This post was originally going to be subtitled “The lighter side of the world’s first Media Superstar Serial Killer” but I decided against that. This is the first of a series of October posts that will be filed under the new “scary” category. Look for many more to come!

Jack the Ripper is the popular name given to a murderer who killed a number of prostitutes in the East End of London in 1888. Read up on the still-unsolved case at Casebook: Jack the Ripper.

JTRForums.com is a place for “all things Ripper”, meaning Jack the Ripper of course. Fascinating stories and research. You can read without registering, but serious Ripperologists will want to sign up and post.

Jack the Ripper photo blog.

Jack the Ripper trivia quiz.

The list of suspects is still a long one.

Look for a new Jack the Ripper documentary soon on the Biography Channel.

Next time you’re in London, think about taking the Jack the Ripper Tour, or the London Ghost Tour.

Carve your Halloween Pumpkin to resemble the Ripper.

Maybe because we are temporally removed from the Ripper case, its easier to make comedy out of it. There is no humorous side to the dire saga in the news over 100 years ago, but a lot of folks have injected levity after the fact. There is a play called Jack the Ripper Slept Here: An Underground Comedy. Also, a Broadway musical, if you can believe it, called simply Jack the Ripper.  And a video game.

You can meet the love of your life by joining interest groups, and that might even mean a mutual interest in the Ripper. The Ripper showed up in an online bad writing contest. Revolution Science Fiction posted a contest to link the Ripper with Michael Jackson. There's a lot of attempts, inluding this one:

Hah! Follow my circuitous logic if you dare:
A) 1) Jacko was in that horrid horrid movie The Wiz 'w/ that original diva, Diana Ross, who 2) was on Motown's roster of artists at the same time as Marvin Gaye, whose song 3) 'Let's Get It On' was on the soundtrack to Austin Powers 2 which starred 4) Heather Graham (who incidentally, was also IN the movie Six Degrees of Separation'-booyah again) who recently starred in the latest adaptation of the Ripper story- from a comic book no less- 5) From Hell.

 
Order your Jack the Ripper doll now! Ten dollars off, because there’s only one left!

If you're Googling for Jack the Ripper art, you'll likely find this. Not quite what you expected.

Send someone you love a Serial Killer and Gothic Greeting Card. I especially like this romantic Ripper card.

 
Horrorwood takes a look at the many Ripper movies.

Hollywood Ripper has a Jack the Ripper movie guide, as well as TV listings and films that aren’t about the Ripper, but try to be as scary.

Of course, my favorite is From Hell because the horror is mitigated by the delight of looking at Johnny Depp.

Are you a serial killer? Take the test! My results:

The only type of serial killing you're currently able to generate is the kind you eat from a bowl of milk with a spoon. You're still a few chunks short of a good spew.

RIFFING ON THE RIPPER

Many ripperologists think that Jack the Ripper must have been a lone wolf who had never had a relationship with a woman, other than with those parts he kept in jars.

JTR Forums maintains that this is rubbish. On the contrary, he was quite the ladykiller, and was known to have stolen at least one girl's heart.

Two of the otherwise most-promising Ripper suspects, John Anderson and Arbie LaBruckman, may now be eliminated from the suspects list. Through simple inference, JTR Forums can prove that neither man could have been the Ripper.

For both men, you see, were positively known to be sailors. And just as positively, it is a well-known fact that no traces of seamen were found on any of the victims or at any of the crime scenes.

Thought for today: One day men will look back and say I gave birth to the twentieth century.  -Jack the Ripper

P.S. I couldn’t have done this post without the help of the fine folks at JTR Forums, which I joined after they gave this site a nice recommendation. Thanks, y’all!

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