Many people, upon hearing that they are the progeny of a mass-murderer, bury this fact and shy away from it as much as possible. Jeff Mudgett, a lawyer and former Commander in the U.S. Naval Reserve, instead takes his direct lineage to one of history’s most notorious killers and runs with it. He also has taken his crusade everywhere from TED to the printed page to prove that his relative was, in fact, Jack the Ripper.
Herman Mudgett aka H.H. Holmes
Jeff’s great-great-grandfather was a man named Herman Webster Mudgett, better known as Dr. Henry Howard Holmes aka “H.H. Holmes”. The American serial killer was active at the end of the 19th century and executed in 1896, overlapping with the Ripper’s reign of terror in Whitechapel.
He is most famous for his “Murder Castle” in Chicago, a hotel that he had built to lure young, unattached female attendees of the World’s Fair looking for a place to sleep. He would then trap and kill the unsuspecting women within a series of passageways, secret rooms, gas chambers, vaults and acid pits. After his capture, Holmes confessed to 27 murders, but it's possible that the actual number of Murder Castle victims may have been closer to 200.
The Infamous “Murder Castle”
Through a series of cons and acts of misdirection, H.H. Holmes built his murder castle piece by piece. He found his in as a pharmacy clerk for an elderly woman and her sickly husband, weaseling his way into taking ownership of the property from the couple. However, Holmes had eyes for the property across the street, and soon bought the building. The new pharmacy was located in Chicago’s Englewood neighborhood on the corner of 63rd and Wallace streets. He began construction on what neighbors called “the castle”—an architectural beast whose name would later morph into what we know it as today, “the Murder Castle.”
To evade discovery, Holmes put his devious habits into action by firing and hiring a series of construction crews (and usually “refusing” to pay them for what he claimed was shoddy work). Holding tight onto the architectural plans, he only doled out bits and pieces of the blueprints to the crews working on it, so no one would realize his horrifying intent. The building included a basement, a series of shops at street level, and two stories sitting on top of the shops that comprised the hotel. His intention was to have the property finished by the time the World’s Fair, also known as the Columbian Exposition, had opened to the public.
When complete, the hotel was a maze of hallways, soundproofed rooms that often locked from the outside, and gas pipes that were controlled by a panel in Holmes’ own closets. Additionally, closets had peepholes and secret panels that led to passageways which Holmes passed through as he pleased, trapdoors in floors and ceilings, and horrifying greased chutes that funneled his hapless victims to the basement of the building. When police finally raided the building after Holmes’ arrest, they found a human-sized oven that could heat to 3000 degrees, turning his victims to untraceable ashes. While many who went missing after checking into Holmes’ hotel simply disappeared forever, Holmes was also known to sell skeletons to medical schools. It’s unknown how many of those prepared cadavers were actually his victims, hidden in plain sight.
Below is an old photograph of the 3 story ‘castle' which Holmes had erected on 601-603 W. 63rd St. in Chicago, just prior to the arrival of The World's Fair in 1893.
The block-long 3 story “World's Fair Hotel”, better known as the “Murder Castle”.
“Bloodstains”: A Review
or, after reading it…”How H.H. Holmes gave me a brain tumor”.
The Holmes Diaries
Jeff Mudgett claims that he inherited two diaries from his grandfather, and after expert handwriting analysis, determined H.H. Holmes had authored them. He includes long transcriptions from these diaries, though without the inclusion of photocopies. Excerpts Mudgett includes detail several of Holmes’ murders, a prurient story of his childhood rape by a priest, and the story of his escape from prison and his staged execution.
That’s right. In addition to claiming to know the identity of Jack the Ripper, Mudgett also asserts that H.H. Holmes tricked someone into going to the gallows in his place and went on to live a long life in the shadows.
“Bloodstains” author,
Jeff Mudgett
Mudgett posits that, according to the diaries, his great-great-grandfather was present in London with one of his assistants (a literal partner-in-crime) during the Whitechapel Murders. According to Mudgett, the diaries describe “training sessions” between Holmes and his assistant. The man was instructed to murder prostitutes and excessively mutilate their bodies in order to cause a sensation in the country. Holmes’ intent here was to distract from his own murders and sexual-organ harvest of upper class women. Rich women’s ovaries would supposedly have healthier hormones in them to aid in Holmes’ pursuit of a youth serum that would allow him to live an unnaturally long life.
There is a certain logic to Mudgett’s theory about Holmes’ role in the Ripper killings. Objections to Holmes’ candidacy as a Ripper suspect include the difference in M.O. between the methodical Holmes and the almost hysterical sexual sadism of the Ripper. Mudgett’s theory, however, makes it so that the mutilations were a deliberate forensic countermeasure to throw people off Holmes’ trail and accomplished by a different hand (though under Holmes’ direction).
Unfortunately, in the opinion of this reviewer, the melodramatic tone of Bloodstains calls the credibility of Mudgett’s story into question. It is undeniably over the top, though Mudgett does beg forgiveness from the reader preemptively during the introduction.
“…Be patient with my sometimes struggling writing. Remember, there were no ghost-writers involved with the creation of Bloodstains—just a ghost.”
Patience is also necessary to withstand the long rambling segments in which Mudgett describes hallucinations of Holmes’ ghost. Coincidentally, around the same time Mudgett inherited the diaries, he also inherited the murderer’s arrogant and demanding spirit. He literally sees his great-great-grandfather’s face and hears the man’s voice in his head, trying to convince Mudgett to become a killer as well.
“Bloodstains” by Jeff Mudgett
Doctors explain the hallucinations, attributing them to an equally coincidental development of a brain tumor and periodic life-threatening seizures. The illness threatens Mudgett’s life throughout the story, and at one point he is given a terminal diagnosis. The tumor also miraculously dissipates around the same time that Mudgett solves a few personal mysteries surrounding his ancestry.
The Ripper theory presented in Bloodstains is probably the least absurd part of the story, and though it has been the major takeaway for many reviewers, plays a very small part in the scope of the book. The entertainment value of Bloodstains may appeal to some Ripperologists. Anyone searching for physical evidence and critical analysis, however, will likely be frustrated with the read and should stick to Mudgett’s TED talk.
Jeff Mudgett on H.H. Holmes as Jack the Ripper
In this presentation, Jeff Mudgett, author of “Bloodstains”, addresses a crowd at a TEDx event in Vancouver.
For a deeper look into the nightmarish world of HH Holmes and his inafamous Murder Castle, check out Devil in the White City by Erik Larson.
Another question I have for you is, if HH Holmes wrote the Jack the Ripper letters, why did he misspell so many words? He was intelligent enough to spell correcly, right?
The legitimacy of the Ripper Letters has always been in question, so it’s pretty far-reaching for Mudgett to try and use one of them as a key piece of evidence. I find all of his arguments interesting, but I think the ‘Dear Boss’ letter is the weakest link in his case. I think we can safely assume that HH Holmes did not write the ‘Dear Boss’ letter, so as to the misspellings and so forth…I doubt it’s worth examing, and yes, HH Holmes was very intelligent.
did you ever think he misspelled them on purpose doesn’t take a genius to misspell a word to through the scotland yard off track and still taunt them…
Provided HH Holmes wrote the letters, yes, you might assume the obvious and say that he wrote the letters in a different ‘voice’ than his own to deflect investigation, but I doubt he wrote those letters.
It’s widely believed that the letters were written by journalists in an effort to “keep the business alive”. The letters also do not fit Holmes’ MO, and considering Holmes’s enormous ego, it’s unlikely he’d have kept this fact secret once he had been arrested and facing the death penalty.
I’m basically a expert at serial killers and it’s a known fact that they actually are really smart. And just because you spell something wrong doesn’t mean your not smart I’m very intelligent and I spell words wrong all the time.
I would beg to differ with Ms. Bodin’s assessment of her own intellect. And yes, I feel two sentences provide ample cause for that analysis.
Unfortunately There were items in the letters that only the killer and police knew. Such as stating he was going to take the ears of his next victim and during the double event he was only able to cut one ear and he mentions that in the second letter. Also the verbage used in the letters were american not british. Boss was not used in British English like it was in American English. There are a few other statments that dont fit British english as well. They believe an american Dr was The Ripper and only a couple were in London at the time. Oddly enough HH Holmes was on a manifest from london to New york but none was ever found from New york to london.
Agreed. Holmes did not write those letters. Especially the “Dear Boss” letter that Jeff Mudgett is using in his research.
Allissa it’s “an expert”
But then again I’m not very bright!
And it’s “you’re not smart,” not “your not smart.” But what do we know? You’re the expert on serial killers, after all, but obviously not an expert on grammar and spelling. And we’re just supposed to take your word for it?
Just divine! Did your relative carve the rose on it? I like the way the slats are spaced on the back and the sturdy arms. Simply beautiful!I have my post for benches up finally — you will get to see more than one this trip. I hope you like the tour!
Well the letter.
It was 1988 the language was in continue development.
He was an American so he could easyly misspelled many words.
As for now we even have an battle between the English and the American Dictonary.
What on earth is going on with all this dreadful grammar and, atrocious spelling from alleged intelligent people? Is it merely fevered excitement on the keyboard? If so, then what’s happened to the once ubiquitous Spellchecker?
Yes, I noticed that too. I assumed that they were giving clues that they were the real Jack
Proofread:
“What on Earth is going on with all this dreadful grammar and atrocious spelling from alleged ‘intelligent’ people? Is it merely fevered excitement on the keyboard? Is so, then what’s happened to the once ubiquitous Spellchecker?”
Maybe next time work on your grammar, idiot. Also, you don’t look smart just because you use big words. Stop being a condescending nerd and touch some grass. You didn’t even capitalize ‘Earth’. You actual imbecile. I have half a mind to assume that you’re braindead.
The Zodiac killer wrote ciphers that fooled super computers and some of the greatest minds in the world for over 50 years, yet he commonly misspelled words as well.
Wouldn’t an intelligent man be more likely to intensionally misspell words to throw the gullible off his tracks.
Fred Best and a colleague, both reporters for The Star later admitted to writing the letters. To increase circulation. More recently confirmed by forensic expert. Letters contained London cockney slang that Holmes would have had difficulty to understand.
The Dear Boss (and saucy jacky) letters were written by Star reporter Fred Best and one other. He admitted this some years later. Done to improve circulation. The letters have London Cockney / criminal terms and phrases. Best was the Star crime reporter and attended Courts regularly so was well versed in the language. Plus forensics put it down to him.
Yes, H.H. Holmes was very intelligent but, just because someone is intelligent doesn’t mean they can’t misspell words. He probably focused on Science and Maths since he was a doctor, not a writer.
Melanie & Spencer -Just have a look at the documents & letters Herman Webster Mudgett aka H.H. Holmes wrote- both to create Insurance Scams & also, to His Lawyer, from Prison. He Did Not misspell words -& his handwriting Did Not match the Dear Boss letter. Holmes did Not write either the Police nor The Media while he committed his crimes here in America. Neither can Anyone (including Jeff Mudgett) prove that he had written Any Letters to Police in London, either. He Enjoyed what he was doing in life -& had No Reason to become known by providing clues (in the form of sensational letters) to Authorities on Either Continent. He just wanted to Kill -& be left to His Pleasure in doing that for as long as possible. In London, his murders -Thought by many to be a form of Grotesque “Art” were actually Dissections! Women’s Bodies were carved Quickly & with Skill in order to Harvest specific Biological Components. Other Organs were quickly tossed-aside, to reach the Desired Samples, which were then Taken. In the case of Mudgett-Holmes’ Handwriting being that of “Jack The Ripper” Remember: Samples only became available for Public Scrutiny after his death by hanging in 1896 -& I find little to No Match in the “Ripper Samples” chosen. -Blue.
Sure, Melanie -but I’m saying that 1: the handwriting does Not Match -& 2: He had no reason to write a letter in the 1’st place. Taunt the Police? -Well, Someone did (maybe even a Policeman) but Mudget-Holmes -if The Ripper, sought to discover something in the human body which he may have believed Must (to be most vital) be taken from a Living Human -not a Dead one. That would explain why the internal organs were Placed Aside hurriedly in one manner or another, from one victim to another. Being Caught, obviously, would risk an end to his Murderous Quest -& make any chance of an ultimate Scientific Discovery resulting in his Vile Methods bear fruit in his lifetime. Whitechaple was not a Venue for him to Play Immature, Taunting Games. He was there to make Business Connections -&, of course, his “business” was His “Pleasure.” Ps: Car was Ripped. Won’t be needing Insurance.
It is possible that the letters were written by h h holmes assistant and h h holmes would possibly do this cause as you said he loved killing and wanted to do it as long as possible possibly motivating him to make sure police do not get on his trail
In the Dear Boss letters the word Buckled is used. This is London Cockney for Arrested. Would an American use the word?
James Maybrick was Jack The Ripper. This is all a fabrication to make tv show.
Actually Aaron Kosminski, is the strongest candidate by far. He was the Police`s chief suspect. JFI the “Maybrick Diaries” were forgeries, this was proved by analysis of the ink used and Michael Barrett, who originally “discovered” the Maybrick diary, has confessed on numerous occasions that he forged the document. These confessions have been retracted and restated many times by him.
Maybe but I’ve looked into it a bit more since then, but this program trying the claim that H.H. Holmes is Jack The Ripper is reaching. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/08/06/true-identity-jack-ripper-revealed-diary-confirmed-genuine/
Rob S., The Maybrick diary was a forgery, and it’s creator has Admitted it. So, no… Myabrick was not the ripper.
Michael Barrett withdrew that claim.
Exactly! He was brilliant and calculating. Misspelling was ruse.
This whole theory depends on the authenticity of the ‘Ripper’ letters, which have been widely discredited as genuine letters from a killer. At the time the Police believed these letters were the work of journalists in a cynical attempt to improve newspaper sales. In 1931 a journalist (Fred Best) came forward to claim he and fellow journalist were the authors of the letters and admitted that they were concocted to assist circulation of the newspaper they worked for (The Star). If Mudgett is positing a serious theory, first he needs to prove that the “Ripper” letters were NOT written by the journalists who claim to have written them but by the killer himself. There is nothing in these letters that was not already known by the public. No insights and no clues other than what could have been assertained by anyone reading the daily papers. And these three “Ripper” letters are the most convincing letters out of a batch of over 300 written by an endless number of odd-ballls claiming to be the Whitechapel murderer.
The very same reason people misspell words now. He refused to use Spellcheck.
Research into the Ripper case, and every Ripper book ever written speaks to the thoughts of the police investigation during the murders, that the words in many Ripper letters were Purposely misspelled to misdirect the police. Are you completely unfamiliar with Ripper lore?
The name of the ship that Holmes allegedly took to London is never identified.
Can’t we just put this to rest? H.H. Holmes was not Jack the Ripper. And that is no shit!
For many years i have believed that the ripper was Florence maybrick and if you examine her story closely there is enough evidence to support the assertion. The problem with Holmes being the ripper is that there is no real evidence to his whereabouts in 1888. However if you compare the photos of mugett and James maybrick there does seem to be a certain resemblance between the two.
I think he was in Illinois with myrta belknap in Sept 1888 because there daughter was born in July 4 1889
My thoughts exactly ! He must have been with his wife around september 1988 when they conceived their daughter Lucy..
In addition, we have records of him being sued by creditors in 1888 during the building of the Castle(started in 1887). Considering how hands on we was with the building of the Castle so that no one else knew exactly the layout and to scam multiple credit companies, there’s absolutely NO time for him to have taken a trip to London, much less spend a significant amount time there.
Curious that you should say that, I have been looking for handwriting that has similar letter R upper and lower case and the unique lower case p. and then I saw Florence Maybrick’s handwriting and it was an uncanny match to the Dear Boss letter. However this proves nothing. H.H. Holmes handwriting does match the from Hell letter in my opinion.
I speak having be brought up in Whitechapel and later retiring as a senior detective investigating murders.
The Dear Boss letters were composed and written by a national newspaper reporter, Fred Best, to build up circulation. He admitted this in 1928.
Handwriting comparisons were forensically examined in 2010 by a UK Govt expert and found identical. The content of some letters, used London cockney words and expressions that would hardly be known by any visitor to the UK. Best would know the cockney language (slang) inside out, as he was a regular crime hack at East London criminal courts. Regards
Actually Jack The Ripper didn’t kill until 1888 and HH Holmes didn’t start until 1891. They got their information all wrong, and yes they could have possibly have been one in the same person.
Also, when did Holmes have the time for a 2 month jaunt to London when he was building the Castle and getting sued in 1888 for stiffing his steelworkers (including firing workers so they couldn’t put the pieces together on the construction)?
Jack The Ripper was not a woman. 1. Because the victims had marks on their necks from being strangled and women weren’t as strong back then as they were today. 2. Woman wore dresses then. 3. The only reason a women would have blood on her is if she’s a midwife. And why would she have a reason to kill prostitues? And very few women are serial killers its mostly men.
Alright…
1) A woman is was and will always be capable of strangling another woman, provided she is not feeble or hindered already in some way. This is like saying a child couldn’t push, strike or otherwise assault another child because children are small and young.
2) Right, dresses, it’s not like a woman couldn’t have thrown on trousers, an overcoat and a hat or the like to conceal her gender.
3) Midwife; that’s actually a pretty good cover for being covered in blood if you’re out eviscerating people while wearing a dress; Wouldn’t you say?
Why would she have a reason to kill prostitutes? She could have any number of reasons from sexual sadism to externalized self-hatred or good old-fashioned jealousy, et al. She may have found out that James Maybrick (or whomever, because the above is not an argument for Mrs. Maybrick being the killer, simply that a woman could have been) was seeing several prostitutes in White Chapel and may have chosen to kill them for that, or perhaps she was a repressed homosexual acting out abuse driven fantasies.
There is no reason to off-handedly discount a female suspect simply due to it being a female.
My personal theory is it’s Elizabeth Garrett Anderson. In 1875 her infant daughter passed away which most likely cause mental stress and working in Shadwell London she was 15 to 20 minute walk to white chapel after years of prostitute coming to her for abortion she could’ve snapped ‘they are just throwing away what i lost’ making prostitute her trigger.
she was a doctor and surgeon and it wouldn’t be uncommon for her to have bloodly clothes and would be trusted by the victim to be able to get close to them. i figured the victims where her patients.
In 1902 she retired and moved to Aldeburgh, Suffolk shortly after the last attributed jack murder, Mary Ann Austin was murder may 27 1901. In 1902 there was an unsolved murder of Rose Harsent of Peasenhall, Suffolk which is about a 20 minute drive away from Aldeburge where Elizabeth would be, Rose might have gone to Elizabeth about an abortion because her pregancy was out of wedlock she was found, Rose was stabbed to death
And last in 1907 James Skelton, Elizabeth’s husband passed away and was buried in camden in march of the year, September 11 1907 Camden, Emily Dimmock was found with her throat cut, Emily was a part time prostitute which could have triggered Elizabeth
Very interesting no body ever really that direction have they, that could make a lot of sense from a women’s point view couldn’t it…
H.H. Holmes as Jack the Ripper is just preposterous. Why am I even responding?
HH Holmes was raped as a child by a priest..no one knows what affect this had on him…we don’t know if this priest tortured him in other ways during their encounters…ever hear of ” Split Personalities”..Holmes very well could have intentionally misspelled words to throw authorities off his trail…
There is no FACTUAL basis for Holmes having been molested, assaulted or raped in anyway by a priest or anyone else. Also, Holmes most definitely did not have Dissociative Identity Disorder, plain and simple, he did not.
Cal Murphy is spot on. I have watched docs and read a book on H.H.Holmes. Within those pages and in the documentary the only “traumatic” event Holmes spoke of that happened in childhood was a few kids his age forced/pushed him into an skeleton,(used to teach anatomy), and then ran off. This is the first time I’ve heard of Holmes being raped by a priest.
He wrote himself that a he was raped as described, while in jail, just prior to his hanging, in his 295 page bio.
How do we know that H.H.Holmes was raped as a child by a priest? This is a new one to me. There are various theories. Patricia Cornwell pins the murders on Walter Sickert the painter. Then there’s francis Tumblty an american, and kept lady parts in a jar.
Someone proposed the actor Richard Mantell, an american who played various venues in England around the same time as the murders.The author Jay Robert Nash put forth the theory that it was a doctor whose wife had run off and later became a prostitute. My late father thought it might have been a sailor, or a ship’s doctor as he mentioned there were some other murders elsewhere at the time that were supposedly similar. That might go with Jack not getting caught and the murders stopping. Another theory was James Maybrick. However Most Haunted or some paranormal group investigated the former home of James and Florence Maybrick. They can right out during a seance and asked Maybrick if he was the Ripper, and got the angry response NO I am Not!. Don’t think we will ever find out who Jack was.
Jack The Ripper Revealed At Last
One Hundred Twenty Five Years after the Ripper Murders we may now know the true identity of Jack the Ripper. And not only do we know his name which is James Kelly but we may also now know that he came to America and killed Carrie Brown in 1891 on Manhattans lower east side. And as he traveled around America he may have killed women not only in New York City but also Georgia and Texas.
Medical Examiners who have examined the crime scene photos from the White Chapel Murders in London and the crime scene photos from the American killings say that the same person committed all the murders. James Kelly escaped from a London Insane Asylum with a homemade metal key and when he returned to that same Insane Asylum 40 years later he wrote a detailed confession telling of his travels in America. James Kelly has long been a suspect in the White Chapel Murders and now it is believed he also killed many women almost all prostitutes while he was in America.
I always thought it was Kelly as well. I think this guy who thinks H.H. Holmes was Jack the Ripper is reaching and milking his ‘heredity’ for as much as he can. I concur though. I believe it was James Kelly.
They both had very different Modus Operandi’s. Where are the ships records that Homes was a passenger on one? They can’t be the same person.
Agreed. Serial killers don’t normally start killing in a new style. They go with what works. This guy was methodical, careful, had a way to dispose of the evidence. Jack the Ripper seemed almost sloppy in his skills, leaving them for anyone to find. Holmes was too careful to have been Jack the Ripper.
The TV show that is showing the search currently on the history channel talks about how a serial killer will change, become more attempt., find better ways. so if it is HH HOlmes he found it was easier to kill and mutilate in a closed room instead of in the street. All very fascinating.whether it is proved or not.
I one hundred per cent agree with you serial killers don’t change the way they kill it is very very rare, and Jack the Ripper was careless at a lot of the crime scenes and certainly was not as cAreful as Holmes was which to me says the ripper and Holmes were different characters.
Exactly
I don’t see why H.H. Holmes would have left Chicago and gone to London a poor part of London at that. He had already purchased land to build his murder castle in 1887. He was also sued by Actna Iron in 1888. Also as it is widely known that he fired construction works stating they were doing poor work. Why would H.H. Holmes again leave Chicago and go to London after his castle was starting to be built. I also believe that Holmes had a plain in mind the whole time. He wanted to have control over his victims and be able to torture them in private. They are not giving me enough to believe this so fair. They are not explaining why he would leave Chicago. Why London? Where is the profit yes they said the organs. But again why would he need to leave Chicago he had already coned many people out of their money and land. He was living well with the drugstore he had coned his way to get. I just don’t see that this is true.
A person such as Holmes wouldn’t care if he was being sued so why should he stick around if he was being sued? We already know he was on the run several times. Also what month and year was Holmes on record firing the workers?
All the torture stuff and torture devices and most of the information in this article is false and created by later writers. So which victims did Holmes have power over? But if that’s the case then if Holmes was running in London he would have been on a frenzy knowing he had limited time there with his final (possible) victim being alone with him in a bedroom. The last letter of the sister whom he married had read that she was going with him and her sister to Europe. Right before the ripper murders started
But i don’t know who Jack the ripper is. I just know Holmes didn’t stick around while he was being sued (dozens of times) and at which date did he fire the workers? Plus you don’t have to stay while something is being built.
He left because he was on the run. At that point he was married to 2 or 3 woman and in the process of multiple scams. It’s not about the money for people like him but for a second let’s just assume it was about the money.
How do you know he had any money at that point and time. Maybe he spent fast. You think murder castle was cheap? Try building a 3 story building the size of a city block and see how much it cost. Also he had just killed his new wife and her sister so maybe after that he caught a boat to London from Texas?
You’re asking too many “why’s”… with a person like Holmes usually the motive is greed or personal desire. He seems very sociopathic to me. And sociopaths don’t have reasons other than self indulgement. Maybe Holmes thought he could start new in London but once he got there he fucked things up and got homesick haha but truthfully Holmes pattern doesn’t match Jack’s. Holmes seemed to kill with less brutal means and butcher afterwards to conceal the crime. While Jack was more of a psychopath or deranged angry wife getting revenge from her husband who cheated on her. Who knows
Holmes killed for money, often enough. Where he once, as a younger man, robbed graves of their bodies in order to sell skeletons to medical schools, he later evolved to killing for the skeletons. He sold them for very decent prices. This is all well supported fact. It’s how he supported himself, mostly. This is not some thing akin to The Ripper.
Lawyer and author Jeff Mudgett are starting to piss me off. His theory is preposterous!!!
this is such bunk……. truly remarkably bunk……. absolute bollocks….. ugh.
Lol it seems you and Gary have some similar opinions, of which I concur… bunk, preposterous and bollocks.
Has the glue on the envelopes sent by Jack been tested for DNA? The DNA in the saliva might still be viable.
Yes and no. Tested and inconclusive
It was the stamp which had some DNA. You licked stamps back then. I believe the envelope didn’t have DNA. I think I read that, anyway.
Jack the Ripper didn’t write the letters. They are a hoax. Why Jeff Mudgett believes the Ripper wrote the “Dear Boss” letter is beyond comprehension. He’s an annoying idiot. Ask any Ripperologist.
Oh my gosh. Calling someone an ‘annoying idiot’, then using so-called ‘Ripperologists’ to validate a personal attack is breathtaking. In my humble opinion, anybody identifying as a ‘Ripperologist’ is tastelessly mining the depths of self-aggrandisement. As if actual prestigious academia is attached to it, when actually, it deserves to be a pejorative term. Please – let’s remember that the topic of debate here is the horrific murder of sentient beings, who suffered tortuously painful deaths, following unimaginable suffering at the hands of a brutally inhumane killer. Not an opportunity for one-upmanship.
Personally, like many – if not all people contributing here – I’ve consumed many books, articles, and broadcast media on the subject over some thirty-five years or so. I’d like to draw attention to the recent monumental work: They All Love Jack – Busting The Ripper. The author Bruce Robinson has finally nailed (his words) the identity of the Whitechapel Murderer. I won’t reveal that identity here as I believe the book deserves to be read, or at least considered. Bruce undertook a very detailed, logical study of all the available information. Plus a serious amount of valuable research and digging; taking all avenues to their logical conclusion, the book took Robinson ten years to complete. I had ‘lightbulb moments’ many ktimes throughout the book. Upon finishing the book, I’m satisfied that I know who committed the Whitechapel Murders and more importantly, why. For the first time in years, I no longer have niggling doubts about any of the details and problems concerned. It’s a very thorough lifetime’s work and, Robinson ought to be more widely congratulated. I urge anybody to read it as it’s also a real page-turner. I couldn’t put it down.
I think you are the one aggrandising academia claiming it has some mysterious prestige that research on subjects you (and, I grant you, some others) deem less worthy is unable to achieve. That’s the worst kind of one-upmanship to my mind. What is academia really beyond research (and education)? Yes, academic research follows certain rules regarding how it’s conducted and is subject to peer reviews, but that doesn’t necessarily set it apart from research done on Jack the ripper does it? The idea that the suffix -ologist should be reserved for academia is plain ridiculous, though I’m sure that’s not what you meant to say. History is filled with men and women who have caused immense suffering by the way, and any academic institution with a history course and an ounce of self-respect will probably include atrocities committed by these individuals and/or their collaborators.
Calling someone an “annoying idiot” on the other hand is unnecessary, rude and doesn’t lend any authority to the rest of the statement (even if the subject seems to be adapting facts to suit his own agenda).
I’d like to add that I don’t care enough about Jack the ripper to read a book on the subject – I came here by pure chance and started reading – I just don’t care for people calling other people tasteless because they use a neologism that is fully legit (seing how much research this field has seen over the years and how it – on this occasion – was used to distinguish between serious researchers and non-serious ones). I believe the phrase you were looking for was: “In my far from humble opinion, the term ‘ripperologist’ is not a good one and it’s academic connotations do not fit with my view of what an expert on Jack the ripper should be called, and is therefore not to my taste.” Personally I don’t like the term either, and I suspect (based on prejudice alone) that it is used much too freely to imply any proper expertise, which would be another (and to my mind a lot more relevant) problem altogether.
Gary you’re so annoying I’d like to purchase a doctors kit myself and fillet your f-ing arse. H.H. Holmes was quite smart enough to have pulled off just about anything back in that day. That’s the problem- you’re thinking of him in the same mentality range as those around him at the time. He was obviously in a league of his own, far above (or below however you look at it) the criminal investigators of the day, whose reports of Ripper had a serious limit of the understanding of a man of H.H. Holmes cold genius.
Christopher you’re a moron if you believe Herman Mudgett and Jack the Ripper were the same person. You’re getting a little violent aren’t you? Holmes a genius? Just a psychopath is more like it.
Gary, your response seems to echo my earlier fears that you are indeed playing a mental shell game with yourself and you keep coming up empty. I didn’t say I was of conviction that H.H. Holmes was irrefutably the Ripper. I will however wait for the current vein of information to conclude to see whether or not I may indeed decide to form an “OPINION” of my own. Insofar as to Holmes being a “psychopath” while it’s all well and good to use this word in the everyday vernacular, there’s actually a difference between a clinical, legitimate “psychopath”, and just a plain asshole.
Christopher, Don’t send me any messages until the last episode has aired.
Ah, more baseless nonsense from the ‘History’ channel. “Well, there’s certainly no evidence that H.H. Holmes wasn’t Jack the Ripper, which leads me to believe that he ABSOLUTELY WAS Jack the Ripper.”
Fox News is more truthful than the History Channel, and that’s saying something.
You know Reika you have a point, a sad one but a point. History channel’s quality programming is a bygone era.
There were many murders across the United States. That were accredited as being by the Ripper should have looked at that!
After the canonical murders in White Chapel nearly every “grisly” or “brutal” slaying of a woman, especially those of prostitutes was attributed to Jack the Ripper all over the Western World, this went on for several years, mostly as a method of drumming up newspaper sales. Virtually none actually fit the M.O that the Ripper was known for. A bare-bones victim profile was all they needed to say “the Ripper has come to…”
Episode five was the last straw of the series on History for me. They finally compared the handwriting of Holmes to Jack the Ripper and found they were two different people. The show itself is so full of filler so we stick around for the next episode. It also seems they are going to mine this one for more than one season.
It was an interesting theory, but in the end there is no proof. And what evidence (handwriting) they did have didn’t match.
Jack the Ripper will probably never be solved.
Agreed. They are getting very annoying. There will be eight episodes.
The fact that they give credence to the Ripper Letters as being a legitimate piece of evidence is laughable – especially the Dear Boss and Saucy Jack letters. Then to spend resources analyzing handwriting comparisons between the Ripper and Holmes…it’s such a total shit show.
I found the History Channel documentary to be somewhat entertaining early on, especially the prospect of them being able to explore possibly untapped locations for evidence tied to Holmes’s crimes, but never did I think Mudgett would put anything forth that would support his theory. Every trail they follow is tied to such flimsy circumstantial evidence, it’s complete buffoonery to anyone who has even a basic understanding of the Ripper murders investigation. This program is a slow motion trainwreck.
Totally agree.
Say it ain’t(sic) so! Another season!? LB please be wrong.
Sadly, History stated: On the SEASON finale of the show…
They plan on doing to this subject what they are doing with Oak Island and Ancient Aliens: Keep on chasing wild ideas with no real evidence but plenty of conjecture. All to sell us a few products we don’t want or need.
BBC2 doc in 2009. UK recognised handwriting expert concludes author of Dear Boss letter was Fred Best, Daily Star, reporter. (was portrayed in Ripper Street.)
I don’t believe there is any real way to prove who the Ripper was. There’s zero physical evidence except a possible piece here and there that has likely been handled by a thousand people since then. Every time a ‘credible’ piece of evidence comes up its inevitably ‘refuted’ by some expert or another. Just the other day a story came out that a diary in Maybricks old home proves he was the Ripper. The shawl that supposedly belonged to a victim supposedly had kozminskis DNA on it and proved he was the Ripper. People decide whobtheir suspect is and will fight till the end to ‘prove’ they are right and everyone else is wrong.
The truth is we will probably never know who it was. I don’t think it was HH Holmes just as a therapist the motivations, to me, seem to be different, as do the m.o.’s. However, I don’t think anyone can really prove or disprove if he was or was not.
No one will be able to prove who Jack the Ripper was in a way that convinces all. There will always be those that cannot be convinced.
Hello Joy,
You do make some interestingly illuminating points.
‘People decide who their suspect is and will fight til the end to ‘prove’ they are right and everyone else is wrong.’
Yes – you’re correct in your opinion. Sadly, this subject/debate does seem to attract a choice amount of perspective from playground polemic personalities. [Please do forgive me Joy, I’m fond of alliteration, LoL. I couldn’t resist that small (over)indulgence ?]
‘The truth is we will probably never know who it was’
Which is the entirety of the debate in a nutshell. However, to paraphrase Orwell: Some truths may be truer than others…
Jack the ripper was not H H Holmes for one he would not know how the English spoke in the late 20th century he would not have know the out lay of the east end unless he had been in the east end for some time and as a serial killer the temptation to kill would have been to great for him to learn all the routes in the whitechapel area i know i was born and bread in bethnal green and even i did not know a lot of shortcuts in the 20 years i lived there i’m afraid that Mudgett your great great grandfather was not j t r. if he moved to chicago and why pick on poor women who he could not con money from when he had been conning the rich folk of America don’t make sense.
Agreed. Herman Mudgett was a serial killer but he wasn’t Jack the Ripper.
We went to the post office where the Murder Castle was to do an investigation https://frightfind.com/h-h-holmes-murder-castle/. It was pretty eerie. We got one postal worker to talk to us. Sounds like Jeff Mudgett is trying to get them to do a dig there, but it’s being blocked. Would be interesting to find out what else lies beneath those grounds. Does anyone know if there has been a dig of if they’ve scanned under the surface there before?
They already dug there a long time ago so not much is likely to be found. Mudgett was just doing this for filler on his television show which will likely come back for another eight episodes since History Channel has no intention of solving a mystery. They did this to Oak Island which has since been proven to not have any treasure buried there.
It’s all about the ratings and not about the answers. The Postal Service is correct in putting a stop to this ratings grab.
But that’s not any fun! 🙂
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I speak as an SIO (now retired) in murder cases. In the Dear Boss letter the author writes ‘…til I do get buckled.’ ‘Buckled’ is (London) Cockney slang for being arrested. Would H H Holmes, an American, be aware and use the slang?
Equally in the History investigation why has no comparison of handwriting been made? There must be a number of Holmes handwritten (control) documents in existence.
Hello James Bettenson the answer to your question is the main piece of evidence presented by this descendant of H.H. Holmes is a letter writing comparison. He compares the “Dear Boss” letter to a Holmes letter written to his lawyer. According to comments by LB the fifth episode demonstrates there is no match. I feel that since the London police at the time felt this letter wasn’t from the Whitechapel murderer there was no point for the comparison in the first place.
Haven’t seen Episode 5 yet. UK handwriting expert, in 2009, concluded the Dear Boss letter was written by Fred Best, Daily Star reporter with another’s collusion. In 1928 ish Best admitted this. Reason: to boost newspaper sales. My point being that it was not written by Holmes. Prior to the above, c1911 Met commissioner’s agreed the author was likely to be Best.
Exactly. It wasn’t written by Holmes or Jack the Ripper.
If it wasn’t written by Jack the Ripper, then there is a tiny chance H H Holmes could be him. Not saying he is as there is no evidence to support it one way or the other. Kind of like most of the other names mentioned as being possible Jack the Rippers. No evidence to really prove it one way or the other for the most part. (I say most as there are names which have been shown to not be Jack.)
This case will never be solved unless we build a time machine and go back to the scenes of the crime to analyze them using modern methods.
As for the show on History, it will be back for another season. I don’t want to invest my time as they are going to milk this one for all it’s worth.
hh Holmes killed and would look for profit, Jack the Ripper killed with rage and the sexual release he got from viciously mutilating his victims and never took any organs that would be worth any major profit, what the ripper took weather it was organs or rings or whatever was what a majority of serial killers do is take a trophy, Hh Holmes and Jack the Ripper don’t have the same motives for there murders which is my biggest problem for people to compare the two, I beleive the dear boss letter and the from hell letter with the half a kidney in it were from the ripper, as the dear boss letter he claims he will cut the ears off and send it to the police but did not have time to complete the deed so sent the half a kidney instead, thats a hell of a journalist to have that sort amazing insight into a crime that has not taking place yet,
Maybe the ripper was a journalist haha
Dear Mr. Mudgett I watched your program on the History channel absolutely riveting. I have one burning question, what about the extra plot?? What is buried there? There was a very good reason for it, you know Holmes. You didn’t say anything else about it… It’s really bugging me.
I do not recall any of these History Channel “mystery series” to have ever been found factualy true about what ever the subject of the series was about….not a single one. The first maybe couple of episodes of a new mystery series they present can be interesting, however after that they grab at such flimsy evidence and try to present it in a way to make us believe…their production crews have become experts at this. How about a new conspiracy or new mystery series on: Is the History Channel now really the same great History Channel it used to be?….or is this just an imposter now?
I have watched the American ripper TV Show but haven’t read the book yet…My question was never addressed in the show , “Who was HH Holmes selling all these body parts to?” That person or persons would certainly know about HH Holmes and/or possibly any others who would be in that “murder for parts” business during the time. The lack of any mention of how Holmes made money killing and who bought the parts off of him etc I thought hurt their case. Follow-the-money would have lead to new leads in my opinion, or if holmes was not the ripper then perhaps holmes had a partner or other involved parties with this trade, anyone of which could have been the Ripper or done the American crimes shown in the tv show after holme’s death. Also the Holmes curse could have been explained by other parties in the same “business” advenging holmes death etc. Worth looking into imo.
Steve,
He sold skeletons to medical schools. Hope that helps.
Jeff Mudgett’s book, Bloodstains is fiction. There is no theory being posited. He’s telling a story that came from his imagination. The book itself identifies it as fiction. Don’t take any of it as fact, even if it might be. Fiction should not be used as a historical reference.
Seems like this man is a con man and must have earned a lot of many with his fantastical assertions. Can he be sued.
Watching series now .Upto3 interesting. Despite the feel I got from the end of ep.one(reading most of the messages here proves it) the show will end enconclusive. Your just throwing things out there to keep viewers hooked, so interesting but not BEYOND A SHADOW OF A DOUBT convincing. After finishing ep3 about an hr(ormore) ago.I came onl ine to look the two up.Scene nothing really before coming here.Biggest thing I seen is the suspect pics(online) a couple look like they maybe holmes. But looks change.
Ive been reading different ripper stuff for ages(as a light read or on a wim thing).I have somewhere(I hope) a readers digest book from the 60 or 70’s(hand me down),That compares the ripper too spring healed jack. more recently I watched a show history mystery (amz) that points to a butcher being the ripper.He had a shop near the murders access ect-to me seemed to be a strong case.They also state how (or was it another showi watched at the same time). That it was multiple killers.between these new documentaries and whitechaple tvseries.I found myself looking up ol’Jack quite often.Over the last few yrs.The most interesting and to me a very logical assumption whould be.The Ripper was a Woman perhaps upper class.With learned medical knowledge.And a want to take revenge on people she saw corrupting her man. Or just because..she can and hide in plain site .(The woman theartery was first introduced to me I think off a anime called black butler). thanks to the net when ever something comes along I look it up. and compare notes. thanks for reading this 3am msg.night or morning all…
For those who aren’t in the know on the woman list,i found this little somehting interesting(before shutting donw) from wiki(also a good man list too):Sir Arthur Conan Doyle advanced theories involving a female murderer dubbed “Jill the Ripper”. Supporters of this theory believe that the murderer worked, or posed, as a midwife, who could be seen with bloody clothes without attracting suspicion and would be more easily trusted by the victims than a man.[148] Women proposed as the Ripper include the convicted murderers Mary Pearcey[149] and Constance Kent,[150] and Theosophist Helena Blavatsky.[82] The 19 December 1893 edition of the Ohio Marion Daily Star reported that Lizzie Halliday, a mentally ill Irish immigrant suspected of leaving a string of dead husbands in her wake before being arrested in upper New York State for the murder of two women and her last husband, was likewise accused of the Whitechapel murders, of which she spoke “constantly”. She denied any relation to them and there was no evidence to contradict her claim.[151]
Hi, I cannot believe that your great grandfather was responsible for the Whitechapel murders. There are so many differences in the way the atrocities were carried out that to me it just doesn’t add up that they were the work of just one man. Why did JACK just leave his victims bodies lying around to be found when surely if it was HH he would have murdered them inside somewhere. Sorry your theory is way off the mark in my opinion.
I will not dismiss the idea that Holmes may have had a hand in the White Chapel case, however the letters written to authorities in London had a very British vernacular and the lexicon employed when compared to letters we know Holmes wrote in prison is completely different. I think we would all rest more easily if there where fewer violent psychopaths in the World but i don’t think we will ever be able to definitively reduce Jack the Ripper and H.H.Holmes into a single villain.
Greetings,
I found “The American Ripper” show to be both entertaining and insightful. H.H. Holmes is as
good of a suspect as any other that have been presented and refuted over time. My main
question however is, how come Holmes never mentioned that he was the Ripper? Considering
his extreme arrogance, and knowing that his days were numbered in jail. He never takes credit
or even hints of his involvement in the murders. I have a hard time believing that an “Ego
Maniac” like Holmes would not try to take credit for the Ripper murders. He did however,
take credit for murders that did not happen , admitting to murdering others that were still
alive. This leaves one to wonder his motivation behind those claims. The most puzzling
question for me is, wouldn’t H.H. Holmes want his name to go down in History as the greatest
prolific killer of his time? I am looking forward to Season Two. Even if H.H. Holmes is not
Jack The Ripper, he was America’s Jack the Ripper… that can not be denied.
Nicholas, Hello
You’ve just spoilt my day, by intimating that there is a 2nd Series re Jack the Ripper.
I speak having be brought up in Whitechapel and later retiring as a senior detective investigating murders. H H was not JtR. The Dear Boss letters were composed by a national newspaper reporter to build up circulation. Handwriting comparisons were forensically examined in 2010 by a UK Govt expert and found identical. The content of some letters, used London cockney words and expressions that would hardly be known by a visitor to the UK. The reporter would know the cockney language inside out, as he was a regular crime hack at East London criminal courts. Regards
As a former detective from Los Angeles and having read archived newspaper articles from the time, and your comments, this guy is so far off base and his evidence is only conjecture. Its not worth considering. But, he’s trying to make a few bucks. I’ve read the interview of the former chief of detectives overseeing the Ripper case, and he said they did identify the Ripper and he was placed in custody by order of the sovereign. They didn’t have direct evidence to charge him, so they used the power of the crown.
Can I ask one simple question here, if they went so far as to do a DNA test on HH Holmes then why weren’t they smart enough to check this guy’s diet? Isn’t that one of the things these tests can show? I mean number one I’d be interested to see if this guy was eating any of these victims he was carving up plus number two, it could show time of a foreign diet possibly? I know the second one is a stretch but this guy definitely could have been dining on some victims…
When they exhumed the body of HH Holmes, they discovered it truly was his remains. Meaning he did not or could not fake his death as once thought. He has no chance of being Jack the ripper.
I do realize this, I was just curious as to whether or not he canibalized his victims or not. I think it was a good possibility.
crowley was jack the ripper
I turned off the Ted talk immediately. He is clearly capitalizing on his ancestry and a complete fraud trying to weave a grand story. The description of this book left me laughing out loud so thank you. The guys an idiot insulting our intelligence.
His ego is certainly as big as his baseless claims. However- Holmes is a fascinating person in his own right. In my opinion they missed out on solving a bigger mystery about Holmes when they did dental analysis. I believe they should have checked his dietary history as it may well have shown that he indeed was cannablistic which would have put him in a much different light than The Ripper…
Yes I agree, Holmes was an absolute narcissictic physcopath, even in death he insisted that he be buried in such a way as anyone trying to dig him up would find extremely difficut – what normal person does that.
In many ways he is worse that than the ripper, so much more calculating.
Have you seen the devil uncle joe if you don’t change your ways you’ll see him before you go saucy jacky postcard it’s all in the smudges the devil that is they all died with there eyes open
Jack the ripper was a neo-dinosaur a meat eating theropod that all vampire lure and traditions are based on before it raps it’s mouth around the victims head and regurgitates acid until it can bite threw it’s stabs the victim in the abdomen making their head curl up towards its mouth the victims hand was on her belly where she was stabbed bye it’s talon and that where it stayed until she died bye suffocation on stomic acid of a dinosaur it’s been caught on video returning to the river thems
I just watched the limited series that Jeff did with Amaryllis Fox did for the History Channel and as far as I’m concerned, Jeff’s gg grandfather was Jack the Ripper. The resemblance of the photo and the witnesses accounts was astonishing! And then the pic of one of Jack’s victims in what was thought to be Holmes’ property?! It’s too much! It’s right there in our faces. These 2 ppl were the same.
Totally inaccurate. You are mistaken. The best source for accurate primary evidence is retired police officer, Stewart Evans. Research his books.
What if Mudgette’s great great grandpa had dissociative identity disorder. One of his identities is Holmes. Jack the Ripper was another identity which would explain why he killed different. Multiple identities are known to have different entirely different MOs. They did not know about these mental illnesses back then.