The Ripper's Haunts

by Michael L. Hawley

Hidden from history for over a century, the name of Scotland Yard’s key suspect in the mysterious Jack the Ripper murders was rediscovered in 1993. He was arrested, jumped bail, sneaked out of England―and then the murders stopped. Tracing his footsteps through Victorian London has revealed haunting finds. A macabre wax museum operated just yards away from the first vicious attack, in which the proprietor callously showcased explicit wax models of the fiend’s victims, presented to the public just hours after each untimely death. A clandestine police investigation was being quietly pursued, based upon a Jekyll-Hyde theory that the killer was harvesting female organs in his quest to create an elixir of life. Surprisingly, actor-producer Richard Mansfield’s "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" was showing at the famous Lyceum Theatre in London during the 1888 Autumn of terror; incredibly, the employees of the theater were members of an organization that was also in search of the precious elixir. Recent studies on the Jack the Ripper murders performed by experts in forensic science, sociology, and criminal profiling support the conclusion that the person linked to these graphic killings would be someone interested in the three types of anatomical organs taken from the victims; someone like this very suspect.

Genres: Crime

240 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 6, 2016

Reviews

[A.J. Griffiths-Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

Setting the scene against the backdrop of the Whitechapel slums, Hawley takes a new approach to the 'Jack the Ripper' murders. Taking us on a historical journey through the macabre wax museums of the time, Hawley offers up new motives behind the heinous crimes. His suspect, however, is one that reappears frequently in Ripper circles, although the amount of research undertaken in this book and editorial findings is quite remarkable. The author certainly knows his stuff, even if I disagree with his choice of culprit.

[Lou Rera]

Michael Hawley's research is solid and presents (from this novice's POV), compelling information for what influenced Jack the Ripper, and who, in all probability, he was. The Ripper murders will always be one of speculation and "camps" of believers, much the same as the Lizzie Borden case, and for those blind to contemporary evidence, OJ Simpson. Had DNA and other evidentiary technologies existed in 1888, we may have more concrete proof. We didn't, so we don't.

With all that said, The Ripper's Haunts is well researched and written. I have to admit having read this book and of course Googled facts and images (not of the canonical five murder victims) what Hawley points to as the "anatomical venus," as a potential influence as to the brutality of these crimes, I can see how he can draw a line between Jack the Ripper and "media" of the day. Much the same way as Harris and Klebold, the Columbine killers, were influenced by other sociopaths of history. There are a few key pieces of evidence that Hawley points to as influences in 1888 London, that Jack the Ripper must have been aware of before he began his murder spree.

Hawley's writing style is clear and his historical references makes it hard not to draw the same conclusions as the author. Ripperologists will most likely tune into Hawley's theories and take a hard look. Good, solid work and writing here.