1 00:00:00,280 --> 00:00:04,000 Speaker 1: Jack the Ripper murdered and dismembered at least five women 2 00:00:04,040 --> 00:00:07,000 Speaker 1: in London one hundred and thirty five years ago, but 3 00:00:07,160 --> 00:00:11,719 Speaker 1: was never found. But was Jack a woman? I'm Patty 4 00:00:11,800 --> 00:00:16,760 Speaker 1: Steele profiling gone wrong. Maybe that's next on the backstory. 5 00:00:21,239 --> 00:00:24,920 Speaker 1: We're back with the backstory. For over a century, there 6 00:00:24,960 --> 00:00:29,080 Speaker 1: have been endless stories speculating on the identity of Jack 7 00:00:29,120 --> 00:00:32,519 Speaker 1: the Ripper, who viciously murdered at least five women in 8 00:00:32,560 --> 00:00:35,760 Speaker 1: London in the late eighteen eighties. There was talk that 9 00:00:35,840 --> 00:00:38,720 Speaker 1: he was a surgeon or a butcher because of how 10 00:00:38,760 --> 00:00:42,559 Speaker 1: precisely the bodies were mutilated. There were also stories that 11 00:00:42,640 --> 00:00:46,440 Speaker 1: claimed he was well known artist Walter Sickert, author Lewis 12 00:00:46,520 --> 00:00:50,120 Speaker 1: Carroll who wrote Alice in Wonderland, or even the grandson 13 00:00:50,159 --> 00:00:54,640 Speaker 1: of Queen Victoria Prince Albert Victor. But could he have 14 00:00:54,760 --> 00:00:58,560 Speaker 1: been a she? There are experts who say the evidence 15 00:00:58,600 --> 00:01:02,080 Speaker 1: points to a female kills. It was late summer in 16 00:01:02,160 --> 00:01:06,000 Speaker 1: eighteen eighty eight. Forty three year old Polly Nichols had 17 00:01:06,080 --> 00:01:10,000 Speaker 1: had a rough life. Married at eighteen, she had five children, 18 00:01:10,560 --> 00:01:14,320 Speaker 1: but her husband constantly cheated on her, and she soothed 19 00:01:14,360 --> 00:01:18,880 Speaker 1: her upset with alcohol. Eventually she left, she took low 20 00:01:18,959 --> 00:01:22,800 Speaker 1: leveled temporary jobs that occasionally gave her enough money to 21 00:01:22,840 --> 00:01:25,800 Speaker 1: buy a bed for the night. Otherwise she slept on 22 00:01:25,840 --> 00:01:29,039 Speaker 1: the streets, and that's exactly where she was on her 23 00:01:29,120 --> 00:01:32,360 Speaker 1: last night. Her body was found at three point thirty 24 00:01:32,400 --> 00:01:35,840 Speaker 1: in the morning on August thirty first, eighteen eighty eight. 25 00:01:36,480 --> 00:01:39,440 Speaker 1: She was the first known victim of Jack the Ripper. 26 00:01:43,640 --> 00:01:47,280 Speaker 1: In the next few months, mutilated bodies turned up of 27 00:01:47,400 --> 00:01:51,880 Speaker 1: women who had a similar life story and similar deadly wounds. 28 00:01:52,440 --> 00:01:57,720 Speaker 1: They were Annie Chapmin, Elizabeth Stride, Katherine Edos, and Mary 29 00:01:57,840 --> 00:02:01,280 Speaker 1: Jane Kelly. As you can imagine, and folks in London 30 00:02:01,440 --> 00:02:06,200 Speaker 1: went nuts. Not only were they terrified, they were fascinated. 31 00:02:06,880 --> 00:02:10,840 Speaker 1: It was the beginning of the golden age of sensational journalism, 32 00:02:11,360 --> 00:02:15,720 Speaker 1: and newspapers sensationalized the story, saying the women were all 33 00:02:15,760 --> 00:02:21,360 Speaker 1: prostitutes because sex and murder cells, especially in the same story. 34 00:02:22,120 --> 00:02:24,959 Speaker 1: But actually, though only two of the women had ever 35 00:02:25,000 --> 00:02:29,960 Speaker 1: been sex workers, the rest were just down on their luck. Ironically, 36 00:02:30,080 --> 00:02:32,320 Speaker 1: when these women did have a few cents to get 37 00:02:32,360 --> 00:02:34,880 Speaker 1: a bed for the night, they stayed in what were 38 00:02:34,919 --> 00:02:39,960 Speaker 1: called coffin beds at Salvation Army shelters. These were coffin 39 00:02:40,200 --> 00:02:43,320 Speaker 1: like wooden boxes with a small cushion that could be 40 00:02:43,360 --> 00:02:46,799 Speaker 1: rented for about eight cents a night. The murders were 41 00:02:46,880 --> 00:02:51,080 Speaker 1: horrifying and all anybody wanted to know was who could 42 00:02:51,200 --> 00:02:54,360 Speaker 1: possibly have done this or would do such a thing 43 00:02:55,240 --> 00:02:58,400 Speaker 1: because of this sort of surgical dismemberment of the body's. 44 00:02:58,800 --> 00:03:04,160 Speaker 1: Speculation range from butchers to doctors to prominent individuals, but 45 00:03:04,200 --> 00:03:07,919 Speaker 1: the four main suspects were all men. A few thought 46 00:03:07,960 --> 00:03:11,240 Speaker 1: it could be a woman, including Sir Arthur Conan Doyle 47 00:03:11,639 --> 00:03:15,480 Speaker 1: you remember him. He created Sherlock Holmes. He said publicly 48 00:03:15,560 --> 00:03:18,000 Speaker 1: the ripper could be a woman who worked as a 49 00:03:18,040 --> 00:03:21,320 Speaker 1: midwife because she could be seen in public in bloody 50 00:03:21,360 --> 00:03:25,040 Speaker 1: clothing and no one would be suspicious. Now, something that 51 00:03:25,080 --> 00:03:28,160 Speaker 1: could be key to the story didn't actually see the 52 00:03:28,240 --> 00:03:32,480 Speaker 1: light of day until recently. That's when Australian forensic scientist 53 00:03:32,600 --> 00:03:36,920 Speaker 1: Ian Findley did saliva DNA testing of the stamps that 54 00:03:36,960 --> 00:03:40,320 Speaker 1: were on some of Jack the Ripper's alleged letters to 55 00:03:40,400 --> 00:03:44,760 Speaker 1: London police and newspapers. While it didn't pin down a suspect, 56 00:03:45,200 --> 00:03:48,960 Speaker 1: it did show the DNA very likely came from a woman. 57 00:03:49,640 --> 00:03:52,400 Speaker 1: There are arguments about whether any of the hundreds of 58 00:03:52,560 --> 00:03:55,960 Speaker 1: Ripper letters were actually written by the killer, but the 59 00:03:55,960 --> 00:03:59,520 Speaker 1: ones thought to be genuine showed some case knowledge only 60 00:03:59,560 --> 00:04:03,040 Speaker 1: the killer would know, as well as having the same handwriting. 61 00:04:03,720 --> 00:04:06,920 Speaker 1: But it was Victorian England and it was hard for 62 00:04:07,040 --> 00:04:10,880 Speaker 1: anybody to seriously consider that a woman could be a 63 00:04:10,920 --> 00:04:15,360 Speaker 1: serial killer, much less one with such a sadistic mo 64 00:04:17,760 --> 00:04:21,000 Speaker 1: But author John Morris, who wrote Jack the Ripper The 65 00:04:21,080 --> 00:04:23,760 Speaker 1: Hand of a Woman, says the case for a woman 66 00:04:23,880 --> 00:04:28,440 Speaker 1: murderer is overwhelming, There's absolutely no doubt. But because everyone 67 00:04:28,560 --> 00:04:31,760 Speaker 1: believes that the murderer was a man, all the evidence 68 00:04:31,760 --> 00:04:34,760 Speaker 1: that points to a woman has always been ignored. And 69 00:04:34,800 --> 00:04:39,080 Speaker 1: there's more, Marris says. Inspectors noted that the last victim, 70 00:04:39,279 --> 00:04:42,480 Speaker 1: Mary Kelly, was murdered in a room with a fireplace. 71 00:04:43,080 --> 00:04:46,559 Speaker 1: Women's clothing that did not belong to Mary was found 72 00:04:46,600 --> 00:04:50,560 Speaker 1: partially burned in the fireplace, maybe as a way of 73 00:04:50,640 --> 00:04:55,960 Speaker 1: destroying bloody evidence. Plus that person, maybe a woman would 74 00:04:56,000 --> 00:04:59,200 Speaker 1: have arrived on the scene in normal female dress, done 75 00:04:59,279 --> 00:05:03,120 Speaker 1: the deed, covering herself in blood, and then been able 76 00:05:03,160 --> 00:05:06,800 Speaker 1: to change into Mary's clothing, burn her own bloody clothing 77 00:05:07,360 --> 00:05:10,640 Speaker 1: and leave the building without being noticed, and he also 78 00:05:10,720 --> 00:05:14,640 Speaker 1: points out that three women's boot buttons were found near 79 00:05:14,680 --> 00:05:18,440 Speaker 1: the body of yet another victim. Now, the two most 80 00:05:18,560 --> 00:05:22,680 Speaker 1: talked about female suspects over the years that followed included 81 00:05:22,760 --> 00:05:27,560 Speaker 1: Mary Pearcy, who was convicted and executed for brutally killing 82 00:05:27,600 --> 00:05:31,680 Speaker 1: her lover's wife and child a year after the Ripper killings, 83 00:05:32,160 --> 00:05:35,799 Speaker 1: but her connection was sort of tenuous and mostly based 84 00:05:35,880 --> 00:05:39,799 Speaker 1: on the intense publicity surrounding her murders of her lover's 85 00:05:39,839 --> 00:05:43,640 Speaker 1: wife and child not long after the Ripper killings. But 86 00:05:43,720 --> 00:05:48,159 Speaker 1: most convincingly, there's Lizzie Williams, whose husband was not only 87 00:05:48,200 --> 00:05:51,600 Speaker 1: a surgeon and private doctor to the Royal family, but 88 00:05:51,680 --> 00:05:55,960 Speaker 1: also an abortion provider in London. Lizzie not only helped 89 00:05:56,000 --> 00:05:58,600 Speaker 1: him in his clinic, but she knew her way around 90 00:05:58,640 --> 00:06:02,479 Speaker 1: his surgical instruments and the female body. She would have 91 00:06:02,560 --> 00:06:05,400 Speaker 1: known how to remove the organs the victims were missing. 92 00:06:06,160 --> 00:06:09,679 Speaker 1: In addition, Lizzie was unable to have children of her own, 93 00:06:10,080 --> 00:06:13,680 Speaker 1: which almost drove her insane, and her husband, intent on 94 00:06:13,880 --> 00:06:17,560 Speaker 1: having a child with someone, had plenty of affairs, and 95 00:06:17,600 --> 00:06:22,000 Speaker 1: in eighteen eighty eight was sleeping with Mary Kelly, the 96 00:06:22,120 --> 00:06:26,680 Speaker 1: last Ripper victim. The pieces kind of fit. It said 97 00:06:26,720 --> 00:06:29,839 Speaker 1: that she confessed all to her husband finally, and that 98 00:06:29,920 --> 00:06:33,320 Speaker 1: he destroyed his diaries from that year and helped Lizzie 99 00:06:33,320 --> 00:06:37,960 Speaker 1: cover her tracks. So here's the thing. Just maybe the 100 00:06:38,040 --> 00:06:42,520 Speaker 1: closed minded Victorian sensibilities of the investigators in the case 101 00:06:43,120 --> 00:06:47,560 Speaker 1: prevented them from considering the possibility that Jack the Ripper 102 00:06:48,040 --> 00:07:02,960 Speaker 1: was a woman. I'm Patty Steele. The Backstory is a 103 00:07:02,960 --> 00:07:07,159 Speaker 1: production of iHeartMedia and Steel Trap Productions. Our producer is 104 00:07:07,200 --> 00:07:11,680 Speaker 1: Doug Fraser. Our executive producer is Steve Goldstein of Amplify Media. 105 00:07:11,720 --> 00:07:14,720 Speaker 1: We're out with new episodes twice a week. Thanks for 106 00:07:14,800 --> 00:07:18,200 Speaker 1: listening to The Backstory, the pieces of history you didn't 107 00:07:18,280 --> 00:07:19,280 Speaker 1: know you needed to know.