Jack the Ripper

In the autumn of 1888, five women were brutally murdered in the narrow alleyways and dark courtyards of Whitechapel, turning these cobblestone streets into the scene of history's most infamous unsolved case. Jack the Ripper remains the most notorious unidentified serial killer in criminal history.

Between August 31 and November 9, 1888, Mary Ann Nichols, Annie Chapman, Elizabeth Stride, Catherine Eddowes, and Mary Jane Kelly were killed in this impoverished district of the East End. These five victims, known as the canonical five, were all women working as prostitutes who lived in desperate poverty. Each victim had her throat cut, and most bodies showed signs of surgical mutilation, suggesting the killer possessed anatomical knowledge. The murders happened in the early morning hours, often in secluded yards just steps from busy streets.

On September 30, two women were killed within 45 minutes of each other, an event that became known as the double event. The killer's name came from a letter sent to the Central News Agency, signed by someone claiming responsibility. The case became the world's first international crime sensation, spreading rapidly through the newly installed transatlantic telegraph cable. Despite investigations by the Metropolitan Police and City of London Police, the murderer was never caught and the killings stopped as mysteriously as they began.