an initial here and an initial there" is a reference to the supposed FM on the wall, rather than just the F on the arm and the M on the wall.

Because he needs it to be FM, in that exact order. Not MF. Never MF. Because MF would obliterate the diary. It would tear it apart, crush it underfoot, scatter it to the winds like ashes of a failed lie. MF is the wrecking ball, the unmaking, the end.

And so, he clings to FM, because without it, the whole thing crumbles.



The Baron

[rjpalmer]

There's one explanation.

Feldman was seeing things.

[Indian Harry]

Some people say they can't see either shape, some - like you at one point, you say - see the shape which looks like an 'M' but not the 'F', and some see both shapes. In Farson (1973, below) I have no problem seeing both shapes but I appear to be in a minority.

The 'F' is wishful thinking on the part of the diary folks. The 'M' is real though.

Can anyone put Ronald McDonald in the east end of London in the autumn of 1888?

[Mike J. G.]

This discussion is hilarious to me because my wife has decided that Jack the Ripper qualifies as a cryptid.

All of the reported sightings of him were blurry!

[Lombro2]

Probably from the Freemasons.

[c.d.]

I'm sure I'll win with the FMs.

Yeah, but you will probably get an FU in response.

c.d.

[Lombro2]

So the M guys—who would know why someone, as in say a serial killer, might want to emphasized the M in his name—win!

F too and the FMs.

[Lombro2]

Can I ask if anyone, who can't see the M, actually have an M initial in their name? I know the real Tom M has one and I know there's one other besides us?

So I think it's 2-1 with M guys.

We can do the same for Fs.

I'm sure I'll win with the FMs.

MaF

[Iconoclast]

You need to stop being so fair, Ike.

The most clear "cut" would have to be the M on the torn letter. Everyone saw that, even the police.

I know you're joking, Lonbro2, but it raises an important point. Rather than dismissing the possible simply because it doesn't fit our narrative, it's obviously important to embrace the possible with as open a mind as we can depending upon how well our brain functions. From the possible, we can use available evidence to work out (or infer) what is plausible. The most plausible explanation based upon actual evidence is most likely to be the truth.

[Lombro2]

You need to stop being so fair, Ike.

The most clear "cut" would have to be the M on the torn letter. Everyone saw that, even the police.

[Iconoclast]

So, unless the Ripper was trying to emulate birthing, the hitched legs are most likely the letter M.

Whilst I agree that the hitched-up legs could be representative of the letter 'M' (and have argued for this many times before), I don't think we can say that they "are most like the letter M". The truth is, we don't know what was in Jack's mind and we'll never know for certain what was in Jack's mind. At best, we can offer conjecture, and I can think of multiple possibilities, including:

1) He hitched-up his victim's legs to form a crude and highly inarticulate 'M' shape;
2) He hitched-up his victim's legs because it gave him preferable access to those parts of the body he wished to damage; and
3) He hitched-up his victim's legs in order to add to their violation and humiliation.

We'll never know, but we can certainly surmise. In the case of Maybrick, it's not as clear-cut (pardon the pun) as the 'M' shape on Kelly's wall, for example.

[Lombro2]

So, unless the Ripper was trying to emulate birthing, the hitched legs are most likely the letter M.

[Lombro2]

If we presume Jack is completely illiterate and he can't form the letter M much less a sentence in English, are there any ideas as to why three of the last four victims had their legs hitched up with knees bent?

We can't say it was a slip of the knife that left flaps that look like inverted Vs on the face, or the letter M.