News Flash!! . . . VINCENT VAN GOGH WAS JACK THE RIPPER!!

[Malcolm X]

Hello Chris. Thanks for posting these. Good old fashioned research always trumps speculation and theorising.

.
Cheers.
LC

pardon !!!!!

[lynn cates]

concedo

Hello Malcolm. Very well. Speculation and theorising guide the research. Rather like the, so-called, hypothetico-deductive reasoning employed by the scientist.

Cheers.
LC

[Vincent alias Jack]

Hi Dale

Um wow, this is...different!

Was Van Gogh not in Arles in 1888. Seems like there is quite a lot if information on his whereabouts?

Good luck with your book.

Tj

Yes, there is much known on Van Gogh's whereabouts. He moved to Arles in Feb. 1888 and remained in the South of France until 1890.

It would seem too far a distance to travel for murder again and again, but not for Vincent. And it would seem too long a trip, but not so. The Marseille to Paris to London route was efficient due to coordinated and swift mail train and steamer routes. Bradshaw's Continental Railway Guide of 1888 provides that Vincent could travel from Arles to London in as little as 24 hrs.--not so far away after all.

Thanks Tj for your well wishes.

Dale Larner

[lynn cates]

money

Hello Dale. Interesting speculation.

I suppose that, given Vincent's busy commuting schedule, another fact he kept well veiled would be his wealth, as opposed to his imagined "starving artist" status. I presume commuting could prove expensive.

Cheers.
LC

[Vincent alias Jack]

Letters from Arles 1888 on relevant dates
30 August to his brother Theo
1 September to Theo
8 September to Theo
29 September to Theo
1 October to Theo
10 November to Theo

As an example the letter from Arles of 8 September, the day of the Chapman murder, can be read in full at

http://vangoghletters.org/vg/letters/let676/letter.html

where you can browse all the other letters as well

Good thinking, Chris. Please note that Van Gogh rarely dated his letters, and therefore that it has been necessary for biographers and researchers to deduce and infer the dates. Please also note that serial killers tend to work at deceiving others, and that there may be other factors and information involved that is down below the surface layers. It's all been dealt with in the book.

Thanks for the research.

Dale Larner

[Vincent alias Jack]

Hello Dale. Interesting speculation.

I suppose that, given Vincent's busy commuting schedule, another fact he kept well veiled would be his wealth, as opposed to his imagined "starving artist" status. I presume commuting could prove expensive.

Cheers.
LC

Hi Lynn. Vincent was well funded for the last 10 years of his life by his younger brother Theo. He generally thanked Theo in his many letters for the amounts he received, and this provides that he had the money for his travels. There were also night mail trains that were cheaper, and Vincent loved the night. It's all covered in detail in the book.

Thanks,
Dale Larner

[AdamNeilWood]

Hi all,

Van Gogh was discussed way back in Ripperologist 12 (August 1997):

http://www.casebook.org/dissertations/rip-vangogh.html

Best wishes
Adam

[Vincent alias Jack]

Years ago this was discussed on Casebook - I really cannot remember the date or the name of the thread. This was not argued as a serious case for Vincent being involved, but the synchronicity of some of the events was noted as interesting. During the autumn of 1888 Vincent was certainly undergoing a deeply disturbing, arguably psychotic, episode and it was in December of 1888 that he had, in effect, a breakdown and the famous ear cutting episode occurred.
I remember the following possible correspondences were notedL:
The time - the autumn/winter of 1888
The ear cutting - reminiscent of the threat in the Dear Boss letter and the injuries on Eddowes
The involvement of a prostitute in the ear cutting episode

However, in the spring of 1888, Vincent moved to Arles and he was there for the whole of that year and into the next. Not only that, some of the iconic Van Gogh paintings were painted in Arles during this period. One such is the bedroom scene with the bed and rush chair.
Even more precisely, one of the famous sunflower paintings (Vase with Twelve Sunflowers) was painted in August 1888 and the exterior scene, "Cafe Terrace at Night" in September 1888.
Vincent was a regular correspondent, especially to his brother Theo, and numerous letters exist from him in Arles during the crucial period.

During his time in England Vincent lived and worked about a mile from where I live - he was a teacher in Ramsgate at a private school. The building, now a private residence, still exists, and now bears a blue plaque in honour of his time in the town. Because of this I have taken a moderate interest in Vincent and his work. On that basis I feel reasonably qualified to say that this "theory" is not only a non starter on every front, but dishonours the memory of a mentally tortured man of genius.

Hello Chris. Of course you are right--Vincent did teach at a school for boys in Ramsgate, but please note that before this he also lived in London. He was transferred there at the age of 20 in May of 1873 by Goupil's, the art dealer he worked for.

I have no fear of dishonoring the memory of Van Gogh--he was a serial killer.

Thanks,

Dale Larner

[Vincent alias Jack]

ha ha ha yea'

it only took 3 mins to screw up a book, that took 3 years to write... oh dear, how careless of the author.

that is, if this post isn't just a silly hoax instead

Hello Malcolm X. The post isn't a hoax, and the research is golden.

Thanks for the fun.

Dale Larner

[caz]

Hello Dale. Interesting speculation.

I suppose that, given Vincent's busy commuting schedule, another fact he kept well veiled would be his wealth, as opposed to his imagined "starving artist" status. I presume commuting could prove expensive.

Cheers.
LC

Actually, Colin Ireland commuted by rail from the east coast in Essex to Fulham, West London, for his five serial murders, while his status was poor and unemployed. He simply stole enough money from each victim to pay for his next trip.

I expect the bonnets of Nichols, Chapman, Stride, Eddowes and Kelly concealed more than enough cash for a murderous Vincent's travel costs. After all, they had no desire for foreign travel all the while they were making a mint in Spitalfields from blackmail and working for the Fenians.

This one will run and run.

Love,

Caz
X

[lynn cates]

Off to work we go.

Hello Caroline. Wow, never even considered that Polly and Annie were working--well, I would not call THAT work.

Just goes to show.

Cheers.
LC

[GregBaron]

Who's next Marcel Proust?

Hi all,

I thought Walter Sickert was the ripper case closed?

Or no, I forgot, it was Lewis Carroll.

But again, someone else stated emphatically it was Robert Louis Stevenson.

I proposed Edgar Allan Poe's Orangutan.

Seriously folks, has the ever been an artist worth his salt that also was a murderer and serial killer?

Serial killing is a full-time job, there's little time for being a genius on the side....


Greg

[The Good Michael]

I expect the bonnets of Nichols, Chapman, Stride, Eddowes and Kelly concealed more than enough cash for a murderous Vincent's travel costs. After all, they had no desire for foreign travel all the while they were making a mint in Spitalfields from blackmail and working for the Fenians.

Caz,

Are you suggesting that Van Gogh's fascination with the plight of the impoverished Irish as explained here http://www.thomasnast.com/NastAndVan...eEssayMain.htm, gave him Fenian connections that pushed him down the path of serial-killing? Why, I never!

Mike

[Debra A]

"Vincent, acting as Jack the Ripper, placed actual dead dogs in his victim, Mary Kelly's, room after he murdered her..."

...????

Good luck, Dale.

[caz]

Of course he did, Debs. He was a terrierist too.

I believe he also had a fistula on his tiny chihuahua.

Love,

Caz
X