Doctor Who

[Chris]

Surprised not to see any discussion of last night's revelation that Jack the Ripper was eaten by a Silurian in 1888. But did Abberline ever get the message telling him so?

[YankeeSergeant]

Sularians

Surprised not to see any discussion of last night's revelation that Jack the Ripper was eaten by a Silurian in 1888. But did Abberline ever get the message telling him so?

I hate when the Sularians do that!

[Sally]

What you have to wonder is..

Did Abberline read Silurian?

It could all have been so different - imagine the headlines:

WHITECHAPEL FIEND EATEN BY ALIENS

But then again, maybe Special Branch would have kept it to themselves??

[Robert]

In my opinion, this is vital new information, for it allows us to rule out Druitt, Kosminski, Cutbush, Tumblety, Chapman, Stephenson, and quite a few other suspects.

Basically, all we've got to do is order every death certificate from Q4 1888 to Q1 1889 and see whether it gives cause of death as "eaten by Silurians."

But hang on : what if the Ripper's death wasn't registered? Also, what if several people were eaten by Silurians during that time?

[Chris]

I haven't had any luck so far looking for the Silurian woman on the 1891 census. Unfortunately I suspect her age (c. 430 million years) may have been mistranscribed.

[Robert]

I think the problem is that the 1891 census was non-Silurian friendly : granted there is a box for age, but there is also a "where born" question and a Silurian would presumably need that to read "where hatched."

[Chris]

I think the problem is that the 1891 census was non-Silurian friendly : granted there is a box for age, but there is also a "where born" question and a Silurian would presumably need that to read "where hatched."

Come to think of it, parish of birth might present difficulties too - particularly if it was somewhere that's now on the sea bed. Maybe I should just be searching for "Occupation: Silurian"?

[Robert]

Yes, well it depends whether these were middle-class Silurians or working-class Silurians. If the latter, place of birth might vary a bit from census to census, and if you add in faulty memory due to the huge time period involved, then you're likely to get place of birth as anything from Atlantis to the Goodwin Sands.

[Chris]

Am I right in thinking that in the 1841 census the age was rounded down to the nearest 50 million years for Silurians?

[Robert]

I think so. I think they also had trouble with the 1911 census, number of children still alive. This would have involved them in a great deal of detection work, tracing offspring over several million years. The disability section of the 1911 isn't currently viewable, but in 100 years time I would expect to see things like "cold-blooded so take time to warm up" and "allergic to meteorites."

[Robert]

They are here. Mayday, mayday...

http://www.barney.com/uk/index.asp

[Chris]

They are here. Mayday, mayday...

Hmm. I'm not sure you're treating this subject with the seriousness it deserves.

For Ripperologists unfamiliar with the Silurians, I found this presentation about their history on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tNau-EAH3Ro&feature=related

Perhaps the Whitechapel Society might like to book him for a future meeting?

[TomTomKent]

Ah, another Doctor Who reference to the Ripper. For those of you who want to geek up, the Ripper was also inferred to be Wen Chi Yan (in the Talons of Wen Chi Yan) as well as an insectoid aline (Dr Who New Adventures novels by Virgin Books) or the Valyard (BBC Novel Range) and various aliens in the Dr Who Comics (Panini).

[Robert]

A third eye? Bit of a downer if you're a Silurian optician.

I remember Pertwee holding out his hand and saying "Hallo. Are you a Silurian?" But the sea devils....what can one say? Talk about fashion victims!

[Chris]

Ah, another Doctor Who reference to the Ripper. For those of you who want to geek up, the Ripper was also inferred to be Wen Chi Yan (in the Talons of Wen Chi Yan). ...

I suppose that might explain why the Silurian found him a bit stringy: