Although these five women - Mary Ann, Annie, Elizabeth, Catherine and Mary Jane - probably never met each other, they had some things in common, including grinding poverty, casual prostitution, the year of their murders, and the likely-hood that they were killed by the same person. The first "celebrity" serial killer, the Jack the Ripper became so famous that his victims' tragic lives have always been overshadowed by "Jack" himself. In this episode, I throw some light on their backgrounds and the desperate lives they lived. Warning: I try not to be too explicit with the murder scenes, but listeners may find some content upsetting. Opening music by Stefan Kartenburg, featuring Dimitri Artmenko on strings, and it's from dig.ccMixter. All other music used in the show is from copyright free music sites.
Photo of Annie and John Chapman, c.1869 (Chapman family/Neal Shelden)
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