Today, there are only a handful of Jack the Ripper letters which have remained infamous. These Jack the Ripper letters include the Dear Boss letter, the Saucy Jack postcard, and the From Hell letter. The authenticity of the Dear Boss letter, the From Hell letter and the Saucy Jack postcard, is debated to this day - were they really sent by Jack the Ripper? or, were they a hoax written by a journalist? Those questions are debatable.
Probably two of those Jack the Ripper letters are hoaxes, while the third was real. At the time, police officials believed that two of these letters, the Dear Boss letter and the Saucy Jack postcard, was written by a journalist. Interestingly, recent research on the letters has supported this theory. Both letters were studied at the University of Manchester by a forensic linguistic expert, they revealed what police in 1888 had suspected - that the Dear Boss letter and the Saucy Jack postcard, was written by the same person. That doesn't prove that it was written by a journalist, but there is more - one journalist called Fredrick Best, allegedly confessed to writing the Dear Boss letter. If that confession was authentic, then he must have written both of these Jack the Ripper letters. Therefore, it would solve the mystery of two of the most infamous Jack the Ripper letters. It leaves us with one more letter - the From Hell letter. The From Hell letter The From Hell letter is the most infamous of all of the Jack the Ripper letters. It is a letter different from the others, both in its content and in what it was sent with - half a human kidney. Why was it different from the other letters? The From Hell letter is the most infamous of all of the Jack the Ripper letters. It is a letter different from the others, both in its content and in what it was sent with - half a human kidney. Why was it different from the other letters? Noticeably, this letter wasn't signed off with 'Jack the Ripper', like other ripper letters, were. The other letters were vague in who they were addressing, they were written addressing 'the boss'. However, the From Hell letter was more personal, it addressed George Lusk. George Lusk was head of the Whitechapel Vigilance Committee, the Whitechapel Vigilance Committee was a group of businessmen patrol the streets of Whitechapel at the time of the killings, to search for Jack the Ripper. Therefore, it seems as if the From Hell letter was more personal - like it was specifically trying to send a message to George Lusk. If that was the case, then it tells us a few things about the author of the letter. And if it was sent by Jack the Ripper, then it gives us some clues to his identity. For one, it tells us that the ripper probably was a local. It also tells us that Jack the Ripper might have known Lusk. What suggests this, is not just that the From Hell letter addressed George Lusk, but it was sent to Mr Lusks home - meaning that the author knew where he lived and who he was. It tells us that Jack the Ripper was possibly hiding in plain sight. Why should we think the From Hell letter is authentic? There are hundreds of Jack the Ripper letters, but only one of them can be regarded as authentic and sent from Jack the Ripper himself - the From Hell letter. There are several reasons to suggest this letter was from the killer: . It was sent with half a human kidney. This goes a lot further than merely hoaxing a letter. It's more sinister and disturbing. . The Missing Half Kidney Two weeks prior to Mr Lusk receiving the letter, Jack the Ripper murdered Catherine Eddowes and removed her kidney. The kidney was examined by two doctors, Dr Gordon Brown and Dr Thomas Openshaw; both believed that the kidney was human. Some have argued that sending this half a kidney was just a joke. However, given that it was a real kidney sent to Mr Lusk, we can't write it off as merely as a joke, especially when a woman was murdered two weeks prior, who had a kidney removed by her murderer, then it can't be seen or treated as a joke. If we do consider it as a joke, then the obvious question is, 'who did the kidney belong to, if it wasn't from Catherine Eddowes?' There's nothing to suggest that the kidney belonged to anyone else. Conclusion These three Jack the Ripper letters, give us a fascinating insight into the Jack the Ripper case. Two of these letters were probably hoaxed by one journalist - which shows how the media sensationalised or were willing to sensationalise the murders (probably to sell more newspapers). Recent evidence shows us that two of the letters, the Dear Boss letter and the Saucy Jack postcard, were written by the same hand. The hand that wrote them, was most likely of that of the Victorian journalist; Fredrick Best. While we can't say the same for our third letter; the From Hell letter. The From Hell letter probably was from Jack the Ripper. Out of all of the Jack the Ripper letters, it remains the only one that was likely sent by the murderer, both due to its content and the kidney that accompanied it.
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