Jack the Ripper

'Allo all. I've just come back from a Jack the Ripper walking tour. It was very fascinating. Since it was a Session B AIFS cultural event, there was a large group of students. We all met outside the Tower Hill Tube station. There we were split up into different groups and were taken into the the city by our guide.

To begin the story of Jack the Ripper, our guide told us that one of the reasons why the murderer was never caught was because there were two police forces in the city and they never communicated with each other. He also told us what the city would have been like during the late 19th century and how life would have been like for prostitutes during that time. Since conditions back then for someone constantly in need of money was dire, the guide informed us that he never blames the women for their own deaths. They were doing what they could to get by.

As we walk along, we end up in a very clean nondescriptive sqaure called Mitre Square where the victim Catherine Eddowes' body was found. Down the alley way to the main street there is a little church called St. Boldoph, which is near the Aldgate Tube, but it is also known to Ripperologists as the Prostitute's Church. St. Boldoph was a church for travelers, so the prostitutes would walk around it waiting for cosutmers. (They had to walk around the church cause it was illegal just to stand and sell yourself during this part of the century).

The walking tour continued on to other parts of the area that pertait to the story of the murders. The tour ended up at the Spitalfields Market. Across the way was the pub The Ten Bells. This pub was frequented by all of the Jack the Ripper victims. To finish his wonderful tour, our guide discussed some of the conspiracy theories of who the murder might have been. Supposedly there are more theories of who is the true murderer than there are conspiracy theories for the JFK assassination. One theory even includes the Royal Family. However, all in all, these murders are still a mystery and they still thrill today's society - tourists and Ripperologists alike.