Jack the Ripper: analyzing the psychology of the famous criminal

During 1888, the inhabitants of the district of Whitechapel (London), they lived in terror of a wave of crimes that devastated this working-class neighborhood at the end of the s. XIX.

Five prostitutes murdered between August, September and November, and a trail of clues led to the search for a tireless and elusive killer that mocked the police and investigators of the time, who, even today, continue to be positively and unidentified. definitive.

The victims of Jack the Ripper

Although it is true that through the passage of time the names of five victims have been known "Officers" of Jack the Ripper, it should be mentioned that they have been attributed up to a total thirteen. All of them were prostitutes who sold their bodies to the sailors who came to the East End (as the area where Whitechapel was located was known), in exchange for a few pennies that could provide them with a roof to sleep in some seedy boarding house and if possible, a loaf of stale bread to put in your mouth, to avoid spending the nights sleeping in the open or wandering the streets, as many had already past.

Let's see the names and dates of the deaths of those known as “canonical victims”:

• Mary ann nichols (better known as “Polly” Nichols): Killed on August 31, between approximately 2 and 3:40 am.

• Annie chapman: September 8, around 4:20 in the morning.

• Elizabeth stride: September 30, between 00:45 and 1:07 in the morning.

• Catherine Eddowes: Also on September 30, between 1:30 and 1:45 in the morning.

• Mary jane kelly: November 9, between 2 and 3 in the morning.

Four of the bodies appeared spread out in the middle of the street, except that of Mary jane kelly (the last of the five, which was in a small rented room facing the street). They had been slaughtered from left to right from a violent cut that in some cases reached up to the spine and which had been made with some type of very sharp scalpel or machete.

Abdominal cavity incisions had been made to all except Elizabeth Stride (fourth murdered, who was scathingly nicknamed "Lucky Liz "), spilling the intestines, liver and even the uterus.

The possible identities of the killer

Mary Jane Kelly suffered amputations all over her body: in addition to having her nose, ears and breasts removed, Jack left behind of itself a shredded offal of flesh that in no way resembled what, according to what was commented, was the beautiful and candid young.

Due to the shelter provided by the place where his body was found against possible onlookers passing through the area, experts suggest that Jack was able to unleash his impulses more sadistic and cruel between those four walls, since the state in which the body was left had not been seen in any of the other prostitutes.

Some Suspected of Being Jack the Ripper

Some of the suspects who have opted for the title of "Jack the Ripper" are:

Walter kosminski

In favor: Several findings made in September 2014 attribute the responsibility of the events to this Polish Jew. He was known to be a sexual maniac that haunted the area. According to researcher Russell Edwards, a bloody shawl belonging to Catherine Edowes contained Kosminski mitochondrial DNA.

Against: The reasons why it could be ruled out as a suspect is that it is a shawl that does not look like a a prostitute with an almost impoverished life, in addition to the fact that the evidence that this type of DNA can provide does not point to a single guilty.

Prince Albert Victor Edward

The Duke of Clarence or Eddy, grandson of Queen Victoria and future heir to the Crown.

In favor: In 1970, a certain Doctor Stowell told a writer of the time that he contacted Caroline Acland forty years ago, daughter of the Royal Household's personal physician, Sir William Gull (who is also considered one of the most plausible). According to her statements, her father had found a series of scrolls and manuscripts in which it was related that the Prince had died in 1892 from venereal disease, specifically from syphilis, not from a flu epidemic as was done official. As stated, his lust and sexual depravity led him to want to explore the realms of the macabre.

Against: Unfortunately for those who believed they had unmasked the murderer, it is known that the morning after one of the crimes, the heir was traveling in Scotland.

Sir William Gull and Freemasonry

She is the personal physician of the British Royal Family.

In favor: The Royal Conspiracy theory holds that Prince Edward had an affair with a young prostitute named Annie Crook.

It was Walter Sickert (another suspect) who introduced them, without revealing Eddy's identity to her. Both would end up marrying and having a daughter in secret. To try to cover up this scandal that he would turn the Crown upside down and leave his heir, Queen Victoria, in question. he had Annie locked up in a psychiatric hospital for a lobotomy so she couldn't divulge anything about it. happened. It was Gull himself who carried it out. The girl was left in the care of Mary Jane Kelly, a personal friend of her mother, who attempted a gross blackmail operation against the Crown with her four friends. Therefore, Queen Victoria commissioned Mr. Gull (who was an active member of Freemasonry) to eliminate them. Years ago, he suffered a stroke that left him sequelae in the form of hallucinations.

As the defenders of this conjecture say, Gull was moving inside a pulling cart by horses driven by a coachman who was to trick the unfortunate victims into go up. Once inside the wagon, Gull did the rest. The second task of the coachman was the immediate escape from the place. Two other Freemasons (Inspectors Warren and Macnaghten) had the mission of concealing the identity of the doctor so that he could complete his mission and eliminate any evidence that he might leave behind.

Against: As tempting as the evidence is (some see signs of Masonic rituals in the murders, such as the fact that the slaughter will be carried out from left to right), it seems that Sir William must be discarded as the man who hides behind "Jack the Ripper ”, since there was a lot of manipulation of evidence and dates, not to mention the inclusion and exclusion of characters in the facts.

Walter Sickert

Famous Polish painter of the time of Jewish origin.

In favor: According to Patricia Cornwell's book “Portrait of a murderer: Jack the Ripper. Case closed”, we conclude that this man is the one and only undisputed killer of Whitechapel. A difficult childhood due to the almost total amputation of his virile member due to a malformation that made sexual intercourse impossible, DNA samples found in the defiant missives received by the Scotland Yard newspapers and police station, along with clues to the scenes of the crimes found in his paintings and known only to investigators, are some of the arguments in favor of his culpability.

Against: Those who question it refer to the low specificity of mitochondrial DNA as evidence irrefutable, in addition to doubting the criteria of those who see evidence of the homicides in the paintings of Sickert.

Towards an outline of the psychology of Jack the Ripper

The famous former FBI agent and criminologist Robert K. Ressler, speaks in the book of him "Serial killers”(2005) of the disorganized type murderers:

“A disorganized crime scene reflects the confusion that reigns in the mind of the murderer and presents traits of spontaneity and some symbolic elements that reflect his delusions. If the body is found (…), it will probably have terrible wounds. (…) The crime scene is also the scene of death, because the offender does not have enough mental clarity to move or hide the body”. (p.127-128)

This corresponds almost entirely to Jack's profileWhoever it was, since none of the scenarios that he left behind suggest a pattern of organization (beyond the victimology or the instruments used).

Social origin

In his other book, "Inside the monster: an attempt to understand serial killers”(2010), mentions that the fear caused by this murderer in his time is due to the fact that he was one of the first that she was targeting unknown victims, with whom she appears to have had no emotional or relatives. At that time, “(…) the emotional components of violence within the family were understandable, and she suggested that the investigations of this case led to erroneous conclusions due to this inability to understand violence against unknown. After an in-person visit to the scene, he ruled that the police made a mistake in looking for "upper-class individuals." According to his inquiries, it was someone from the same social class as prostitutes, due to the places frequented by them and the circumstances surrounding the crimes. Had he been someone of high rank, his presence in the area would not have gone unnoticed by the neighbors.

He was a "disorganized killer"

In the same way as in his previous post, he maintains that "Jack the Ripper" was a disorganized murderer, due to the crescendo in the violence with which he committed his deaths. If he reached the zenith of his mental disturbance, he surely would have been unable to continue committing such deeds, with which he “would have ended committing suicide or locked up in a madhouse ”. In either case, he would have disappeared from society.

Lastly, he adds the sexual component to the murders, despite the lack of intercourse. pre or postmortem. As she wrote, "(…) the attack with the knife in the body replaced the attack of the penis." The same author coined the term "regressive necrophilia" to refer to this "practice of resorting to such substitutes for the penis."

And he continues: “In most serial murders, the weapon of choice has been the knife, followed by the method of strangulation and, thirdly, suffocation. Serial killers do not usually use pistols, since they kill from a distance and they seek the personal satisfaction of killing with their own hands ”. (p. 79).

Other evidence in favor of a sexual component is the removal of the uterus that she was found in some of her corpses. Mary Jane Kelly's two breasts were also removed, over one of which she placed her ears and nose, as a grotesque decoration.

Jack the Ripper in popular culture

After 127 years, the case of "Jack the Ripper" continues to generate press. This notorious murderer has become an icon of popular culture and his crimes have led to multiple novels and films in which various hypotheses are considered.

For better or for worse, this character continues to be talked about today, and we are sure that in the future they will resurface. new evidence that reinforces the hypotheses described here or that will reveal other possible culprits of these killings.

Bibliographic references:

• Amat, K. (2014) Jack, the inexhaustible ripper. Retrieved on 11/05/2014, from http://www.lavanguardia.com/cultura/20141105/54418...

• Cronwell, P. (2002) Portrait of a Murderer: Jack the Ripper, Case Closed. Madrid: Brosmac.

• Ressler, Robert K. and Shachtman, T., (2005) Serial Killers. Barcelona: Alba Editorial Ariel.

• Ressler, Robert K. and Shachtman, T., (2010) Inside the monster: an attempt to understand serial killers. Barcelona: Alba Editorial.