Today's News and Weather Report

[la_samtyr]

Today was pretty nice -- if only I felt better. There is more clean-up to be done but I am too tired and achy and shivery. Plus I have an absolute *bitch* of a headache... >>>.<<< . I think I am just worn out. Stress -- ugh!!

Summer (my cleaning lady) is supposed to have her baby today. She was due on Monday? Tuesday?, so they were going to induce today. Personally I was hoping she would have the baby on Halloween, or better yet twins [vbeg] but for once I kept my mouth shut about that.

Last night I watched a Discovery special on Jack the Ripper. I admit it; I always watch documentaries (I'm using the term loosely, of course) like that. This one had a new suspect for Jack -- an attendant who worked at the Whitechapel workhouse mortuary. I wasn't able to properly hear either the name of the suspect or the researcher. The researcher's name sounded like "mitro" (rhymes with 'nitro') but I couldn't find him listed at the Discovery website and they didn't list it on the screen. *sigh* But the suspect's name was Richard (or maybe Robert) M___. [Again, I'm sorry to be so vague but I didn't get things copied down properly last night. Maybe C will remember?] But I was fascinated by the way they used 'overlays' comparing modern and 1888-90-ish maps of the area. Of special interest was how they found Eagle Lane (?), which is where the old mortuary was located. It's gone now; in fact it sounds like a lot of Whitechapel was rezoned/rebuilt in the 1970-80's. But in keeping with the spooky theme, the area where the mortuary was located is now empty -- yard/garden space, iirc. All of which makes me wonder if the planners had heard about the old place being haunted, or something. Hmmmmmm. And oh yeah, I just have to wonder what the new residents think of Ripperologists and Ripper tours retracing the murder sites as best they can, and filming and all that sort of thing. I'm sure that it would make an interesting sociological study or something of the sort -- always assuming that you could get the residents to talk in the first place...

Ok, off to take another nap and take some more aspirin and see if I can get this headache under control.

Comments

[phytha.livejournal.com]

Hope you'll get better soon, hon.

that's quite a neq Ripper theorie, haven't heared about this one yet, and I'm very fascinated by this theme, collecting every scrap I can find about it. I think the people living around this aera knew what they were going to face, I think Ripper tourism started soon after the murders occured ant it always held a certain fascination

[samtyr.livejournal.com]

I tried looking it up but there were just too many hits; it wasn't specific enough. If I can find the proper name for the ep, I will try and post it for you.

[dazedpuckbunny.livejournal.com]

Hee I need to keep my eye open for that program!

[samtyr.livejournal.com]

Oh yes, you really do need to watch for it. It was totally fascinating.

[aglarien1.livejournal.com]

I love documentaries like that! Discovery and the like are really all I watch anymore - must watch for that!

*hugs*

[samtyr.livejournal.com]

I know what you mean! I am such a fan of documentaries and things -- and TCM of course. :) I hardly ever watch regular tv at all now except for local news and weather.

[chaotic-binky.livejournal.com]

I hope your headache goes away quickly.

I used to work in the Whitechapel and Aldgate areas - just around the corner from Leman Street Police Station and very near to where one of the murders took place, and as a child I used to go to Whitechapel and Petticoat Lane Markets on the weekends and found the area fascinating.

The area suffered a lot of bomb damage during WWII and during the 60's and 70's there was a lot of rebuilding that was not in keeping with the surroundings. There was also a lot of building during the '80's but the recession halted works as the money ran out. You can see where the bomb sites once were - rows of old housing with an out of place modern building in between them.

I remember the old Whitechapel before it was built upon and it was very atmospheric. It did not feel evil but there was a frission of danger - that something could happen, but not in the daylight. The area was very poor and the housing little better than slum accommodation. The streets were cobbled in black stones. However, a lot of it is gone now. It was a very different world to where I lived.

I would think that East enders enjoy the notoriety that the Ripper events give their area, especially as it is now quite fashionable among certain sectors to have an East End address - the area is solidly working class but on the up. Many prostitutes were killed at the time of the Ripper, but never in such a gory way - and I feel that is what caught the imagination of the press and the population then. It was a very rough area and life was cheap - prostitutes being killed was a fact of life and no one batted an eyelid - however, a mutilated corpse is another matter.

Whitechapel is not an area where I would walk alone at night but it is a lot safer now.

Hugs Binky xxx

[samtyr.livejournal.com]

Oh, I think you were very lucky to have known the area before it was "modernized." I can appreciate the need for such things but I hate to see the loss of 'historical value', as it is sometimes called.

"prostitutes being killed was a fact of life and no one batted an eyelid - however, a mutilated corpse is another matter"
--Yes, Jack was so OTT and beyond what might have been considered 'normal' that he was impossible to ignore.

"Whitechapel is not an area where I would walk alone at night but it is a lot safer now."
--I suppose it would be safe enough in a (tour) group but even then I think I would be quite nervous.

[spiced-wine.livejournal.com]

It's amazing that Jack the Ripper is still such a mystery and evokes such fascinating all these years later. I have read quite a few Ripper books, although I do think the image of the top hatted, cloaked *gentleman* walking through the fogs of Whitechapel is unlikely, as he would have stood out far too much. That was a terrible, poor area.
More likely it was some-one who could blend in.

[samtyr.livejournal.com]

Jack had the "advantage", if you will, of having maximum publicity with minimal crime-solving (by today's methods and standards that is.) There is no way that law enforcement could have possibly known how to handle such a strange case. In a lot of ways he didn't even kill that many (officially, only five) but it was the sheer savagery and OTT-ness that drew media attention.

I think I have read that most forensic detectives now agree that he was someone very local and avoid detection. (At least, I'm fairly certain that that is what the FBI decided when they worked up a profile in 1988; I'm sure there have been other similar studies since then.)

[spiced-wine.livejournal.com]

At least, I'm fairly certain that that is what the FBI decided when they worked up a profile in 1988; I'm sure there have been other similar studies since then

Yes, I think you're right. They also had a kind of mock trial on tv, did you see it? with eminent FBI/Scotland Yard experts and profilers looking over a list of candidates and deciding who was *guilty* was based on evidence known of those people and lives. Of course new suspects keep coming up.

[samtyr.livejournal.com]

No, I never saw the mock trial. I wish I had; I'll have to see if I can find it as a rerun.

[spiced-wine.livejournal.com]

It was a few years back now - I am sure it will come round again.

I just tried to find it on You Tube, but I can't, although there is a lot on there.

This Jack The Ripper Documentary was interesting. I watched it a couple of years back.

[samtyr.livejournal.com]

Thank you for the link; it's often hard to find things when there is so much material.