Jack the Ripper Jack the Ripper was an unidentified serial killer active in and around the impoverished Whitechapel district of London, England, in the autumn of 1888. In both criminal case files and the contemporaneous journalistic accounts, the killer wa ...

, the notorious serial killer who terrorized Whitechapel in 1888, features in works of

fiction Fiction is any creative work, chiefly any narrative work, portraying individuals, events, or places that are imaginary, or in ways that are imaginary. Fictional portrayals are thus inconsistent with history, fact, or plausibility. In a traditi ...

ranging from

gothic novel Gothic fiction, sometimes called Gothic horror in the 20th century, is a loose literary aesthetic of fear and haunting. The name is a reference to Gothic architecture of the European Middle Ages, which was characteristic of the settings of ea ...

s published at the time of the murders to modern motion pictures, televised dramas and video games. Important influences on the depiction of the Ripper include

Marie Belloc Lowndes Marie Adelaide Elizabeth Rayner Lowndes (née Belloc; 5 August 1868 – 14 November 1947), who wrote as Marie Belloc Lowndes, was a prolific English novelist, and sister of author Hilaire Belloc. Active from 1898 until her death, she had a li ...

' 1913 novel '' The Lodger'', which has been adapted for the stage and film, and Stephen Knight's 1976 work '' Jack the Ripper: The Final Solution'', which expanded on a conspiracy theory involving freemasons and royalty. The literature of the late

Victorian era In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwardia ...

, including

Arthur Conan Doyle Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle (22 May 1859 – 7 July 1930) was a British writer and physician. He created the character Sherlock Holmes in 1887 for ''A Study in Scarlet'', the first of four novels and fifty-six short stories about Ho ...

's first

Sherlock Holmes Sherlock Holmes () is a fictional detective created by British author Arthur Conan Doyle. Referring to himself as a " consulting detective" in the stories, Holmes is known for his proficiency with observation, deduction, forensic science and ...

stories and

Robert Louis Stevenson Robert Louis Stevenson (born Robert Lewis Balfour Stevenson; 13 November 1850 – 3 December 1894) was a Scottish novelist, essayist, poet and travel writer. He is best known for works such as ''Treasure Island'', ''Strange Case of Dr Jekyll a ...

's ''

Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde ''Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde'' is a 1886 Gothic novella by Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson. It follows Gabriel John Utterson, a London-based legal practitioner who investigates a series of strange occurrences between his old ...

'', has provided inspiration for story-makers who have fused these fictional worlds with the Ripper. The Ripper makes appearances throughout the

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

and horror genres and is internationally recognised as an evil character. The association of the Ripper with death and sex is particularly appealing to heavy metal and

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

musicians, who have incorporated the Ripper murders into their work.

Literature

The Curse Upon Mitre Square - Title Page

Works of fiction inspired by the

Whitechapel murders The Whitechapel murders were committed in or near the largely impoverished Whitechapel district in the East End of London between 3 April 1888 and 13 February 1891. At various points some or all of these eleven unsolved murders of women have ...

arose immediately after the atrocities were committed. The short

Gothic novel Gothic fiction, sometimes called Gothic horror in the 20th century, is a loose literary aesthetic of fear and haunting. The name is a reference to Gothic architecture of the European Middle Ages, which was characteristic of the settings of ea ...

''The Curse Upon Mitre Square'' by

John Francis Brewer John Francis Brewer (1865-1921) was a late Victorian and Edwardian English novelist, journalist and organist. Family and early life Brewer was born in Kensington, London, on 25 November 1864. He was the eldest son of the architectural illustr ...

, which features the murder of

Catherine Eddowes Catherine Eddowes (14 April 1842 – 30 September 1888) was the fourth of the canonical five victims of the notorious unidentified serial killer known as Jack the Ripper, who is believed to have killed and mutilated a minimum of five women in ...

Mitre Square Mitre Square is a small square in the City of London. It measures about by and is connected via three passages with Mitre Street to the south west, to Creechurch Place to the north west and, via St James's Passage (formerly Church Passage), to ...

as a key plot element, was published in October 1888. Among works by other authors, ''In Darkest London'' by

Margaret Harkness Margaret Elise Harkness aka John Law (28 February 1854 – 10 December 1923) was an English radical journalist and writer. Life Harkness was born on 28 February 1854 at Upton-on-Severn in Worcestershire. Work After attending a finishing scho ...

, who used the pseudonym John Law, was published in 1889. Harkness depicts the Ripper as a non-Jewish slaughterman who hides among the Jews in the

East End of London The East End of London, often referred to within the London area simply as the East End, is the historic core of wider East London, east of the Roman and medieval walls of the City of London and north of the River Thames. It does not have uni ...

. Ripper stories appealed to an international audience. A "reputedly unsavoury" anthology of

short stories A short story is a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the oldest t ...

in Swedish, ''Uppskäraren'' ("The Ripper") by

Adolf Paul Adolf Georg Wiedersheim-Paul (6 January 1863 – 30 September 1943) was a Swedish writer of novels and plays. He lived most of his adult life in Berlin, Germany, where he was a friend of Swedish writer August Strindberg, Finnish composer Jean Sib ...

, was published in 1892, but it was suppressed by Russian authorities.Woods and Baddeley, p. 67 The character of

has been used often in Jack the Ripper fiction. In 1907, ''Aus den Geheimakten des Welt-Detektivs'' No. 18 from German publisher Verlagshaus für Volksliteratur und Kunst featured "Wie Jack, der Aufschlitzer, gefasst wurde" (How Jack the Ripper Was Taken), in which Holmes captures the Ripper. In the 1930s the story was translated into Spanish in for ''Sherlock Holmes Memorias intimas del rey de los detectives'' No. 3, "El Destripador" (The Ripper), recently reprinted in a new book and translated into English for the first time. Cullen called the story "amusing Sherlock Holmes pastiche". Holmes was also used later in

Michael Dibdin Michael Dibdin (21 March 1947 – 30 March 2007) was a British crime writer, best known for inventing Aurelio Zen, the principal character in 11 crime novels set in Italy. Early life Dibdin was born in Wolverhampton, Staffordshire (now West Mi ...

's ''

The Last Sherlock Holmes Story ''The Last Sherlock Holmes Story'' is a Sherlock Holmes pastiche novel by Michael Dibdin. The novel is an account of Holmes's attempt to solve the Jack the Ripper murders. Holmes suspects the Ripper to be his nemesis, James Moriarty. There is ...

'' (1978),

Ellery Queen Ellery Queen is a pseudonym created in 1929 by American crime fiction writers Frederic Dannay and Manfred Bennington Lee and the name of their main fictional character, a mystery writer in New York City who helps his police inspector father solve ...

's ''

A Study in Terror ''A Study in Terror'' is a 1965 British thriller film directed by James Hill and starring John Neville as Sherlock Holmes and Donald Houston as Dr. Watson. It was filmed at Shepperton Studios, London, with some location work at Osterley Hou ...

'' (1966),

John Sladek John Thomas Sladek (December 15, 1937 – March 10, 2000) was an American science fiction author, known for his satirical and surreal novels. Life and work Born in Waverly, Iowa, in 1937, Sladek was in England in the 1960s for the New Wave ...

's ''Black Aura'' (1974), and

Barrie Roberts Barrie Roberts (Hampshire, 1939 – 2007)Barrie Roberts
at Fantasticfiction.co.uk was an Engl ...

' ''Sherlock Holmes and the Royal Flush'' (1998) amongst others. The first influential short story, "The Lodger" by

, was published in ''

McClure's Magazine ''McClure's'' or ''McClure's Magazine'' (1893–1929) was an American illustrated monthly periodical popular at the turn of the 20th century. The magazine is credited with having started the tradition of muckraking journalism ( investigative, wat ...

'' in 1911 and novelised in 1913. It features a London couple, Mr and Mrs Bunting, who suspect that their lodger, Mr Sleuth, is a mysterious killer known as "The Avenger", clearly based on the Ripper.Meikle, pp. 44–48 Whether Sleuth really is "The Avenger" is left open: the focus of the story is on the Buntings' psychological terror, which may be entirely unfounded, rather than the actions of "The Avenger". In 1927, "The Lodger" was the subject of an

Alfred Hitchcock Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock (13 August 1899 – 29 April 1980) was an English filmmaker. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in the history of cinema. In a career spanning six decades, he directed over 50 featur ...

-directed film: '' The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog'', and four other adaptations were filmed in later years. In 1926,

Leonard Matters Leonard Warburton Matters (26 June 1881 – 31 October 1951) was an Australian journalist who became a Labour Party politician in the United Kingdom. He was born a British subject in Adelaide, Australia, and fought in the Second Boer War in Sou ...

proposed in a magazine article that the Ripper was an eminent doctor, whose son had died from

syphilis Syphilis () is a sexually transmitted infection caused by the bacterium ''Treponema pallidum'' subspecies ''pallidum''. The signs and symptoms of syphilis vary depending in which of the four stages it presents (primary, secondary, latent, an ...

caught from a prostitute. According to Matters, the doctor, given the pseudonym "Dr Stanley", committed the murders in revenge and then fled to Argentina. He expanded his ideas into a book, ''The Mystery of Jack the Ripper'', in 1929. The book was marketed as a serious study, but it contains obvious factual errors and the documents it supposedly uses as references have never been found. It inspired other works such as the theatre play ''Murder Most Foul'' and the film ''

''. Jonathan Goodman's 1984 book ''Who He?'' is also written as if it is a factual study, but the suspect described, "Peter J Harpick", is an invention whose name is an anagram of Jack the Ripper.

Robert Bloch Robert Albert Bloch (; April 5, 1917September 23, 1994) was an American fiction writer, primarily of crime, psychological horror and fantasy, much of which has been dramatized for radio, cinema and television. He also wrote a relatively small ...

's short story "Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper" (published in ''

Weird Tales ''Weird Tales'' is an American fantasy and horror fiction pulp magazine founded by J. C. Henneberger and J. M. Lansinger in late 1922. The first issue, dated March 1923, appeared on newsstands February 18. The first editor, Edwin Baird, prin ...

'' in 1943) cast the Ripper as an eternal who must make

human sacrifice Human sacrifice is the act of killing one or more humans as part of a ritual, which is usually intended to please or appease gods, a human ruler, an authoritative/priestly figure or spirits of dead ancestors or as a retainer sacrifice, wherein ...

s to extend his

immortality Immortality is the concept of eternal life. Some modern species may possess biological immortality. Some scientists, futurists, and philosophers have theorized about the immortality of the human body, with some suggesting that human immorta ...

. It was adapted for both radio (in ''Stay Tuned for Terror'') and television (as an episode of '' Thriller'' in 1961 written by

Barré Lyndon Barré Lyndon (pseudonym of Alfred Edgar) (12 August 1896 – 23 October 1972) was a British playwright and screenwriter. The pseudonym was presumably taken from the title character of Thackeray's 1844 novel. Born in London, he may be best rem ...

).Woods and Baddeley, p. 68 The science-fiction anthology ''

Dangerous Visions ''Dangerous Visions'' is a science fiction short story anthology edited by American writer Harlan Ellison and illustrated by Leo and Diane Dillon. It was published in 1967. A path-breaking collection, ''Dangerous Visions'' helped define the New ...

'' (1967) featured an unrelated Ripper story by Bloch, " A Toy for Juliette", and a sequel by

Harlan Ellison Harlan Jay Ellison (May 27, 1934 – June 28, 2018) was an American writer, known for his prolific and influential work in New Wave speculative fiction and for his outspoken, combative personality. Robert Bloch, the author of '' Psycho'' ...

, " The Prowler in the City at the Edge of the World", written with Bloch's permission. Bloch's work also includes ''The Will to Kill'' (1954) and ''

Night of the Ripper ''Night of the Ripper'' is a 1984 novel written by American writer Robert Bloch. Plot The story is set during the reign of Queen Victoria and follows the investigation of Inspector Abberline in attempting to apprehend Jack the Ripper and inclu ...

'' (1984). The many novels influenced by the Ripper include: *''A Case to Answer'' (1947) by Edgar Lustgarten *''The Screaming Mimi'' (1949) by

Fredric Brown Fredric Brown (October 29, 1906 – March 11, 1972) was an American science fiction, fantasy, and mystery writer.D. J. McReynolds, "The Short Fiction of Fredric Brown" in Frank N. Magill, (ed.) ''Survey of Science Fiction Literature'', Vol. 4 ...

*''Terror Over London'' (1957) by

Gardner Fox Gardner Francis Cooper Fox (May 20, 1911 – December 24, 1986) was an American writer known best for creating numerous comic book characters for DC Comics. He is estimated to have written more than 4,000 comics stories, including 1,500 for DC ...

*''Ritual in the Dark'' (1960) and ''The Killer'' (1970) by

Colin Wilson Colin Henry Wilson (26 June 1931 – 5 December 2013) was an English writer, philosopher and novelist. He also wrote widely on true crime, mysticism and the paranormal, eventually writing more than a hundred books. Wilson called his phil ...

*''Sagittarius'' (1962) by

Ray Russell Ray Russell (September 4, 1924 – March 15, 1999) was an American editor and writer of short stories, novels, and screenplays. Russell is best known for his horror fiction, although he also wrote mystery and science fiction stories. His most ...

*''

A Feast Unknown ''A Feast Unknown'' is a novel written by American author Philip José Farmer. The novel is a pastiche of pulp fiction, erotica, and horror fiction. It was originally published in 1969, and was followed by two sequels, '' Lord of the Trees'' and ' ...

'' (1969) by

Philip José Farmer Philip José Farmer (January 26, 1918 – February 25, 2009) was an American author known for his science fiction and fantasy novels and short stories. Obituary. Farmer is best known for his sequences of novels, especially the ''World of Tiers ...

*''A Kind of Madness'' (1972) by

Anthony Boucher William Anthony Parker White (August 21, 1911 – April 29, 1968), better known by his pen name Anthony Boucher (), was an American author, critic, and editor who wrote several classic mystery novels, short stories, science fiction, and radio d ...

*''Nine Bucks Row'' (1973) by T. E. Huff *''The Michaelmas Girls'' (1975) by John Brooks Barry *''Jack's Little Friend'' (1975) by

Ramsey Campbell Ramsey Campbell (born 4 January 1946) is an English horror fiction writer, editor and critic who has been writing for well over fifty years. He is the author of over 30 novels and hundreds of short stories, many of them winners of literary awa ...

*''By Flower and Dean Street'' (1976) by Patrice Chaplin *''The Private Life of Jack the Ripper'' (1980) by Richard Gordon *''Hasfelmetsző Jack'' (1981) by

Gyula Hernádi Gyula Hernádi (23 August 1926 – 20 July 2005) was a Hungarian writer and screenwriter. He wrote for 36 films between 1965 and 2005, mostly for director Miklós Jancsó. He also wrote many novels, mostly surrealistic science fiction or h ...

*''White Chappell, Scarlet Tracings'' (1987) by

Iain Sinclair Iain Sinclair FRSL (born 11 June 1943) is a writer and filmmaker. Much of his work is rooted in London, recently within the influences of psychogeography. Biography Education Sinclair was born in Cardiff in 1943. From 1956 to 1961, he was educate ...

*''The Women of Whitechapel and Jack the Ripper'' (1991) by Paul West *''Beasts in Velvet'' (1991) by Jack Yeovil *''

Anno Dracula ''Anno Dracula'' is a 1992 novel by British writer Kim Newman, the first in the ''Anno Dracula'' series. It is an alternate history using 19th-century English historical settings and personalities, along with characters from popular fiction. ...

'' (1992) by

Kim Newman Kim James Newman (born 31 July 1959) is an English journalist, film critic and fiction writer. Recurring interests visible in his work include film history and horror fiction—both of which he attributes to seeing Tod Browning's ''Dracula (1931 ...

*''

A Night in the Lonesome October ''A Night in the Lonesome October'' is a novel by American writer Roger Zelazny published in 1993, near the end of his life. It was his last book, and one of his five personal favorites. The book is divided into 32 chapters, each representing on ...

'' (1993) by

Roger Zelazny Roger Joseph Zelazny (May 13, 1937 – June 14, 1995) was an American poet and writer of fantasy and science fiction short stories and novels, best known for ''The Chronicles of Amber''. He won the Nebula Award three times (out of 14 nomin ...

*''Ladykiller'' (1993) by

Martina Cole Eilidh Martina Cole is a British crime writer. she has released twenty-six novels about crime, most of which examine London's gangster underworld. Four of her novels, ''Dangerous Lady'', '' The Jump'', '' The Take'' and '' The Runaway'' have bee ...

*''Savage'' (1993) by

Richard Laymon Richard Carl Laymon (January 14, 1947 – February 14, 2001) was an American author of suspense and horror fiction, particularly within the splatterpunk subgenre. Life and career Laymon was born and raised outside of Chicago, Illinois, then li ...

*'' The Pit'' (1993) by Neil Penswick *''Dan Leno and the Limehouse Golem'' (1994) by

Peter Ackroyd Peter Ackroyd (born 5 October 1949) is an English biographer, novelist and critic with a specialist interest in the history and culture of London. For his novels about English history and culture and his biographies of, among others, William ...

*''Pentecost Alley'' (1996) by

Anne Perry Anne Perry (born Juliet Marion Hulme; 28 October 1938) was convicted of murder in New Zealand when a teenager, later moved to England and became an author. In 1954, at the age of fifteen, she and her 16-year-old friend Pauline Parker were tried ...

*''

Matrix Matrix most commonly refers to: * ''The Matrix'' (franchise), an American media franchise ** ''The Matrix'', a 1999 science-fiction action film ** "The Matrix", a fictional setting, a virtual reality environment, within ''The Matrix'' (franchis ...

'' (1998) by

Mike Tucker Michael Tucker may refer to: *Michael Tucker (actor) (born 1945), (''L.A. Law'' and ''Hill Street Blues'') *Michael Tucker (baseball) (born 1971), Major League Baseball outfielder * Michael Tucker (basketball) (1954–2012), Australian Olympic baske ...

and Robert Perry *''The Name of the Star'' (2011) by

Maureen Johnson Maureen Johnson (born February 16, 1973) is an American author of young adult fiction. Her published novels include series leading titles such as ''13 Little Blue Envelopes'', ''The Name of the Star'', ''Truly Devious,'' and ''Suite Scarlett''. ...

* ''

The Cutthroat ''The Cutthroat'' is an Isaac Bell adventure tale, the tenth in that series. The hardcover edition was released March 14, 2017. Other editions were released on different dates. Plot This novel is set in 1911 and centers around Isaac Bell, the c ...

'' (2017) by

Clive Cussler Clive Eric Cussler (July 15, 1931 – February 24, 2020) was an American adventure novelist and underwater explorer. His thriller novels, many featuring the character Dirk Pitt, have reached ''The New York Times'' fiction best-seller list ...

and Justin Scott * ''The Hypno-Ripper: Or, Jack the Hypnotically Controlled Ripper; Containing Two Victorian Era Tales Dealing with Jack the Ripper and Hypnotism'' (2021) by Donald K. Hartman

Theatre, opera and music theatre

The Ripper features at the end of

Frank Wedekind Benjamin Franklin Wedekind (July 24, 1864 – March 9, 1918) was a German playwright. His work, which often criticizes bourgeois attitudes (particularly towards sex), is considered to anticipate expressionism and was influential in the de ...

morality play The morality play is a genre of medieval and early Tudor drama. The term is used by scholars of literary and dramatic history to refer to a genre of play texts from the fourteenth through sixteenth centuries that feature personified concepts ( ...

'' Die Büchse der Pandora'' (1904), in which the Ripper murders Lulu, the central character. Lulu is the personification of sinful

Lust Lust is a psychological force producing intense desire for something, or circumstance while already having a significant amount of the desired object. Lust can take any form such as the lust for sexuality (see libido), money, or power. It can ...

who meets her comeuppance when she unwittingly flirts with the Ripper. In the original stage production, Wedekind played the part of the Ripper.Cullen, p. 246 The play was later adapted into the film ''

Pandora's Box Pandora's box is an artifact in Greek mythology connected with the myth of Pandora in Hesiod's c. 700 B.C. poem ''Works and Days''. Hesiod reported that curiosity led her to open a container left in the care of her husband, thus releasing phys ...

'' (1928, directed by

Georg Wilhelm Pabst Georg Wilhelm Pabst (25 August 1885 – 29 May 1967) was an Austrian film director and screenwriter. He started as an actor and theater director, before becoming one of the most influential German-language filmmakers during the Weimar Republic. ...

), and the opera ''

Lulu Lulu may refer to: Companies * LuLu, an early automobile manufacturer * Lulu.com, an online e-books and print self-publishing platform, distributor, and retailer * Lulu Hypermarket, a retail chain in Asia * Lululemon Athletica or simply Lulu, a C ...

'' (by

Alban Berg Alban Maria Johannes Berg ( , ; 9 February 1885 – 24 December 1935) was an Austrian composer of the Second Viennese School. His compositional style combined Romantic lyricism with the twelve-tone technique. Although he left a relatively sma ...

), both of which also end with the murder of Lulu by the Ripper. It was also made into three films in 1923, 1962 and 1980 respectively, and a play ''Lulu'' by Peter Barnes premièred in 1970.

André de Lorde André de Latour, comte de Lorde (1869–1942) was a French playwright, the main author of the Grand Guignol plays from 1901 to 1926. His evening career was as a dramatist of terror; during daytimes he worked as a librarian in the Bibliothèque d ...

's ''Jack l'Eventreur'' was part of the

Grand Guignol ''Le Théâtre du Grand-Guignol'' (: "The Theatre of the Great Puppet")—known as the Grand Guignol–was a theatre in the Quartier Pigalle, Pigalle district of Paris (7, cité Chaptal). From its opening in 1897 until its closing in 1962, it spe ...

's output in Paris. Marie Belloc Lowndes' novel and short story ''The Lodger'' was adapted for the stage as ''The Lodger: Who Is He?'' by Horace Annesley Vachell. In 1917,

Lionel Atwill Lionel Alfred William Atwill (1 March 1885 – 22 April 1946) was an English stage and screen actor. He began his acting career at the Garrick Theatre. After coming to the U.S., he subsequently appeared in various Broadway plays and Hollywood f ...

's first role in

Broadway theatre Broadway theatre,Although ''theater'' is generally the spelling for this common noun in the United States (see American and British English spelling differences), 130 of the 144 extant and extinct Broadway venues use (used) the spelling ''Th ...

was as the title character.

Phyllis Tate Phyllis Tate (6 April 1911 – 29 May 1987) was an English composer known for forming unusual instrumental combinations in her output. Much of her work was written for the use of amateur performers and children. Biography Phyllis Margaret Duncan ...

also based her opera '' The Lodger'', first performed in 1960, on Lowndes' story. ''Murder Most Foul'' by Claude Pirkis was first performed in 1948. The character of the murderer, Dr. Stanley, was taken from ''The Mystery of Jack the Ripper'' by Leonard Matters, first published in 1929. Doug Lucie's ''Force and Hypocrisy'' is based on the royal conspiracy theory of Stephen Knight. Two British musicals, ''Ripper'' by Terence Greer and ''The Jack the Ripper Show and How They Wrote It'' by Frank Hatherley, were staged in 1973. ''Jack the Ripper: The Musical'' (1974), with lyrics and music by

Ron Pember Ronald Henry Pember (11 April 1934 – 8 March 2022) was an English actor, stage director and dramatist. In a career stretching over thirty years, he was a character actor in British television productions in the 1970s – 1980s, usually in bi ...

, who co-authored the book with Dennis de Marne, influenced

Stephen Sondheim Stephen Joshua Sondheim (; March 22, 1930November 26, 2021) was an American composer and lyricist. One of the most important figures in twentieth-century musical theater, Sondheim is credited for having "reinvented the American musical" with sho ...

's '' Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street''.Woods and Baddeley, pp. 75–76 In 1996, a rock opera entitled ''Yours Truly: Jack the Ripper'' with lyrics by Frogg Moody and Dave Taylor was performed and, in a break from recent practice, portrayed the Ripper as an ordinary everyday man.Woods and Baddeley, pp. 77

Film

' book ''The Lodger'' has been made into five films:

's '' The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog'' (1927), '' The Lodger'' (1932), '' The Lodger'' (1944), ''

Man in the Attic ''Man in the Attic'' is a 1953 mystery film directed by Hugo Fregonese. It was released in the United States on December 23 by Twentieth Century Fox. The movie is based on the 1913 novel '' The Lodger'' by Marie Belloc Lowndes, which fictionaliz ...

'' (1953) and '' The Lodger'' (2009). Hitchcock decided to cast romantic lead

Ivor Novello Ivor Novello (born David Ivor Davies; 15 January 1893 – 6 March 1951) was a Welsh actor, dramatist, singer and composer who became one of the most popular British entertainers of the first half of the 20th century. He was born into a musical ...

as the title character in his version of ''The Lodger'', with the consequence that the film company,

Gainsborough Pictures Gainsborough Pictures was a British film studio based on the south bank of the Regent's Canal, in Poole Street, Hoxton in the former Metropolitan Borough of Shoreditch, north London. Gainsborough Studios was active between 1924 and 1951. The com ...

, insisted on a re-write to make Novello's character more sympathetic. In a change from the original story, whether the lodger is the killer is no longer left ambivalent at the end. Instead, the lodger's strange behaviour arises because he is a vigilante, trying to catch the real killer. Novello remade the film in 1932 with a more dramatic ending, in which he throttles the killer, who is his demented brother, the "Bosnian Murderer". Novello played both roles, and

Maurice Elvey Maurice Elvey (11 November 1887 – 28 August 1967) was one of the most prolific film directors in British history. He directed nearly 200 films between 1913 and 1957. During the silent film era he directed as many as twenty films per year. He a ...

directed. It was released in an abridged version as ''The Phantom Fiend'' in 1935.Meikle, p. 55 The 1944 version dispensed with the ambivalence of the novel and instead casts the lodger, "Slade" played by

Laird Cregar Samuel Laird Cregar (July 28, 1913December 9, 1944) was an American stage and film actor. Cregar was best known for his villainous performances in films such as ''I Wake Up Screaming'' (1941) and '' The Lodger'' (1944). Cregar's screen career ...

, as the villain "Jack the Ripper". Unlike the earlier versions, the film is set in 1888, rather than in the year of the film's making. The 1953 version, ''Man in the Attic'' with

Jack Palance Jack Palance ( ; born Volodymyr Palahniuk ( uk, Володимир Палагню́к); February 18, 1919 – November 10, 2006) was an American actor known for playing tough guys and villains. He was nominated for three Academy Awards, all fo ...

as "Slade", covers much the same ground. The 2009 film casts

Simon Baker Simon Lucas Baker (born 30 July 1969) is an Australian actor in television and film, as well as a director. He is known for his lead roles in the CBS television series ''The Mentalist'' as Patrick Jane and ''The Guardian'' as Nicholas Fallin a ...

as "Malcolm Slaight". Eric Porter (DR Pritchard) dans La fille de Jack l'éventreur -1971

''Room to Let'' (1950) is similar to ''The Lodger'' story but was based on a 1948 radio play by

Margery Allingham Margery Louise Allingham (20 May 1904 – 30 June 1966) was an English novelist from the "Golden Age of Detective Fiction", and considered one of its four " Queens of Crime", alongside Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers and Ngaio Marsh. Alli ...

. It was one of the first horror pictures made by

Hammer Film Productions Hammer Film Productions Ltd. is a British film production company based in London. Founded in 1934, the company is best known for a series of Gothic horror and fantasy films made from the mid-1950s until the 1970s. Many of these involve clas ...

Valentine Dyall Valentine Dyall (7 May 1908 – 24 June 1985) was an English character actor. He worked regularly as a voice actor, and was known for many years as "The Man in Black", the narrator of the BBC Radio horror series '' Appointment with Fear'' ...

plays the lodger, "Dr. Fell", who has escaped from a lunatic asylum where he has been incarcerated for 16 years since committing the

. Hammer released two Ripper-inspired films in 1971. In ''

Hands of the Ripper ''Hands of the Ripper'' is a 1971 British horror film, directed by Peter Sasdy for Hammer Film Productions. It was written by L. W. Davidson from a story by Edward Spencer Shew, and produced by Aida Young. The film was released in the U.S. as a ...

'', the Ripper's daughter (played by

Angharad Rees Angharad Mary Rees, The Hon. Mrs David McAlpine, CBE (16 July 1944 – 21 July 2012) was a British actress, best known for her British television roles during the 1970s and in particular her leading role as Demelza in the 1970s BBC TV costume d ...

) grows up to become a murderess after she sees her father kill her mother. In ''

Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde ''Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde'' is a 1971 British horror film directed by Roy Ward Baker based on the 1886 novella ''Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde'' by Robert Louis Stevenson. The film was made by British studio Hammer Film Productions ...

'', Dr. Henry Jekyll transforms into the evil predatory woman Sister Hyde and is also responsible for the Ripper murders. In ''Terror in the Wax Museum'' (1973), a murderer disguises himself as a waxwork of the Ripper. '' The Veil'' episode "Jack the Ripper" (1958) is a made-for-television film introduced by

Boris Karloff William Henry Pratt (23 November 1887 – 2 February 1969), better known by his stage name Boris Karloff (), was an English actor. His portrayal of Frankenstein's monster in the horror film ''Frankenstein'' (1931) (his 82nd film) established h ...

, in which a clairvoyant identifies the Ripper as a respectable surgeon whose death has been faked to cover his incarceration in a lunatic asylum. The story's basis was an 1895 newspaper report that

Robert James Lees Robert James Lees (12 August 1849 – 11 January 1931) was a British spiritualist, medium, preacher, writer and healer of the late Victorian era and early twentieth century known today for claims that he knew the identity of Jack the Ripper, ...

had used psychic powers to track the Ripper to the home of a London physician. ''

'' (1959), produced by

Monty Berman Nestor Montague "Monty" Berman (16 August 1913 in Whitechapel, London, England – 14 June 2006 in London, England) was a British cinematographer and film and television producer. Early career Berman began his film career as a camera assistant a ...

and

Robert S. Baker Robert Sidney Baker (27 October 1916 – 30 September 2009) was a British film and television producer, who at times was also a cinematographer and director. Born in London and serving as an artillery man in the British Army, he was posted to Nor ...

and written by

Jimmy Sangster James Henry Kinmel Sangster (2 December 1927 – 19 August 2011) was a British screenwriter and director, most famous for his work on the initial horror films made by the British company Hammer Film Productions, Hammer Films, including ''The Cur ...

, is loosely based on

' theory that the Ripper was an avenging doctor. It borrowed icons from previously successful horror films, such as ''

Dracula ''Dracula'' is a novel by Bram Stoker, published in 1897. As an epistolary novel, the narrative is related through letters, diary entries, and newspaper articles. It has no single protagonist, but opens with solicitor Jonathan Harker taking ...

'' (1958) and ''

The Curse of Frankenstein ''The Curse of Frankenstein'' is a 1957 British horror film by Hammer Film Productions, loosely based on the 1818 novel '' Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus '' by Mary Shelley. It was Hammer's first colour horror film, and the first of t ...

'' (1957), by giving the Ripper a costume of a top hat and cape. The plot is a standard "whodunit" with the usual false leads and a denouement in which the least likely character, in this case "Sir David Rogers" played by

Ewen Solon Peter Ewen Solon (7 September 1917 – 7 July 1985) was a New Zealand-born actor, who worked extensively in both the United Kingdom and Australia. At the outbreak of World War II, Solon became a member of the First Echelon, 2nd NZEF that saw ...

, is revealed as the culprit. As in Matters' book, ''The Mystery of Jack the Ripper'', Solon's character murders prostitutes to avenge the death of his son. However, Matters used the ploy of the son dying from venereal disease, while the film has him committing suicide on learning his lover is a prostitute. In a reversal of this formula, the German film '' Das Ungeheuer von London City'' (1964), released as ''The Monster of London City'' in 1967, casts the son as the villain with the father as the victim of syphilis. ''

'' (''Die Büchse der Pandora'') is a 1929 German silent film directed by

based on

's play about a woman, Lulu, played by

Louise Brooks Mary Louise Brooks (November 14, 1906 – August 8, 1985) was an American film actress and dancer during the 1920s and 1930s. She is regarded today as an icon of the Jazz Age and flapper culture, in part due to the bob hairstyle that she helpe ...

. Her uninhibited lifestyle leads her to walk the streets of London until she meets her end in an encounter with Jack the Ripper, played by

Gustav Diessl Gustav Diessl (30 December 1899 – 20 March 1948) was an Austrian artist, and film and stage actor. Biography Diessl was born Gustav Karl Balthasar Diessl in Vienna. In 1916, he was an extra on different stages in Vienna but was soon recruited ...

. An earlier German film,

Paul Leni Paul Leni (born Paul Josef Levi; 8 July 1885 – 2 September 1929) was a German filmmaker and a key figure in German Expressionism, making ''Hintertreppe'' (1921) and '' Waxworks'' (1924) in Germany, and '' The Cat and the Canary'' (1927), ''Th ...

's '' Waxworks'' (''Das Wachsfigurenkabinett'') from 1924, used a Ripper-style event in one of three dreamed vignettes. The "Jack" character was played by

Werner Krauss Werner Johannes Krauss (''Krauß'' in German; 23 June 1884 – 20 October 1959) was a German stage and film actor. Krauss dominated the German stage of the early 20th century. However, his participation in the antisemitic propaganda film ''Jud S ...

, who had achieved enormous success with his portrayal of the evil title character in the influential early horror film '' The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari''. ''

'' (1965) and ''

Murder by Decree ''Murder by Decree'' is a 1979 mystery thriller film directed by Bob Clark. It features the Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson characters created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who are embroiled in the investigation surrounding the real-life 188 ...

'' (1979) both pit

against the Ripper. ''A Study in Terror'', and its companion novel written by

, feature the often insane family of the Duke of Shires, with a motive provided by one of his son's becoming enamoured of a prostitute. ''Murder by Decree'', starring

Christopher Plummer Arthur Christopher Orme Plummer (December 13, 1929 – February 5, 2021) was a Canadian actor. His career spanned seven decades, gaining him recognition for his performances in film, stage, and television. He received multiple accolades, inc ...

as Sherlock Holmes and

James Mason James Neville Mason (; 15 May 190927 July 1984) was an English actor. He achieved considerable success in British cinema before becoming a star in Hollywood. He was the top box-office attraction in the UK in 1944 and 1945; his British films inc ...

as Watson, follows the masonic/royal conspiracy plotline popularised by Stephen Knight, in which a royal physician is the murderer. Coincidentally, in both movies, character actor

Frank Finlay Francis Finlay, (6 August 1926 – 30 January 2016) was an English stage, film and television actor, Oscar-nominated for a supporting role as Iago in Laurence Olivier's 1965 film adaptation of ''Othello''. In 1983, Finlay was directed by Ital ...

plays

Inspector Lestrade Detective Inspector G. Lestrade, or Mr. Lestrade ( or ), is a fictional character appearing in several of the Sherlock Holmes stories written by Arthur Conan Doyle. Lestrade's first appearance was in the first Sherlock Holmes story, the novel ...

. Part of the conspiracy plotline was followed in the television miniseries ''

'' (1988) starring

Michael Caine Sir Michael Caine (born Maurice Joseph Micklewhite; 14 March 1933) is an English actor. Known for his distinctive Cockney accent, he has appeared in more than 160 films in a career spanning seven decades, and is considered a British film ico ...

as Inspector

Frederick Abberline Frederick George Abberline (8 January 1843 – 10 December 1929) was a British chief inspector for the London Metropolitan Police. He is best known for being a prominent police figure in the investigation into the Jack the Ripper serial killer ...

. In the 1997 film ''The Ripper'',

Samuel West Samuel Alexander Joseph West (born 19 June 1966) is an English actor, narrator and theatre director. He has directed on stage and radio, and worked as an actor across theatre, film, television and radio. He often appears as reciter with orche ...

starred as Prince Eddy, who was revealed as the Ripper, and the 1999 film '' Love Lies Bleeding'' featured

Paul Rhys Paul Rhys (born 19 December 1963) is a Welsh theatre, television and film actor. Early life Rhys was born in Neath to working class Catholic parents, Kathryn Ivory and her husband Richard Charles Rhys, a labourer. At fourteen, he bred and train ...

, Emily Raymond and

Faye Dunaway Dorothy Faye Dunaway (born January 14, 1941) is an American actress. She is the recipient of List of awards and nominations received by Faye Dunaway, many accolades, including an Academy Awards, Academy Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, three Golden ...

. In 2001, the

Hughes Brothers Albert Hughes and Allen Hughes (born April 1, 1972), known together professionally as the Hughes brothers, are American film directors and producers. The pair, who are twins, are known for co-directing visceral, and often violent, movies, inclu ...

made the comic book ''

From Hell ''From Hell'' is a graphic novel by writer Alan Moore and artist Eddie Campbell, originally published in serial form from 1989 to 1998. The full collection was published in 1999 by Top Shelf Productions. Set during the Whitechapel murders of ...

'' into a film of the same name starring

Johnny Depp John Christopher Depp II (born June 9, 1963) is an American actor and musician. He is the recipient of multiple accolades, including a Golden Globe Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award, in addition to nominations for three Academy Award ...

as Abberline. The film again sticks to the Knight storyline, though Depp's character differs significantly from Caine's heroic Abberline and exhibits aspects of both Sherlock Holmes (deductive powers, drug addiction) and

Robert Lees Robert Lees (July 10, 1912 – June 13, 2004) was an American television and film screenwriter. Lees was best known for writing comedy, including several Abbott and Costello films. Life and career Born in San Francisco, California, Lees ...

(psychic ability, foresight). Peter Barnes' stage play '' The Ruling Class'' (1968) and its film adaptation (1972) are satires on the British aristocracy that link the Ripper to the British upper class. Jack Gurney, the mentally ill 14th Earl of Gurney (played in the film version by

Peter O'Toole Peter Seamus O'Toole (; 2 August 1932 – 14 December 2013) was a British stage and film actor. He attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and began working in the theatre, gaining recognition as a Shakespearean actor at the Bristol Old Vic ...

), spends part of the plot believing himself to be Jack the Ripper, and performs a pair of Ripper murders. The black comedy ''Deadly Advice'' (1994) features

Jane Horrocks Barbara Jane Horrocks (born 18 January 1964) is a British actress. She portrayed the roles of Bubble and Katy Grin in the BBC sitcom ''Absolutely Fabulous''. She was nominated for the 1993 Olivier Award for Best Actress for the title role in th ...

as a serial killer who imagines that she is given advice by the incarnations of famous murderers.

John Mills Sir John Mills (born Lewis Ernest Watts Mills; 22 February 190823 April 2005) was an English actor who appeared in more than 120 films in a career spanning seven decades. He excelled on camera as an appealing British everyman who often portray ...

plays Jack the Ripper as an outwardly mild-mannered hairdresser. "Just be the sort of person nobody suspects," he tells her. In an earlier black comedy, ''

Dr. Strangelove ''Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb'', known simply and more commonly as ''Dr. Strangelove'', is a 1964 black comedy film that satirizes the Cold War fears of a nuclear conflict between the Soviet Union and t ...

'', the antagonist is named General Jack D. Ripper, but the comparison goes no deeper. ''

Amazon Women on the Moon ''Amazon Women on the Moon'' is a 1987 American satirical science fiction film that parodies the experience of watching low-budget films on late-night television. The film, featuring a large ensemble cast including cameo appearances from film ...

'' is a 1987 comedy film that parodies theories of the Ripper's identity by speculating that Jack the Ripper was the

Loch Ness Monster The Loch Ness Monster ( gd, Uilebheist Loch Nis), affectionately known as Nessie, is a creature in Scottish folklore that is said to inhabit Loch Ness in the Scottish Highlands. It is often described as large, long-necked, and with one or mor ...

in disguise.

Marcel Carné Marcel Albert Carné (; 18 August 1906 – 31 October 1996) was a French film director. A key figure in the poetic realism movement, Carné's best known films include '' Port of Shadows'' (1938), ''Le Jour Se Lève'' (1939), '' The Devil's Envoys ...

's ''

Drôle de Drame ''Bizarre, Bizarre'' (french: Drôle de drame) is a 1937 French comedy film directed by Marcel Carné. It is based on the 1912 novel '' His First Offence'' by J. Storer Clouston. Plot At a meeting in London, Bishop Soper denounces scandalous lit ...

'' (1937) is another parody of the Ripper, featuring

Jean-Louis Barrault Jean-Louis Bernard Barrault (; 8 September 1910 – 22 January 1994) was a French actor, director and mime artist who worked on both screen and stage. Biography Barrault was born in Le Vésinet in France in 1910. His father was 'a Burgundia ...

as an

East End The East End of London, often referred to within the London area simply as the East End, is the historic core of wider East London, east of the Roman and medieval walls of the City of London and north of the River Thames. It does not have uni ...

vegetarian who slaughters butchers in revenge for their slaughter of animals.Cullen, p. 249 In ''

Shanghai Knights ''Shanghai Knights'' is a 2003 American martial arts action comedy film. It is the sequel to ''Shanghai Noon'', and the second installment of the ''Shanghai'' film series. Directed by David Dobkin and written by Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, it ...

'' (2003), Jack the Ripper attempts to murder the sister of

Jackie Chan Fang Shilong (born 7 April 1954), known professionally in English as Jackie Chan and in Chinese as Cheng Long ( zh, c=成龍, j=Sing4 Lung4; "becoming the dragon"), is a Hong Kong actor, filmmaker, martial artist, and stuntman known for ...

's character, only to fall off a bridge. ''Night After Night After Night'' (1969) was a low-budget production that cast a high court judge (played by

Jack May Jack Wynne May (23 April 1922 – 19 September 1997) was an English actor. Early life and education May was born in 1922 in Henley-on-Thames, and was educated at Forest School in Walthamstow. After war service with the Royal Indian Navy in Bri ...

) as a demented

copycat Copycat refers to a person who copies some aspect of some thing or somebody else. Copycat may also refer to: Intellectual property rights * Copyright infringement, use of another’s ideas or words without permission * Patent infringement, a v ...

Ripper who attacks prostitutes in London's

Soho Soho is an area of the City of Westminster, part of the West End of London. Originally a fashionable district for the aristocracy, it has been one of the main entertainment districts in the capital since the 19th century. The area was develop ...

. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s tenuous links with the Ripper case were introduced into films for commercial reasons; sexploitation horror movies ''Blade of the Ripper'' (1970), ''The Ripper of Notre Dame'' (1981) and ''

The New York Ripper ''The New York Ripper'' ( it, Lo squartatore di New York) is a 1982 Italian ''giallo'' film directed by Lucio Fulci. The film is about a police lieutenant who is tracking a sadistic killer who slashes women with a switchblade and straight-razors ...

'' (1982) have little relation to the Ripper beyond the title. ''The Ripper of Notre Dame'' was directed and co-written by

Jesús Franco Jesús Franco Manera (12 May 1930 – 2 April 2013) was a Spanish filmmaker, composer, and actor, known as a prolific director of low-budget exploitation film, exploitation and B-movies. In a career spanning from 1959 to 2013, he wrote, directe ...

, whose ''

'' (1976) stars

Klaus Kinski Klaus Kinski (, born Klaus Günter Karl Nakszynski 18 October 1926 – 23 November 1991) was a German actor, equally renowned for his intense performance style and notorious for his volatile personality. He appeared in over 130 film roles in a c ...

as a murderous doctor whose mother was a prostitute. ''What the Swedish Butler Saw'' (1975), in which Jack the Ripper hides in a photographic studio, is little more than softcore pornography. Thrillers ''Jack the Mangler of London'' (1973), ''

Fear City ''Fear City'' is a 1984 American neo-noir erotic thriller film directed by Abel Ferrara and starring Tom Berenger, Billy Dee Williams, Jack Scalia, and Melanie Griffith. The screenplay was written by longtime Ferrara collaborator Nicholas St. J ...

'' (1984), ''Night Ripper'' (1986) and ''

Jack's Back ''Jack's Back'' is a 1988 crime thriller horror film written and directed by Rowdy Herrington and starring James Spader and Cynthia Gibb. Plot A young doctor in Los Angeles named John Wesford becomes a suspect when a series of Jack the Ripper ...

'' (1988) received poor reviews, as did the Japanese

pink film in its broadest sense includes almost any Japanese theatrical film that includes nudity (hence 'pink') or deals with sexual content. This encompasses everything from dramas to action thrillers and exploitation film features. The Western equiv ...

'' Assault! Jack the Ripper''. ''

Edge of Sanity Edge of Sanity was a Swedish death metal band that, alongside Opeth, is commonly regarded as being the first to fuse extreme metal styles like death and black metal with progressive rock. The group was founded by Dan Swanö in 1989 and ende ...

'' (1989) is lent "post-'' Psycho'' gravitas" by the casting of

Anthony Perkins Anthony Perkins (April 4, 1932 – September 12, 1992) was an American actor, director, and singer. Perkins is best remembered for his role as Norman Bates in Alfred Hitchcock's suspense thriller '' Psycho'', which made him an influential ...

as "Dr Jekyll" and his alter-ego "Jack Hyde", but was still condemned by critics "as a tasteless exercise". The

Dolph Lundgren Hans Lundgren (, ; born 3 November 1957), better known as Dolph Lundgren, is a Swedish actor, filmmaker and martial artist. His breakthrough came in 1985, when he starred in ''Rocky IV'' as the imposing Soviet boxer Ivan Drago. Since then, Lu ...

vehicle A vehicle (from la, vehiculum) is a machine that transports people or cargo. Vehicles include wagons, bicycles, motor vehicles (motorcycles, cars, trucks, buses, mobility scooters for disabled people), railed vehicles (trains, trams), wa ...

'' Jill the Ripper'' (2000) reverses the traditional genders of victims and villains, with a female Ripper and male victims. In '' Time After Time'' (1979), based on the novel of the same title, Jack escapes in a

time machine Time travel is the concept of movement between certain points in time, analogous to movement between different points in space by an object or a person, typically with the use of a hypothetical device known as a time machine. Time travel is a w ...

to modern-day San Francisco and is pursued by

H. G. Wells Herbert George Wells"Wells, H. G."
Revised 18 May 2015. ''

in a link to the author of ''

'', but he was written out in favour of Wells. In ''

Bridge Across Time ''Bridge Across Time'', also known as ''Terror at London Bridge'', is a 1985 American made-for-television drama film. It was an NBC movie of the week, written by William F. Nolan, directed by E.W. Swackhamer and starred David Hasselhoff, Stepf ...

'' (1985), starring

David Hasselhoff David Michael Hasselhoff (born July 17, 1952), nicknamed "The Hoff", is an American actor, singer, and television personality. He has set a Guinness World Record as the most watched man on TV. Hasselhoff first gained recognition on ''The You ...

, Jack's spirit is transported to Arizona in a cursed stone from

London Bridge Several bridges named London Bridge have spanned the River Thames between the City of London and Southwark, in central London. The current crossing, which opened to traffic in 1973, is a box girder bridge built from concrete and steel. It r ...

.Meikle, pp. 157–158; Woods and Baddeley, p. 205 In ''The Ripper'' (1985), his spirit is instead concealed in a cursed ring. ''Ripper Man'' (1994) depicts a killer who believes himself to be the reincarnation of

George Chapman George Chapman (Hitchin, Hertfordshire, – London, 12 May 1634) was an English dramatist, translator and poet. He was a classical scholar whose work shows the influence of Stoicism. Chapman has been speculated to be the Rival Poet of Shak ...

, who was suspected of being Jack the Ripper after his arrest and execution for murder in 1903. Released in the same year as ''From Hell'', and consequently overshadowed by it, were ''

Ripper Ripper or The Ripper may refer to: People * Ripper (surname) * Paul Burchill, ring name "The Ripper", a professional wrestler based on Jack the Ripper * Kirk Hammett, nicknamed "The Ripper", the lead guitarist in the heavy metal band Metallica ...

'' and '' Bad Karma'' (re-titled as ''Hell's Gate''). ''Ripper'' centres on psychology student Molly Keller (played by

A. J. Cook Andrea Joy Cook (born July 22, 1978) is a Canadian actress. She is best known for her role as Supervisory Special Agent Jennifer "JJ" Jareau on the CBS crime drama ''Criminal Minds'' (2005–2020, 2022). Cook has also appeared in ''The Virgin ...

) who studies serial killers. Her classmates start dying at the hands of a Jack the Ripper copycat, who targets victims with the same initials as the originals. ''Bad Karma'' is another play on the reincarnation theme with the addition of

Patsy Kensit Patricia Jude Kensit (born 4 March 1968) is an English actress and was the lead singer of the pop band Eighth Wonder in the 1980s. Beginning her career as a child actor, Kensit gained attention when she acted in a string of commercials for Bird ...

as the Ripper's female accomplice.

Television

By the 1960s, the Ripper was established in American television as a "universal force of evil", who could be adapted to suit any villainous niche.Meikle, pp. 131–133 In an episode of ''

The Twilight Zone ''The Twilight Zone'' is an American media franchise based on the anthology television series created by Rod Serling. The episodes are in various genres, including fantasy, science fiction, absurdism, dystopian fiction, suspense, horror, su ...

'' from 1963 entitled "

The New Exhibit "The New Exhibit" is an episode of the American television anthology series ''The Twilight Zone (1959 TV series), The Twilight Zone''. In this episode a museum worker (played by Martin Balsam) takes a set of wax figures into his home, where they b ...

Martin Balsam Martin Henry Balsam (November 4, 1919 – February 13, 1996) was an American actor. He had a prolific career in character roles in film, in theatre, and on television. An early member of the Actors Studio, he began his career on the New ...

plays the curator of a wax museum who becomes so obsessed by five wax figures of murderers, including Jack the Ripper, that he commits murder to protect them. In the ''

Star Trek ''Star Trek'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Gene Roddenberry, which began with the eponymous 1960s television series and quickly became a worldwide pop-culture phenomenon. The franchise has expanded into vari ...

'' episode "

Wolf in the Fold "Wolf in the Fold" is the fourteenth episode of the second season of the American science fiction television series '' Star Trek''. Written by Robert Bloch and directed by Joseph Pevney, it was first broadcast on December 22, 1967. In the epi ...

" (1967), writer

reused parts of his short-story "Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper", which had already appeared as a 1961 television episode of '' Thriller''. In the episode, the Ripper turned out to be a long-lived non-corporeal being that had committed mass murders on many worlds over centuries to generate fear, the emotion on which it fed. The entity is beamed out into space. In the ''

Cimarron Strip ''Cimarron Strip'' is an American Western television series starring Stuart Whitman as Marshal Jim Crown. The series was produced by the creators of ''Gunsmoke'', and aired on CBS from September 1967 to March 1968. Reruns of the original show we ...

'' episode "Knife in the Wilderness" (1968), written by

, Jack continues his work across America ending in Cimarron City where he meets his end at the hands of Indians. In the ''

Get Smart ''Get Smart'' is an American comedy television series parodying the secret agent genre that had become widely popular in the first half of the 1960s, with the release of the ''James Bond'' films. It was created by Mel Brooks and Buck Henry, an ...

'' episode "House of Max" (1970), Jack the Ripper is an animated wax dummy. In ''

The Sixth Sense ''The Sixth Sense'' is a 1999 American psychological thriller film written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan. It stars Bruce Willis as a child psychologist whose patient (Haley Joel Osment) claims he can see and talk to the dead. Released by ...

'' episode "With Affection, Jack the Ripper" (1972) a man is driven mad during a

paranormal Paranormal events are purported phenomena described in popular culture, folk, and other non-scientific bodies of knowledge, whose existence within these contexts is described as being beyond the scope of normal scientific understanding. Nota ...

experiment when he inhabits the body of Jack the Ripper. A ''

Fantasy Island ''Fantasy Island'' is an American fantasy drama television series created by Gene Levitt. It aired on ABC from 1977 to 1984. The series starred Ricardo Montalbán as the mysterious Mr. Roarke and Hervé Villechaize as his assistant, Tattoo. Gu ...

'' episode, also titled "With Affection, Jack the Ripper" (1980), was written by the same writer as the episode of ''The Sixth Sense'', Don Ingalls.

Lynda Day George Lynda Louise Day George (born December 11, 1944) is an American television and film actress whose career spanned three decades from the 1960s to the 1980s. She was a cast member on '' Mission: Impossible'' (1971–1973). She was also the wife ...

plays criminologist Lorraine Peters who uses a time portal to confirm her suspicion that Jack the Ripper was a doctor, Albert Fell, played by

Victor Buono Victor Charles Buono (February 3, 1938January 1, 1982) was an American actor, comic, and briefly a recording artist. He was known for playing the villain King Tut in the television series '' Batman'' (1966–1968) and musician Edwin Flagg in '' ...

. Fell follows her back through the portal, grabs Peters and takes her back to 1888, where the enigmatic Mr. Roarke intervenes fortuitously, and Fell dies moments later while fleeing.Meikle, p. 139 The name Fell is clearly lifted from Margery Allingham's 1948 radio play ''Room to Let''. A time portal is also used in "A Rip in Time" (1997), the first episode of the short-lived television series ''

Timecop ''Timecop'' is a 1994 American science fiction action film directed by Peter Hyams and co-written by Mike Richardson and Mark Verheiden. Richardson also served as executive producer. The film is based on '' Timecop'', a story created by Richar ...

'', in which a time travelling cop travels back to 1888 to catch a criminal who has killed, and displaced, Jack the Ripper. ''

Ripper Street ''Ripper Street'' is a British mystery drama television series set in Whitechapel in the East End of London starring Matthew Macfadyen, Jerome Flynn, Adam Rothenberg, and MyAnna Buring. It begins in 1889, six months after the infamous Jack the ...

'' is a 2012 British television dramatic series set just subsequent to the murders, with the first episode seeing series protagonist

Edmund Reid Detective Inspector Edmund John James Reid (21 March 1846 – 5 December 1917) was the head of the CID in the Metropolitan Police's H Division at the time of the Whitechapel murders of Jack the Ripper in 1888. He was also an early aeronaut.' ...

resolving to move on from obsession over the victims after a new case; at the end of the first season, protagonist Homer Jackson is temporarily framed as the Ripper, but is able to clear his name. The ''

Babylon 5 ''Babylon 5'' is an American space opera television series created by writer and producer J. Michael Straczynski, under the Babylonian Productions label, in association with Straczynski's Synthetic Worlds Ltd. and Warner Bros. Domestic Tel ...

'' episode " Comes the Inquisitor" (1995) features a character named Sebastian who reveals himself at the end of the episode to be Jack the Ripper. He abducted by the alien

Vorlon The list of ''Babylon 5'' characters contains characters from the entire ''Babylon 5'' universe. The Babylon station was conceived as a political and cultural meeting place. As such, one of the show's many themes is the cultural and social intera ...

s in the year 1888 and made into their inquisitor so that he can test (through torture) beings who are called to lead an important cause. In the TV series ''

Grimm Grimm may refer to: People * Grimm (surname) * Brothers Grimm, German linguists ** Jacob Grimm (1785–1863), German philologist, jurist and mythologist ** Wilhelm Grimm (1786–1859), German author, the younger of the Brothers Grimm * Christian ...

'', the final three episodes of the fourth season reveal that Jack the Ripper was a spirit that initially manifested over a century before the Whitechapel murders; the Jack spirit possesses series protagonist Sean Renard after a near-death experience, but the others are able to 'exorcise' Jack by shooting Renard with rubber bullets to trick Jack into thinking that Renard was being murdered. The idea of the Ripper as a supernatural entity is used again in the third season of the television series '' Sleepy Hollow'', with the 'killer' in this case being a knife that drives its wielder to act on their darker impulses as it absorbs the blood of its victims; it is defeated when it is tricked into stabbing someone with

malaria Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects humans and other animals. Malaria causes symptoms that typically include fever, tiredness, vomiting, and headaches. In severe cases, it can cause jaundice, seizures, coma, or death. S ...

, the infection tainting the blood and thus weakening the blade. ''

'' (1973) by Elwyn Jones and John Lloyd linked with the police drama ''

Z-Cars ''Z-Cars'' or ''Z Cars'' (pronounced "zed cars") is a British television police procedural series centred on the work of mobile uniformed police in the fictional town of Newtown, based on Kirkby, near Liverpool. Produced by the BBC, it debuted ...

''. The program featured ''Z Cars'' detectives Barlow and Watt, played by

Stratford Johns Alan Edgar Stratford Johns (22 September 1925 – 29 January 2002), known as Stratford Johns, was a British stage, film and television actor who is best remembered for his starring role as Detective Inspector Charlie Barlow in the long-running ...

and

Frank Windsor Frank Windsor Higgins (12 July 1928 – 30 September 2020), known professionally as Frank Windsor, was an English actor, primarily known for his roles on television, especially policeman John Watt in ''Z-Cars'' and its spin-offs. Biography Win ...

respectively, investigating the murders from an historical perspective. In the first episode of '' Kolchak: The Night Stalker'' (1974), titled "The Ripper", reporter Carl Kolchak pursues a supernatural killer whose victims match the patterns of the original Ripper murders. The killer has superhuman strength and is invulnerable to weapons, but Kolchak dematerialises the apparently immortal being by electrocuting him. An episode of '' The Outer Limits'' titled "

" (1997) was set in 1888 and starred

Cary Elwes Ivan Simon Cary Elwes (; born 26 October 1962) is an English actor and writer. He is known for his leading film roles as Westley in ''The Princess Bride'' (1987), Robin Hood in '' Robin Hood: Men in Tights'' (1993), and Dr. Lawrence Gordon in ...

as Dr. Jack York, who kills women whom he believes are possessed by an alien entity. In an episode of ''

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's The Lost World ''The Lost World'' (officially ''Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's The Lost World'') is a syndicated television series loosely based on the 1912 novel by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, '' The Lost World''. The show premiered in the United States in the fall o ...

'', "The Knife" (2001), the explorers meet the two men blamed for the murders in Stephen Knight's royal conspiracy theory:

Sir William Gull Sir William Withey Gull, 1st Baronet (31 December 181629 January 1890) was an English physician. Of modest family origins, he established a lucrative private practice and served as Governor of Guy's Hospital, Fullerian Professor of Physiology ...

and Robert Anderson.

Spike Milligan Terence Alan "Spike" Milligan (16 April 1918 – 27 February 2002) was an Irish actor, comedian, writer, musician, poet, and playwright. The son of an English mother and Irish father, he was born in British Raj, British Colonial India, where h ...

parodied the Ripper-genre in the "sublimely daft" ''

The Phantom Raspberry Blower of Old London Town ''The Phantom Raspberry Blower of Old London Town'' was a 1971 episode of LWT's ''Six Dates with Barker'' that was written by Spike Milligan and later adapted by Ronnie Barker for ''The Two Ronnies'' sketch show. Set in Victorian London, it fe ...

''. In an episode of Friday the 13th: the Series" entitled "Dr. Jack" Mickey, Ryan and Jack retrieve an antique surgeon's knife that was reputedly used by Jack the Ripper.

Art

Walter Sickert Walter Richard Sickert (31 May 1860 – 22 January 1942) was a German-born British painter and printmaker who was a member of the Camden Town Group of Post-Impressionist artists in early 20th-century London. He was an important influence on d ...

was an English artist inspired by the seediness of the

. His works include "''Jack the Ripper's Bedroom''".

Comics

'' is a

graphic novel A graphic novel is a long-form, fictional work of sequential art. The term ''graphic novel'' is often applied broadly, including fiction, non-fiction, and anthologized work, though this practice is highly contested by comic scholars and industry ...

about the Ripper case by

Alan Moore Alan Moore (born 18 November 1953) is an English author known primarily for his work in comic books including ''Watchmen'', ''V for Vendetta'', ''The Ballad of Halo Jones'', ''Swamp Thing'', ''Batman:'' ''The Killing Joke'', and ''From Hell' ...

and

Eddie Campbell Eddie Campbell (born 10 August 1955) is a British comics artist and cartoonist who now lives in Chicago. Probably best known as the illustrator and publisher of ''From Hell'' (written by Alan Moore), Campbell is also the creator of the semi-au ...

, which took its name from the "From Hell" letter supposedly written by the Ripper. It is based on Stephen Knight's conspiracy theory, which accused royalty and freemasons of complicity in the crimes and was popularised by his book '' Jack the Ripper: The Final Solution''. In the Appendix to the graphic novel, Moore clearly states that he lends no credibility to the Knight theory and only used it for dramatic purposes. Royalty and the Ripper also featured in ''

Blood of the Innocent ''Blood of the Innocent'' is a comic book miniseries created by Rickey Shanklin, Marc Hempel and Mark Wheatley which was published by WaRP Graphics in 1985. About the series ''Blood of the Innocent'' was one of the first American comic books t ...

'' by Rickey Shanklin,

Marc Hempel Marc Hempel (born May 25, 1957) is an American cartoonist/comics artist best known for his work on '' The Sandman'' with Neil Gaiman. Biography Writer and artist Marc Hempel grew up in the northwest suburbs of Chicago and now lives in Baltimore. ...

and Mark Wheatley in 1986, and a story ("Royal Blood") in

DC Comics DC Comics, Inc. (doing business as DC) is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies, with thei ...

Hellblazer ''John Constantine, Hellblazer'' is an American contemporary Horror fiction, horror comic-book series published by DC Comics since January 1988, and subsequently by its Vertigo Comics, Vertigo imprint since March 1993, when the imprint was introd ...

series in 1992. Issue #100 of Marvel Comics '' Master of Kung Fu'' (1981) featured a story titled "Red of Fang and Claw, All Love Lost". In it, the Ripper was an experiment of

Fu Manchu Dr. Fu Manchu () is a supervillain who was introduced in a series of novels by the English author Sax Rohmer beginning shortly before World War I and continuing for another forty years. The character featured in cinema, television, radio, comic ...

's, who escaped and hid in London. The hero fought him at the end of the story. DC Comics' ''

Gotham by Gaslight ''Gotham by Gaslight'' is a DC Comics one-shot by Brian Augustyn and Mike Mignola, with inks by P. Craig Russell. The story revolves around a 19th-century version of Bruce Wayne making his debut as Batman just as Jack the Ripper has arrived in G ...

'' (1989), features a

version of the

superhero A superhero or superheroine is a stock character that typically possesses ''superpowers'', abilities beyond those of ordinary people, and fits the role of the hero, typically using his or her powers to help the world become a better place, ...

Batman Batman is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, and debuted in Detective Comics 27, the 27th issue of the comic book ''Detective Comics'' on ...

hunting the Ripper in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, the villain being a former friend of Batman's parents driven insane by the rejection of

his mother ''His Mother'' is a 1912 American silent film produced by Kalem Company. It was directed by Sidney Olcott with Gene Gauntier and Jack J. Clark in the leading roles. It was one of more than a dozen films produced by the Kalem Company filmed in Ir ...

, the murders his attempt to silence Martha's mocking ghost. The two fictional worlds, both dark and gothic, complement one another and sit easily together. Jack the Ripper featured in

Grant Morrison Grant Morrison, MBE (born 31 January 1960) is a Scottish comic book writer, screenwriter, and producer. Their work is known for its nonlinear narrative A narrative, story, or tale is any account of a series of related events or experiences, w ...

's ''

Doom Patrol Doom Patrol is a superhero team from DC Comics. The original Doom Patrol first appeared in ''My Greatest Adventure'' #80 (June 1963), and was created by writers Arnold Drake and Bob Haney, along with artist Bruno Premiani. Doom Patrol has appe ...

'' in 1989, '' Wonder Woman: Amazonia'' and '' Predator: Nemesis'' in 1997, and in a

Judge Dredd Judge Joseph Dredd is a fictional character created by writer John Wagner and artist Carlos Ezquerra. He first appeared in the second issue of ''2000 AD (comics), 2000 AD'' (1977), which is a British weekly anthology Comic book, comic. He is the ...

story: "Night of the Ripper!". A story in the

Justice League of America The Justice League (also known as The Justice League of America) are a team of superheroes appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The team first appeared in ''The Brave and the Bold'' #28 (March 1960). The team was conceived ...

series fused with

H. G. Wells Herbert George Wells"Wells, H. G."
Revised 18 May 2015. ''

The Island of Dr. Moreau'' and features Jack the Ripper as an

orangutan Orangutans are great apes native to the rainforests of Indonesia and Malaysia. They are now found only in parts of Borneo and Sumatra, but during the Pleistocene they ranged throughout Southeast Asia and South China. Classified in the genus ...

, while the immortal super-villain

Vandal Savage Vandar Adg of the Blood Tribe, more widely known as Vandal Savage, is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. He is said to be a Cro-Magnon warrior who gained immortality and advanced healing abilities after encount ...

has claimed to be responsible for the Ripper murders. The comic ''Whitechapel Freak'' (2001) by David Hitchcock uses Jack the Ripper as an underlying background figure in a story that focuses on a travelling freak show. The Ripper is a legless man "strapped onto the shoulders of a midget".

Rick Geary Rick Geary (born February 25, 1946) is an American cartoonist and illustrator. He is known for works such as ''A Treasury of Victorian Murder'' and graphic novel biographies of Leon Trotsky and J. Edgar Hoover. Geary has won two awards from th ...

's Jack the Ripper story in a 1995 volume of his ''A Treasury of Victorian Murder'' is a straighter retelling.Whitehead and Rivett, p. 137 In the Italian comic book ''

Martin Mystère ''Martin Mystère'' is both the title and protagonist of an Italian comics, Italian comic book. Created by writer Alfredo Castelli and artist Giancarlo Alessandrini, it was first published in Italy by Sergio Bonelli Editore in 1982. Dark Horse C ...

'', a

vampire A vampire is a mythical creature that subsists by feeding on the Vitalism, vital essence (generally in the form of blood) of the living. In European folklore, vampires are undead, undead creatures that often visited loved ones and caused mi ...

Richard Van Helsing discovers that the Ripper is an ancient mythical force, divided into several knives, which force their holders to kill. Van Helsing searches for and destroys the knives, including one which is destroyed by

Manga

In the 2006 manga ''

Black Butler is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Yana Toboso. It has been serialized in Square Enix's ''shōnen'' manga magazine ''Monthly GFantasy'' since September 2006. The series follows Ciel Phantomhive, the twelve-year-old Ea ...

'' by the Japanese

manga artist A is a comic artist who writes and/or illustrates manga. As of 2006, about 3,000 professional manga artists were working in Japan. Most manga artists study at an art college or manga school or take on an apprenticeship with another artist be ...

Yana Toboso is a Japanese manga artist. She was born in Warabi, Saitama Prefecture, Japan and currently resides in Yokohama. Selected works '' Rust Blaster'' is a 2006 six-chapter manga published by Square Enix in one volume. It tells the story of a hu ...

, Jack the Ripper is portrayed as a mysterious person who had been responsible for the multiple yet common deaths of prostitutes in Victorian London. A few chapters later, it is revealed that Jack the Ripper is actually two people working together: a masquerading

shinigami () are kami (spirits) that invite humans toward death, according to Japanese religion and culture. have been described as monsters, helpers, and creatures of darkness. are used for tales and religions in Japanese culture. Japanese religion I ...

and a doctor of noble lineage. In ''

Phantom Blood is a 1987 manga series created by Hirohiko Araki, and the first part of the larger ''JoJo's Bizarre Adventure'' series. The manga was originally serialized by Shueisha in ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' under the title and was collected in five ...

'', the first part of the 1987

manga Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is u ...

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Hirohiko Araki. It was originally serialized in Shueisha's ''shōnen'' manga magazine ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' from 1987 to 2004, and was transferred to the monthly ''seinen'' manga ...

'' by

Hirohiko Araki is a Japanese manga artist. He is best known for his long-running series ''JoJo's Bizarre Adventure'', which began publication in ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' in 1987 and has over 120 million copies in circulation, making it one of the best-selling ...

, the Ripper appears briefly as a minor villain after main antagonist

Dio Brando is a fictional character and the main antagonist of the Japanese manga series ''JoJo's Bizarre Adventure'' written and illustrated by Hirohiko Araki. He is featured primarily as the main antagonist of the series' first part, ''Phantom Blood'', a ...

turns him into a zombie and orders him to attack protagonist Jonathan Joestar. In the graphic novel of ''

Fate/Apocrypha ''Fate/Apocrypha'' is a Japanese light novel series in Type-Moon's ''Fate'' franchise, written by Yūichirō Higashide and illustrated by Ototsugu Konoe. Type-Moon published five volumes from December 2012 to December 2014. A manga adaptati ...

'' by Yūichirō Higashide, Jack the Ripper is summoned as an Assassin class Servant of the Black Faction. Jack makes an appearance in ''

Record of Ragnarok is a Japanese manga series written by Shinya Umemura and Takumi Fukui and illustrated by Ajichika. It began in Coamix's (formerly also published by Tokuma Shoten) ''seinen'' manga magazine ''Monthly Comic Zenon'' in November 2017. It was l ...

'' as one of the combatants against the gods, he fights Heracles in the 4th round. In Hajime Isayama's

Attack on Titan is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Hajime Isayama. It is set in a world where humanity is forced to live in cities surrounded by three enormous walls that protect them from gigantic man-eating humanoids referred to as ...

, the character

Kenny Ackerman The ''Attack on Titan'' manga and anime series feature an extensive cast of fictional characters created by Hajime Isayama. The story is set in a world where humanity lives in cities surrounded by enormous walls; a defense against the Titans, gig ...

earns the moniker "Kenny the Ripper" after brutally killing and mutilating many members of the Military Police.

Music

Link Wray Fred Lincoln "Link" Wray Jr. (May 2, 1929 – November 5, 2005) was an American guitarist, songwriter, and vocalist who became popular in the late 1950s. ''Rolling Stone'' placed Wray at No. 45 of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time. In 2013 ...

's 1959 instrumental "Jack the Ripper" begins with an evil laugh and a woman's scream. These devices were also used in "

" (1963), originally recorded by

Screaming Lord Sutch Screaming Lord Sutch (10 November 1940 – 16 June 1999), who had his name legally changed from David Edward Sutch, was an English musician and perennial parliamentary candidate. He was the founder of the Official Monster Raving Loony Party an ...

and covered by

The White Stripes The White Stripes were an American rock duo from Detroit formed in 1997. The group consisted of Jack White (songwriter, vocals, guitar, piano, and mandolin) and Meg White (drums and vocals). After releasing several singles and three albums with ...

The Horrors The Horrors are an English rock band formed in Southend-on-Sea in 2005, consisting of lead vocalist Faris Badwan, guitarist Joshua Hayward, keyboardist and synthesizer player Tom Furse, bassist Rhys Webb, and drummer and percussionist Joe Spurg ...

Black Lips Black Lips is an American garage rock band from Atlanta, Georgia formed in 1999. History The band formed in Dunwoody, Georgia after guitarist Cole Alexander and bassist Jared Swilley left the Renegades, and guitarist Ben Eberbaugh left the Rer ...

The Sharks The Sharks were a rhythm and blues band from Albany N.Y. from early 80's to mid 90's and opened for numerous recording artists such as Tower of Power, Stevie Ray Vaughan. History The band members started by playing cover versions of songs by ne ...

and Jack & The Rippers. The mockumentary ''

This Is Spinal Tap ''This Is Spinal Tap'' (also known as ''This Is Spınal Tap: A Rockumentary by Martin Di Bergi'') is a 1984 American mockumentary film co-written and directed by Rob Reiner (in his feature directorial debut). The film stars Christopher Guest, M ...

'' (1984) features a vignette in which the band discusses the possibility of composing a rock opera about Jack the Ripper's life, called ''Saucy Jack'' in reference to the

Saucy Jacky postcard The "Saucy Jacky" postcard is the name given to a postcard received by the Central News Agency of London and postmarked 1 October 1888. The author of the postcard claims to have been the unidentified serial killer known as Jack the Ripper. Beca ...

supposedly sent by the Ripper. Metal bands are particularly keen to associate themselves with the "bloodshed and sleaze" image of the Ripper. Songs entitled " The Ripper" were recorded by

Judas Priest Judas Priest are an English heavy metal band formed in Birmingham in 1969. They have sold over 50 million albums and are frequently ranked as one of the greatest metal bands of all time. Despite an innovative and pioneering body of work in th ...

in 1976, and

Praying Mantis Mantises are an order (Mantodea) of insects that contains over 2,400 species in about 460 genera in 33 families. The largest family is the Mantidae ("mantids"). Mantises are distributed worldwide in temperate and tropical habitats. They ha ...

in 1979.Woods and Baddeley, p. 80 American

deathcore Deathcore is an extreme metal subgenre that combines death metal with metalcore. The genre consists of death metal guitar riffs, blast beats, and metalcore breakdowns. While there are some precursors to the concept of death metal fused with met ...

band

Whitechapel Whitechapel is a district in East London and the future administrative centre of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is a part of the East End of London, east of Charing Cross. Part of the historic county of Middlesex, the area formed ...

derived its name from the inner-city district

in London, the location of the Jack the Ripper murders. Accordingly, the band's debut album ''

The Somatic Defilement ''The Somatic Defilement'' is the debut studio album by American deathcore band Whitechapel. The album was released on July 31, 2007, through Candlelight Records and is their only release through this label before their move to Metal Blade the ...

'' is a

first-person narrative A first-person narrative is a mode of storytelling in which a storyteller recounts events from their own point of view using the first person It may be narrated by a first-person protagonist (or other focal character), first-person re-teller, ...

concept album A concept album is an album whose tracks hold a larger purpose or meaning collectively than they do individually. This is typically achieved through a single central narrative or theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, or lyrical. Som ...

based on Jack the Ripper. The Texan metal group Ripper went for a more direct choice of name, and vocalists with the groups Meridian and Sodomizer adopted the names Jack D. Ripper and Ripper, respectively. Gothic metalcore sextet

Motionless in White Motionless in White is an American metalcore band from Scranton, Pennsylvania. Formed in 2004, the band consists of lead vocalist Chris "Motionless" Cerulli, guitarists Ryan Sitkowski and Ricky "Horror" Olson, drummer Vinny Mauro and bassist Ju ...

released a song entitled "London in Terror" as a single from their debut album '' Creatures''. Extreme metal band

Macabre In works of art, the adjective macabre ( or ; ) means "having the quality of having a grim or ghastly atmosphere". The macabre works to emphasize the details and symbols of death. The term also refers to works particularly gruesome in natu ...

's album ''Murder Metal'' features a track called "Jack the Ripper"; the lyrics are simply the contents of the

Dear Boss letter The "Dear Boss" letter was a message allegedly written by the notorious unidentified Victorian serial killer known as Jack the Ripper. Addressed to the Central News Agency of London and dated 25 September 1888, the letter was postmarked and rec ...

. Songs inspired by the Ripper were recorded by artists as varied as

Morrissey Steven Patrick Morrissey (; born 22 May 1959), known professionally as Morrissey, is an English singer and songwriter. He came to prominence as the frontman and lyricist of rock band the Smiths, who were active from 1982 to 1987. Since then ...

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds are an Australian rock music, rock band formed in 1983 by vocalist Nick Cave, multi-instrumentalist Mick Harvey and guitarist-vocalist Blixa Bargeld. The band has featured international personnel throughout its care ...

The Legendary Pink Dots The Legendary Pink Dots (LPD) are an Anglo-Dutch experimental rock band formed in London in August 1980. In 1984, the band moved to Amsterdam, playing with rotating musicians and having, as core members, singer/songwriter/keyboardist Edward Ka- ...

Thee Headcoats Thee Headcoats was a band formed in Chatham, Kent, England in 1989, that was well known for its garage rock sound, explicitly sticking to this style on almost all of their albums. The band's signature sound as well as their prolific writing has ...

The Buff Medways Billy Childish (born Steven John Hamper, 1 December 1959) is an English painter, author, poet, photographer, film maker, singer and guitarist. Since the late 1970s, Childish has been prolific in creating music, writing and visual art. He has le ...

and

Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...

. Radio Werewolf's album ''The Fiery Summons'' features "From Hell" which uses words from the letters attributed to the Ripper. The

power metal Power metal is a subgenre of heavy metal combining characteristics of traditional heavy metal with speed metal, often within symphonic context. Generally, power metal is characterized by a faster, lighter, and more uplifting sound, in contra ...

band Falconer wrote a song entitled "Jack the Knife" for their album '' Grime vs. Grandeur''. This song is heavily inspired by the story of Jack the Ripper and makes many references to the mythical traits associated with him. The

Brazilian thrash metal Brazilian thrash metal is a musical movement that originated in the 1980s. Though not as large or well known as the North American or European thrash metal movements, it bridged the gap of the mid-1980s and the death metal scene later in the dec ...

band

Torture Squad Torture Squad is a Brazilian death/thrash metal band, founded in 1990. History Three years after being founded in 1990, the band entered a more professional phase, in a line-up with founder Cristiano Fusco on guitar, Wagner "Castor" on bass, Am ...

also recorded a song based on Jack the Ripper's legend. The song is titled "Leather Apron" and was included on the band's 2003 album '' Pandemonium''. In 2014, the online musical series

Epic Rap Battles of History ''Epic Rap Battles of History'' (ERB) is a YouTube web series and music project created by Peter "Nice Peter" Shukoff and Lloyd "EpicLLOYD" Ahlquist. The series pits historical and pop culture figures against one another in a rap battle format. ...

produced a video where Jack the Ripper raps against

Hannibal Lecter Dr. Hannibal Lecter is a Character (arts), fictional character created by the novelist Thomas Harris. Lecter is a serial killer who Human cannibalism, eats his victims. Before his capture, he was a respected Forensic psychiatry, forensic psychi ...

. "Respite on the Spitalfields," the closing track from Swedish metal band Ghost's 2022 album ''

Impera ''Impera'' is the fifth studio album by the Swedish rock band Ghost. Released on 11 March 2022, it was produced by Klas Åhlund who also produced the band's 2015 album, ''Meliora''. The release of ''Impera'' was preceded by three singles: th ...

'' is about Jack the Ripper.

Video games

* Jack the Ripper appeared in a

self-titled An eponym is a person, a place, or a thing after whom or which someone or something is, or is believed to be, named. The adjectives which are derived from the word eponym include ''eponymous'' and ''eponymic''. Usage of the word The term ''epon ...

1987

text adventure game '' Interactive fiction, often abbreviated IF, is software simulating environments in which players use text commands to control characters and influence the environment. Works in this form can be understood as literary narratives, either in the ...

. * The Sega

platform game A platform game (often simplified as platformer and sometimes called a jump 'n' run game) is a sub-genre of action video games in which the core objective is to move the player character between points in an environment. Platform games are charac ...

Master of Darkness ''Master of Darkness'' is a video game published by Sega and released for the Game Gear and the Master System. It was developed by SIMS. Overview ''Master of Darkness'' is a platform game, very similar to ''Castlevania''. The plot has the playe ...

'' (1992), reveals Jack to be an animated wax doll upon his defeat.Woods and Baddeley, p. 75 * In 1992, Jack the Ripper featured in the

dungeon crawl A dungeon crawl is a type of scenario in fantasy role-playing games in which heroes navigate a labyrinth environment (a "dungeon"), battling various monsters, avoiding traps, solving puzzles, and looting any treasure they may find. Video games an ...

style

role-playing video game A role-playing video game (commonly referred to as simply a role-playing game or RPG, as well as a computer role-playing game or CRPG) is a video game genre where the player controls the actions of a character (or several party members) immers ...

'' Waxworks''. * Jack is one of the historically-based characters in the ''

World Heroes is a series of four fighting games created originally by ADK with assistance from SNK for the Neo Geo family of arcade and home consoles. Over the years, the games have been ported to various non-SNK platforms as well including the Super NE ...

fighting game A fighting game, also known as a versus fighting game, is a video game genre, genre of video game that involves combat between two or more players. Fighting game combat often features mechanics such as Blocking (martial arts), blocking, grappli ...

series, making his debut in ''World Heroes 2: Jet'' in 1994. * A character named Jack the Ripper appeared as a character in the

Virtual Boy The Virtual Boy is a 32-bit tabletop portable video game console developed and manufactured by Nintendo. Released in 1995, it was marketed as the first console capable of displaying stereoscopic "3D" graphics. The player uses the console like ...

game ''

Jack Bros. ''Jack Bros.'' is an action game, action video game developed and published by Atlus for the Virtual Boy, released in late 1995 in Japan and North America. It is a spin-off from Atlus' video game series ''Megami Tensei'', and was the first entr ...

'' (1995). * ''

'' (1996) deals with a copycat serial killer in a futuristic New York City in the year 2040. * '' Duke Nukem: Zero Hour'' (1999) is a "light-hearted gunplay romp set in Victorian London" that features Jack the Ripper. * Jack is one of the principal villains in the action-horror '' Shadow Man'' (1999). * Jack appears in the gothic horror platform game ''

MediEvil 2 ''MediEvil 2'' (stylised as ''MediEvil II'' in North America) is a 2000 action-adventure game developed by SCE Cambridge Studio and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation. It is the second instalment of the ''MediEvil' ...

'' (2000) as a tall green monster with giant claws, long sharp teeth, and a top hat. * The ''

Metal Gear Solid is a series of techno-thriller stealth games created by Hideo Kojima. Developed and published by Konami, the first game, ''Metal Gear'', was released in 1987 for MSX home computers. The player often takes control of a special forces operat ...

'' series character Raiden is also known as Jack the Ripper. * In ''

'' (2003), the player takes on the role of a reporter sent to cover similar murders in New York in 1901, 13 years after the Ripper's murders, who later discovers are being committed by the actual Ripper. * '' Mystery in London: On the Trail of Jack the Ripper'' (2007) fuses the Ripper story with ''

''. * ''

Sherlock Holmes Versus Jack the Ripper ''Sherlock Holmes Versus Jack the Ripper'' is an adventure game for Microsoft Windows and Xbox 360, developed by Ukrainian studio Frogwares and distributed by Focus Home Interactive. It is the fifth game in the ''Sherlock Holmes'' series of ...

'' (2009) fuses the Ripper story with the fictional world of

. Jacob Levy shows up as the Ripper at the end of the game. * In ''

Splatterhouse is a beat 'em up arcade game developed and published by Namco. It was the first in a series of games released in home console and personal computer formats. This cult classic would later spawn the parody '' Splatterhouse: Wanpaku Graffiti'', the ...

'', Dr. Henry West became Jack the Ripper after a series of murders he committed after becoming "bored" while in London. * In the

hidden object game A hidden object game, also called hidden picture or hidden object puzzle adventure (HOPA), is a puzzle video game genre in which the player must find items from a list that are hidden within a scene. Hidden object games are a popular trend in casu ...

''Jack the Ripper: New York 1901'', published by

Microids Microids (formerly Microïds) is a French video game developer and publisher based in Paris. Founded in 1985 by Elliot Grassiano, it attained early success with games published through Loriciel in France and other partners (including Activisio ...

(

Anuman Interactive Microids (formerly Microïds) is a French video game developer and publisher based in Paris. Founded in 1985 by Elliot Grassiano, it attained early success with games published through Loriciel in France and other partners (including Activision ...

) in 2010, the player embodies James Palmer, a young journalist who reluctantly investigates the murder of two prostitutes and the possible return of Jack the Ripper. * ''

Assassin's Creed III ''Assassin's Creed III'' is a 2012 action-adventure video game developed by Ubisoft Montreal and published by Ubisoft for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii U, and Microsoft Windows. It is the fifth major installment in the ''Assassin's Creed'' series ...

'' (2012) features a multiplayer character called the Nightstalker, whose character bio says he is a serial killer known as "Joe the Ripper". * '' The Order: 1886'' (2015) features Lord Hastings, the main villain, as a vampire who is behind the Ripper killings. * Jack the Ripper is featured in a

DLC pack for ''

Assassin's Creed Syndicate ''Assassin's Creed Syndicate'' is an action-adventure video game developed by Ubisoft Quebec and published by Ubisoft. It was released on October 23, 2015, for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, and on November 19, 2015, for Microsoft Windows. It is th ...

'' (2015), in which he is a former member of the Assassin Brotherhood and his victims were Assassins he killed while seeking revenge on his former group. * Jack the Ripper appears ''

Fate/Grand Order is a free-to-play Japanese mobile game, developed by Lasengle (formerly Delightworks) using Unity, and published by Aniplex, a subsidiary of Sony Music Entertainment Japan. The game is based on Type-Moon's ''Fate/stay night'' franchise, and ...

'' (2015) as an Assassin class servant of the Chaldea Security Organization. * The Ripper's murders are the subject of the 2019 fantasy adventure game '' Dance of Death: Du Lac & Fey''. * The Ripper, a.k.a. Jack, serves as one of the Hunters in ''

Identity V ''Identity V'' is a free-to-play asymmetrical multiplayer survival horror game developed and published by Chinese company NetEase. It was released in July 2018 for mobile devices. It is available on the iOS App Store, Android Google Play Stor ...

'', released by

NetEase NetEase, Inc. () is a Chinese Internet technology company providing online services centered on content, community, communications, and commerce. The company was founded in 1997 by Ding Lei. NetEase develops and operates online PC and mobile game ...

Sports

In 2011 an independent minor league baseball team in

London, Ontario London (pronounced ) is a city in southwestern Ontario, Canada, along the Quebec City–Windsor Corridor. The city had a population of 422,324 according to the 2021 Canadian census. London is at the confluence of the Thames River, approximate ...

announced that it would be known as the

London Rippers The London Rippers were a professional baseball team based in London, Ontario, in Canada. The Rippers were a member of the Frontier League, which is not affiliated with Major League Baseball. They played their home games at Labatt Park, and were th ...

, with a logo featuring "Jack Diamond", their mascot, wearing a top hat and black cape reminiscent of the appearance of Jack the Ripper in the popular imagination. The choice drew criticism from the mayor and a local women's shelter.

Notes

References

* Cullen, Tom (1965). ''Autumn of Terror''. London: The Bodley Head. * Knight, Stephen (1976; rev. 1984; repr. 2000). ''Jack the Ripper: The Final Solution''. London: Bounty Books. . * Meikle, Denis (2002). ''Jack the Ripper: The Murders and the Movies''. Richmond, Surrey: Reynolds and Hearn Ltd. * Rumbelow, Donald (2004). ''The Complete Jack the Ripper: Fully Revised and Updated''. Penguin Books. . * Whitehead, Mark; Rivett, Miriam (2006). ''Jack the Ripper''. Harpenden, Hertfordshire: Pocket Essentials. * Wilson, Colin; Odell, Robin (1987) ''Jack the Ripper: Summing Up and Verdict''. Bantam Press. * Woods, Paul; Baddeley, Gavin (2009). ''Saucy Jack: The Elusive Ripper''. Hersham, Surrey: Ian Allan Publishing.

External links

Ripper fiction book reviews
from '' Casebook: Jack the Ripper'' {{Jack the Ripper media