London Haunt Jaunt with Springheeled Jack
Events / 8/30/2007 11:43:20 PM
Featuring guest writer, Miguel Gallego, collector and maker of horror films extraordinare.
You can't really know a man until you've walked a mile in his shoes. But what if those Hush Puppies belong to, say...Jack the Ripper?
To learn more about 'Saucy jack' my wife and I joined sixty other morbidly curious trekkers on a chilly, damp February night for a Jack the Ripper Walk through London's East End.
London Walks® runs the most celebrated of the JTR walks, boasting a guide who wrote the book on the Whitechapel killer: retired City of London Police Sergeant Donald Rumbelow, author of The Complete Jack the Ripper, whom the authors of Jack the Ripper A to Z state is “internationally recognised as the leading authority on Jack the Ripper”. Impressive credentials.
However, on first sighting I wonder if Mr. Rumbelow can enthral our group of amateur sleuths? There’s a competing tour guide wearing a top hat and evening cape, which makes Mr. Rumbelow look quite bookish in his dressed-for-the-weather best. He’s also pulling an odd rolling suitcase. At first I imagine it holds grisly props which he’ll whip out for horrific effect during the tour. Nope. He’s not the carnival barker type by a long shot.
But any doubts quickly evaporate as Donald begins the tour. He’s got the goods, and no cheap theatrics are necessary. As fits a former policeman, he sticks to the facts, deftly setting the scene and taking us back to London's East End in 1888. This was a time before fingerprint convictions, when London’s police forces did not always cooperate, and when grinding poverty was daily horror enough without adding murder.
Then Donald walks us through the sites relevant to the murders. Although many of these places have changed since the 1880s, he recreates them while telling of the lives and deaths of the victims and the police investigations. He has a veteran policeman’s eye for important details and a storyteller’s sense of dramatic exposition.
The two hour haunt jaunt flies by, leaving us with clues, testimonies, theories and most of all, the ultimate question: “Who was the Jack the Ripper?” And that is the tantalizing appeal of the Ripper case; we may never know.
As for the smaller mystery of what’s in Donald’s rolling suitcase…well to discover that you’ll have to go to London yourself!
Miguel and Donald Rumbelow
Jill's p.s. You can reach Miguel either through his website the Crypt Club or through killer-works email
p.p.s. Today, August 31st, is the anniversary of the first Ripper Murder in 1888! Hence the special edition of a Friday article - we couldn't resist!
p.p.p.s. Check out this link for a complete list of books on the Ripper.
