Following the Blood-Soaked Footsteps of Jack the Ripper
This photo gallery originally appeared in True Crime Magazine’s Behind the Tape Photobook, along with nearly a thousand more crime scene photos.
WARNING: THE PHOTOBOOK ISN’T FOR THE FAINT OF HEART.
The murder scene of Jack the Ripper’s first victim Mary Ann “Polly” Nichols.
Within months of the murder residents of the street had become so ashamed by the sudden notoriety that they petitioned the council and had the name changed from Bucks Row to Durward Street.
The murder scene of Jack the Ripper’s first victim Mary Ann “Polly” Nichols.
The murder scene of Jack the Ripper’s first victim Mary Ann “Polly” Nichols.
The murder scene of Jack the Ripper’s first victim Mary Ann “Polly” Nichols.
The murder scene of Jack the Ripper’s first victim Mary Ann “Polly” Nichols.
The murder scene of Jack the Ripper’s first victim Mary Ann “Polly” Nichols.
Mortuary photo of Mary Ann “Polly” Nichols.
The exterior of 29 Hanbury Street, the murder scene of Ripper’s second victim Annie Chapman.
Her body was discovered by an elderly resident John Davies in the backyard of the building.
Chapman’s body had been horrifically mutilated and coming just eight days after the murder of Mary Ann Nichols in nearby Bucks Row the first signs of genuine fear and panic spread through Whitechapel.
Her body was lying on the ground near the doorway to the back yard, with her head just six inches from the steps to the property.
Mortuary photo of Annie Chapman.
The murder scene of Ripper’s third victim, Elizabeth Stride.
When a passerby discovered Stride’s body, blood was still flowing from a single knife wound inflicted to her neck.
Mortuary photo of Elizabeth Stride.
The murder scene of Ripper’s fourth victim Catherine Eddowes.
Eddowes was the second person murdered in the night which already had seen the murder of Elizabeth Stride less than an hour earlier.
These two murders are commonly referred to as the “double event”.
Catherine Eddowes’ mutilated body.
Morgue photo of Eddowes.
Morgue photo of Eddowes.
The exterior of Ripper’s final victim’s, Mary Jane Kelly’s murder scene.
Unlike the other four canonical Ripper victims, each of whom had been murdered outdoors and whose mutilations could have been committed within minutes, Kelly was murdered within the sparsely furnished single room she rented at 13 Miller’s Court.
The Ripper had an extensive period of time to eviscerate and mutilate her body.
Kelly’s body was by far the most extensively mutilated of the canonical victims, with her mutilations taking her murderer approximately two hours to perform.