Theory on MJK Photo

[Andrew Gable]

So there was this effort at one point to stitch the pieces of Mary Kelly back together for photographing. I read a theory a bit ago that the photo of "Catherine Eddowes" in the coffin is actually of the stitched together remains of Mary Kelly. Has anyone else ever heard a similar theory?

[c.d.]

So there was this effort at one point to stitch the pieces of Mary Kelly back together for photographing. I read a theory a bit ago that the photo of "Catherine Eddowes" in the coffin is actually of the stitched together remains of Mary Kelly. Has anyone else ever heard a similar theory?

Hello Andrew,

Welcome to the boards. I have never heard this theory before. On its face, it seems pretty absurd. The mutilation to her body was so great that it would have been virtually impossible for her to have been stitched up.

c.d.

[Andrew Gable]

I was sort of wondering if they had it mixed up with the one Thames Torso victim, when they made the taxidermed head. I think that was the 1887 one? I thought that body in the coffin photo looked a bit too intact as well, though.

[Sam Flynn]

The wound to Eddowes' abdomen in the coffin matches the description of the same wound in Gordon Brown's detailed notes... to say nothing of the lopped-off nose, the triangular cuts over the cheekbones etc.