Who was Jack the Ripper?

Jack the Ripper is the most famous serial killer of all time. He (or she) is believed to have killed as many as five prostitutes starting in 1888. His identity remains unsolved. Now, an old suspect has returned to the limelight and thanks to advances in imaging technology, we can finally see what he might have looked like. Does this image show the face of Jack the Ripper?

Jack the Ripper?

During the 1880s, London’s East End was a horrible place to live. Poverty, alcoholism, and crime were widespread. Prostitution ran rampant, with more than 1,200 prostitutes working in Whitechapel alone. Attacks on prostitutes were commonplace.

From April 3, 1888 to February 13, 1891, eleven women were murdered in Whitechapel and subsequently connected in the police docket as the Whitechapel murders. Most, if not all of these women, are believed to have been prostitutes. A majority of experts attribute five of those murders, the so-called “canonical five,” to a single killer. They shared several common features including “deep throat slashes, abdominal and genital-area mutilation, removal of internal organs, and progressive facial mutilations.”

Was Jack the Ripper actually Carl Feigenbaum?

Over the years, researchers have proposed more than 100 theories on Jack the Ripper’s identity. Now, a recent article in the BBC points a cautionary finger at one suspect in particular…Carl Feigenbaum.

Feigenbaum was a German merchant. He was arrested in 1894 in New York City for the murder of his landlady. He was found guilty and executed on April 27, 1896. Afterward, his lawyer claimed that Feigenbaum was Jack the Ripper. It received some attention at the time but was not taken seriously until former murder squad detective Trevor Marriott wrote his book, Jack the Ripper: The 21st Century Investigation: A Top Murder Squad Detective Reveals the Ripper’s Identity at Last!

Researchers have long assumed that Jack the Ripper was an expert in anatomy due to “the skill with which his victims’ organs were removed.” However, Marriott argues that these cuts might have been made in the mortuary instead. And indeed, there is at least one case where it is difficult to imagine that Jack the Ripper had time to remove his victim’s uterus after killing her. Marriott also believes that the gaps between murders fit the profile of a traveller. And at the time of the murders, the Nord Deutsche Linewas docked in the vicinity. Carl Feigenbaum was a seaman aboard this ship.

Guerrilla Explorer’s Analysis

So, was Carl Feigenbaum Jack the Ripper? Unfortunately, it’s not that simple. There are plenty of other feasible suspects out there. In addition, a reexamination of the evidence suggests that the “canonical five” murders may have actually been committed by multiple people. In other words, it’s entirely possible that Jack the Ripper was not a real person at all…he may have been nothing more than an invention of the media.

Recent Comments

  • Tiptress
    September 20, 2011 - 5:37 pm · Reply

    And I think we will never know… Maybe we will have some type of technology that will be able to reproduce “something” off of what we have.

    Awesome post, this story could possibly go in any direction..

    What if Jack the Ripper wasn’t real, it wouldn’t be the first time a name, or person would have been invented for some type of reaction/story.

    Scary thought though that this person/people were never caught, what if there are way more then what we originally thought…

    Look at me letting my mind get carried away again.. lol.

    Awesome post.

  • David
    September 21, 2011 - 12:57 am · Reply

    Thanks and I totally agree. As for Jack, part of me hopes we never find out “his” identity…the other part of me wants to be the one to solve the case!

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