Brutal killings began to
take place one right after the other, as prostitutes were found dead in the
small section of London called, Whitechapel. In the back alleys, they had been
carved up cleanly and precisely, as if a professional had performed surgery
under the cover of night. The clues were simply not adding up, and the panic
and fear that ran through Whitechapel was immense…as everyone wondered where
exactly ‘Jack The Ripper’ would strike next.
As the case went on and the
murders kept adding up, the police became more and more stumped. Scotland Yard
had no idea who the man was - focusing their investigation mainly on butchers
in the area because they had the background of being able to “carve” flesh. The
police explored every lead until the river of evidence simply
ran dry. Then, out of nowhere, Mary Jane Kelly took over the front page of
every newspaper across the globe.
This was the woman who would
go down in history as being the very last victim of Jack the Ripper; she was his
official swansong, leaving his most gruesome kill for his final curtain
call. To this day Mary Jane Kelly’s
figure - lying on the bed inside the small apartment located at 13 Miller’s
Court - remains the bloodiest crime scene ever photographed. Not to mention,
the one scene left behind by the only serial killer in history who was
never identified.
The story of Mary Jane Kelly
was far different than The Ripper’s other victims. From 1888 to 1891, some say The Ripper was
responsible for six slayings – others say eleven – but nobody will ever really
know. All the women he preyed upon were
poor, homeless and, in most cases, had no family or friends to speak of, but
Mary Jane Kelly did not fit that mold.
With her auburn hair and
sparkling blue eyes, Mary Jane was seen as extraordinarily beautiful, and came
from the “upper-crust” of British society. She was smart as a whip, and even
though her situation involved getting “orphaned and shunned” by her well-to-do
family, Mary Jane still looked at life as though there was a stellar future out
there for her, once she got through the “low-point” she’d found herself stuck
in.
Up until Mary Jane’s
discovery, Jack The Ripper had always killed in back alleys at night. But the
corner building located at 13 Miller’s Court was quite a busy place back in the
day…and every evening. The one-room
house had two fairly large windows that faced on to the street, and the seedy
bars as well as the girls waiting to give their ‘all’ for money, flooded the
street in front of the building at all hours.
After the body of Mary Jane was found, The Ripper simply
disappeared - just like that. People say that Miss Kelly was The Ripper’s true
statement, and that he saved the most gruesome for last. Jack’s kills were
certainly horrible, but Mary Jane was a downright massacre. Law enforcement
reported (and a very famous picture exists) that the interior of 13 Miller’s
Court looked like gallons of blood had been used to paint the walls. The Ripper
didn’t just kill her - he butchered her. Before Mary Jane the other victims had
been dissected - their bodies were left ‘in a fairly clean and orderly state’ -
like a surgeon had simply opened them up to study their organs. But with Mary,
Jack didn’t want just her body and blood, he was quite literally digging for
her soul.
A man by the name of Barnett
came forward after the body had been found; a man who had been living on and
off with Mary Jane at the time of her murder. It seems he’d gotten upset that
she always let her friends live with them and not pay any rent, so Barnett had
left about a week before Mary Jane was found dead. The other women who had been
friends with Mary - most notably, a prostitute by the name of Mary Cox - said she’d seen Miss Kelly at her
home around midnight, and that she was singing while standing at the open door.
There were lights in the big window, even though a large sheet had been hung up
for privacy.
Although Mary’s singing was
heard by others, a scream was not. A man named Hutchinson said he saw her
around two a.m. and told the constable that she’d asked him for a loan, but he
was flat broke. He testified that when he was leaving, a very elegant man came
walking down the street dressed all in black. He had on a top hat and gloves,
like he’d just come from the opera, and was calmly strolling the sidewalk
carrying a polished cane in one hand and a black leather bag in the other.
Hutchinson also told the
police that Mary Jane led this man into 13 Miller’s Court where they stood
talking for a time with the door wide open. Miss Kelly was upset about losing
her handkerchief, and he said that the mystery man pulled a bright red one from
his pocket and gave it to her. Although Hutchinson saw an amicable meeting, as
the door closed behind Mary, the elegant man apparently transformed into the
monster all the world was talking about.
During the investigation, a
woman came forward who lived down the street from Mary Jane and said that
around four a.m. she heard someone scream, Murder! But no one else heard a thing…not one.
After that, the hideous
Ripper simply disappeared into the night. Some say his master called him back
to Hell, as Mary Jane Kelly became the largest unsolved mystery in the history
of the world.
As conclusions have been made
over time, many stories have arisen about who ‘The Ripper’ actually was. Not only does the legend increase with every
telling, but there are now ‘puzzles’ being put together that link Jack The Ripper
with yet another dark and monstrous being. There are some who say that
in the early 1900’s the self-proclaimed Devil, Aleister Crowley, had found a
way to hide a true treasure under the floor that ‘The Ripper’ once walked
across. Although Mary Kelley's walls at 13 Miller’s Court had been torn down, another building was put
up in its place. The location is still shrouded in mystery - knowing that this
‘ground’ was where the most notorious serial killer of all time had given his
final performance.
Did ‘The Ripper’ leave something behind that would lead
to solving the biggest question that all of humanity is still
debating? Or, did Aleister Crowley find
a way to speak to his and ‘The Ripper’s’ followers from beyond the
grave?
No matter what may be
discovered or investigated in the future, which will happen considering ‘The
Ripper’ will always carry the mystique that others will never attain, the death
of Mary Jane Kelly will remain the most heinous crime in history. After all,
the legend of ‘Jack The Ripper’ is the Cold Case of monumental
proportions.
To find out what exactly what
was discovered at the location of ‘Jack The Ripper’s’ final kill, read 13.
Until Next Time, Everybody,
Amy
No comments:
Post a Comment