by Ivor Edwards
Example
The two equilateral triangles joined above are sacred symbols, which can refer to the moon representing the parturient energy of women. They also have a darker side. In occult doctrine Satan, the master counterfeiter, devised this symbol to be used in worship of him. The next symbol to be incorporated into the plan by placing a line east to west (sites 1 and 4) was the Christian cross. The cross is significant because it was to be profaned by the killer.
When all the sites were chosen on the map the killer checked them out (on foot) for suitability, adequate cover being his main concern. Site 1 did not afford the required cover. So the site was moved slightly further west. The site was moved to afford the killer greater cover in a stable alcove in Bucks Row. However, the site still remained due east.
Basic plans, without certain symbols, incorporated are shown. This stage was as far as I could go without seeking help, for I had no idea if the plan so far was complete, although I thought at the time that it was some type of occult plan. During further investigations into certain symbols and their meaning I made contact with a member of the Anthroposophical Society from Rudolf Steiner Press in London.
After I had informed him that I was looking into matters relating to sacred geometry and the occult he put me in touch with another gentleman who he thought could assist me, Mr Sidney Foster. Luck would have it that Mr Foster lived in my locality. A meeting was arranged at his home, where I showed him details of my research.
Mr Foster is a local politician, writer and Chairman of the Cody (aviator) Society. He is also involved in a great deal of charity work. He has been a member of the Masonic Society for 50 years. Over a period of several years Sidney gave me a wealth of private information and many works on various subjects which related to my research. We became good friends, but when asked if I would like to become a Freemason I graciously declined the offer.
Among other things Sidney supplied me with was a full set of plans, which included the remaining symbols I lacked. The picture was now complete. The plans I received are shown in their entirety on the top of page 147 and 150.
The Completed Plan of Vesica Piscis
If sites 1 and 2 had not been moved to afford better cover then the distances between sites 1, 2, 3 and 4 (the four sides of the parallelogram) would have been the same, 950 yards. Note the distance of 500yds from sites 3, 4 and 5 to the centre point. Considering that the murders were planned in such a manner, the distances that were involved and the built-up nature of the area the killer was as accurate as the situation would allow. I tried to improve upon the plan without moving two sites. I could not.
CHAPTER TEN
RIPPER MYTH AND INACCURACY
SEVERAL MYTHS PERSIST about the nature of Jack the Ripper and his crimes. Below are some of the most common:
The Ripper Committed Two Other Murders
Period press reports give credence to the possibility that Emma Smith (attacked 4 April 1888) and Martha Tabram (died 7 August 1888) are victims of Jack the Ripper. Articles and political cartoons during the Reign of Terror list these two murders as the first and second victims thus making the first canonical (generally accepted) victim, Polly Nichols, the third victim. The implication of this is discussed in some depth later.
In the case of Emma Smith press accounts stated she was attacked by a gang of youths. After Nichols’s murder her death was attributed to Jack the Ripper. She was 45 years old, the correct age for four of the five Ripper victims, and she plied her trade in the small hours of the morning. On Bank Holiday Monday, 3 April, she left her lodgings in George Street to look for clients.
By her own account she was stopped at the corner of Wentworth Street and Brick Lane, sexually assaulted and robbed by three or four youths. A blunt object had been forced into her vagina, tearing the perineum. She managed to walk back to her lodgings where she was taken to hospital (apparently against her wishes). She told witnesses about the attack and succumbed to her injuries several days later at the London Hospital, Whitechapel.
Emma Smith, Jack’s first alleged victim, is shown being attacked by three men, while being described as the first victim of the Whitechapel monster
Martha Tabram was a 39-year-old prostitute whose last known address was 19, George Street, Spitalfields. On Bank Holiday Monday, 6 August 1888, Martha, in company with Pearly Poll (Mary Ann Connely), was seen in several pubs with a soldier or soldiers. At around 11.45pm, the two women, with their respective customers, separated. Martha went into George Yard with a private and Pearly Poll went into Angel Alley with a corporal.
At 1.50am on 7 August Elizabeth Mahoney returned to her lodging in George Yard Buildings. She noticed nothing unusual. At 2am PC Thomas Barrett saw a Grenadier guardsman in Wentworth Street. Barrett questioned him and the guardsman said he was waiting for a ‘chum who went off with a girl’.
Mortuary photograph of Martha Tabram, Jack’s second alleged victim
George Crow saw what he thought was a homeless person asleep on the first floor landing (an apparently common occurrence in George Yard Buildings) and went on to bed. When John Saunders Reeves left his lodgings in George Yard Buildings at 4.45am he saw a body on the landing, but also the pool of blood it was lying in. Reeves returned with PC Barrett.
George Collier, the deputy coroner for the south-eastern division of Middlesex, noted that the clothes ‘were turned up as far as the centre of the body, leaving the lower part of the body exposed, legs open and altogether her position was such as to suggest in my mind that recent intimacy had taken place’.
Dr Timothy Robert Killeen estimated Tabram’s time of death as 2.30–45am. There were 39 stab wounds, focusing mainly on the breasts, belly and groin area. Killeen seemed to believe the attacker was right-handed and used a penknife. Only one wound seemed to have been caused by a sword or bayonet.
Certain other murders were also attributed to Jack the Ripper after he had killed his fifth and final victim of the Whitechapel series. Annie Farmer, Rose Mylett, Elizabeth Jackson, Alice McKenzie, the Pinchin Street murder and Francis Coles are listed. It would appear that there are nearly as many Ripper victims as there are Ripper suspects! Many prostitutes killed during the next two to three years would appear to be suspected Ripper victims. This extends to New York where the murder of Carrie Brown on 24 April 1891 has been attributed to Jack the Ripper! The Whitechapel murders committed by the killer dubbed Jack the Ripper numbered five, no more no less.
The Ripper Tried, Unsuccessfully, to Decapitate his Victims
It has been stated that the killer had tried to decapitate his victims without success. This is not true. We are dealing with a most determined killer here. If this man had the slightest intention of decapitating them then he would have done so. And he would have used the correct tool to achieve his aims.
He would have known that a surgical knife would not be up to the task. He would also have known that to walk about with a kidney or heart hidden on his person is one thing, but to walk around with a head tucked under your arm is quite another, if he in fact meant to take a head away from the crime scene.
The Use of Chloroform
The question has been asked, ‘Were the victims chloroformed?’ None of the victims were chloroformed. Trichloromethane, as it was also known, was first prepared in 1831. The Scottish physician Sir James Simpson of Edinburgh was the first to use it as an anaesthetic in 1847. It was in general use by 1853. The medical evidence given stated that no drug or poison had been administered to the victims.
Chloroform can leave traces of burning to skin tissue if brought directly into contact with the mouth or nose. Hence the open drop method. This was a cloth mask placed over the nose and mouth area but not making contact with either. Droplets of chloroform were then placed on the cloth. The fumes rendered the patient unconscious within minutes.
The inhaler method (invented later by Dr John Snow) and open drop method were both adopted in hospitals during the 19th century. The killer did not get his victims into the des
ired position only to produce a bottle of chloroform, take out the stopper, pour the liquid on to a cloth, replace the stopper and then place the bottle back into his pocket while the victim waited patiently. Chloroform is not a feasible method when one looks properly at Jack the Ripper’s MO.
Jack the Ripper Made Himself Invisible
Occultist Aliester Crowley wrote in an article entitled ‘Jack the Ripper’ that the killer had obtained the gift of invisibility through magic. No notice should be given to Crowley in relation to his rantings that he was personally acquainted with my suspect. He heard a story and twisted it to suit his own ego. However, the term invisible killer must be viewed in its correct content and should not be taken literally.
I know of professional criminals who succeeded in committing various crimes, not only because they dressed the part and were to all intents and purposes invisible, but also because they used criminal psychology to confuse and manipulate the opposition. Any professional criminal worth his salt will be well acquainted with many aspects of human psychology. Jack the Ripper knew all about police procedures and psychology. He knew how the police worked, which was to his advantage. He counteracted those procedures and played the game by his rules using psychological warfare in the process.
Many criminals have become invisible in the pursuit of crime. How many times have we heard of a crime committed in broad daylight in a busy public place, and no one has seen a thing? I can think of several straight off the top of my head. One took place in the high street of a provincial town on the busiest day of the week, a Saturday afternoon. Jewellery thieves stood on a busy pavement bold as brass (while hundreds of shoppers passed by) and cut through the window of a jewellery shop. They then stole the contents of the window display. No one in the shop saw a thing, neither did any of the shoppers passing by.
I once knew a professional criminal who was a shoplifter. He started when he was 14 years of age and finished in his 40s and he was never convicted for shoplifting. He would dress in a certain manner (for psychological effect) and would heist for several months after which he would cease and go on to other crimes.
He would alternate the times spent on various crimes lessening the chance of detection. On one occasion he was talking to the manager of a shop and while doing so he picked up an item which took his fancy. The pair talked while walking to the front of the shop. The criminal then said his goodbye to the manager, thanking him for his help, and walked out of the main door with the stolen item in full view. The manager was oblivious to what had happened. Why was this? Well, he did not expect it to happen. He was not looking for the unexpected. Just like the shoppers passing by the jeweller’s shop and the staff inside.
Jack the Ripper’s Bloodlust Increased Over Time
It has been suggested that the increase in number of multilations performed on victims as the murders progressed was due to an increase in the bloodlust and insanity of the killer. This is supposed to be a sign that he was becoming more unhinged with each murder, leading to an eventual tendency towards suicide. In fact, the degree of mutilation was due to the amount of time and cover which each site afforded. Time and cover went together with this killer. Further, the killer needed a specific number of organs.
The Whitechapel Murders were Examples of the Perfect Crime
The murders are thought by some to be the perfect crime simply because the killer evaded justice. This assumption is incorrect, for a perfect crime is a crime which goes undetected. Jack the Ripper had no such intention. In fact, he gave the powers that be more than a fair chance of catching him.
Jack the Ripper was a Local Man
Imagine you are back in time (November 1888) and living next door to Crossinghams lodging house in Dorset Street. A woman who had been living 90 yards away in Flower and Dean Street (homeless at the time of the murder) is murdered on a Friday morning. Eight days later, on a Saturday morning, a woman living next door to you in Crossinghams is murdered.
Then a woman who had resided a few doors away from you on and off for the past three years, who is living temporarily at Flower and Dean Street for a few days, is also found murdered three weeks later, on a Sunday morning! Then you find out that less than one hour after this victim was killed another woman from Flower and Dean Street (who had once lived in Dorset Street) had also been found murdered! Then about six weeks later on a Friday morning you find that another victim is found in her room opposite your address in Dorset Street. You are informed that all were killed by the same hand.
What is the first conclusion to come into your mind? If you believe that the killer must be a local man then you are wrong, for this is precisely what the killer intended both the public and the police to believe. I would conclude that only a fool would kill five victims under such circumstances on his own doorstep, and this killer showed no signs of being such a fool.
The Ripper manipulated the police into believing that he was from the area. He went to great lengths to achieve this objective. He knew the area well, because he spent time with the prostitutes who resided in the locality. I do not know of any serial killer who picked all of his victims from a 100-yard radius and in the process of doing so left his victims (apart from one, Kelly) in full view of the public, knowing that the victims could be found at once. Serial killers tend to try and hide their victims. They do not as a rule leave them to be found at once on a public pavement.
Jack the Ripper Killed Silently
It is incorrect to have stated that Jack was never heard when killing a victim.
Victim one: Mrs Lilley heard the attack at 3.30am.
Victim two: Mr Cadosch heard the attack at about 5.30am and if he had put his head over the fence he would have seen the killer at work.
Victim five: Two women heard a scream of ‘Murder’ come from the victim’s room at 3.30-4.00am.
Witnesses are Unreliable Because they Disagree about the Ripper’s Age
Witness testimony in relation to a suspect’s age must be taken with caution. The suspect seen with Chapman was in his 40s. The age of the suspect seen at Mitre Square was given as about 30. The suspect who picked up Kelly was put at 35. (We should do well to remember that the four victims killed at the points of the compass were all in their 40s. I put the age of the killer in the same age bracket as the first four victims, in his 40s.)
I refer to the following case on file to illustrate why caution should be shown in relation to the age of any suspect. A crime was committed in the dark hours, and near the scene were two witnesses who claimed to have seen what had transpired. The suspect, after leaving the scene of the crime, walked towards the two witnesses and upon drawing level with them he stopped. Standing no more than 18 inches from them he stated, ‘Take a good look.’ To which one witness replied, ‘I will.’ In a statement to police the witnesses stated that the suspect was 21 years of age. In fact, he was 35! From our modern perspective some witness testimony can be notorious for inaccuracy. Many an innocent man has been hanged or imprisoned on faulty witness evidence.
Jack the Ripper was Picked Up by his Victims
The Jack the Ripper A to Z states that Kelly picked up the suspect. This is not true. Hutchinson said of the suspect, ‘He tapped her on the shoulder, then the man said something to her.’ Prostitutes are often picked up by their customers. The killer we are dealing with picked his victims; they did not pick him. The Yorkshire Ripper picked his victims they did not pick him.
Jack the Ripper’s Motive was Sexual
The greatest myth of all was that Jack the Ripper was a sexual serial killer. How he could be termed a sexual serial killer when the true motive was never proven is beyond me. I have yet to see such opinions corroborated with hard facts. His true motive was to kill four prostitutes as the occult decreed, and in so doing profane the cross. My evidence for this is factual.
The first four victims were indeed killed at the four points of the compass. The murders were not committed at random. Those that cry ‘coincidence’ have no idea of the statistic
al probabilities involved if four murders are committed at random and end up placed at the four points of a compass. The victims had to be killed at the points of the compass in a certain order. Certain organs had to be removed for use in an occult ritual. That is not the work of a sexual serial killer.
The only reason that Jack was ever termed a sexual serial killer was because his attention was drawn to the vagina and his victims were prostitutes. He also took a heart and a kidney. Is that the work of a sexual serial killer?
Many years ago in London I was introduced to a pimp who had killed his prostitute’s client. It transpired that the client had aggrieved her. The client was murdered and buried in a forest on the fringes of London. Time passed and the girl went about her business. While on the streets she was arrested and taken to the police station where she was asked to empty the contents of her bag on a desk. She complied with the request and a penis fell out of her bag on to the desk. It was then a case of ‘hello, hello, hello, what have we got here, then?’
Out of revenge, the victim’s penis had been removed and the prostitute had kept it as a souvenir to commemorate the event. If the body had been found minus penis, before any arrest was made, would it have been assumed that it was a sexual murder? I believe so. But the truth of the matter was that it was not. It was a murder based on revenge, and the penis was cut off in revenge. The point I’m trying to make is that because a victim’s genital area is mutilated it does not mean that the murder is sexually motivated.