Adventures in Detective Fiction: Mister Jack

In addition to reading Sherlock Holmes, Poe, Christie and a mystery novel called A Beautiful Poison by Lydia Kang, my students and I played a couple of mystery-style games: Deception: Murder in Hong Kong and Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective. In particular, we played the Jack the Ripper series of the Holmes game to connect with the Jack the Ripper tour of Whitechapel. Criminal Justice and Detective Fiction joined together for the nighttime tour, which took us along the path of the last four murders by the notorious serial killer - mainly the Spitalfields area including Commercial and Hanbury Streets.

The tour came with a cost, but was relatively cheap, and I'd say it was worth it. It fleshed out those parts of the stories that we didn't cover in the two cases we covered in the game in gory detail. The guide projected pictures onto blank walls showing news clippings and post mortem pictures...needless to say, the tour isn't for the faint of heart. What the tour did especially well, however, was focus on not only the crimes but the victims: who they were and what their lives were like in addition to what happened to them. 

This is also what I appreciate about Consulting Detective, which features imitation London Times papers that help inform players on what to look for in a clue. It points out the way in which these crimes brought to light the problems of Victorian society, mainly the lack of resources for the poor and the lack of opportunities for women. In the game's introduction to the Annie Chapman case, Sherlock Holmes answers the question of why Jack murdered only prostitutes. "Some have put out theories, each more extravagant than the last one. He could have been mocked by certain prostitutes, could have contracted syphilis because of one of them, he's waging a crusade against vice...For my part, I think he's targeting the unfortunate women of Whitechapel for an absurdly simple reason: because it's easy."

All the mysteries we read pose questions about social class and caste, but these murders in particular targeted women who were forced to work in the shadows, and had no other way to make money, and no place to go at night where they would be safe.  The guide began by telling us about the "penny sit-ups," which was basically a rope that people could hang themselves over like laundry at night when they needed to sleep. The first official victim, Mary Ann "Polly" Nichols was trying to get a place to lay down for the night when she was murdered by Jack. What's worse, if the women were nabbed by the police, whatever money they had on them was taken. Later, they would be sent right back out into the streets, where they would have no choice but to do the same thing in order to earn back what the cops took.

We started the tour here, on a road not too far from where the first and second victims, Nichols and Chapman, were killed. Streetlights like the one shown would not have been there, making the street utterly dark. Changes brought about by these murders included structural additions like lighting for street safety.

If you look closely, you can see the sign on the building says "women." A number of missions cropped up after the murders that tried to provide refuge for the kind of "unfortunates" who would have been Jack's victims.

Some prostitutes of the Victorian era were driven into that line of work because of the lack of good job opportunities for women. After leaving her husband for cheating on her, Polly Nichols found herself destitute and turned to alcohol to drown her sorrows. This is the site of the Frying Pan on Thrawl Street, where she liked to get her drink on.

I ended up coming back to Whitechapel in the daytime, because the tour did a great job of advertising for the Spitalfields neighborhood as well as telling the story of Jack's victims. I was not disappointed, because there is a great market there and some really good grub. I will expand on that in my out and about post coming up. This is 29 Hanbury, the site of Annie Chapman's murder.

Christ Church on Commercial Street, for which Whitechapel earned its name I think? I just know that London place names are very literal.

We ended the tour here, in front of these lovely flowers, and the guide said something very cool here. He said it was a good thing that Jack was never found, because if he had, the world would forever be most interested in him and his identity, and the victims would be forgotten. Given our tendency to be obsessed with serial killers, perhaps it's better that we know more about the victims than their killer.

Spitalfields market area at night. This was a fruit market in the time of Jack.

An unintentionally creepy pic of the Ten Bells, where the final victim, Mary Ann Kelly, worked and drank. At some point they tried to make this a "gentlemen's club" with a Ripper theme, but thankfully they thought better of it.

Below see the Ten Bells inside...not a bad spot, and very typical of a London pub.

Note to teachers: This tour had value for classes related to forensics, because it expounded upon the theories involved about the killer, and why it would have been difficult to get him. In terms of Detective Fiction, the tour, like the game, are texts that students can analyze with regard to the role social class plays, as well as what is and isn't revealed. The spaces and the recorded history all have gaps and blanks that exist in the unknown. There are a lot of social implications that came up in this tour which might intersect with sociology courses too.