Jack the Ripper Trail

Due to the area that the Ripper murders had been carried out (Whitechapel), I had warnings not to go walking there alone. So, I had to wait until I could convince a male friend of mine to accompany me to ensure that I stayed completely safe throughout.

I also intend to repeat these walks several times in order to achieve the full experience and I shall be adding to the images that I have so far included here.

Goulston Street is where the missing piece of material from Catherine's dress was found. It was blood-stained.

It was located in a passageway at no. 108-119 Goulston Street.

This passageway has now been blocked off.

On the back wall of this passage was a wall where a message had been written in chalk. It said, "The Juwes are not the men that will be blamed for nothing."

Shortly after he arrived the Police Commissioner removed the message saying he didn't want to inflame anti-Jewish feeling in the area.

Ten Bells Pub:
It was established in 1755 and has had many connections with Jack the Ripper. All of the Ripper's victims would have drunk and worked here from the inside and outside. Annie Chapman (killed in Hanbury Street) was working as a prostitute in this pub on the night she was murdered. She is likely to have met the Ripper in this pub and would have left with him later on that night.

Still and Star Pub:
The Still and Star Pub in London is only the second pub to carry this name in Britain. It and the location surrounding is thought to be linked to Jack the Ripper because around 1888 this area was full of slaughter houses. As one theory about Jack the Ripper was that he was a butcher it's likely this would have been the area he would have frequented as well as the pub he would have drank in. This area and the pub, Still and Star Pub is just down from an alleyway called Somerset Street. It is an area that used to be literally full of slaughter houses.

Thrawl Street:
Mary Ann Nichols often lodged at No.18 Thrawl Street. On the night of her money she was turned away from the lodgings for not having enough money to pay for a bed. She would have been drunk and was last seen heading towards Bucks Row (Durward Street) where her body was eventually found. On the corner of this street, also, Mary Jane Kelly was seen standing talking to a man. He was dressed in a long dark coat and wearing a red neckerchief.

Fashion Street:
Two of the Ripper's victims lived in this street in seedy lodging houses. It has not changed much since that day.

Providence Row Night Refuge and Convent:
This London refuge is where Annie Chapman stayed the night before she was murdered by Jack the Ripper. Just before she was murdered she was probably trying to raise enough money to pay for a bed here the following night. Reports are that this building was to be demolished in 2002 but, as far as I know, it is still standing.

Fournier Street:
This street would have been frequented regularly by the prostitutes of the East End.

Jack the Ripper is a pseudonym given to an unidentified serial killer active in the largely impoverished Whitechapel area and adjacent districts of London, England, in late 1888. The name originated in a letter sent to the London Central News Agency by someone claiming to be the murderer.

The victims were women earning income as prostitutes. Most victims' throats were slit, after which the bodies were mutilated. The removal of internal organs from three of the victims led some officials at the time of the murders to propose that the killer possessed anatomical or surgical knowledge.

Read more about Jack the Ripper at Wikipedia.

This photograph is of Mitre Square which is where the body of Catherine Eddows was found by PC Watkins.

Her body was sprawled out on the cobblestones next to a wooden gate. Her body had been badly mutilated.

How could she have been brutally murdered and no one had heard her dying screams?

An eight inch slash that had cut her vocal chords were later found during the post mortem.

Catherine Eddows was the fourth victim of Jack the Ripper.

A ghostly figure of a woman has often been seen by people at night.

The ghost is seen lying on the cobblestones where Catherine's body was found.

Alice's nickname was 'clay pipe Alice' and she is thought to be one of the latest of Jack the Ripper's victims. However, this has yet to be proved.

She was murdered on the 17th July 1889 just six months after the Ripper's last official victim.

The similarities of her murder places her as one of the Ripper's last victims by many.

She had been out to work with another prostitute called 'Mog Cheeks' and, at some point, the two women separated. Alice's body was found by PC Andrews just inside the entrance of Old Castle Street under a market barrow.

Her throat had been cut from ear to ear and her abdomen had been slashed. She had in her pockets, a clay pipe and one silver farthing.

It is not known for sure if Martha Turner was a victim of Jack the Ripper. Her injuries and the weapon that was used do suggest that it was likely.

She was murdered on the 6th August 1888, several months before the first official victim of Jack the Ripper was discovered.

Martha Turner was out working with her friend, "Pearly Poll" around the entrance to Gunthorpe Street.

The two women picked up men in the nearby pub, The White Swan and the two couple's split up for a short time. Pearly Poll finished first and left for Aldgate but never saw Martha again.

Martha's body was found at 4.30 the following morning, by John Reeves. She had been stabbed 39 times and her internal organs were removed and displaced.

Her body had been dumped in the first floor corridor of George's Yard buildings which is where the modern flats on the left are now situated.

So, was she killed by her first client or had she been murdered by another client later on that night?

Annie Chapman was killed by Jack the Ripper on the 8Th September 1888.

It was believed that she met him in the Ten Bells Pub and bought him back to her residence at Hanbury Street.

She was seen drinking in the pub and then leaving with a male client. She was then seen talking to a man on the corner of a street by her house. The male was described as wearing a black coat, deerstalker hat and of being of a shabby appearance.

Annie Chapman's body was found in the backyard of Hanbury Street by the steps. Parts of her body was lying by the body and her knees were uncovered. Her face was covered in blood.