Wednesday, November 24, 2004

Jill the Ripper?

I've never been a "Ripper" fanatic. The case of Jack the Ripper is just another insoluble historical who-done-it as far as I'm concerned -- on a par with the Princes in the Tower and the assassination of JFK. But I found it fascinating to learn that several somehat-prominent figures have been suspected of the Whitechapel Murders. Here, from Casebook, is a gallery of suspects:


I had heard about the candidacy of Prince Albert Victor (a grandson of Queen Victoria and a great-great uncle of the present Queen Elizabeth), and about the Royal conspiracy. Patricia Cornwell has touted actor-artist Walter Sickert as the Ripper in her book, Portrait of a Killer: Jack the Ripper - Case Closed. But Lewis Carroll, James Kenneth Stephen, and Francis Thompson -- writers of more or less renown -- are news to me.

My money's on Mary Pearcey (Jill the Ripper). Follow the links and draw your own conclusions.

(Thanks to Oxblog for the pointer to Casebook.)