Jack the Ripper Theories

The Whitechapel Murders and the case of Jack the Ripper are known all around the world, and this popularity has meant that over the years, many different Jack the Ripper theories have been voiced. These range from differences over which of the Whitechapel Murders were committed by the Ripper – the ‘canonical five’, fewer or more? – and proposing individuals who could be London’s most infamous murderer, to wilder conspiracy theories and even dives into the paranormal. Jack the Ripper theories run a wide range and can run quite wild!

Whether it’s comparing port records to see if there is indeed a link between the movements of Portuguese cattle boats and the Ripper killings (a theory that has been proposed multiple times since 1888), or finding scandalous news gossip in support of the Ripper actually being a member of royalty with a secret family in Whitechapel, theories about Jack the Ripper run wild and provide amateur detectives and true crime followers plenty to get their teeth into.

And even if many of these suggested theories don’t hold up to real scrutiny, they make for thrilling and chilling tall tales. While we should never forget that Jack the Ripper, his crimes and his victims were all too real, the case often takes on an element of a folk tale and is the basis for drama and storytelling that continue to capture our imaginations all these years later when we come across the latest theory on Jack the Ripper.

Three Famous Theories on Jack the Ripper

Here we’re presenting to you three of the more prominent and unusual Jack the Ripper theories. Do you think they’re plausible? Do they fit the facts? Read on, think them over and decide!

One is the possibility that there is a link between the two most infamous serial killer cases of the 19th century on each side of the Atlantic – that Jack the Ripper is linked to H.H. Holmes, the Chicago-based con-man, quack doctor and murderer suspected of killing at least nine people in the 1890s. Did Jack the Ripper escape to America after terrorising the East End? Or were the two men collaborators or master and apprentice? That’s the latest theory on Jack the Ripper proposed by Holmes’ great-grandson.

Holmes isn’t the only possible American connection to the Ripper case. Some British newspapers in the 1880s were keen to show that a British man could not possibly be as depraved or murderous as Jack the Ripper, and so he had to be American. Equally, American journals were keen to hook their readers by promoting the idea that perhaps one of their own was responsible. Those accused included a popular actor taking a wildly successful show to the West End and a fraudulent doctor from New York with a deep hatred of women and a narcissistic personality.

Finally, was Jack the Ripper a man at all? Was ‘Jill the Ripper’ actually the murderer? It has been proposed that a woman would be much more likely to be able to put their female victims at ease and lure them to dark and dangerous spots. ‘Jill the Ripper’ may have been a midwife – one properly trained or not – and many of those were also (illegal) abortionists. Midwives would have every reason to be walking the streets at odd hours of the night and early morning, and their work would be an ideal excuse for carrying or wearing blood-stained clothes and even knives.

Expert Ripperologists and armchair detectives alike have had their say on the case, but what do you think? Explore three of the most eye-catching Jack the Ripper theories below and make your own mind up!