The Elephant Man?!

[Tracland]

Has anyone read the relatively new book, Jack The Ripper: The Man Behind The Blade? Was I the only one who laughed out loud when the author revealed JTR to be Joseph Merrick, otherwise known as the elephant man?

[Herlock Sholmes]

Hi Traciand,

Welcome to Casebook.

I haven’t read the book but Merrick has been mentioned before as a possible JTR but I can’t recall who by. Sadly there are some appalling books on this subject (mostly written in the last 5 or 10 years) and I’m confident that this will be high up on the ‘awfulness’ list. A couple of years ago I bought a kindle JTR book just to fill some time while I was waiting for another book to be delivered and the author confidently proposed Sir Frederick Treves as the ripper! I could name about a million ways of better spending your money.

[jmenges]

The first mention of an elephant-man being 'Jack the Ripper' appears in the story 'Rooms of Mystery' by Elliott O'Donnell, 1931. It concerned an old woman who, along with her deformed son, lived in a house ‘near Bucks Row’. The neighbors thought her son ‘might be’ Jack the Ripper so they burned her house down. Pure fiction.

JM

[Elamarna]

Sadly I have read the book, it's full of profiling and shows a distinct lack of knowledge of both the murders and London in 1888, in my view.

Steve

[Sam Flynn]

It bugs me that books like this are still being written. I thought the age of the "celebrity suspect" was a thing of the past.

[Herlock Sholmes]

It bugs me that books like this are still being written. I thought the age of the "celebrity suspect" was a thing of the past.

They just get plucked out of a hat Sam, sadly. I sound like ‘grumpy old man’ (again) but I remember looking forward to, and buying every new book on the subject. Those days are long gone with just the occasional one to look forward to. Suzy’s book on the Torsos and the new A-Z are the only two I can think of at present apart from my own ‘Florence Nightingale: Nurse and Ripper?

[Herlock Sholmes]

The first mention of an elephant-man being 'Jack the Ripper' appears in the story 'Rooms of Mystery' by Elliott O'Donnell, 1931. It concerned an old woman who, along with her deformed son, lived in a house ‘near Bucks Row’. The neighbors thought her son ‘might be’ Jack the Ripper so they burned her house down. Pure fiction.

JM

Thanks Jon. I didn’t think it went that far back.

[Losmandris]

How do these books even get published as 'non fiction'? Poor old Joseph Merrick, I mean really!?! The mind boggles.

[John Wheat]

How do these books even get published as 'non fiction'? Poor old Joseph Merrick, I mean really!?! The mind boggles.

To be honest I'm sick of people naming random dead people who happened to be in London or not even London in 1888 as Jack the Ripper with no evidence whatsoever. Its in poor taste in my opinion.

[Tracland]

I was shaking my head through the whole book, just ridiculous suppositions and lack of general knowledge of the subject. When he described the victims all being posed in the birthing position ( what?!) I thought that was the most ludicrous thing I had heard until he revealed his suspect. The whole idea is so preposterous it was hard to finish the book. Then when he basically bashed most other authors for getting it wrong all these years, that was enough! Poor Merrick could barely dress himself and couldn’t even lie down, let alone pull off these murders. Not to mention, highly unlikely that he could lure anyone anywhere with a bag hiding his head! I try to read all new books but this was just sad.

[The Rookie Detective]

There's more chance of Stride having committed suicide, than Merrick having been the Ripper.

And of course, there's more chance of Edward Buckley being a Ripper "suspect," than Merrick having been the Ripper.

Sorry Jurriaan, but that's true.

He he!


RD