First visit to Whitechapel

[John Casey]

Just spent this last weekend in London, and went over Whitechapel way for some of the time.

What struck me was how bizarre it felt to be actually walking down streets that I have virtually walked via Google Maps hundreds of times!

I only had time to look at Whites Row, The Ten Bells, Mitre Sq., and Goulston Street, but I found it oddly emotional - maybe it was knowing what had happened there, even though the locale has changed beyond recognition.

I did happen across a couple of Ripper tours, and I was intrigued by what they were saying. The one at Whites Row, was saying that the entrance to Dorset St. was level with a door into the carpark rather than anywhere near the service road, and the one in Mitre Sq. was talking about how Jack had cut the "collar off of Catherines dress" - now at this point I have to admit that my reluctant admiration of Jack for being able to do the things he did in the amount of time sometimes available to him, without being caught, rose to new heights. To do all this, and then to cut the collar off of a dress that somebody wasnt even wearing!? (As I understand it she was wearing skirts and a chemise, and her apron was cut, not her clothing?)...

Anyhow, just thought I'd share that with y'all..

all the best
John

[Archaic]

The Emotional Effect of Historic Sites

Hello John, welcome to Casebook.

Those are interesting observations that you made. I find some historic places quite emotional too. Here in the U.S., Civil War battlefields have an incredibly emotional effect on me. It's very intense; a feeling of grief and suffering so overwhelming it's almost palpable, combined with the realization that it was all a profoundly tragic waste of life- literally a "battle between brothers". I visited Gettysburg when I was 10 and was awed by how the place made me feel.

I've visited other battlefields since then and they've always affected me very strongly- in fact, I feel like I want to go back in time and somehow stop it from happening!
The awful realization that you can't stop it is part of why the experience of visiting such a place is so profound. And then you realize that you're bearing witness to something that transcends the limitations of time.

The Shiloh battlefield was the most intense of all. My boyfriend had never visited one but came along with me because I'm the history buff. He expected to be mildly bored, but ended up feeling so overwhelmed by the sheer atmosphere of the place that he had to sit down, and he nearly cried. I remember him saying "I didn't know..." After that he became a history enthusiast too.

Certain places do seem to retain emotion long after an event has occurred. I've often discussed this phenomenon with my friend Hunter, who is a U.S. Civil War re-enactor.
I wonder if there's a word for it?

Unfortunately places associated with tragedy and suffering seem the most intensely emotional. Maybe they somehow heighten our sense of empathy and compassion for other human beings, and that's what we respond to.

I'm not sure how it works, but I know it's real.

Best regards,
Archaic

[Rixa]

I felt the same when I visited the area for the first time. In particular, Mitre Square just blew me away. I sat down there for a long while, just amazed about actually being there, nevermind how much it had changed. It didn't matter. Just wow.

Good times. However, I was a bit disappointed that it didn't affect me that way anymore on subsequent visits a couple of years later.

[Stephen Thomas]

Unfortunately places associated with tragedy and suffering seem the most intensely emotional. Maybe they somehow heighten our sense of empathy and compassion for other human beings, and that's what we respond to.

I'm not sure how it works, but I know it's real.

Yes, Archaic. It's all in the ether.

[Barnaby]

I'm incredibly jealous. I simply don't have the funds to visit London at this point. Flights are ridicuously expensive. The best I can do is walk the streets of Charleston, SC (not a bad substitute) and look at the English architecture comparable to the period. Some of it is quite Ripperish; the alley by the famous McCrady's restaurant for example.

The most "the past" has ever touched me is each time I visit New Orleans, LA. There is something about walking around in the French Quarter that is quite haunting. Maybe that is due to Anne Rice and Lestat, maybe that is due to the Pat O'Brien's hurricanes, but in any event if I could stop spending money there maybe someday I can come to London.

How weird would it be for someone to visit London for the first time and exclusively design a 4-day vacation around JTR and Whitechapel? I don't have that much desire to see anything else, but am really into going to the Ten Bells, walking the same streets as the Ripper, victims, Abberline, etc.