“From Hell” – The Creepiest Thing Ever?

More than 100 years since the Jack The Ripper murders the madman himself has become a virtual myth – something that is true but somehow acquiring a mythical, hard-to-believe quality.  His story has a terrifying, almost supernatural quality to it.  He comes from out of the fog, kills violently and quickly, and disappears without a trace.  Then, for no apparent reason, he satisfies his blood lust with ever-increasing ferocity, culminating in the near destruction of his final victim, and then vanishes from the scene forever. 

Novels, plays, short stories, operas, movies – all these have told various tales of his hideous doings.  Without a doubt he is the most infamous serial murderer of all time, and yet his name remains unknown to this day.  When stripped of its fictional trappings, which provides all the raw material the imaginative writer or armchair detective could hope for, the case of Jack The Ripper remains to this day the ultimate murder mystery. 

On October 16th George Lusk, the president of the Whitechapel Vigilance Committee, received a three-inch-square cardboard box with his mail. Inside was half a human kidney preserved in spirits, along with the following letter written in red ink.  Medical reports found the kidney accompanying the letter to be very similar to the one removed from Catherine Eddowes, the latest Jack The Ripper victim.  The letter read as follows:

From hell.

Mr Lusk,

Sor

I send you half the Kidne I took from one woman and prasarved it for you tother piece I fried and ate it was very

nise. I may send you the bloody knif that took it out if you only wate a whil longer

signed

Catch me when you can Mishter Lusk

Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper

 

The “From Hell” Letter is postmarked 15 October 1888.  The reason this letter stands out more than any other is the chilling message written in blood red ink using the creepiest handwriting imaginable.  The fact that it was delivered with a small box containing a body part from his most recent victim makes it all the more chilling.

Creepiest thing ever?

You decide