Who was Jack the Ripper? Or rather, who wasn’t he? Over the decades of macabre obsession, accusations have been steered towards different men identified as candidates.
In a limited series of History Hit podcast After Dark: Myths, Misdeeds & the Paranormal, co-hosts Anthony Delaney and Maddy Pelling re-evaluate four of the canonical suspects linked to the infamous murders of Mary Ann Nichols, Annie Chapman, Elizabeth Stride, Catherine Eddowes, and Mary Jane Kelly.
Why were these men in particular singled out as monsters? And what was it about Victorian masculinity that so twisted the Whitechapel Murderer’s ideology of gender and of sex that he committed these crimes?
1. The Prince
In the first episode, Anthony Delaney tells Maddy Pelling about suspect #1: how Prince Albert Victor, grandson to Queen Victoria, became suspected of being Jack the Ripper. It’s a story of Victorian masculinity and how our twentieth century relationship with monarchy helped ferment baseless accusations.
2. The Barber
Aaron Kosminski was a Polish Jew living in Whitechapel who later became suspected of being Jack the Ripper. It’s a story of immigration and antisemitism; of mental illness and of an effort to use DNA to link Kosminski to the crime.
3. The Artist
Anthony Delaney tells Maddy Pelling about how the celebrated artist Walter Sickert became a leading suspect for many. His art is unsettling, gruesome even, but does that make him a murderer?
4. The Doctor
Anthony Delaney tells Maddy Pelling about how quack doctor Francis Tumblety, a shining example of medical malpractice and an American, became a prime suspect in the case.