Jack the Ripper was an unknown murderer who terrorized London in 1888. From August 31 to November 9, five prostitutes were killed and mutilated. At first, the killer was called the Whitechapel murderer, for the district where some of the crimes took place. Newspapers and the police received hundreds of letters from people claiming to be the killer. Two of the letters were signed Jack the Ripper, and the colorful name caught on.
The murderer was never discovered, despite the efforts of police, citizen patrols, bloodhounds, and even fortunetellers. The detectives of Scotland Yard, the headquarters of the London Metropolitan Police, believed that only an insane person would commit such violent acts. But they failed to link their suspects to the crimes. Charges of police incompetence caused the commissioner of Scotland Yard, Sir Charles Warren, to resign on November 8, the day before the fifth murder.
The mystery of Jack the Ripper continues to fascinate people. The story has inspired hundreds of books, motion pictures, and other works. In the 2010’s, scientists conducted DNA tests on a garment that some researchers believed had belonged to one of the victims. The researchers claimed that the test results supported their hypothesis that Aaron Kosminski, one of the chief suspects, was the likely killer. Kosminski was a barber from Poland living in London at the time of the killings. Other scientists cast doubt on the quality of the DNA evidence and suggested the mystery might never be solved.
