Jack the Ripper Dossier, Part XI – Annie Chapman, the crime scene

The Jack the Ripper Dossier.

This is the 11th episode of Richard Walker’s new, weekly podcast series on Jack the Ripper.

It’s Part IV of the story of the second “canonical” victim – Annie Chapman.  I described the first three parts as the life story of Annie Chapman. This penultimate episode in the Annie Chapman story is her death story. It is effectively a CSI – a Crime Scene Investigation. A CSI carried out by an expert. Richard’s command of the material – the “evidence” (listening to the podcast you’ll quickly understand why it’s right to put the word “evidence” in inverted commas) – is exacting, comprehensive and very impressive. You come away from it thinking, “this is my man, this is the guy whose walk I want to go on.”

It’s the London Walks mantra: it all comes down to the guiding. You want the best, you get a great guide. He – or she – will take it from there. Does the rest. Takes you there.

Guide Richard Walker – he of the spellbinding voice – is the actor, adventurer (he sailed across the Pacific in a tiny two-man skiff) and masterful Ripperologist performance artist who’s created a new version of the Ripper Walk. His walk is called Jack the Ripper’s Whitechapel. It’s an exclusive VIP Ripper walk (it’s a guaranteed small group tour – the numbers are strictly limited).

Takeaways. Or, if you prefer, money quotes.

  1. “All five victims lived and died within about 150 yards of each other.”
  2. “In 2008 the Met did a psychological profile of Jack the Ripper.”
  3. “Right down to naming the street he probably lived in”
  4. “the first probable sighting of the killer”
  5. “Eyewitness evidence may be compelling but it is also very unreliable.”
  6. “For 25 years I worked homicide in the Bay area.”
  7. “It indicated some anatomical evidence.”

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