well I finally got to meet jack. Or at least meet the area in which he once lived and learn how and perhaps why just under a century and a half ago he literally 'ripped' London apart.
I had booked ot join the 'authentic' jack the ripper tour a couple of weeks ago but due to numerous reasons I had to keep recheduling, but finally on tuesday night, I got to see first hand just what this character was a about and why whitechapel is still a haunting place to visit. I arrived with an hour and a half to kill, so i meandered the streets, its harded to explain the vibe of the place. Its like walking on a high wire, with two extremes on either side of you. On one side of the street is slums, derelict buildings, graffiti, street kids and dirty rubbish and homeless people with piles of rags and rubbish nestled next to them, and on the other side of the street, is the ultra trendy who are leaning outside bars and trying to look cool without trying. White Chapel is the curry end of town, the streets are awash with indians, morrocans, portugese and italians in some parts. Lebanese kebab shops adorn most corners and dingy dining places are alive with an array of spices and herbs that make your eyes tingle. I was looking for a quiet place to read my book whiel i waited and perhaps ahve a pub meal. No such thing in White Chapel. there are a few pubs, but the indian places far outweigh the pubs which normally dominate london's streets.
I come along to a little dot of a place called Toto's..an italian restaurant.. simply because i love the name and it has special meaning to me, I decide to step inside. There is an italian family by the register, they run the place and immediately assume I'm Italian and start pratelling away at me. I explain I'm from Australia and they dont believe me, apparently I have italian eyes and my body is very italy one of the brothers says. So i order with delight in italian, pretending for the next half an hour that I could perhaps be Italian deep down hehe. I order a marghertia pizza and a diet soft drink. The pizza arrives and it is massive and with just one bite, I'm transported back to italy, in rome when I had a margherita in Piazza Navona. It is the same and same alike. This family make only traditional italian and its gorgeous food. I relish each bite and suffer from reprimands when I struggle to finish the pizza. Then read my book with them curiously watching me.
I then go to pay and they tell me, no you dont have to pay, u enjoyed it so much it was our payment. I am just infitely touched and swear I', coming back to this place again. I just couldnt get over it and offered to pay again and they then start to look offended so I accept their sweet and lovely gesture. Their pizzas are only 5pound each anyway which is very cheap for over here and they made me feel so welcome, so i decide I am definitely bringing some of the girls here for a bite to each another time soon, if not I'll just come back on my own..
So will a full belly, a warmed heart and a smile on my face I trundle back to the station to meet the tour group. I notice members of hte tour immediately, straggley groups of one or two or three people worriedly checking watches and looking about. a coupel of loud americans confirm it for me and finally a man dressed in all black witha quick effecient manner arrives. I get my name written and ticked off and we are underway. We stop for an introduction just on the main street of Whitechapel and I strugggle to get in the mood for it. The cars are homking and beeping and everyone is rushing about. Is this really the place where Jack the Ripper once stalked and drove the fear into many a londoners heart?
We make our way over to the White Hart pub, where one of the victims used to live and which is also famously known as the 'jack the ripper' pub. And its then the adventure beginis, the cobbled stone archway hides an old wooden door and in the middle of a story, it creaks open and im not the only one in the group to jump. the mood has been set. its time to meet jack.
The tour guide is brusque and slighly imaptient, he has animaginative face and a passionate story telling voice. It transports you back and you can't help but imagiien what things hmust have been like back then. as he spins his brilliantly told history of the lives of the women who were tragically murdered, we see buildings fromt eh era, an original streetlamp where a wtiness saw jacks face and also teh copy of the original letter written and sent to the local newspaper.
Being a journalist I know a beat up story when I see one, and my theory is the journo wrote it to sell more papers which is quite a popular theory, in one part in the letter it reads ' I am down on whores and I wont' stop slashing them til I'm caught' a chilling phrase but also one that a journalist would love to work into a headline.. hmm I am unconvinced thats its written by his hand at this point...
As the light darkens, it is still light here at 9pm, so it wasnt completely dark but the dark allies do emit that sense of slummy atmosphere that is synomous with the time. We are shown pictures of the victims, their injuries and etc.. it is quite graphic and while i dont particuarly want to have these images saved into my memory, I am here for the experience so I take a quick peak.
However its not all ghost stories and scary stuff.. the tour guide who was in the middle of telling us where one woman was the night she was murdered and what happened right before she was never seen again, when a car full of teen lebanese boys zoomed down the street in their souped up subaru and did a ali g moment of bouncing the car.. and then reved away..complete with screeching tyres and smoke... 'yeah yeah jack the rippers the man'. one of the them yelled out...
the tour guide looks exasperated and mutters 'hooligans' to himself, i giggle at the reference lol.. I cant remember the last time someone said ' those dammn hooligans' unless it is of course alf from home and away hehehe. i almost said ' well stone the crows' but somehow I didnt think he'd appreciate my contribution.
and of course the loud americans dawdled, they spoke on their cell phones and were the last to eachs top for the story but the tour guide, while visibly annoyed kept his patience. I nattered away to him for a bit, asking his theories on this and that, he has done several documentary films on the mystery behind jack and its all rather interesting.
We finally come to the last stop and its there that he reaches a conclusive point, directly pointing the finger towards one particular theory.
his theory is that some of the witnesses which saw two of the vitcims with a man before they were murdered, were all jewish and none wanted to make a comment on the record for fear of incriminating one of their own. So his theory is that it was a member of the jewish commnunity who was a barber ( they doubeld as surgeons back then) and they caught the man, but due to unwilingness for witesses to testify they instead sent him to an asslyum where he was imprisoned until he died. Hence hte reason why there were no more kilings after the final one.
The last murder was very graphic and very full on. Jack had pretty much disfigured her entirely and I cant see how any murderer would stop once hed reached that point. I wasn't quite satisfied with that explanation. It didnt rule out why there were spottings of a man with a top hat and coat, the grapes found near the women, the rumours of gentry or a member of the gentry being invovled and I would like to know why, a member of the jewish community, who would have no doubt sisters and members of his family being proststitutes, have just a violent anger towards them, it would seem more likely a memebr of the gentry would have that feeling..additionally jack took out parts of the body without affecting other organs which seems far too professional for someone who is a barber /rough surgeon, on one woman he had taken out the womb, the liver, kidneys, all without disturbing other parts, and also the intenstines.. all rather disgusting but intriguing.
call me morbid but its a compelling story.
hence why the story is always creating debate, ont he night I went there were five other tours doing the rounds which was a huge amount but at the end, we had no further answers, just more questions.
What I do know was I saw a seedier side of london, was given great insight into how things were back then and trod the cobblestones where fear itself once gripped the hearts of many women in old white chapel...
til next time guys when i fill u all in on the fun and frivolty of pamplona, running of the bulls!.. ill be out of touch for 7 days and back on deck in the following weekend or week so be patient with emails.
cya
xx
jess
