Jack the Ripper

• The true identity of Jack the Ripper, one of the most famous serial killers remains a mystery even today. No one knows for sure what motivated him, but he was in a macabre way a man of his times

• It is though that the nickname was given by an editor to make a more interesting story in order to sell more papers

• The harsh and inhuman conditions, the majority of families, often up to nine people living in one room, the indifference towards children, incest was common in these crowded conditions, even amongst children as young as 10, and the savage lifestyle of the nineteenth century, all contributed to produce the first modern serial killer.

• Many theories about the identity and profession of Jack the Ripper have been advanced but none have been entirely persuasive.

• Lewis Carroll, the author of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland was considered a suspect based on an anagram which author Richard Wallace devised in his book Jack the Ripper, Light-Hearted Friend. However this claim is not seriously taken by other scholars.

William Withey Gull, a physician, was named as the Ripper as part of the evolution of the widely discredited Masonic/royal conspiracy theory. Gull shows up as the Ripper in a number of books and films, including a 1988 TV film Jack the Ripper starring Michael Caine and the graphic novel From Hell written by Alan Moore.

• In 1923 William Le Queux stated in his memoirs that he had seen a French manuscript by Rasputin in which was written that Jack the Ripper was an insane Russian doctor named Alexander Pedachenko who was an agent of the Okhrana, the Secret Police of Imperial Russia and whose job was to commit murders in order to confuse Scotland Yard. However there is no confirmed evidence that Pedachenko ever existed.

• One of the most famous suspects was Prince Albert Victor. The Duke of Clarence and Avondale was first mentioned as a potential suspect in 1962 when author Philippe Jullian published a biography of Prince Albert Victor's father, Edward VII. The author made a passing rumor that Albert Victor might have been responsible for the murders, but made no reference to the day the rumor first started. It is believed that Prince Albert Victor had committed the murders after being driven mad by syphilis. The suggestion was widely dismissed because Albert Victor had strong alibis for the murders.

• A friend of Queen Victoria, Sir John Williams, who was the obstetrician of her daughter Princess Beatrice, was accused of the Ripper crimes in a 2005 book, Uncle Jack, written by one of the surgeon's descendants, Tony Williams, and co-authored by Humphrey Price. They claim that the victims knew the doctor personally and that they were killed and mutilated in an attempt to research the causes of infertility. Jennifer Pegg showed that the version of the notebook entry used in Uncle Jack to show that Sir John Williams had met Mary Ann Nichols, one of the Ripper’s victims had been altered and did not match the original document, thus demonstrating the innocence of Sir Williams.

• The notorious serial killer who terrorized Whitechapel in 1888 has been the source of inspiration for many works ranging from gothic novels published at the time of the murders to recent motion pictures and computer games. Important influences on the depiction of the Ripper include Marie Belloc Lowndes' 1913 novel The Lodger, which has been adapted for the stage and film, and Stephen Knight's 1976 work Jack the Ripper: The Final Solution, which expanded a theory involving freemasons and royalty. The Ripper appears throughout the science fiction and horror genres and is internationally recognized as an evil character. The association with death and sex is particularly appealing to heavy metal and rock musicians, who have incorporated the Ripper murders into their work.

• Although Jack the Ripper’s reign was short, he has a great importance and has influenced both the serial killers of the next century who saw in him a mentor and a model to be followed because of his bloody killings and the police which because of him has improved the investigation process and the techniques used to catch murderers or other citizens that commit felonies.

• Even after more than a hundred years the case is still fascinating for more and more people who try to solve this intriguing mystery. Chances for the case to ever be resolved are open to debate. This makes the challenge much more difficult because the amount of evidence destroyed in World War II is considerable. Moreover, some think that the files were purposefully destroyed to keep the murderer's identity a secret.

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