Jack the Ripper’s identity has long been a subject of debate. An English teacher named Richard Patterson believes that respected poet Francis Thompson is the best suspect, declaring the mystery solved. Other modern day investigators may declare “not so fast Jack” since other 2015 Jack the Ripper suspects include renowned singer and songwriter Michael Maybrick and an East End reporter named Francis Spurzheim Craig.
In a related report by the Inquisitr , last year “armchair detective” Russell Edwards claimed Jack the Ripper’s DNA could be connected to a 23-year-old Polish-Jewish barber by the name of Aaron Kosminski . Critics claimed there was a fatal flaw in the DNA analysis, but Edwards asserted that “only non-believers that want to perpetuate the myth will doubt” the forensic evidence.
How did Richard Patterson connect Jack the Ripper to Francis Thompson ? It turns out the 45-year-old Australian started connecting the dots by reading Francis’ poetry. It is claimed the poet transformed into the infamous London serial killer after a prostitute ended their romantic relationship, causing Francis to snap. After being dumped, the poetry apparently took on a dark edge, and “soon before and soon after the murders, he wrote about killing female prostitutes with knives.”
That’s not the only evidence linking to Jack the Ripper; Francis Thompson also had a medical background.
“Thompson kept a dissecting knife under his coat, and he was taught a rare surgical procedure that was found in the mutilations of more than one of the Ripper victims. He helped with surgery and is known to have cut up heaps and heaps of cadavers while a student.”
Some critics doubt this part of the story, but it turns out that the poet did indeed write a letter where he stated that he was starting to look like an “escaped convict” because he was using a “dissecting scalpel.” Patterson provided more details on the Inquisitr , explaining the Jack the Ripper/Francis Thompson connection further.
“Before now Thompson had been homeless, for three years, in London. He had to carry all his worldly possessions. Even a homeless man has to shave, especially if they wanted to avoid looking too wild or like an escaped criminal,” Patterson explained. “To survive the elements, Thompson wore a long coat. His shaving device was a razor sharp dissecting scalpel. He had kept it from his six-years of medical college. He had already used it, many times, in the mortuary. Here he learned to cut up corpses and remove organs, while studying to be a doctor.”
Victorian Music Star Michael Maybrick Was Jack The Ripper?
Richard Patterson is not the only person in 2015 to claim Jack the Ripper’s identity has been solved in a newly published book. Bruce Robinson says he spent 15 years investigating the London serial killer, and he claims the murderer was a celebrated musician and Freemason named Michael Maybrick . Robinson claims that Maybrick’s tour dates and physical locations exactly coincided with postmarks on Jack the Ripper’s letters.
The musicians’ brother, James Maybrick, confessed in a diary that he was Jack the Ripper, but critics consider the diary a hoax, and this brother was also murdered by his own wife. But Robinson believes it was actually the celebrated brother who wrote the diary, but a cover up conspiracy allowed the killer to get away with the murders.
“We’ve got this rampaging maniac in the East End, but it suddenly occurred to me – what if they didn’t want to catch him?” Robinson said, according to Express . “Is there any mileage there? Let’s go down that street.”
Robinson says the “lightbulb moment” was when he noticed how the London police destroyed evidence at the scene of the fourth victim’s death. Jack the Ripper apparently left graffiti on the wall, but detective Charles Warren told his men to scrub the words away. Robinson claims Warren took these actions because both the policeman and Maybrick were members of the Freemason society, which supposedly knew Jack the Ripper’s identity yet protected him.
Photo: Was Michael Maybrick Jack the Ripper? Was Michael Maybrick, brother of suspect James Maybrick, Jack… http://t.co/0M1smB4BrK
— Alyson Dunlop (@AlysonDunlop) October 13, 2015
London Reporter Francis Spurzheim Craig Was Jack The Ripper?
The author of another 2015 book, Dr. Wynne Weston-Davies, says his great aunt, Mary Jane Kelly, was one of Jack the Ripper’s victims. It is believed that Francis Craig became the notorious killer after his newlywed wife returned to prostitution. The 51-year-old reporter was allegedly embarrassed by his wife but killed the other four women in order to provide a cover story for murdering his own wife.
“There is evidence he spent a long time looking for her in the East End, even employing private detectives,” said the author. “His initial aim – to win her back – turned to hatred.”
It is claimed that Craig lived only seven minutes from the first murder scene in Mile End Road, Whitechapel. In addition, as a reporter, Craig was familiar with police methods. The Jack the Ripper suspect allegedly sent out the Ripper letters to news agencies across the land in order to provide further camouflage for his wife’s murder. The letters apparently used speech particular to Americans, and Craig had spent time in the United States.
The murder of Mary Jane Kelly also provided further evidence. The heart of the prostitute had been removed and police never found it.
“Craig also went to great lengths to remove her heart, going for it through the diaphragm,” explained Weston-Davies, according to the Telegraph . “It’s my belief there was a further piece of symbolism in her terrible evisceration. She had taken his heart, and now he was stealing hers.”
This victim was also the only person to suffer a terrible facial mutilation. The author believes the killer “went to great lengths to ensure that her real identity could not be discovered. He mutilated her face so her friends and family would never know it was her if the police published photographs of her face.”
The life of Francis Craig ended just like Jack the Ripper’s victims. After the reporter was exposed as a plagiarist by a rival newspaper, he “committed suicide by slitting his own throat with a blade, exactly the same way the Ripper’s victims had been murdered.”
New book argues Jack the Ripper was a mild-mannered reporter, 51 years old. http://t.co/MV21KGp1so
— Will Antonin (@Will_Antonin) August 6, 2015
All in all, over 30 people have been accused of being Jack the Ripper. Francis Thompson is just the latest addition to this collection, but Richard Patterson’s book should make for interesting reading.
[Image via Joshua Hoffine]