Camp Gagnon - Jack the Ripper: The Most Gruesome Serial Killer In History

Episode Date: August 14, 2025

Who was Jack the Ripper, and was he the first serial killer? Today, we take a closer look at the dark killings of one of England's most infamous killers. We’ll talk about the death of Annie Chapman, Elizabeth Stride, Catherine Eddowes and Mary Jane Kelly, the letters of Jack the Ripper, the investigation to find Jack, prime suspects of the murders, and other interesting topics...WELCOME TO CAMP! 🏕️Shoutout to our sponsors: Odoo, Morgan & Morgan, and BlueChewTry Odoo with a 14-day free trial at: http://Odoo.com/CAMPTimestamps:0:00 The Streets of 1900’s London9:42 Discovery of Mary Anne Nichols13:43 Death of Annie Chapman16:11 The Double Event + Elizabeth Stride & Catherine Eddowes22:20 The Death of Mary Jane Kelly25:08 Jack The Ripper Letters29:39 Other Victims of Jack The Ripper32:30 The Investigation to Find Jack The Ripper35:17 Prime Suspects of The Murders40:25 Jack The Ripper Solved44:58 Different Versions of Jack The Ripper Through Time

Today, we're going to solve 125-year-old mystery. That's right, by guy named Jack the Ripper. Now, I didn't know much about Jack the Ripper. Obviously, I knew this was like a, you know, an infamous serial killer, the OG that kicked it all off, the Ted Bundy of, you know, 1900s England. But there's a lot of the story that I did not know, things and details and potentially even clues to who this infamous murderer actually was. Let's dive in. What's up, people, and welcome back. to camp. My name is Mark Gagelan, and thank you for joining me in my tent where every single week

we explore the most interesting, fascinating, controversial stories from around the world from all times from all ages. As a kid, I was obsessed with Ripley's, believe it or not. And as a result, I now do a podcast where I kind of talk about similar stuff. So if you were one of those kids, welcome. As always, I'm joined by a dear friend of mine. Today we have Gabriel Reyes. Gabe, what's up, dude? I feel like this is a... I don't, I mean, we've gotten like 20 comments of people saying that Gabe is just nonstop yapping. Have you seen those?

Half. And yeah, I mean, and you would think that you would learn something. But nope, you keep on just jibber, jabbering all day. We don't have time because in order to understand, you know, these murders, we need to understand the world in which they took place. We're going back to London in 1888. And the city is basically a sitting contradiction. You know, you have these massive, beautiful gaslit boulevards. and they are just streets away from these sprawling slums with poverty that you couldn't even imagine.

In the east end, you have, you know, White Chapel, Spittle Fields, thousands lived crammed into overcrowded little tenements and alleys that are, you know, dark to say the least, not only, you know, visually, but sort of metaphorically. And, you know, you have social reformers that don't even want to step foot down to, you know, some of these poverty-stricken streets. these streets in particular so poorly lit they have these gas lamps that are casting like these little cascades of light

that actually create more shadows than actual visible light that they're trying to create in the first place. So between the pools of light and the stretches of darkness, this is the place where a person could just vanish in seconds, right? These tiny little streets

and these little narrow corridors and poor lighting and the flicker of, you know, these gas. gas-lit lamps actually creates shadows and blind spots. And, you know, in the fall nights as they grow a little darker and a little longer, there's natural cover for all types of criminal activity. And then, not to mention the fog, I mean, the London fog of, you know, the autumn season, you know, you basically get this, this rolling, you know, sort of mist coming off the River Thames.

And, I mean, you know, this city goes to just basically this dark fog. corridor, labyrinth where anyone can basically do anything. And this is a world where people, you know, they move through the night for desperation. Like typically if you're out after, you know, after sunset, there's a reason. You know, you're maybe a homeless vagrant looking for a place to sleep. You are, you know, a woman potentially working out a brothel. You're looking for work. You're leaving work.

Or you're just trying to survive until the morning time. So when women walked these dangerous streets alone, they typically didn't want you know, but they did it because they had no other choice. Many spent their nights moving between, you know, gin palaces or Doss houses, sort of these like cheap lodging rooms where, you know, bed could, you know, be scored for four pence, you know, not much money back in the day. And that's if they had the money in the first place. When they didn't, they were on the streets. And the police presence at this point was extremely thin. I mean, you know, there was constables that were cover large areas on foot and their patrol routes were pretty easy to predict. And if anyone was watching

sort of how the police would operate, they could see, you know, exactly where they would be and when. And the very layout of the East End seems built for hiding. You have these sort of courts and these like narrow passages that branch off the main streets, kind of just like, literally just like almost like a, you know, like an ant colony or something. And there's not only various places to hide, but there are very many places to escape. Hypothetically, A killer could strike in one spot and then disappear within the maze and then, you know, reappear blocks away, just walking down the street without anyone noticing anything. And that is, you know, just the visual elements.

Now, with most crime, you'd have to think, oh, what if there's, you know, noise? Well, that is where the city will also give you cover. You have constant noise from this densely populated urban sprawl. You know, you have the hooves of horses, the rumble of carts, the hum of, you know, a crowded street, people talking, and this could very easily drown out the sounds of violence. And most of all, this is a place where people keep to themselves. You know, residents learn pretty early on not to ask questions, don't get involved in other people's business. You know, we're already all on top of each other, so I might as well not impose my will on someone else. So, you know,

if someone yelled in the night, it wasn't necessarily rare, you know. And many people just kind of learn to close their windows and just kind of just let things move on. Maybe it was a husband or wife, you know, in an argument, she was yelling, or maybe someone with a mental illness that's just in the streets. You don't know if necessarily it's a crime or if it's just, you know, a person causing trouble. So in such a place, hypothetically, if you had a, you know, a killer or someone that wanted to inflict some type of malevolence under a population, they could move extremely easily. I mean, you basically have darkness, you have these like twisting labyrinth type streets. You have tons of destitute people that are easy to prey on that might not have any types of family or spouses or children that are going to look for them. And you have the cover of sound.

And so Lundon in 1888 was in many ways the perfect environment for crime. And that takes us basically directly into the heart of these murders that terrorize the urban wilderness. And we're going to walk through each crime using, again, the original police reports that were published at the time, and then newspaper accounts that shocked the readers of London over a century ago. No guesses, no added drama, no sensationalism, just the surviving reports and headlines examined as the investigators and the public first encountered them. These weren't just headlines on a page, again. These were real people whose lives were cut short in, you know, the most brutal way imaginable. And by returning to these first accounts, we can finally see past the myths that grew around the case and sort of dispel the, you know, the monster stories that typically arise from these types of acts of violence. And we can understand not just what happened, but actually how it felt to the people that lived in London in 1888. What's up, guys?

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At 43 years old, she was the mother of five. She and her husband had separated due to her alcoholism, and he continued sending her an allowance until discovering that she was living with another man. Her story, pieced together from police reports as well as eyewitness accounts, shows the chilling precision and the mystery that would define the Ripper murders. Mary Ann Nichols was last seen alive around 2.40 a.m., leaving her friend Emily Holland. She had no money for a bed and was likely intoxicated. and was most likely searching for a place to sleep or perhaps getting someone to pay for her lodging. I'll soon get my Doss money, she said to Holland,

referring to the four pens that were needed for a bed at one of these sort of hostile motel things. See what a jolly bonnet I've got on now. Those were among the last words remembered by Holland, potentially the last ones Polly ever spoke in her life. Sometime between then and 3.40 a.m., she met. The Ripper. Her body was found by Charles Lechmer, a Carmen who was on his way to work, in a dark gateway along Buck's Row, now called Dürward Street. At first, he thought the shape

on the ground was, you know, like a large tarp that was thrown, you know, into the corner, and only realized that it was a woman as he got closer. Another Carmen, Robert Paul, joined him, and the street was poorly lit with just one gas lamp at the far end, casting these long shadows and hiding the pool of blood that was around her. Nichols lay on her back near the gate. Her clothes disarranged, exposing the brutal injuries she had suffered. Her throat had been cut, one cut so deep that it nearly severed her head and her abdomen was slashed open.

Despite the horror of the scene, there were no signs of a struggle. Her discolored face and slight cut on her tongue suggested that she had been strangled before her throat was cut. A small pool of blood beneath her. head. Without spray on the surrounding walls or anything, indicated that, you know, she was likely cut while already laying down and most likely dead or unconscious. Police constable John Neal was the first officer on the scene, inspecting the area with his lantern. He found no blood trails or wheelmarks or anything that suggested that the killer had come and gone on foot.

Dr. Llewellyn arrived shortly after around 4 a.m. and noted that Nichols' body was still warm, estimating she had been dead no more than 30 minutes. The post-mortem confirmed that the deep cuss to her throat had severed major arteries and even reached her spinal cord. Residents nearby told police that they heard nothing unusual in the night. Even the tenants in the house closest to the scene, awake in the early hours, noticed nothing. The darkness, the silence,

and the lack of witnesses leave unsettling questions. How did the killer commit such violence without drawing any attention? Did Nichols know her attacker or was she simply just in the wrong place at the wrong time? Initially, the police considered the murder just an isolated incident, maybe a robbery or some type of violent lovers quarrel that turned into an actual homicide. But the extensive mutilation sparked some deeper concern. They could not have known that this was only the beginning of something way worse. In hindsight, Nichols' murder bore the first signs of a pattern.

swift, silent, and shockingly brutal. In the heart of a crowded city, the killer slipped away unseen, leaving behind really just questions and to the first victim in a mystery that would go on to haunt London for generations. But this event was only the beginning. The murder of Mary Ann Nichols shook the Whitechapel community. But the tear was far from over because just a week later, the killer would strike again. And this time with even more violence and a greater sense of escalation. From Bucks Row, we moved to Hanbury Street, where the next murder revealed even greater brutality.

On September 8, 1888, Annie Chapman's life ended in the backyard of 29 Hanbury Street, known as Dark Annie. She was 47 years old, a widow who had fallen on hard times. She was last seen in the early hours, standing outside the house, seemingly waiting for someone. Elizabeth Long later stated she saw Chapman talking to a man described as shabby genteel. The pattern continued. She too was seeking money for a bed that night. Around 6 a.m., John Davis, a resident discovered her body in the yard lying on her back, head turned to the right, and the swelling of her face and protruding tongue led some to suspect she may have been strangled before the knife was used, although this was never conclusively proven. Her throat had been cut

deeply severing the windpipe in the spinal cord and her abdomen was cut open. Near her feet lay a few of her belongings, a comb, a piece of muslin, and two pills were found near her body, although there's no evidence that they were deliberately arranged by the killer. A leather apron was found nearby, a common item amongst tradesmen, and it briefly ignited public panic about a rumored figure called the leathered apron. And this led to the wrongful arrest of John Pizer, a local bootmaker, who was later released with a verified alibi. The mutilations were more extensive than in the Nichols case, and there was precise organ removal that suggested either anatomical knowledge or just a steady hand,

as Dr. George Baxter Phillips noted. He estimated the attack took no more than 15 minutes, and once again, there was no signs of struggle, nor had anyone in the crowded houses nearby heard sound. It remains unclear whether Chapman knew her killer or simply just was in the wrong, place at the wrong time. How the murderer escaped from a shared dwelling in a near silence added to the fear gripping the Whitechapel community. With this murder, the escalation was unmistakable. I mean, the killer was growing bolder, more brutal and more daring, and the newspapers began to

link the attacks. But what would happen if he were interrupted in the middle of his grisly work? Well, the answer would come soon enough on a night when terror would strike twice. Just three weeks later, after Annie Chapman's body was discovered, the killer struck again. But this time, something was different. And the night would become known in criminal history as the double event. At 1 a.m., Lewis Deemshitz, a steward of a nearby socialist club, turned his pony cart into Dutfield's yard, an animal shied suddenly in the dark, and it prompted him to dismount and discovered what he first thought was like a bundle of rags. But it was actually a Elizabeth Stride. Her throat had been cut cleanly, and her body had showed none of the

mutilation that marked the other ripper cases. Elizabeth Stride, known as Long Liz, was found dead in Dutfield's yard off Burner Street. At 45 years old, she was Swedish-born and had lived a hard life in London's East End. Several witnesses claimed to have seen Stride with different men that evening, but their descriptions had varied. Israel Schwartz reported witnessing a man, assault woman, near the yard, described as stout. middle-aged and wearing a peaked cap. But others describe different individuals, complicating efforts to identify a suspect.

The lack of mutilation also seemed peculiar, and it led many to suspect that the killer may have been interrupted, possibly by Deemschutz and his unexpected entrance into the yard, and Stride's murder raises unsettling questions, was the killer startled and forced to flee? And while debate continues over her inclusion, most modern experts now consider Stride one of the canonical five based on timing and location. And the uncertainty only grew when less than an hour later another body was found nearby.

If the killer had been interrupted at Dutfield's yard, his thirst for violence maybe remained unfulfilled. And what happened next would show that when denied his full ritual of horror, he was ready to find another victim. Just 45 minutes later, after Elizabeth Stride's murder, the killer struck again. At 144 a.m. on September 30th, Catherine Eddos was found in the southwest corner of Miller Square. She was 46 years old and had been released from Bishop's Gate Police Station less than an hour earlier, having sobered up after a night of drinking. Police constable Edward Watkins, on patrol, discovered her body. Eddows lay on her back, her head turned to the left, her clothes pulled up over her waist, her face, brutally mutilated, her throat had been cut all the way through, and her abdomen was open.

The killer had made deliberate cuts to her face, carving triangles and different incisions on her eyes and nose, and most shockingly, some of her organs like her uterus had actually been removed. Some experts argue that these cuts again showed anatomical knowledge, while others believed that they reflected just a steady, intentional person. Despite the savagery, the murder was quick and silent. Once again, Night watchman, police officers, and nearby residents heard nothing. P.C. Watkins had passed the spot at 1.30 a.m. leaving the killer only 14 minutes to inflict the injuries and vanish into the night. Among Eddo's belongings was a mustard tin containing pawn tickets, which helped confirm her identity.

Later, a blood-stained piece of her apron was found on Golston Street along what was believed to have been the escape route. It lay just near a chalk graffiti that read, The Jews are the men that will not be blamed for nothing. Now, this is a strange note, and at this point, people are still speculating whether these things are connected. This message was obviously alarming to police. The inspector Frederick Aberline, now leading the investigation, faced a critical decision.

The reference to Jews threatened to ignite the already tense anti-Semitic atmosphere in the East End at the time, and despite protests from detectives who wanted to photograph the writing, Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Charles Warren ordered to erase it to prevent some type of uprising or riots. How did the killer manage to inflict such devastating injuries in near darkness within minutes and escape unseen? Was it skill, just luck, and each new layer of violence uncovered in the square only deepened the mystery? And the double murder that night in particular shattered any lingering sense of safety in the east end. Two victims within hours

marked a turning point in the Ripper's reign, prompting the largest investigation in Scotland Yards history. Inspector Aberline and his team flooded the streets with officers, detectives, and volunteers yet the killer remained a phantom in the fog. And the murders were not over. Worst horrors are going to happen in just a few more days. What's up, guys? We're going to take a break really quick because you own a small business, or maybe you work for a small business, and I am about to make your life so much easier. Let's say hypothetically, you own a little furniture business, right? And you're struggling to keep track of the raw materials, the production schedule,

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years old, Kelly was younger than the other victims, and by some accounts was more attractive. She was Irish-born and had been living with Joseph Barnett, a fish porter, though they had recently separated, And unlike the other victims, Kelly was killed indoors, giving the killer the privacy that he never had had before. Thomas Boyer, the landlord's assistant, arrived around 1045 a.m. to collect overdue rent. Finding no response, he peered through a broken window pane and recoiled at the horrific site of Kelly's mutilated body inside. Moments later, police forced entry into the locked room, and the site was so appalling that even experienced officers were shaken. Inspector Aberline later called it the most disturbing scene he had ever witnessed his entire career. Kelly's body lay on the bed, her face unrecognizable, her throat had been cut, her abdomen had been opened,

and many of her organs were completely missing. At this specific crime scene, blood had splattered on the walls and the floor, indicating a frenzied attack that must have taken some considerable time. The door had been locked from the inside, and the killer had escaped through a broken window pane. reaching through to unlock the door latch, and crime scene photographs were taken some of the earliest detailed murder scene documentation in British police work ever.

Yet despite the brutality and the time it must have taken, neighbors reported hearing only a faint cry of murder around 4 a.m., a sound so common in the area that no one really paid it much attention. Elizabeth Prater, living in the room above, heard the cry but thought nothing of it and just went back to sleep. Kelly's murder stands apart for just the sheer violence, and the privacy in which it was carried out. Did the killer know her, or was she simply just in the wrong place at the wrong time?

Did he linger in the room? Did he take his time, or was he driven by some dark compulsion that he could no longer control? The brutality and the secrecy of Kelly's death left a lot more questions than answers and marked a terrible, evil climax of the Ripper's known crimes. And then, just as suddenly as this horrifying saga had begun, the killing stopped. Mary Jane Kelly's murder would be the last of the canonical five. But was it truly the end of the Ripper's work? The silence that followed was as haunting as the screams that had come before,

leading investigators and the public to wonder, did the killer die or disappear or maybe just move on? But how did this unknown killer become Jack the Ripper, a name that we've all heard through different lore and media throughout the years? This transformation from anonymous murderer to legendary psychopath happened through the power of the press and a single chilling letter. On September 27th, 1888,

just three days before the double event, the central news agency received a letter dated September 25th that would change everything. Written in red ink in address to the boss. It began, Dear boss, I keep on hearing the police have caught me, but they won't fix me just yet. I have laughed when they look so clever

and talk about being on the right track. The letter was signed, Jack the Ripper, a name that had never been used before. The writer seemed to mock the police investigation and promised more murders. I'm down on horrors, and I shan't quit ripping them till I do get buckled. Most unnervingly, he wrote, The next job I do, I shall clip the lady's ears off and send the police officers just for jolly. When Catherine Eddows was found, with part of her ear cut off, the letter suddenly seemed genuine.

The Central News Agency released it to the press, and the name Jack the Ripper exploded across London's newspapers, and within days, every paper in the city was using the name. A follow-up postcard received on October 1st, signed, saucy Jackie referred to the devil event, and claimed credit for both murders. The casual tone and apparent inside knowledge sent shockwaves throughout the investigation. Most experts today believe that these letters were actually elaborate hoaxes, likely written by a journalist seeking to sell papers, but the name stuck, transforming anonymous crimes into something far more sinister, a taunting presence that seemed to mock both the police as well as the public.

And the unknown killer had been given a voice, and that voice would echo throughout history. The press response was unprecedented. Newspapers competed for the most lurid details and sensationalized stories, and the coverage created an early template for a lot of the modern crime reporting that see today, sort of mixing fact with speculation and morbid public fascination. And as the murders unfolded and the Ripper name spread, the press and the police were flooded with letters claiming to be from the killer. Over hundreds of letters were received and most dismissed as hoaxes from attention seekers capitalizing on the public hysteria, but one letter stood apart from the rest. On October 16, 1888, George Lusk, chairman of the Whitechapel Vigilance Committee,

received a cardboard box at his home, and inside was half of a human kidney, reportedly preserved in spirits of wine, and accompanied by letter scrawled in a cramped, almost illegible hand. From hell, Mr. Lusk, so I send you half the kidney I took from one woman, preserved it for you. The other piece I fried and ate. It was very nice. I may send you the bloody knife that took it out if you only wait a while longer. Signed, catch me when you can, Mr. Lusk. The timing was perfect and terrifying. Catherine Eddows had been found with her left kidney removed just two weeks earlier, and medical analysis indicated the kidney came from an adult human and may have been removed recently. But again, no definitive link to Eddo's. was ever proven. At the time, obviously DNA evidence was not able to connect the crime scene to the actual victims themselves. Was this truly from Jack the Ripper or just another cruel hoax in a city on edge? I mean, it would be difficult to get a human kidney, but not out of the question,

perhaps a mortician with a twisted sense of humor. And the crude spelling could have also been genuine illiteracy or some type of deliberate deception to throw people off of the trail. Dr. Open Shaw confirmed that the kidney was human, but left open the possibility that it may have been obtained from a hospital or from a school of anatomy. And the From Hell letter became a part of the Ripper legend. This is this tangible reminder of a killer who seemed to watch and wait and mock those who hunted him. And whether authentic or not, it embodied the psychological warfare that was gripping London, where truth and terror had become effectively indistinguishable. And now that we've laid bare the details of each murder and the terror that swept through Whitechapel in 1888, yet, as the city reeled from these brutal killings, another question still lingered.

Was Jack the Ripper truly responsible for only these five? Or did his shadow stretch further into the night? And to grasp the full scope of the Whitechapel murders, we need to look beyond the canonical five. Police files from the time, known as the Whitechapel murders file, actually list 11 victims, not just five. Some like Emma Elizabeth Smith and Martha Tabram met violent ends months before Mary Ann Nichols. Their death was marked by brutality and mystery. On August 7th, 1888, just three weeks before Mary Ann Nichols, Martha Tabram was found stabbed 39 times in a stairwell.

The savagery was extreme, but the method was different, stabbing rather than cutting and mutilation. Was this the Ripper's first attempt or the work of another hand entirely? Similarly, Emma Elizabeth Smith, attacked on April 1888, lived long enough to describe being set upon by a gang of men. And her death was different in nature, but contributed to the rising fear in the East End that would explode when the canonical murders began. This wider context raises some interesting questions. Were there earlier murders in the work of Jack the Ripper, or was the city just facing multiple predators in its dark streets? and how did the press so hungry for a sensation

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And let's get back to the show. So Inspector Frederick Aberline, leading the case. with assistance from Detective Inspector Edmund Reed and Sergeant Stephen White found themselves overwhelmed by false leads, hoax letters, and just general public panic. Every suspicious character became a suspect, every odd behavior was some type of clue, and with every new development, every witness statement and every theory the case deepened and became more complicated rather than more cleared. Despite a massive police operation involving hundreds of officers door-to-door searches

and around the clock patrols, the killer remained elusive. And the investigation methods of 1888, lacking any type of fingerprinting or crime scene photography or modern forensics, provided to be inadequate against such violent crimes. And by peeling back these additional layers and examining some of the lesser-known, more tangential crimes that happened at the time, the role of the newspapers and the media and the confusion that grip the police and the public alike, we can see how the legend of Jack the Ripper actually took hold and why the mystery endures to this day.

And as the murders spread throughout Whitechapel, the hunt for Jack the Ripper became an obsession for not only the police, but the press and the public in general. Theories multiplied each peeling back different layers of motive and skill and just general possibility. Early on, many investigators believed

that the killer had medical knowledge, the precise wounds and the removal of organs like Annie Chapman and Catherine Eddo suggested that someone who did this new anatomy and was skilled with a knife. Inspector Averline noted that the cuts showed considerable anatomical skill, though other doctors had disagreed. This theory was strengthened by the presence of butchers and slaughterhouse workers in Whitechapel, men often seen with blood on their clothes and raised no alarms. The investigation also considered whether the killer was left-handed or right-handed based on the angle of the cuts, though experts disagreed on this point as well. Some believed the precision suggested

surgical training, while others just argued that a butcher or even a motivated amateur with a solid quality knife could have developed such skills. Some claimed that the Ripper's crimes were occult rituals driven by secret societies or some type of satanic ceremony, and these rumors spread through the press and fueled the public fear as well, but the police found no evidence of ritual symbols or any type of hidden meaning at the crime scenes. Investigators quickly dismissed the occult theory, insisting that the murderers were the work of a flesh and blood killer, not some type of shadowy secret organization.

And over the years, many suspects emerged, each adding a new twist to the mystery. One of the prime suspects, both at the time as well as today, is a Polish barber named Aaron Kisminsky. He was a prime suspect as he was living in Whitechapel during the murders, and he was identified in a witness lineup by someone who knew the area well. Inspector Donald Swanson, in his private notes, discovered decades later named Kuzminsky as the prime suspect.

This man was committed to an asylum in 1891 for erratic behavior and died there in 1919. His own family apparently suspected him, and some senior police officers were convinced that he was the Ripper. In 2014, a controversial DNA study claimed to match the mitochondrial DNA from a shawl allegedly found at Edo's crime scene with living relatives of Kuzminsky. However, experts widely dispute the study's reliability due to an unverified chain of custody and the limitations of mitochondrial DNA. It seems like he has many of the hallmarks. He lived right

near where the murders had happened, but other people would suggest that due to his schizophrenia and his unstable mental state, that it would have been difficult for him to lure these women into these dark alleys. It's also suggested that he didn't speak much English at all and spoke in his primary language of Yiddish, and as a result of that, it would have been difficult for him to lure many, you know, Londoners or English-speaking Brits into these dark alleys. The truth, we might never know. Another leading suspect was Montague John Druitt, an Oxford-educated barrister and teacher, who took his own life shortly after the final murder, leading some to believe that the killing stopped because he was dead. Sir Melville McNaughton, who headed the criminal investigation department named Druitt,

as a likely suspect in his private notes, though he acknowledged that there was no direct evidence tying him to the crimes. Another gentleman is Carl Feigenbaum, a German merchant sailor who was in London during the murders, and later confessed to mutilating women before his execution in New York, in 1896. His movements matched the timeline, and he was known to visit local brothels. His lawyer had actually claimed that Feigenbaum had privately confided into him that he was Jack the Ripper. Another leading suspect was George Chapman, whose real name was actually Severin Klauski.

He was a Polish-born barber surgeon who was later convicted of poisoning three women. His medical background and history of violence made him a prime suspect. Though there is no physical evidence connecting him to the Ripper murders, Inspector Aberline himself favored Chapman as a suspect in later years. Another suspect is Thomas Cutbush, a violent young man with a history of stabbing women and was investigated after a series of attacks in the early 1890s. Though the timeline didn't match perfectly, some officials considered him a possible suspect. And a final lead suspect is Francis Tumblety, an American quack doctor with a collection of preserved uteri was arrested during the murders, but jumped bail and

fled to America. His suspicious behavior and medical knowledge made him a major person of interest. Other suspects include James Maybrick, a cotton merchant whose alleged diary confessed to being the Ripper centuries later, and Walter Sickert, an artist fascinated by the case whose paintings had contained potentially some hidden clues. There were still many unanswered questions about the killer's identity that make pinning it to a specific suspect very difficult. Was he local or new to Whitechapel?

Or was he a stranger or perhaps a sailor or someone passing through? Some speculated that the poor grammar in the letters claiming to be from the Ripper were either genuine and he doesn't have a great grasp on the English language either due to mental illness or being foreign-born or was a ruse to mislead the police altogether. The investigation itself raised a lot of troubling questions about the methods and the attitudes of Victorian-era policing. There was a rivalry between the Metropolitan Police and the City of London Police,

who had jurisdiction over different areas where the murders had occurred. And so because of this, they hampered their coordination. There was also anti-Semitic prejudices that influenced the investigation at the time, with Jewish residents often treated as automatic suspects. The press coverage, while bringing public attention to the case, also compromised evidence and spread a lot of false information. And despite decades of investigation and advances in forensic science, no theory has ever been universally accepted.

Each new clue seems to raise more questions. Was he a surgeon, a butcher, a barber, or simply just a shadow passing through the night? Did he act alone? Or was this a part of some grand larger scheme? And these layers of suspicion and more and more theories coming out ensure that the mystery remains as gripping and as unsolved as it ever has been. Now, I'm sure you're wondering, Mark, what about the DNA analysis that was done on the scarf?

I mean, wouldn't that close the case completely? Let's talk about that for a little bit. So there was a breakthrough that happened in 2014 that centered on this Victorian silk shawl or scarf that was supposedly taken for the scene where Catherine Eddos was murdered. And for over 120 years, this bloodstained piece of fabric had been passed through the family of a police sergeant who claimed to have picked it up on that terrible night. But here are some of the issues. There was no official police records that mention any type of shawl or scarf.

Is this because this is a fabrication? Or is it because it was never included because the police officer that collected it didn't want to have to turn it in and wanted to have a keepsake from one of London's most significant murders ever? In 2014, researchers decided to test the shawl anyway, using a... advanced DNA techniques, they found what appeared to be both blood and semen on the fabric, and they extracted genetic materials from both stains and compared them to living relatives, descendants of the victim, Catherine Eddows, as well as the suspect Aaron Kisminski,

the Polish migrant who had been institutionalized for mental illness. The results were almost too good to be true. The blood matched Eddo's family line perfectly, and even more shocking, the semen appeared to match the Kozminsky descendants with what researchers claimed was 99% accuracy. And they declared the case solved. Aaron Kozminski was Jack the Ripper. But the scientific community swiftly challenged the finding, citing both the uncertain origin of the shawl, as well of the limitations of mitochondrial DNA, which traces maternal ancestry shared by many rather than identifying a unique suspect. Think of it this way. If you tested mitochondrial DNA from any random person in London today, you might find hundreds or even thousands of others who would show a match. So the 99% match figure, while dramatic, reflected only a lineage match, not a unique individual identification. And was not necessarily as exclusive as DNA evidence typically appears. And then there's also contamination concerns. The shawl had been handled by countless.

people over the 130 years that it was in private possession, from family members to researchers to curiosity seekers that had come by the home. I mean, Victorian crime scenes were chaotic affairs in general. You have police officers and doctors and bystanders regularly taking souvenirs, and any DNA found on the fabric could have come from anywhere at any time. So other scientists have tried to verify these findings, but they couldn't because the original researchers never released their complete data for independent review. It's a little bit like, you know, solving an impossible math problem, but then never really showing your work. So despite some of these red flags, the story captured the world's imagination. I mean, news outlets proclaim the mystery finally solved.

There it is. Aaron Cosminsky, his name is back in the headlines after 125 years after his death, and some descendants of both the victim and the suspect welcome the possibility of closure. while others questioned whether they were chasing ghosts with scientific analysis and modern-day test tubes. And the controversy highlighted an uncomfortable truth about the original Ripper investigations. Today, researchers are continuing to extract DNA from other potential Ripper evidence, from letters to clothing to anything that might hold genetic traces. But 130-year-old biological material is remarkably fragile, and most of it has degraded beyond recognition.

ignition and what remains is just likely contaminated. So where does that leave us? Modern science brought new hope to the world's most famous cold case, but it also revealed how evidence, interpretation, and wishful thinking can intertwine in often dangerous ways. The DNA findings added another intriguing chapter to the Ripper's story, but they couldn't write the final page. In the end, Jack the Ripper's true identity remains elusive. As elusive, as the very killer himself on the foggy London streets where the crimes took place. And it just reminds us that some mysteries may be too old or contaminated by time for even the most advanced scientists to solve.

Maybe the greatest mystery of all is why does this story grip our imaginations so tightly? I mean, over 130 years have gone by and still people are fascinated by this lone serial killer back in the late 1800s. I think the Ripper emerged at a perfect storm kind of moment where you have mass-produced newspaper that is spreading fear extremely quickly. And you have these sort of ominous, spooky gaslit streets post-industrialization that cast light and shadow. And, you know, they create this divide between, you know, what is, you know, where crime can happen and what areas are deemed safe. And then also you have this disparity between rich and poor that makes the East End seem like a different place entirely. And then there's even this deeper thing that's happening, that the Ripper represents the most primal fear, right?

The stranger who emerges from the darkness and strikes without warning and then vanishes without a trace, impossible to be caught. And each generation has its own obsessions with the case and projects its own fears of the time. So Victorians saw, you know, moral decay and potentially foreign menace and, you know, fears over immigration. And then in the early 20th century, you have theories about sexual deviance and perversion and, you know, potentially even ritual, Satanism and occultism. And the modern era brings in this forensic science and different conspiracy theories. And each age has kind of found exactly what it's looking for in the stories of the victims. Every true crime podcast, every forensic investigation show, whether it's, CSI or any any other type of program that specializes or focuses on true crime can kind of trace

their own lineage back to those Whitechapel headlines. And before we leave, I think it's important to also remember the victims, although this happened, you know, over 100 years ago. You still have people like Marianne Nichols, Annie Chapman, Elizabeth Stride, Catherine Edos, and Mary Jane Kelly, who were real women whose lives were cut tragically short, mothers and daughters with their own stories and their deaths remind us that behind every theory lies a real human tragedy. And perhaps the mystery's very unsolvability is part of the appeal, right? It's the story that can never be fully completed. And in our age of technology and investigation, Jack the Ripper is one of the few genuinely unknowable conclusions. And as the investigation continues, as it has

for over a century and as it will continue, each generation believes it might finally crack the case. But until then, the Ripper remains what he has always been, the guy who got away, the murderer, the killer, the puzzle that just can't be solved. And so the hunt goes on, as it always has, and perhaps as it always will. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the story of Jack the Ripper. Thank you guys so much for joining us for another episode of Camp. I appreciate you guys dearly, and every single week we'll be jumping into the most bizarre, strange, and fascinating stories from all time rate in this very tent. See you guys there. Peace. If you've made it to the end of this episode, you are clearly someone who understands

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