While Jack the Ripper was terrorizing London during the Autumn of 1888, another series of murders also had police perplexed.
Just like Jack, this murderer was never caught and their identity remains a mystery to this day. And just like Jack, this murderer showed signs they had knowledge in anatomy, leading those in charge of the case to wonder if this person also had medical training. But unlike Jack's, most of the victims were never identified.
In May, 1887, a year and a half before Jack the Ripper's first victim would be murdered, a mysterious bundle, wrapped in sheets, washed up on the banks of the London Thames.
Found inside was a woman's Torso. Over the course of the next few days and weeks, other body parts began to wash up until everything but the victim's head were found.
Due to a lack of a head and rapid decomposition of what remained of the woman's body, she could not be identified.
On September 11th, 1888, eight days after Jack's first victim, Polly Nichols, was murdered, and three days after his second victim, Annie Chapman, a severed arm and shoulder was discovered in Central London. At first, police weren't overly concerned as they blamed medical students carrying out a prank (apparently that was a thing).
On October 2nd, a construction worker arrived for his shift at a site that would become the new building for the Metropolitan Police Headquarters in Whitehall (not to be confused with Whitechapel) in Westminister. He would stumble across a woman's Torso, also wrapped in sheets. This grisly discovery would go on to be known as The Whitehall Mystery.
Examining the body, doctors noticed that a device such as a rubber band or rope had been used to cut off blood from the limbs. This gave way to suspicion that the murderer may have had medical knowledge. Unfortunately, this victim too, would go unidentified.
By this time, Ripper Ferver had struck London and people began to wonder if it was the same man behind both murder cases
Experts then and now do not believe this to be true and believe it was indeed, two separate murderers.
Jack the Ripper, although also brutal and shocking, left his victims where he murdered them. The Torso Killer dismembered their victims at an unknown location, and then dumped their body parts in different parts of the city or into the Thames. Whether the victims were murdered at this unknown location or elsewhere, is unknown.
On June 8th, 1889, a dismembered arm was discovered on the banks of the Thames by three boys. The arm was wrapped in a garment with the initials L.E. Fisher.
Over the next few days, more body parts, as well as a Torso of a pregnant woman were found. Due to a scar on the wrist and the fact it was determined the woman was eight months pregnant, police were able to discover this was the body of a woman named Elizabeth Jackson.
She was a 24 year old prostitute working in SOHO's London Square.
On September 10th, 1889, the final victim would be discovered. Her Torso would be found in Whitechapel under a railroad arch. She too would go unidentified.
Because the body was discovered in Whitechapel, Ripper hysteria bubbled to the surface again. Papers announced that Jack was Back!
But the body did not fit Jack's M.O. All signs pointed to the Torso Killer.
After that, no more Torsos were discovered. While the legend of Jack the Ripper continued to grow, the Torso Murders became almost forgotten. Perhaps it was a lack of identity of the victims that caused these murders to fade in to obscurity, or perhaps it all came down to the nickname given to the murderer and which one instilled more fear into the public.
Whatever the case, what can not be forgotten is that innocent women were murdered by both parties who viciously mutilated their bodies and didn't even try to hide what they had done to them. Two murderers who got their jollies from mocking the police, making headlines, shocking the public and terrifying an entire city.
Two men who most likely didn't know each other, but who shared one thing in common...
They both got away with Murder.
Comments
Post a Comment