It is widely debated over whether the infamous Jack the Ripper is none other than Herman Webster Mudgett, the deranged, murderous, and somewhat brilliant serial killer who went by the alias of Dr. H. H. Holmes. The Ripper was able to evade captivity in the Whitechapel district of London in 1888, killing five victims from August 1888 to November of 1888. Whitechapel was a low income area of London where unemployment and poverty were extremely high. Women were prostituting themselves out, therefore putting themselves at a higher risk of being murdered because they were voluntarily going into dark areas of the city. The Ripper stalked and killed five victims, all of whom were prostitutes. Holmes killed a much larger variety of people. His victims were people who stayed at his murder castle in Chicago from the late 1880’s to 1894 killing as many as 200 to 230 victims (27 confessed). There are many facts that will support that Holmes was Jack the Ripper.
The Ripper was very gruesome, killing prostitutes by slitting their throats then taking various organs out of their bodies. It seemed as if he had no fear of being caught, killing in the open at first, later killing in more secretive areas. The most likely reason for changing his location of killings is that he realized that with the promise of money to these prostitutes, they would willingly go indoors with him, giving him more time to do his surgical procedures. It has been thought by officials who examined the bodies of the Rippers victims that he was a surgeon, or had some sort of background in the medical field. This was a general consensus about the Ripper because of how well he carved his victims, taking out their organs in a very surgical manner.
Holmes and Jack have so ...
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...ndisputable that Holmes was the notorious killer Jack the Ripper. He was a criminal mastermind that would have been able to continue murdering for many years had it not been for one mistake. The ironic part is that he was caught for fraud and not suspected of murder until further investigation. The question “who was Jack the Ripper?” will most likely never be answered. There are still many theories as to who it was and why they did it. Yet there are none that have been proven as much as in the case of H. H. Holmes. Jack the Ripper is the greatest mystery of all time, and will always be the greatest mystery in history.
Works Cited
Blundell, Encyclopedia of Serial Killers
Murder by Gaslight
Video source, Exclusive Interview with Jeff Mudgett
Prairie Ghosts, The Murder Castle of H. H. Holmes
Murderpedia, Herman Webster Mudgett
Voices- Sun Times
Erick Larson wrote in Devil in the White City, “I was born with the devil in me. I could not help the fact that I was a murderer, no more than the poet can help the inspiration to sing – I was born with the Evil One standing as my sponsor beside the bed where I was ushered in the world, and he has been with me since” (Troy, Taylor). This statement was a quoted confession from Dr. H. H. Holmes himself in 1896. Holmes was the first major serial killer in America, even though he came after many others in his time. Thomas Neil Cream, the Austin Axe Murderer, the Bloody Benders, and Jack the Ripper came before him. His name was originally Herman Webster Mudgett. He was born on May 16th, 1860 in Gilman, New Hampshire. He was raised by his mother and father, who was a wealthy and respected citizen for 25 years. As a boy, Mudgett was always in trouble and was well known in his community for his rather sociopathic behavior. He would show cruelty to both animals and other children. The only thing keeping hope to society was the fact that he was an excellent student. He later changed his last name to Holmes in order to pursue both his medical and criminal careers. He had many other aliases in which he would hide under and try to derail the cops from finding him (Juan, Blanco). Holmes was medically trained to be a doctor and received his degree from the University of Michigan. He was not just into insurance fraud scams. His evil doings included forgery, claiming to find the cure for alcoholism, real estate scams, and pretending to have a machine that turned natural gas into water. He was quite the ladies man, had many wives, whom often had become his victims. Many of his medical partners became subject to him, also. He once even had three wiv...
How the Police Tried to Catch Jack the Ripper In the 1880s, the police were very different from the police of today. Their main propose was crime prevention and their methods their methods were very primitive Source F is a police leaflet, which was published after the murders of Elizabeth Stride and Kate Eddowes; it was written to aid the police in their investigation it was also written in a factual tone, it suggests that the police were appealing for any information regarding suspicious characters. Because of the timing of this leaflet shows the desperation faced by the police but for because of the many defects reasons the leaflet was not successful: The first being that they did not offer any description of the murderer at all, 'person to whom suspicion was attached'. The second being that they still assumed that the person was living in Whitechapel, when there was a large amount of evidence suggested that the murderer wasn't from Whitechapel (the fact that the murders were all done on the weekends or on Friday nights, which suggests that he had a job and came into Whitechapel to murder).
The Failure of Police to Catch Jack the Ripper The Whitechapel murderer, known to many as Jack the Ripper was never caught and imprisoned for his awful crimes. Police still do not know who he is. There are several explanations as to why he was never caught and in this essay I will discuss them. The police were unable to catch Jack the Ripper as they felt that no-one actually knew what he looked like.
If someone were to ask “Who was England’s First Serial Killer,” the name that would more than likely come to mind would be that of a man known to many as “Jack the Ripper,” but was he truly the first? No. There were many more that came before him—they have just been forgotten. They weren’t as glamorous as him. They weren’t known for murdering prostitutes, mocking the police by sending internal organs in the mail, or slashing open arteries. There
Although the true identity of Jack the Ripper has never been identified, experts have investigated Prince Albert Victor, Thomas Neill Cream, and Montague John Druitt as prime suspects. Based on facts and information given, the researcher found evidence that Jack the Ripper was Montague John Druitt. Druitt’s family, appearance, and suicide support the researcher’s claim. Ultimately, the obsession with the Jack the Ripper case will never perish.
Taking the life of another person is one of the worst infractions of the law to commit. The Bureau of Justice defines serial killing as “[involving] the killing of several victims in three or more separate events” (“Michigan” 1). Serial killers often commit extremely violent crimes; they usually become infamous for these crimes. The first recorded serial killers are probably Jack the Ripper in 1888 and Fritz Haarmann in 1924 (“Michigan” 1). Jack the Ripper is also one of the most well-known criminals, almost everyone knows who he is or has at least heard of him. Most people know what he is famous for and associate him with being a bad person. Serial killers are typically sadistic and sociopathic, meaning that they are unable to feel empathy for people who are suffering (“Michigan” 1). Whimsical sociopaths who have sadistic tendencies are very dangerous. They inflict pain because they do not care that someone else is suffering, they only care that it makes t...
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British serial killer Harold Shipman, who worked in England as a medical doctor, killed over 200 of his patients before his arrest in 1998. The local undertake noticed that Dr.Shipman’s patients seemed to be dying at an unusually high rate and exhibited similar poses in death; most were fully clothed and usually sitting up. Later, another medical colleague, Dr.Susan Booth, also found the similarity disturbing and that local coroner’s office were alerted, who in turn contacted the police. Later, a more thorough investigation revealed that Shipman altered the medical records of his patients to corroborate their causes of death. Hiding behind his status as a caring, family doctor, it is almost impossible to establish exactly when Shipman began killing his patients, or indeed exactly how many died at his hands, and his denial of all charges did nothing to assist the authorities. Shipman had urged families to cremate their relatives in a large number of cases, stressing that no further investigation of their deaths was necessary, even
Jack The Ripper Jack the Ripper, as he was rightly called, was an infamous murderer in London, England in 1888, almost one hundred years ago. Jack the Ripper is by no stretch of the imagination the first serial killer ever, but the first to do so in a largely populated area, although it seemed he had no malice for other people. Although the number of kills under the belt of Jack the Ripper is unofficial, it is estimated to be around four to seven women, all prostitutes within the area. He also had no accomplice’s or accessories to the crime. Another fact was that Jack the Ripper escaped scott-free, with no charges.
American serial killer H. H. Holmes once said “I was born with the devil in me. I could not help the fact that I was a murderer, no more than the poet can help the inspiration to sing. I was born with the evil one standing as my sponsor beside the bed where I was ushered into the world, and he has been with me since” (Lukacs, 2017, n.p.). H. H. Holmes is notorious for being a well known serial killer during the late 1800s. Interestingly, he is also considered by many individuals to be the first American serial killer. Today, researchers still struggle to find a cause as to why he committed the crimes he did. It is difficult to explain his reasoning and choices – therefore, because of this, many researchers and criminologists have dabbled in attempting to create an accurate explanation for his actions. In order to do this, it is essential to first consider Holmes’ childhood, upbringing, and crimes in
Holmes claimed the lives of hundreds, though officially under the law they were only able to charge him with 9 counts of murder, many died at his hands. In a day with better technology, a bigger population, and a changed society, we need to try and end serial killers for once and for all because who knows the impact they can
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What would cause an individual to behave in this rather heinous and macabre manner? Using Robert Pickton as a case study, this paper will explore the phenomenon of serial murder and apply research literature to help explain his behaviour and examine issues such as psychopathy, mental disorder, and substance abuse relevant to the Pickton case. In addition, the paper will explore the sexually sadistic nature of Pickton’s murders. Finally, the paper will explore the reasoning behind Pickton’s selection of drug addicted prostitutes as victims that enabled him to conduct his murders in relative anonymity. ...
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...ative ways to solve crimes, Holmes is also an early leader who paved the way for modern-day crime solving. The creation of the famous Sherlock Holmes, one of the most prominent fictional characters in history, has influenced many aspects of the world today, such as literature, entertainment, and modern day crime solving techniques.