In a 'From Hell' Letter.. The Horror of a Famous Serial Killer in London

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The identity of Jack the Ripper remains a mystery to this day, while his story has inspired many literary and cinematic works.

In the late 19th century, Britain witnessed the spread of many tinplate neighborhoods where living conditions were difficult.

These neighborhoods were primarily concentrated in major industrial cities, where workers had to work in factories for long hours in exchange for meager wages.

Alongside the lack of services and poor health conditions, these impoverished neighborhoods recorded high crime rates, with thefts and murders becoming widespread.

In this context, London witnessed the emergence of the serial killer Jack the Ripper in 1888, who caused terror after killing five people without the police being able to identify him.

In the Whitechapel area of London, a carman named Charles Cross discovered the body of a woman in her forties named Mary Ann Nichols during the early hours of August 31, 1888. Upon their arrival at the scene, the police began investigating the violent murder without being able to identify the perpetrator in the end.

Then, in the following days, the police found more bodies. On September 8, 1888, the body of Annie Chapman was discovered. On the thirtieth of the same month, the bodies of Elizabeth Stride and Catherine Eddowes were found.

On November 9 of the same year, the body of Mary Jane Kelly was found.

During the investigations, the police noticed that all the victims were killed in the same manner, as they were slaughtered and mutilated. Investigators became convinced that one person was behind these events.

On September 27, 1888, the Central News Agency received a message from an unknown person who wrote at the top the words "Dear Manager." In this message, the sender claimed responsibility for the murders that shook Whitechapel and vowed to continue killing more people.

The sender also included the phrase Jack the Ripper at the end of his last message.

Meanwhile, the police doubted the authenticity of this message and spoke of someone trying to incite panic in London.

However, in hopes of securing their area from further killings, volunteers from Whitechapel formed a security group that patrolled the streets and alleys to maintain order and capture Jack the Ripper.

Simultaneously, George Lusk was elected as the leader of this group, which was named the Whitechapel Vigilance Committee.

On October 16, 1888, George Lusk received a letter titled "From Hell" that instilled terror in the hearts of the residents of Whitechapel and the surrounding areas. Along with this letter, Jack the Ripper sent a small box containing half of a human kidney well-preserved in alcoholic fluid.

The sender also mentioned in the letter that he had cooked the other half of the kidney and eaten it.

Additionally, the sender, believed to be Jack the Ripper, claimed responsibility for all the murders and mutilations that occurred. In his last letter, the sender wrote to Lusk the phrase "Catch me if you can."

Then, in the following months, the London police received hundreds of letters from individuals claiming to be Jack the Ripper.

Meanwhile, the security personnel in London were unable to verify the authenticity of these letters and spoke of them being sent by individuals seeking to incite fear and terror.

On the other hand, Mary Jane Kelly represented the last victim of Jack the Ripper, after which no similar murders were recorded. The police were unable to identify the serial killer known as Jack the Ripper.

To this day, the identity of this serial killer remains a mystery.

During the investigations, the London police suspected many individuals, such as the Polish Jewish barber Aaron Kosminski, who was later sent to a mental hospital, and Montague John Druitt, who was surrounded by many suspicions before being found dead in the Thames River in late 1888.