Haunting History of Jack the Ripper

Speaker A: Hi everyone, and welcome back to another episode of Haunted History Chronicles. In 1883, the reverend Andrew Mins had shocked the delicate sensible. An inquiry into the condition of the Abject pool. This publication painted a grim reality of everyday life in London's slumlands and warned them that they ignored this festering underclass at their peril. He wrote whilst we have been building our churches and solicing ourselves with our religion and dreaming that the millennium was coming, the poor have been growing poorer, the wretched more miserable, and the immoral more corrupt. The gulf has been daily widening which separates the lowest classes of our community from our churches and chapels and from all decency and civilization. How can those places in which they live be called homes? To get into them, you have to penetrate courts reeking with poisonous and melodious gases arising from the accumulations of sewage and refuse scattered in all directions and often flowing beneath your feet. Walls and ceilings are black with the accretions of filth which have gathered upon them through years of neglect. It is exuding through cracks in the boards overhead, it is running down the walls. It is everywhere. Every room in these rotten and wreaking tenements held a family, often two. In one cellar. A sanitary inspector reports finding a father, mother, three children and four pigs. In another room, a missionary found a man ill with smallpox, his wife just recovering from her 8th confinement, and the children running about half naked and covered with dirt. Here are seven people living in one underground kitchen and a little dead child lying in the same room. Elsewhere is a poor widow, her three children and a child who had been dead 13 days. Where there are beds, they are simply heaps of dirty rags, shavings or straw. But for the most part, these miserable beings find rest only upon the filthy boards. In 1875, the Artisans and Laborers Dwelling Act was passed by Parliament to allow and to encourage the purchase and demolition of large areas of unfit property. We know that in these slum areas of London, 80% of the poor were living in so called unfit properties, and so they were marked for demolition and regeneration. Thus the slum clearances began and almost immediately ran into a rather big problem. For these new buildings to be erected, investment from the private sector was needed, and in order for them to recoup their monetary support, it meant that the cost for these new houses was astronomical and therefore rents that were put out were far and above what most people living in these areas could afford. What did that mean? It meant that common lodging houses became more and more necessary. It meant that people were forced out of their homes for rebuilds, rebuilds that they could not afford. It meant that then there was an ever increasing number of people were forced to live on the street day by day, trying to secure lodgings in common lodging houses where men, women and children were crammed together under horrendous conditions. In 1887, Charles Booth, a wealthy shipping magnate who turned philanthropist and social reporter, presented a paper to the Royal Statistical Society outlining the grim reality for many who lived in the East End. Out of a population of some 456,877 people, he estimated that 22% of them were living on the poverty line, whilst 13% of them were struggling against conditions in which decent life was not imaginable. Put simply, 60,000 East End men, women and children lived their daily lives on the brink of starvation and found themselves crammed into overcrowded accommodation where disease, hunger or neglect would claim the lives of one in four children before they reached the age of five. Jacob Adler was an actor at the time. He wrote in London there is an East End and a west end. In the West End are those fortunate ones who are sent into the world with a kiss. In the East End are the others here live, the poor, the shamed, those whom fate, seeing how shrunken and bent they are as they creep through the gates of life, spat in their face for good measure. In this East End, a corner has been set aside, where, not content with the spittle, fate sends the poor on their way with a blow, a kick and their hats shoved over their eyes. In this spot, with the holy Name Whitechapel, we would have to sink or swim, survive or go under, find bread, or if we could not, find death. In the autumn of 1888, a series of brutal murders in the East End of London sent shockwaves reverberating around the civilized world and caused a scandal that penetrated right to the heart of the British establishment. The killer was never caught. However, at the height of the panic that the murders generated, a letter was received by a news agency in central London. And thanks to the signature on that missive, the killer was given a name that would catapult him into the realm of legend jack the Ripper. In today's podcast, I'm going to endeavour to convey the atmosphere in the area where the Jack the Ripper murders occurred over just a few short weeks, to provide information around the women themselves in their last few moments and to then explore some of the paranormal hauntings associated with the cases themselves and the locations. Post this london, 1888 friday the 31 August. Mary Ann Nichols polly, as she was known, was in a cheerful mood. In her pocket she had fourpence, which meant that on this night she would be able to afford a night's lodgings and would not be forced to rough sleep. As Polly stumbled wearily along the street, she would not see the ominous figure approaching her, or the knife he wielded in his hand before he cut her throat. After that, Polly would know no more. Shortly before 03:45, a.m. George Cross was making his way through the streets to work at Spittlefield. He turned into what was then known as Buck's Row, where something in the dim half light would catch his attention. To George, it looked like an untidy pile of clothing laying about halfway up the street. And so he began to make his way over, hopeful that these items and anything else laying there would be something of value to him. As he drew closer, he was to discover that the pile of clothes was in fact a woman. As he was making his discovery, another person making their way to the market approached. They bent over the prone body of Polly. They found her warm. They lifted her hands and arms, which were limp and lifeless. Fearing the worst, they set off towards the nearest police station. Before they could return with the police officer, another PC called John Neal was patrolling his regular beat. His path took him along Bucks Row every 30 minutes. He, too, spotted something on the ground, something that had not been there 30 minutes prior, and proceeded to investigate. Shining his lamp on the Huddle form at 03:45 A.m., he immediately started taking notes describing the details of the discovery. He wrote how she was on her back, eyes open and staring, clothing disarranged, and her bonnet in the gutter several feet away from the body. He was in no doubt that she was dead and that it was recent. He later testified her body was still warm, warm as a toasted crumpet. He could smell the stench of gin, and it was then he noticed the gash on her throat. PC Neal was raising his police whistle to call for assistance when Cross and Paul returned with another PC. At 04:00, a.m. Dr. Ralph Llewellyn arrived to examine the body. It was a cursory examination. If he'd taken the time to examine and move some of the clothing, he would have seen that Polly had been almost disemboweled, a detail only discovered when the body was examined more closely. At the mortuary. Polly had met a vicious and violent end, with the wounds to her abdomen extending to her diaphragm. Some of her front teeth were missing, and there were further cuts and gashes down the right hand side of her body. Over the next few weeks, more and more details would be known about her. The fact that she was 42 years old, a mother of five children, and separated her from her husband, often forced to sleep on the streets. Annie Chapman would have two children from her marriage with Fred Chapman, a soldier who would later become a vet. They had a good life in Windsor and a good home. Sadly, we know that their son was born badly deformed at birth and lived out his life in a home for cripples. Accounts of their daughters have placed her in an institution in France. Maybe it was these difficult circumstances that caused Annie and Fred to separate and for Annie to return to the East End of London. She never gave up her married name and Fred would often visit her, giving her an allowance of ten shillings a week up until his death in 1886. Life for Annie after his death would have been very difficult. With no further financial support and the meager money she could earn through matchbox making, it would mean that Annie would too often have to sleep on the streets and, like Polly, have to take up casual prostitution to help pay for a bed to sleep in. We know that Annie, in her last few years, was very unwell, half starving, and towards the end she was seeking a bed in the local infirmary where she was diagnosed with tuberculosis. She would be told that nothing else could be done for her. In reality, Annie Chapman would only have had another few weeks to live. On Friday the 7 September, amelia Farmer or Palmer ran into Annie. According to later evidence, this encounter shocked Amelia, as Annie was dreadfully thin and haggard. She would give Annie tuppence to get herself a warm cup of tea, as she'd not eaten or drank anything all day. Annie told Amelia she was trying to summon the strength to take herself to the infirmary for a day or two for a bed, and also mumbled about trying to find lodgings for the night. Later that evening, at 01:45 A.m., Timothy Donovan would find Annie in the kitchen of his lodging house. When he discovered she had no money to pay for a bed, she was reminded of the rules Donovan would later recall. She pulled her clothes tightly around her and left, saying she would find the money somehow. A witness would later place Annie Chapman outside of number 29 Hanbury Street with a man at around 05:00 A.m.. By this time, it was starting to get light and people were beginning to make their way to work at nearby Spittlefield's Market. Between five and 06:00 A.m., 29 Hanbury Street had 16 residents at the time, numerous windows and sleeping people were just a few yards away. At around 05:15 A.m., a neighbor heard one voice cry out no. Followed by the sound of something hitting the fence. The street was known for crime, though, and worse sounds than this, so he went back to sleep. Shortly after 06:00 A.m., Inspector Joseph Chandler was turning into Hanbury Street when he was met by three men running towards him, shouting, Police. Murder. Quick. Inspector Chandler was led by these men towards Number 29, where a body of a woman lay on her back, legs drawn up and knees spread outwards, her face turned to the side, swollen and bruised, the head almost completely severed, a handkerchief tied in place to try and conceal the wounds. Later, examinations and evidence at the medical inquest would elaborate on the brutal attack that had taken place. Annie, like Polly, had been virtually disemboweled, her uterus and other organs removed, two long, deep incisions, either side of her spine had enabled the removal of a kidney. Inspector Chandler first believed this murder must have taken place elsewhere, given the limited amount of blood at the scene. Annie, though, was used to spending bitter cold nights on the street, and having no fixed address meant that she was used to having to carry everything she owned on her person. So she was therefore wearing every item of clothing she had. That meant that there were several layers that were drenched with her blood, concealing the true horror to passers by. Laid by Annie's feet were a couple of brass rings, a few pennies and a couple of farthings. In the corner of the yard was a portion of blood stained envelope and evidence of two medicinal pills at the inquest. It was established that Annie, while she had sat in Donovan's kitchen, had retrieved from the grate the piece of envelope to wrap the two pills she'd been given by the infirmary to ease her pain. Near her body, in the same yard, was a Leather Apron, saturated in water. Leather Apron soon became the name attached to this murderer. For a short time, Elizabeth Stride had known years of hunger, worry and too much gin. She was 45 years of age at the time of her murder on 30 September 1888, at the hands of Leather Apron Ripper, or Jack the Ripper, as he would become known. One side of this court was occupied by a working men's club. Opposite were several houses occupied by Polish and German Jews. He lived there with his wife, who worked at the club opposite as a stewardess. As he approached at about 1255, he could hear music playing. Suddenly, his horse reared up and refused to continue on, so Louis jumped to the ground to see what was causing the trouble. Louis could see the gates to the club were open and that a heap of clothing appeared to be on the ground. This is what had startled his horse. He began poking it, assuming this was a drunk that needed to move on. No movement or sound was observed. Louis next made his way through into the club, asking for a candle from his wife. A few moments later, at around 01:00 A.m., she would hear a horrified shout and several people rushed out to see what was happening. They discovered Louis visibly shaking the candle held over the body of a woman lying in a pool of blood, the gash to her throat. Visible evidence, testimony given by multiple parties would show that at 1230 and later at 1240, that the yard the discovery was made in had been empty. Witnesses had seen Stride kissing a man at 1245, something also witnessed by PC William Smith as he was walking his beat along Burner Street. Mrs Mortimer, who lived close by, recalled sounds of an argument between 1230 and 01:00 A.m. And a man briskly walking away down the street. Shortly after Dr Frederick Blackwell arrived at 01:10 A.m., the police now already there. In his opinion, death took place at around 1250 5 seconds before her discovery. The Ripper, more than likely disturbed in the act, had been hiding in the shadows and fled swiftly from the scene. When Louis went to fetch a candle at the inquest, the Mrs Mary Malcolm disputed the name Elizabeth Stride, claiming that this was in fact her sister, Elizabeth Watts. Mary Malcolm gave credible evidence, under oath of marks on her sister's body caused from the bite of an adder years before she detailed the disgrace caused by her sister when she was caught cheating by her husband. Mary was used to visits from Elizabeth Watts or Elizabeth Stride giving her money. At one point, according to the testimony, her sister left a baby in her care, claiming the father was a policeman. In all likelihood, it was for this reason that the police were eager to disprove the statement given, even though Michael Kidney, who the deceased was living with on and off for three years, would corroborate a lot of the details, such as Elizabeth regularly meeting with the policeman in Hyde Park. Any evidence that Mary gave stating this was her sister was probably undone when she added that at 01:20 A.m. On the Sunday morning, she began to wake, feeling a pressure on her chest and three kisses laid on her cheek. What is certain is that whilst police and doctors were examining the body of Elizabeth Stride, possibly Elizabeth Watts, whilst Mary would be waking, feeling the presence of someone kissing her cheek, jack the Ripper was not done. And that night, within an hour, someone else would be dead. Two days before the murder of Elizabeth Stride, catherine Eddows and her companion John Kelly, who was her common law husband, had been working all day in the field, carting heavy baskets of hops before returning late to London. All the money they'd earned that day hop picking had unfortunately been stolen. And so when they returned to London that evening, they were forced to spend the night in a casual ward of an infirmary. The following day, John managed to earn six pence. Catherine made him take four of this to secure him lodgings for the night, and she proceeded to take the remaining two and would try and go to the casual ward once again on the day of Elizabeth Strive's murder. So destitute were they that Catherine was forced upon John's flannel shirt and boots to buy some food and drink. By 08:00 p.m. That evening, Catherine was arrested for being incapable and worse, for wear in the gutter and taken to the cells at Bishop's Gate Police Station just after midnight, around the time Elizabeth Stride was being murdered, it was judged that Catherine was sufficiently sober and released. Poor judgment given. This was during the height of the Whitechapel murders and Catherine Eddows was precisely the Ripper's type of victim, it's unknown why Catherine was not observed carefully after being released, given instructions at the time were calling for officers to keep watch of Lone Streetwalkers in order to try and catch the Ripper. Catherine made her way to Mitre Square about a 20 minutes walk from the police station and a 15 minutes walk from Burner Street, whereby at this time police and medical examiners were gathering. Having been interrupted and not satisfied, the Ripper, in all his likelihood, made straight for Mitre Square. Catherine, of course, knew nothing of the danger that she was walking towards. P C Watkins regularly walked through Mitre Square as part of his beat. At 01:30 A.m. That night, he went through the square, shining his lantern into each dark corner and section. Nothing was amiss, so he continued on. 15 minutes later, at 145, he was making his way back through Mitre Square. As was the usual practice, first appearances suggested everything was of it had been before, until a closer look at the southwest corner, where he could see an object laying at an OD angle. Catherine's face was horribly mutilated by knife slashes. Parts of the right ear were missing and both eyes had been injured. Once again, the throat cut and abdomen mutilated with organs, including the ovaries and kidneys removed. P C Watkins at the inquest reported she had been whipped up like a pig in the market. There was a big gash up the stomach. The entrails were torn out and flung in a heap above her neck. No one would have recognised her face. Given the nature of the injuries inflicted that night, it would take some time for Catherine to be identified. Much speculation was held at the time as to her identity, with at least one newspaper of the day reporting that the victim was a Mary Anne Kelly, possibly because Catherine had given a false name when arrested in a strange set of circumstances. The next and final victim was, of course, Mary Jane Kelly. Mary Kelly was very different to the other four known Ripper victims at 24. Her youthful age and beauty certainly set her apart, with all the other victims being in their 40s. Unlike the other victims, Kelly was a professional prostitute. Accounts show she'd been doing rather well for herself, in fact, in fashionable parts of London and previously in Paris, hence her liking being called Nori Jeanette. What is unknown is how she had descended to where she was by 1888, living in the East End of London. And while she had accommodation, unlike the other victims before her, she was still living in Squalor. Her accommodation was in Dorset Street in Spittlefield. Back then, Dorset Street was packed with common lodging houses. Hundreds of homeless would find temporary shelter each night for a few coppers. John McCarthy was renting number seven, which was a small shop selling candles and such like. He was also renting the house next door, number 26, which he'd converted into small dwelling areas, which he let out as single rooms. Because of the alterations to the house, some of the rooms couldn't be directly accessed and entered from Dorset Street, room number 13. Mary Kelly's room was one of those apartments. The only access point was via Miller's Court, which was a small dark square with six other dwellings scattered around it. Mary Kelly had been living here for about eight months, the rent itself being quite high. By the 9 November, mary Kelly was behind with her rent, and so John McCarthy had sent Thomas Boyer to collect what was owed. At 10:45 a.m. That morning, he'd knocked on her door, to which there was no reply. As he made his way around the side door, he noticed the broken window, covered with some kind of dirty material. Now this window had been broken for some time, the product of a fight between Kelly and someone she had lived with. On and off, thomas approached the window, pulling the curtain to one side to peer in. What he saw is something many of us will thankfully never understand. Mary Jane was lying in volumes of blood on the bed, unlike any vision of Mary Jane as he knew her. She was almost entirely naked on her back, a long dark hair matted with blood and disarranged. Her face mutilated, ears and nose cut off. So deep was the laceration around the throat that her head was almost severed. Her legs were splayed open, a liver positioned on her right thigh, stomach and abdomen were ripped open with portions, including the uterus cut out. The stench of blood was everywhere. Her breasts were sliced off. An autopsy would reveal that Mary Kelly had been three months pregnant at the time, something that was suppressed at the inquest. Police officers that arrived on the scene were sickened by the sight. Piles of flesh were staged on the table next to the bed. Organs, including the heart intestines, were displayed on nails around the room. For all the blood and savagery and chaos, mary Kelly's clothes were neatly folded and set at the foot of the bed. There was strong evidence that at one point in the night that there had been a fierce fire in the fireplace, parts of a tin kettle having been burnt away. In fact, remnants of clothing were discovered in the fire. The room itself was locked from the inside. There was very little evidence of a struggle, leading the police to believe she was murdered in her sleep. Witnesses in the area reported seeing her returning to her room that night at 01:00 A.m.. Residents of the dwelling had heard her singing for a time before seeing her go out again at around 03:00 A.m.. Some heard a man's footsteps leaving Miller's Court at around 615 that morning. Sarah Lewis reported hearing a single cry of murder at around 03:30 A.m., but similar sounds were not uncommon in the area and she did not recognize the voice and given it quietened down, went back to sleep. Time of death was recorded as 03:00. A.m. Mary Kelly was the only Ripper victim to receive a decent burial paid for by a clerk of a local church. Large crowds gathered on Sunday, the 18 November 1888. The roads, in fact, were blocked, and extra police were required to keep traffic moving. Eventually, the coffin carrying her body in detached parts were carried out from the church. Men and women touched her coffin as she passed, men bowing their heads and women visibly weeping. It's important to note that many of the locations I'm going to discuss next in relation to the Ripper murders and paranormal activity are vastly changed today, most changes occurring post the Second World War. The activity, though, is something that has still been reported in these areas, even though the buildings and surrounding location may have changed in appearance. In what would have been the immediate vicinity of number 29, Hanbury Street, disembodied sounds of muffled voices have often been heard. Sinister sounds of panting and sounds of some kind of a struggle, sounds that may very well echo those of Annie Chapman in the moments before her death. At other times, the sounds of muffled screams and accompanying running steps hang ominously in the air. These eerie sounds of heavy breathing and gasps for breath, if heard, have left many a person with the hair on the back of their neck rising and not easily forgotten. If experienced residents who used to live opposite this area would experience seeing shadowy figures entering the backyard of number 29. These shadowy figures still being something reported by visitors in the area to this day. More frequently seen in the early hours of the morning and the autumn, these figures created quite an impression. People have reported seeing them only briefly there, 1 minute and gone moments later. Descriptions of the figures have included seeing a figure with a tall hat walking behind an image of a woman in a very long skirt. Witnesses have reported them making no sound at all, no footsteps, not even when the sky is black and heavy rain is falling to the ground. Do these shadow figures ever make their presence heard as they move silently along near Hanbury Street and Spittlefields is the Ten Bells Pub where two of Jack the Ripper's victims used to drink. Customers and staff report hearing footsteps in empty corridors, and there are said to be unexplained cold spots in the bath. Sightings of a ghostly form in the month of September, sometimes linked to the anniversary of the murder itself, have been reported in Mitre Square, where the body of Catherine Eddows was discovered. This location has become known as Ripper's Corner and is one where many people feel unwell to the point where people are known to experience feeling dizzy and suffer from fainting spells. Groans and screams have also been reported in this area. Late at night, people have seen what appears to be clothes laying on the ground and in the next moment. Nothing there at all but the bare bones of the pavement. Derwood street, as it is known today, was once Bucks Row. The scene where Mary Nichols, or Polly, as we know she was also called, sadly took her last shuddery. Gasps this area is transformed from the squalid streets of its macabre history and has now all but disappeared under a rebuilding scheme. Following the years after Polly's murder, a dark figure was often seen in the spot where her body was found. Horses and dogs in this vicinity would often act skittish, pulling at their reins, for example, to get away as quickly as possible. Experiencing this heavy, oppressive atmosphere is something that many people feel in spots associated with this macabre, murderous tale. These murder sites are not the only locations to appear to retain ghostly memories. Windsor Barracks has been a location where many have seen a ghostly figure of a female form in old fashioned clothing. This appearance is usually linked to Annie Chapman from happier times and memories of her husband being there as a soldier. The ghosts of the Ripper victims are something that people have reported from the very first murders, even becoming part of evidence collected at the time. The timeline for Mary Kelly's death, for example, was not easy for investigators to piece together or for the community to all believe had truly happened at the time. Why? Because she was seen by multiple credible sources in the hours before her body was discovered. Something impossible given she was long dead. We also have the testimony given at the inquest Elizabeth Stride, possibly having reached out in the moments of her death to lay tender kisses on the cheek of a relative. Jack the Ripper left an indelible mark on this area more than a century after the murders took place. The tales of barbarity enacted by this elusive monster are still told. They still make a shudder to think of. His signature of five or more murders may have left something more, though. Voices and shadows reaching beyond the grave. Sometimes to say goodbye, sometimes to be seen and heard. These women in life lived through struggles we hopefully can never imagine or bear witness to. These women were not seen kindly. If seen at all in death, they did not fare kinder, discarded as rags, bundles of bloody clothes on cold pavements or in a damp squalid room. Hear their voices now their story. See their faces and shadows left behind. Never forget them. Thank you for listening. See you next time.

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