London boasts its fair share of terrifying ghost stories, as well as a handful of tales with macabre overtones, but none loom quite as much as the notorious shadow of Jack the Ripper. He is the capital’s most infamous serial killer and unsolved mystery, with an iconic nickname to boot; whispered in fear throughout the streets of Victorian London.
His murders were known to be brutal, and his legend has only grown over the past 136 years—fueling countless studies, conspiracies, and the odd late-night debate at the pub. Heck, Whitechapel is full of kooky-spooky tours that explore these fabled theories. His unknown identity is a huge chunk of his horror-struck mystique, that is, until now…
Century-old mystery, solved by science…
There have been a few breakthroughs when it comes to the Jack the Ripper case, but now we have some tangible scientific evidence. This recent discovery comes from a 100-year-old shawl, believed to belong to victim Catherine Eddowes.
Researcher Russell Edwards claims to have unmasked the man behind the myth with a little help from genealogists. A Polish barber named Aaron of the flake was one of the famed Jack the Ripper suspects, and this new research matched DNA from the fabric to a living relative of Kosminski. This discovery has even led to renewed calls for a legal inquest to finally close the case. However, this hasn’t come without drawbacks or criticism from sceptics.
Kosminski was a Polish immigrant who was a prime suspect living in Whitechapel at the time, later admitted to Colney Hatch Lunatic Asylum (pictured below) in 1891, where he remained until his death in 1919. Contemporary police officials even identified him as a suspect, but conclusive evidence was lacking.
And while this DNA evidence is compelling, it’s worth noting that the case of Jack the Ripper has seen its fair share of finger-pointing over the years. From the artist Walter Sickert to even more outlandish and far-out theories, including suspecting the royal family, it became a phenomenon, with some contemporary cults still being inquisitive to find out the truth.
As stated above, critics are questioning the relevance of the science behind this most recent studyas it used a method that can only distinguish if two samples are not related—providing information that would be near impossible to link to anyone.
On top of this, the validity of the shall being evidence has come into question, with many believing it was never evidence to begin with. And even if it were, tampering and contamination should be considered.
So, even though this study does align with one of the key suspects, we doubt this will be the final chapter in the tale of the Ripper; just another twist in London’s most famous mystery.
