Jack the Ripper Trail

A number of similar Jack the Ripper walks were used to create this Squidoo Lens. This lens will take you on the tour of Jack the Ripper's murder trail providing you with the chilling background information of each murder. It will also feature many of the taverns and pubs that Jack the Ripper and his victims spent many hours drinking and socialising in.

On this lens I will display many of the photographs that I made whilst enjoying this walk.

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.

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.

Official
MARY ANNE NICHOLS - (31st August 1888) Known as Polly. Aged 42. Mother of 5 children and wife of Printer, William. Laid to rest at Ilford cemetery on September 6th 1888.
ANNIE CHAPMAN - (8th September 1888) Death of husband in 1886. Suffering from brain and lung diseases. Mother of two children, one who died in 1882, the other, crippled. Buried in Manor Park on September 14th 1888.
ELIZABETH STRIDE - (30th September 1888) Born in Gothenburg, Sweden in November 1843. Buried in a paupers grave in the East London cemetery aged 44 years.
CATHERINE EDDOWES - (30th September 1888) Buried in an unmarked grave in Ilford on 8th October 1888, aged 44.
MARY JANE KELLY - (9th November 1888) Aged 25. Born in Limerick, Ireland. Buried at Walthamstow R.C. cemetery on 19th November.

Unofficial
"Fairy Fay" - (26 Dec 1887)
Annie Millwood - (25 Feb 1888)
Ada Wilson - (28 March 1888)
Emma Smith - (3 April 1888)
Martha Tabram - (7 August 1888)
Annie Farmer - (20 November 1888)
Rose Mylett - (20 December 1888)
Elizabeth Jackson - (June 1889)
Alice Mackenzie - (17 July 1889)
Francis Coles - (13 Feb 1891)
Carrie Brown - (24 April 1891)

There were also two unknown murders. One in Whitehall 3 October 1888 and the other in Pinchin Street on 10th September 1889

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 he 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.

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.

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?