The author of this letter claimed to be the unidentified serial killer known as Jack the Ripper, who had murdered and mutilated at least four women in the Whitechapel and Spitalfields districts of London in the two months prior to Lusk receiving this letter, and whose vigilance committee Lusk led in community efforts to assist police in efforts to identify and apprehend the perpetrator.
The letter was postmarked on 15 October 1888 and was received by Lusk the following day.
An examination of the kidney revealed the individual from whom the organ originated had suffered from Bright's disease. The author of this letter claimed to have fried and eaten the other half.
Police, press, and public alike received many letters claiming to be from the Whitechapel Murderer, with investigators at one stage having to deal with an estimated 1,000 letters related to the case. However, the From Hell letter is one of the few articles of correspondence that has received serious consideration as to actually being genuine. Nonetheless, opinions remain divided with regard to the letter's authenticity.
The murders committed by Jack the Ripper have attracted much attention in popular culture for decades, with several factual and fictional works directly making reference to the From Hell letter.
More information: Jack The Ripper 1888
The 31 August 1888 murder of Mary Ann Nichols resulted in increased media attention focusing on the individual known as the Whitechapel murderer and, later, Leather Apron. The grotesque mutilation upon Nichols and later victims was generally described as involving their bodies having been ripped up, and residents spoke of their worries of a ripper or high rip gang. However, the identification of the killer as Jack the Ripper did not occur until after 27 September, when the offices of Central News Ltd received the Dear Boss letter.
The author of this letter signed the letter Yours truly, Jack the Ripper, vowing to continue ripping [prostitutes] until his arrest. The author of this letter also threatened to remove and post the ears of his next victim to the police.
While newsmen considered this letter a mere joke, they decided after two days to notify Scotland Yard of the matter. The double murder of Elizabeth Stride and Catherine Eddowes took place the night that the police received the Dear Boss letter.
The Central News people received a second communication known as the Saucy Jacky postcard on 1 October 1888, the day after the double murder, and the message was duly passed over to the authorities. Copies of both messages were soon posted to the public in the hopes that the writing style would be recognized. While the police felt determined to discover the author of both messages, they found themselves overwhelmed by the media circus around the Ripper killings and soon received a large amount of material, most of it useless.
The original letter and the kidney which accompanied it have been lost, along with other contents that were contained in the Ripper police files. The image shown here is from a photograph.
More informatio: All That Is Interesting
Hundreds of letters claiming to be from the killer were posted at the time of the Ripper murders, but many researchers argue that the From Hell letter is one of a handful of possibly authentic writings received from the murderer.
Its author did not sign it with the Jack the Ripper pseudonym, distinguishing it from the earlier Dear Boss letter and Saucy Jacky postcard, as well as their many imitators. The handwriting is also similar in the earlier two messages but dissimilar in the one From Hell.
The letter was delivered to Lusk personally without reference to the police or to the British government, which could indicate animosity towards Lusk or the local Whitechapel community of which he was a member.
The From Hell letter is written at a much lower level of literacy than other letters purporting to be from the murderer, in that this letter features numerous errors in spelling and grammar.
Scholars have debated whether this is a deliberate misdirection, as the author observed the silent k in knif[e] and h in whil[e]. The formatting of the letter also features a cramped writing style in which letters are pressed together haphazardly; many ink blots appear in a manner which might indicate that the writer was unfamiliar with using a pen.
The formatting of the message might point to it being a hoax by a well-educated individual, but some researchers have argued that it is the genuine work of a partly functional but deranged individual.
More information: Whitechapel Jack
Mr Lusk,
Sor
it for you tother piece I fried and ate it was very nise.
I may send you the bloody knif that took it out
Jack The Ripper
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