The Real Story of Jack the Ripper
About this episode
This episode explores the infamous case of Jack the Ripper and the events surrounding his first murder in 1888.
He is one of the most famous serial killers of all time, but who actually was Jack the Ripper and what actually happened during his reign of terror. Just before 4 am on August 31, 1888, on London’s seedy Buck’s Row, a cart driver named Charles Cross saw the body of a woman lying on the ground. In the early morning gloom, it was initially impossible to tell if she was drunk or dead. Cross was soon joined by another carter, Robert Paul. The two men saw the woman’s skirts were pulled above her waist. They smoothed them back over her knees and went searching for a policeman. What the two carters didn’t notice in the shifting shadows was the woman’s throat had been cut so brutally that her head had almost been decapitated. Beat officer John Neil discovered that gruesome fact on closer inspection of the body. (He later testified at the inquest that when he had passed that way just 30 minutes earlier, “there was not a soul about.”) P.C. Neil sent another colleague to fetch a local medic and soon Dr. Rees Ralph Llewellyn arrived on the scene. He quickly examined the body and found that the arms and legs were still warm. Llewellyn believed the woman had been dead for less than 30 minutes…
People in this episode
Host: Simon Whistler
Topics covered
- Jack the Ripper
- serial killers
- historical crime
- London history
- murder investigation
Mentioned in this episode
Places: London
More episodes of The BrainFood Show
- What Happens If Parents Don’t Give Their Baby a Name? If You Donate Your Body to Science? & More
- What Actually Were "Foo Fighters"?
- The Mysterious Disappearance of One of the Most Successful Recording Artists of All Time
- Why is the Keyboard Layout What It Is and Is There a Better Version?
Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the The BrainFood Show podcast page.