Why did the Whitechapel Murders attract so much attention in 1888?

Why did the Whitechapel Murders attract so much attention in 1888? In 1888, a man nicknamed Jack the Ripper brutally murdered five prostitutes in Whitechapel, East London. These murders grasped the attention of the public and are still well known today as he was never caught. There were many things that contributed to the attraction of so much attention which I will now explain. One of the reasons that the Whitechapel murders attracted so much attention was because of the victims and the location of these brutal murders. Whitechapel was a poor area in the East End of London, the streets were covered in excrement and blood, there were many alleyways and this made it easy for killers. Whitechapel was a cosmopolitan area full of cramped housing and the poor. In 1888 there were around 1200 prostitutes, easy targets for a killer. Upper class were very interested by Jack the Ripper and amazed at the way that people lived. One upper class person said "Here are seven people living in one underground kitchen and a little dead child lying in the same room" They were horrified by this and so when these brutal killing started happening they were desperate to find out about them. The way that Jack the Ripper killed his victims was one of the main reasons that attracted attention to the murder's. Murder wasn't really well known in these times, especially in the form of Jack the

  • Word count: 720
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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Why did The Whitechapel Murders Attract So Much Attention in 1888?

Why did The Whitechapel Murders Attract So Much Attention in 1888? There were many reasons why the Whitechapel murderers were very popular perhaps one of them would be that It was an astonishing story a serial killer who leaves no clues kills random and prostitutes in Whitechapel area which was very poor and a lot of criminals lived there but not of the calibre of Jack the ripper. The people wanted to read about it and make sure they know all of the details like some people say ''There is no better news than bad news'' Another reason could be the fact that Jack the ripper was killing his victims very brutally by slashing their throat from ear to ear this also caught the attention of the public. In the 19th century, like the present day, people were interested in gruesome crimes, maybe even more so in the more suppressed society of the Victorians. As a number of 19th century journalists commented "violence especially violence with a sexual frisson sold newspapers". When the newspapers published the Ripper story they saw that their newspapers started selling in amazing figures so they started publishing more of the story every time. Another thing that greatly scared people was the fact that letters were sent to the central news agency all claiming to be from the Ripper. All but three are now considered to be false but of the three the letter titled "from hell" is mostly

  • Word count: 576
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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Why did the Whitechapel murders attract so much attention in 1888?

WHY DID THE WHITECHAPEL MURDERS ATTRACT SO MUCH ATTENTION IN 1888? There were many reasons why the "Jack the ripper" murders attracted so much attention in the streets of Whitechapel. The time span of the murders was 5 murders in 12 weeks. His identity remains unknown, but he was a serial killer who brutally and sometimes even inhumanely butchered at least 5 prostitutes in the Whitechapel district of Victorian London. The area of Whitechapel was an area of violence, notorious and of course crowded at that time. No wonder that the murders took place there. Full of prostitutes who wondered the streets at night, which made it simple for the murderer to get any helpless woman he wanted to slaughter. He was the first serial killer. This attracted attention because this was the first ever time that someone had brutally murdered several people in a row without being caught. But these weren't ordinary murders, this murderer not only slit their throat, he mutilated the prostitutes by taking out their intestines and other parts of the body, he cut them and stabbed them. But the worst was Catherine Eddowes. He cut off the right ear lobe, the tip off the nose cut off, intestines and kidney pulled out and "V" cuts in her eyelid and cheeks. If you read about his in the newspaper, drinking your cup of tea, this story would surely attract your attention. The fact that the killer was

  • Word count: 733
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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Why did the Whitechapel murders attract so much attention in 1888?

Why did the Whitechapel murders attract so much attention in 1888? The Ripper murders attracted lots of attention in 1888, causing widespread panic and conspiracy. I am going to discuss the Ripper victims, what Jack the Ripper actually did to his victims, the press and the Victorians obsession with the macabre. -Jack the Ripper murdered 5 woman, they were all prostitutes. Their names were Polly Nicholls, Annie Chapman, Elizabeth Stride, Catherine Eddowes and Mary Kelly. The 1st 4 victims were all in their late 40s, but the last woman was only 25. They all had their throat slashed, by a knife believed to be one inch wide and six inches long. Polly Nicholls was stabbed in the abdomen, the incisions were deep and caused by a long bladed knife. Annie Chapman had her stomach cut open, and her small intestines were lying above her right shoulder, but still attached. There was lots of blood. Some of the stomach was above the left shoulder. Elizabeth Stride was the only woman whose body was not mutilated. After he slashed her throat he was disturbed so had no chance to begin the mutilations. Catherine Eddowes body was discovered less than an hour after Elizabeth Stride. It was believed he murdered her because his attack on Elizabeth Stride was disturbed. Her throat was cut, her stomach ripped up and her bowels sticking out. The last murder was by far the most gruesome. Mary

  • Word count: 1013
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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Why did the Whitechapel murders attract so much Attention in 1888?

Why did the Whitechapel murders attract so much Attention in 1888? In 1888 the Jack the Ripper murders caused chaos in the town of Whitechapel. Nothing like this had ever happened before. People wanted to know who was dissecting women on the streets. The murdered women Polly Nicholls, Elizabeth Stride, Catherine Eddowes, Mary Kelly and Annie Chapman were all prostitutes looking for work in the Whitechapel area at the times they were murdered. The first supposed victim of Jack the Ripper was Martha Tabram even though her murder on the 6th of August was not as brutal as the ones committed later on; it is thought the murder was the beginning of Jack the Ripper. Martha Tabram was found dead in George Yard in Whitechapel. She had been stabbed a total of 39 times in the body, neck and private parts. This made the people of Whitechapel become on edge. They were scared. Twenty five days after Martha Tabram was murdered, at about 4am a resident of Whitechapel was walking through Bucks row when he saw a woman lying on the floor with her skirts around her waist. He thought she was drunk and called another man to help wake her up and get her to her feet, but they could not wake her so they went to the police station. Before they got back a policeman saw they woman and using the light of his lantern he saw her throat was slit and she was covered in blood. Dr Rees Llewellyn was called

  • Word count: 1926
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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