Is it just me...?

[Dave James]

Hi all,

Is it just me, or can anyone else see a similarity of features in Tabram, Nichols and Chapman? They all have a similar chubby face and a remarkable likeness to each other.
Dave
http://i908.photobucket.com/albums/ac287/HowieNina/Easter%202011/Maryanichols.jpg

http://i908.photobucket.com/albums/ac287/HowieNina/Easter%202011/Annie_Chapman2.jpg
http://i908.photobucket.com/albums/ac287/HowieNina/Easter%202011/Marthatabram.jpg

[Howard Brown]

Dave:

No,its not just you. I also see a similarity between the three women's heads, made a little more similar by the fact that their eyes are closed .

[String]

Just had a thought, they do have chubby faces. Now these ladies as we all know were on the bread line, how come they don't look underweight?
From first impressions they look reasonably well fed.

[Howard Brown]

String:

I can't speak for these ladies, but if a diet consisting of a lot of starches was what they existed on primarily, that could be a factor. Avoid bread for a year and see how much weight you can lose.
Likewise, the intake of certain foods and drink which slows down the metabolic rate could be a factor. Its far harder to shed weight after the age of 40 for the average person and if the only exercise these ladies got was bending an elbow, that would be a factor.

[Dave James]

Hi all,

Just a quick thought, based on the similarity, is it possible that JtR started out by targeting 'homely' looking females? Perhaps they reminded him of his mother.

As the madness set in he then became less specific in his requirement.

Just a thought
Dave

[Adam Went]

All of a similar age bracket as well, excluding Mary Kelly, who was killed indoors. So it's possible that Jack thought the older women would be the easier targets and, presuming they were soliciting, the more desperate for doss or beer money and therefore the more willing to go where he wanted them to.

Cheers,
Adam.

[JTRSickert]

Dave:

No,its not just you. I also see a similarity between the three women's heads, made a little more similar by the fact that their eyes are closed .

Hey Howard,

Not entirely true. If you look real closely at the Nichols photograph, you'll notice her eyes are actually open, but only slightly.

[Howard Brown]

JT:

Got your p.m. Thats a story in itself,buddy. What a coincidence,eh ?

Anyway...her eyes aren't open,JT...they're borderline closed.

[Joan Tortorello]

String:

I can't speak for these ladies, but if a diet consisting of a lot of starches was what they existed on primarily, that could be a factor. Avoid bread for a year and see how much weight you can lose.
Likewise, the intake of certain foods and drink which slows down the metabolic rate could be a factor. Its far harder to shed weight after the age of 40 for the average person and if the only exercise these ladies got was bending an elbow, that would be a factor.

Very true but remember these women walked every where. They walked in a way I wish it was safe to walk here and now. I hop in the car to go to the 7-11 just down the street a stretch and the Walgren's around the far corner a piece. Their habits were far different than ours today. They needed more calories than we need today. They were more likely lumpy from having multiple children than what little they had to eat. Most were alcoholics and they don't eat when they can drink. Menopause was on them or swiftly approaching except in MJK's case. This would have also affected their figures. They didn't have the hormone therapies that are available today. These women didn't have sticky buns and coffee.

We just don't burn the calories in our normal course of the day that was burned in them olden days of yore. Also remember they wore their entire wardrobes at once which equals a lumpy look too. I'd say they just had matronly figures and were not too much overweight.

Weren't most of them undernourished? Wouldn't their faces be swollen from the trauma?

[Howard Brown]

Good points Joan.
Maybe there was a genetic predisposition within their individual families to be a little chubby looking. Eddowes certainly wasn't chubby looking.

[Dave James]

Hi Joan,

You make some good points about diet and lifestyle in your post. I should imagine that a large proportion of their diet would be along the lines of bread and cheese, potatoes and suchlike. I think that some of the postmortem results point to this, especially potatoes.

Again, you make a good point about walking everywhere. Hutch is a good case in point, walking back from Romford.

Returning to the similarities, I also think that Liz Stride and Eddowes have a similarity, going from the mortuary pictures. Both are slimmer. Unfortunately we don't know What Kelly looked like, but if she was similar to Liz And Kate, it could point to a change of sub target for his victims.

Of course this is all hypothesis, who knows what JtR was looking for and it could all be coincidence.

All the best,
Dave

[Joan Tortorello]

Also alcoholism gives one a puffy look.