There were many letters proclaiming to be from Jack the Ripper sent to the police in 1888. However, most of these Jack the Ripper letters have since been forgotten, lost in historical obscurity.
Out of the hundreds of Jack the Ripper letters sent, only a tiny handful remain relevant. The most infamous Jack the Ripper letters are the Dear Boss letter, the Saucy Jack Postcard, and the From Hell letter. These are the three Jack the Ripper letters which have been given the greatest attention. But. Are any of these letters authentic? If any of these letters were authentic, it would give us an insight into who Jack the Ripper was. It also perhaps gave us an inkling into his thinking, and perhaps a reason for his actions. There's so much we can deduce from a letter. From his style of writing, could tell us his educational status to his literacy level. Does that matter? If we think a letter is authentic, absolutely. If a letter suggests that it was written by someone who had poor writing skills, spelling mistakes etc...it would indicate that Jack was poorly educated. That could rule out several suspects, who are well educated - Montague Druitt, for example. It would narrow down the suspect's list if any of these letters were authentic.
Let's take the three letters, and see whether or not they were authentic.
The Dear Boss Letter The Dear Boss letter is the longest of the three, therefore, it gives us more of an insight into the author. The Dear Boss letter has been significant to this case, because it was dated on the 27th of September, and sent to the Central News Agency on the 29th of September...this was a day before the Double Event, where Jack the Ripper killed two women in the space of one night. The letter is significant because of its contents. The author says that on ''the next job I do I shall clip the lady's ear off''. One of the women who was killed on the night of the Double Event on the 30th of September 1888, Catherine Eddowes, had her ear clipped off. Reasons that this letter may be authentic: . The author sent the letter before the murder and wrote in the letter what would happen during the murder. Reasons that this letter may be a hoax: The police at the time weren't convinced that this letter was real. They thought that it was another hoax. The letter, along with the Saucy Jack Postcard, could have been written by journalists. The Saucy Jack Post Card A new study by Manchester University has suggested that the Dear Boss letter, and the Saucy Jack postcard, was written by the same person. The Saucy Jack Postcard, like the Dear Boss letter, surrounded the time of the Double Event. The Saucy Jack postcard was postmarked the 1st of October 1888, therefore, there was plenty of time to learn about the Double Event and then forge it. It's significant because if this letter was forged, then the Dear Boss letter must also have been forged, as they seem to be from the same author. Reasons this letter might be authentic: . It references the Dear Boss letter explicitly. Which makes it appear as if it's from the same author. . It also references the Double Event. This one is more tricky, as, as stated, there was plenty of time to forge it. Reasons this letter might not be a hoax: . It seems to contradict the Dear Boss letter. Where the Dear Boss letter says that the killer clipped part of a woman's ear off, the Saucy Jack postcard, however, said they didn't have time to get the woman's ears off. This indicates that rather than the author having foreknowledge of the clipped ear, it was just a lucky guess. ******* Whether or not these two letters were from the killer, is debatable. What is clear, however, is that both letters were sent by the same writer, according to recent research. Finally, we have the most infamous letter out of all of the letters, the From Hell letter. The From Hell letter is different from the other two letters for several reasons: . The style of writing and spelling is different . It's not addressed to the press; it was addressed to Mr George Lusk (a local man who was seeking to capture Jack the Ripper). . It wasn't signed off 'Jack the Ripper' like the other two letters were signed off. . The letter seems personal - it specifically refers to Mr George Lusk on several occasions. . It talks of cannibalism (he talks about eating half a human kidney - probably from Catherine Eddowes). . Half a human kidney was sent with the letter to George Lusk. The thing that stands out with this letter, is not really the letter itself, it's the human kidney that was sent with it. It's one thing to forge a letter, it's quite another to send half a human kidney along with that letter - that goes further than a hoax, and is probably the reason why this letter is authentic. Conclusion The From Hell letter probably is authentic. The kidney sent to Mr Lusk was a human kidney, it also belonged to a woman of Catherine Eddowes age, which makes it seem likely that this letter and the message sent with it, was authentic. The other two letters, however, don't appear to be authentic. The study of the two letters revealed that the handwriting on the letters matched ones which were found from the Central News Agency. Two of these letters were probably hoaxes, the other letter was probably authentic.
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