Like every other depressed Millenial, I love true crime and serial killers. So when I had the opportunity to spend the summer in London I knew I to do something pertaining to Jack the Ripper.
Despite only having 5 canonical victims, and his spree happening 130 years ago, Jack The Ripper is still a huge tourist attraction. Multiple companies offer walking tours and have large, sensationalized exhibits and guides through Whitechapel but I wanted something less “tourist-y”. I did a bit of digging and attempted to find something smaller, something more intimate. I wanted a museum or tour that I felt would rely on objective facts versus the sensationalized and brutal nature of his crimes and his unknown identity.
One thing that I have always had trouble reconciling is, how do you be a “fan” of serial killers and true crime without being a fan of serial killers and true crime? I don’t want to be a serial killer groupie or give them any sort of undue admiration. At the same time though serial killers are so captivating because I can’t imagine doing what they do and it’s so fascinating to think about what goes wrong in the human brain to make this behavior not only acceptable but also, in some instances, an uncontrollable compulsion. It’s unnerving to know that we don’t know what causes it and this could potentially happen to anyone. We know contributing factors, but there’s always an exception to the rule and any one of us could have been Dahmer or Wuornos. I also focus on not excusing the behavior, even when I understand it or have sympathy for their situation. The way I reconcile this is by focusing on how it happened, such as societal factors, and the victims themselves. In Dahmer’s case, he preyed on gay men in an era where that type of behavior was unacceptable. He took advantage of their estranged family life and their lack of police protection. For Jack The Ripper, factors such as extreme poverty, substance abuse, and societal views on sex work and women allowed him to commit extreme acts of violence in anonymity. I am by no means a social justice warrior but it is impossible to ignore that there were sexist and classist views that enabled Jack to do what he did. He preyed on the poorest, most downtrodden members of society and addressing these issues is one of the ways we prevent something like this from happening again. In my search I found a place called The Jack The Ripper museum. It’s impossible to get any more on the nose than that but what drew me to them was their subtitle. “The History of Women in East London.” By shifting the focus to the victims I feel more at ease about indulging my serial killer fascination.
The museum is set in a 4 story period-appropriate Victorian home at 12 Cable Street in Whitechapel and is the very definition of “hole-in-the-wall”. It’s located between 2 off licenses and at first glance I overlooked it. Whitechapel is now home to government buildings and it’s disconcerting to be in an area and look up at giant, beautiful government offices but know that at one time the borough was stricken by extreme poverty, crime, and some of histories most brutal unsolved murders. The foyer of the home holds the modest giftshop and the reception desk where I was given information on the museum and directed on how to make the best of my visit. It is suggested you go up for rooms 1 thru 4, then go back down to the morgue in the basement. What made this museum unique is that it’s not set up in traditional exhibits. Each level of the house is 1 room and each room is a theme along the timeline of Jack’s reign of terror. If you are looking for a long, time consuming tour this is definitely not it but they were able to pack a lot of information and atmosphere in this limited space.
The wallpaper lining the stairwell to the first floor is beautiful. It’s blown up news articles that ran about the killings along with illustrations and maps. The wallpaper was as informative as the actual exhibits in some cases and it offered a very striking atmosphere. I was literally surrounded by the murders. Topping the staircase at the first room stopped me in my tracks. The first thing you see is a figure laying on the ground and a cloaked figure hunching over them with the sounds of police whistles and newsboys in the background. I was not expecting such an immersive experience when I initially picked out these museum. Entering the room puts you on a dark cobblestone street in Whitechapel and the scene before you is the waxwork body of Catherine Eddowes being discovered by Police Constable Edward Watkins and a paperboy positioned in the corner hawking newspapers on the murders. Across from the body is a recreation of the anti-Semitic graffiti that appeared at the crime scene. The street also contains carts, crates, and barrels and the ambient sounds of 1888 Mitre Square being piped in through a speaker in the corner of the room with framed, original newspaper articles and information of Eddowes hung on the wall.
Room 2 takes you to what Jack The Ripper’s room might have looked like. I appreciated that this museum didn’t try to push a specific narrative as to Jack’s identity to the sake of publicity. It would be very easy to point a finger at the royals and ignore all other evidence. Was he an artist? He had an intimate knowledge of the human form. He was a freemason? Stephen Knight seemed to think so when he published The Final Solution in 1976. Was he a doctor? That’s the prevailing theory, due to the surgical precision he used when mutilating the bodies. This room contained tools he might have used in his every day life, art supplies, Mason symbolism and a fez, and medical equipment, as well and providing a look at what a living space would have looked like during the late 1800s. It also held a portrait of Margaret Tumblety, mother to prime suspect Dr. Francis Tumblety. In his hurry to leave the country, Francis left the portrait of his mother and it now hands in Jack’s sitting room. A signed, original drawing by artist and suspect Walter Sickert is one of the more impressive pieces in the museums collection. It features a figure of a woman lying on a metal frame with his signature in blood red ink. The room is also fairly large for the time period, suggesting that Jack was well off. Dictionaries and encyclopedias sat in front of the fireplace, suggesting he was educated. Whoever Jack was, he was likely not a resident of Whitechapel and led a very privileged life in comparison to his victims.
Rounding the corner into room 3 made my heart skip a beat again. PC Watkins makes another appearance, this time sitting at his desk mumbling to himself while pouring over notes. Room 3 is where we really start looking at the suspects and the manpower that went into finding Jack’s identity. On the wall in front of Watkins desk is a link chart connecting the victims to their locations and a list of potential suspects as well as the police report from Catherine Eddowes murder. Perhaps the most notorious pieces the museum offers is the original “From Hell” and “Dear Boss” letters some believed were pinned by Jack himself. Whether or not you believe they were written by Jack The Ripper, it’s still an incredible piece of history to see. The museum has personal items from Watkins as well. His police whistle used to signal the finding of Eddowes body, his personal notebook cover, handcuffs, and truncheon are all on display for the first time in this room.
Room 4 is set up to show what the rooms of the victims might have looked like, if they were fortunate enough to even afford a stable place to live. It is roughly half the size of the other rooms and contains only basic, simple furniture in comparison to Jack’s much more lavish room. The flowered wallpaper is greying and peeling away from the doorframe, giving the room a very bleak and desolate atmosphere. Period appropriate shoes and accessories sit at a bare vanity along with a bonnet bought by Mary Kelly the night before her murder. Above the single steel frame bed hangs pictures of the Canonical Five along with biographies of each woman. These women were all victims before they met Jack. They fell victim to substance abuse and the extreme poverty that plagued the area and turned to prostitution as their only means of making money. The museum has garnered controversy over it’s portrayal of women during this time period with protestors saying they are either glorifying the violence towards women or not celebrating women enough but I would argue that this is a very accurate portrayal of how some women lived. Were all women in East London downtrodden prostitutes that lived in one room shacks in 1888? No of course not but, it would be wildly inaccurate to say that these struggles didn’t exist and contribute to their death in some way. It’s not a happy, bright history of women but it’s a history that existed nonetheless.
The 5th room is back downstairs in the basement and set up like a mortuary. A warning sign on the door even warns younger viewers of graphic imagery – look at your own discretion. The back wall of the room is made to look like it has body coolers and 2 of them are partially pulled out, giving the room a genuinely creepy vibe. I caught myself subconsciously holding my breath as I peeked in them. The center piece of the room is an authentic 1888 embalming table complete with old, rust colored blood stains. It’s a simple yet very striking image. It’s impossible to see the table and not picture these women laying there after their encounter with Jack. Here the museum pays homage, not just to the canonical 5 but, to all of Jack’s potential victims. For each victim there is a small shrine on the wall consisting of a sconce, their name and dates, their autopsy photo, information about their final days, and their untimely death. The autopsy photos start out fairly mild, still disturbing and unsettling but not as graphic as I was expecting. However the further down the line you get the more graphic the imagery, culminating with the famous photos of Mary Jane Kelly. Even in black and white they are some of the most grotesque and monstrous pictures I have ever seen.
Back in the giftshop I learned that this is the only museum in the world dedicated purely to the murders of Jack The Ripper. Is it a stretch to say that this museum is dedicated to the women he murdered? I would say so. They do use a lot of the stairwells to post articles and newspaper clippings about the extreme living conditions and there is a whole section dedicated to how the severe poverty affect women specifically but it’s mostly about Jack. However I did learn a lot about the victims. I had no idea that all of the victims suffered with some form of substance use disorder, a subject that is very near and dear to my own heart. I also learned that this museum is home to the Ripperologists. They are a group of amateur investigators dedicated to finding the true identity of Jack The Ripper. The giftshop is packed with self-published books on everything from Jack’s identity to where his ghost is currently haunting, #ripperologist gear, JTRM logo apparel, and Jack’s trademark top hat. They even have the souvenir spoons I love so much.
I highly recommend this museum for anyone with an interest in true crime. It’s inexpensive, self-guided, and packs a ton of information and atmosphere into each room. For those interested in seeing specific areas related to Jack’s crimes they offer daily walking tours. The museum is mobility aid friendly with a lift going to each level and the basement. You can even visit the museum from the comfort of your own home. They offer a virtual tour for only Ā£10 with unlimited 48 hour access. That’s roughly $14.00 and we’ve all wasted more money on dumber things, so why not use it on something educational. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to join the Ripperologists and solve the case. Talk to you next time.
Suspensefully yours,
Morticia Crypt
Crypt Of Fear 