What happened to Tom Slemen?

[WTM]

Several years ago, Tom slemen and his suspect, Colonel Conder, were all the rage. Today they have disappeared altogether. Does anyone know what has happened here?

[George]

Hello Tim:

This is the first I've heard of this "suspect". Who was he and why was he considered a "suspect" by at least one person?

Also, I've been away from the forums for a long time as I just haven't been feeling up to much. Has anything significant developed in your research, Ivor, or in general on JtR or posted on this theses forums?

Thank you very much indeed. Good to be back.

George

[WTM]

Hi, George:

We have noticed your absence, and we are sorry to hear that it has been due to your health. We had hoped that you had won the lottery or something.

Now, this is about 4-5 years ago. Tom Slemen, who has a website (you will have to do a search for it, as it has changed URL's several times) is from Merseyside, and is one of those ghost-chasing supernatural phenomena types. He has written a whole slough of books about hauntings and such, and has, or used to have, a radio program originating from Merseyside.

He announced, with great fanfare, that he had 'solved' the case and had a new suspect that had never before been known. This turned out to be Colonel Conder, who served with Warren, I think, in India or some such, where, of course, he had learned mystic arts.

The killings were revenge killings on his part, since the women in Whitechapel had stolen from him and split the proceeds. Thus he needed to kill them all, and did so in a manner meant to serve as a warning to others of their kind.

Or something like that. The whole story is probably on the Casebook CD. But Slemen never did get around to revealing the full story and has since dropped off of the radar.

It should be noted that Slemen has fierce supporters and has also sued many in the past who have dared to disagree with him, mainly over slander and libel charges.

We had to admit that Conder WAS a 'new' suspect, but the whole of his circumstances sounded like fantasy by a man who thinks the X-Files is reality TV. I don't know his status today; hence the question.

[David Knott]

Hi all,

Slemen's theory used to be available online, but I can't find it any more. Part of his reason for suspecting Conder was to do with the markings on Eddowe's face. According to Slemen, the cuts were ancient Hebrew and related to Warren's findings when excavating under Temple Mount. Slemen argued that Conder was the only other person who knew about the find .. so he must be Jack the Ripper. Not surprisingly, he failed to elaborate on this.
I think that anything emanating from Mr Slemen needs to be treated with caution.
www.geocities.com/Area51/Shuttle/9089/haunted.html
Follow this link to find out all about his story of the Valentine Ghost of Sefton Park - supposedly a true story from his Haunted Liverpool collection.
I suspect that most forumites will recognise it immediately!

David

[How Brown]

Dave and Tim.....I tried to e-mail Slemen and also access his alternative site........both times coming up empty. Thats a strange story he has up on the URL provided by David.....A William D'onston !



George: Great to see you back ! :D

[WTM]

Good old Dogpile found it for me again.

http://thomasslemen.tripod.com

This is about the 4th URL the man has had - probably stays ahead of the lynch mobs that way.

For a real knee-slapper that George should appreciate, try his

http://thomasslemen.tripod.com/maybrick.html

for the real story about James Maybrick.

However, he seems now to have excised all discussion about Conder and Jack the Ripper. Must be poltergeists at work. ;)

[WTM]

http://www.msn.fullfeed.com/~scribe/digest20013.htm

http://www.mara.org.uk/reignier_conder.htm

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/p.walker490/interview.htm

http://www.mara.org.uk/Jack_Ripper.htm

http://www.100megsfree4.com/farshores/nripper.htm

http://ssmackdown.fragism.com/biopages.htm


Who says we don't deliver the goods? :p

[How Brown]

I was able to contact Tom. He has informed me that he has a lot of information that will prove Colonel Conder to be the Ripper.

He intends to publish a book later on this year( 2004).

[WTM]

I'll believe it when I see it and probably not even then.

Slemen has a credibility gap the size of the Grand Canyon when it comes to JTR.

Besides, this On the Trail of a Dead Man guy has already solved the case. ;)

[How Brown]

Tim....I smell envy here ! Miles did put in 7 months after all. :D

[How Brown]

This excerpt is from the one of the websites Tim mentioned.....Here from http://ssmackdown.fragism.com/biopages.htm ""Jack the Ripper" (5 Kills) The father of modern serial killing, and one who got away with it. Jack terrorized the streets of London in the late nineteenth century and brutally murdered five helpless women. To date no one knows who Jack the Ripper was. Like the minions that followed his example, Jack enjoyed taunting the police and would send letters to the press boasting of his deeds. He practiced cannibalism and tore apart the internal organs of four of his victims. Once he mailed to a newspaper a piece of the kidney from one of the victims when authorities doubted the authenticity of his correspondence.

Two amateur investigators believe an army Colonel from Cheltenham was Jack the Ripper. The pair of researchers are convinced that Colonel Claude Reignier Conder, from Tivoli, was the notorious murderer who killed five prostitutes in 1888 in London. Many famous Victorians were linked with the case, including writer Lewis Carroll and Queen Victoria's grandson Prince Albert Victor, but crime writer Tom Slemen and criminologist Keith Andrews revealed that they have uncovered new evidence which proves Conder was the killer.

According to the researchers the cryptic messages carved on the victims' bodies and scrawled on a wall at the crime scenes were in ancient languages which Colonel Conder knew from working as an archaeologist in the Middle East. "Jack the Ripper was a brilliant 39-year-old British intelligence officer, archaeologist, writer, map-maker and trained killer," wrote Tom Slemen. "The man Keith and I know to be the White chapel murderer has lain in Cheltenham Cemetery for 91 years. His name was Claude Reignier Conder. He was born in Cheltenham and had many relatives there. I believe he has descendants living in the area today. He was not suspected of being the Ripper at the time of the killings and even so-called 'Ripperologists' will not have heard of him."

The pair also say 19th century Metropolitan Police chief Sir Charles Warren - who was in charge of the hunt for the Ripper - was a close friend of Conder's. They claim Warren, who went to school in Cheltenham, knew his friend was the killer but took the secret to his grave when he died in 1927. Both archaeologists, Conder and Warren gained worldwide fame by excavating hundreds of sites in the Middle East between 1867 and 1882 and wrote an international bestselling book about their finds.

They discovered the remains of King Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem, including artifacts and rings, which Mr. Slemen says sparked a chain reaction which led to the gruesome murders. The rings and other personal items were stolen from Conder's house by prostitute Annie Chapman, who was later killed by Jack the Ripper. According to Slemen, "All of his victims had known one another and had all benefited from Chapman's robbery."

The writer says that Colonel Conder retired to Cheltenham in the early 1890s and lived in the town until his death after a stroke in 1910. His wife Myra died in 1934 and is buried in the same grave.

[WTM]

Read it and weep (or laugh).

http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Star/6303/rippersuspects.html

This is from the guy who has "proved beyond doubt" that Colonel Conder was JTR? I've still got a lot to learn, I guess.....

[admin tim]

http://www.100megsfree4.com/farshores/nripper.htm

Dunno how old this is, but I've just run across it. If CTG comments that it is old and hoary, I'll move it into the new URL's From the Crypt forum.