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Suppose that via magic (or sufficiently advanced technology), you are able to witness one, and only one, of the Whitechapel Murders. You will do so as an invisible ghost - nobody is aware of your presence, nobody can see or hear you, and you can't intervene. You will have to make do with the lighting at the murder scene, and you will be restricted to seeing only the murder scene and the immediate surroundings: you see the the killer and the victim enter, you see the murder, you see the killer leave and then you're done.
You can, however, share anything you've learned with the casebook forums.
What do you do?
For me, this question boils down to one thing: at which murder scene could I make the biggest contribution to our knowledge of the case?
I think the answer is Stride. If I see BS man kill Stride, then IMO that conclusively shows either that Stride is not a Ripper victim, or that everything we know about the Ripper is wrong. Either would be a major contribution. Seeing whether or not the killer was "interrupted" would have the same effect. And just by viewing the murder, I will be able to answer those two questions, no matter what the truth ends up being.
Those of you with a specific suspect in mind might be tempted to pick Chapman, and get the best possible look at the killer. You run the risk that the murder took place earlier in the morning, and thus in the dark, but even more you run the risk that (a) it's somebody we don't have on a suspect list, and you come back to casebook saying "it's just some guy with a mustache!" and you spend the rest of your life looking through photos of Whitechapel, over-analyzing anyone with so much as a dark shadow under their nose, or (b) you realize too late that it's difficult to compare a 2D pic to a moving, 3D person with full confidence. (The same applies to those who think they might get a better look with Kelly, but there you have a much greater chance of not seeing JTR...of course not a problem if you're going there to ascertain Barnett's guilt!)
You can, however, share anything you've learned with the casebook forums.
What do you do?
For me, this question boils down to one thing: at which murder scene could I make the biggest contribution to our knowledge of the case?
I think the answer is Stride. If I see BS man kill Stride, then IMO that conclusively shows either that Stride is not a Ripper victim, or that everything we know about the Ripper is wrong. Either would be a major contribution. Seeing whether or not the killer was "interrupted" would have the same effect. And just by viewing the murder, I will be able to answer those two questions, no matter what the truth ends up being.
Those of you with a specific suspect in mind might be tempted to pick Chapman, and get the best possible look at the killer. You run the risk that the murder took place earlier in the morning, and thus in the dark, but even more you run the risk that (a) it's somebody we don't have on a suspect list, and you come back to casebook saying "it's just some guy with a mustache!" and you spend the rest of your life looking through photos of Whitechapel, over-analyzing anyone with so much as a dark shadow under their nose, or (b) you realize too late that it's difficult to compare a 2D pic to a moving, 3D person with full confidence. (The same applies to those who think they might get a better look with Kelly, but there you have a much greater chance of not seeing JTR...of course not a problem if you're going there to ascertain Barnett's guilt!)
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