Whitechapel ripper

Continuing my thoughts on Jack TR and H. H. Holmes...

A friend raised a good point yesterday--these two men, as horrid as they were, seemed to have entirely different M.O.'s.  I actually dismissed the notion that they could be the same man the first few times I read anything that tried to link them.  I thought, "How far fetched is that?!"

Upon deeper investigation, I must say that I can't rule Holmes out as a suspect in the Whitechapel killings.  There are some intriguing clues.  The thing about the Ripper is, this case is so hyped and shrouded in mythology that it  has to be analyzed with the strictest up- to -date understanding of the case.  All the myths have to be separated from the hard truth.  It isn't an easy task to set upon because the crimes took place so long ago.  In those times, investigators were unaware of contamination of the crime scene, what a serial killer was, etc.  They were rummaging about in the dark compared to what our modern day detectives can do.

I ordered a newly published book this week called 'Bloodstains' by Jeff Mudgett.  H. H. Holmes was an alias, his real name was Herman Webster Mudgett.  Jeff is his great great grandson.  I look forward to reading this, and I believe he addresses some of the evidence that points towards his ancestor as a possible Ripper suspect.  I will blog about the book when I read it...I expect to receive it within the next few days.

To think my great grandma, Helen Erickson Fitzgerald, may have escaped the monster of Chicago (and maybe even Jack TR) makes me realize how different things could have been.  For one, I wouldn't be here if she had not fled.

The first time I had heard of H. H. Holmes was quite a few years ago.  I believe it must have been late 80's or early 90's.  I saw a book in the store about a 'murder castle', so I picked it up and was mystified by this.  I couldn't believe I had never heard of this case before.  I read it with simultaneous interest and disgust.  It was unimagineable.  In fact, after I read it, I did something I had never done before.  I threw it away.  I felt like I had to purge my house of it because it felt like I was contaminated by it.

Little did I know that I was reading about something that would touch me in a personal way years later.

HUGSxxxAnnie