Lunar Or Cosmic Influence ?

[JTRSickert]

Hey everyone. Being all snowed in here this weekend gave me time to think. There is something I wanted to ask? Has anyone ever considered the possibility that JTR was influenced by various phases of the moon or by maybe some celestial event that happened in the autumn of 1888? We've all heard stories by police officers in various countries who say that, when the moon is full, they receive a lot of calls and respond to a lot of people acting violently. So, has anyone checked the moon phases for that autumn or does anyone know of any cosmic event (i.e. planetary alignment, meteor or comet shower, etc,) that shows a minor pattern with the crimes committed by the Ripper? If so, I apologize for another useless thread. But if someone has already researched this topic, I would be interested in the findings.

[How Brown]

We've all heard stories by police officers in various countries who say that, when the moon is full, they receive a lot of calls and respond to a lot of people acting violently -JTR Sickert

JT... I have reservations about whether the Moon affects anyone any differently when its full or in quarter phase. Affectng ocean waves and brain waves might be two different animals,buddy.

I'm sure some people would argue that and hopefully they will turn up on your thread......

[admin tim]

This could be a possible explanation. The last time Howard gave someone a full moon in Philadelphia, they did get pretty violent.

[Sam Flynn]

The following gives the position and phase of the Moon on the relevant dates (calibrated with the latitude/longitude and elevation of East London), together with cloud-cover data, at the approximate times of the victims' deaths:

7158

You'd have to have been south of the equator to see the Moon at the time of Kelly's death, where - presumably - they didn't have 100% cloud cover either :)

[String]

Here's some events my astronomy software generated. If I find more I'll post:
I'm sorry about the formatting it's difficult to do on this:
Starry Night generated events from 31/7/1888 until 31/12/1888
The table reads is as follows:
Name , Start Date, Start Time, End Date, End Time

Last Quarter Moon 30/7/1888 20:30 None None
Saturn Conjunction 2/8/1888 00:19 None None
Partial Solar Eclipse 7/8/1888 17:01 7/8/1888 19:11
New Moon 7/8/1888 18:22 None None
First Quarter Moon 14/8/1888 16:44 None None
Jupiter Eastern Quadrature 20/8/1888 06:50 None None
Full Moon 21/8/1888 16:22 None None
Mercury Superior Conjunction 24/8/1888 01:25 None None
Neptune Western Quadrature 25/8/1888 02:52 None None
Pluto Western Quadrature 28/8/1888 22:00 None None
Last Quarter Moon 29/8/1888 14:18 None None
New Moon 6/9/1888 04:58 None None
First Quarter Moon 12/9/1888 22:00 None None
Full Moon 20/9/1888 05:26 None None
Last Quarter Moon 28/9/1888 08:32 None None
New Moon 5/10/1888 14:36 None None
Mercury Greatest Eastern Elongation 8/10/1888 12:44 None None
Uranus Conjunction 10/10/1888 12:23 None None
First Quarter Moon 12/10/1888 05:30 None None
Full Moon 19/10/1888 21:10 None None
Last Quarter Moon 28/10/1888 01:56 None None
New Moon 4/11/1888 00:04 None None
First Quarter Moon 10/11/1888 16:16 None None
Saturn Western Quadrature 11/11/1888 22:29 None None
Mercury Greatest Western Elongation 17/11/1888 08:55 None None
Full Moon 18/11/1888 15:16 None None
Neptune Opposition 22/11/1888 17:27 None None
Last Quarter Moon 26/11/1888 17:22 None None
New Moon 3/12/1888 10:08 None None
Jupiter Conjunction 8/12/1888 22:32 None None
First Quarter Moon 10/12/1888 06:46 None None
Full Moon 18/12/1888 10:42 None None
Last Quarter Moon 26/12/1888 06:00 None None
Mercury Superior Conjunction 28/12/1888 19:32 None None

[String]

In case anyones interested here's a few pics of the moon on the days in question:

Nichols:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2732/4200543779_3cba5a9c9e_o.jpg

Chapman:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2710/4200249712_58918693b9_o.jpg

Stride and Eddows:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2582/4199495737_e52cea5e87_o.jpg

last but not least Kelly:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2519/4200249674_7b18b2d69b_o.jpg

fairly dark nights.

[How Brown]

Very nicely done String. Thanks very much.:thumb:

[Sam Flynn]

last but not least Kelly:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2519/4200249674_7b18b2d69b_o.jpg

fairly dark nights.
Very dark in Kelly's case - even without the clouds, as the Moon was well below the horizon. As it was in Chapman's case - but there, of course, the glow of the about-to-rise Sun makes the point rather academic.

Great pictures, by the way, String.

[JTRSickert]

Thank you all for the info. Very interesting

It also shows that there was no moon illumination for any of the murders, making the killer's quickness at mutilating and removal of the organs quite extraordinary.

[Nemo]

I think the lunacy theory was a favourite of Forbes Winslow

[String]

Thank you all for the info. Very interesting

It also shows that there was no moon illumination for any of the murders, making the killer's quickness at mutilating and removal of the organs quite extraordinary.

I always thought that myself. I amongst others even had the idea that he carried some kind of lamp.

[JTRSickert]

Hey everyone.

Hope everyone had a great christmas

Anyway, was there any celestial event during any of the murdrs? A planetary alignment? meteor shower? Any comet smake their way close to Earth?

[Sam Flynn]

Anyway, was there any celestial event during any of the murdrs? A planetary alignment? meteor shower? Any comets make their way close to Earth?The planets were strung across the ecliptic as they'd normally be. Meteor showers happen at basically the same time each year (the most consistently spectacular being the Perseids, which peak around the 12th August). There were no comets visible to the naked eye and, as far as I'm aware, there was no "close approach" of any of the less visible ones.

All in all, a pretty "average" time, celestially speaking. Indeed, the only significant astronomical event I can think of in 1888 was the discovery (in February) of the Horsehead Nebula in Orion, when one Wilhelmina Fleming spotted it on a photographic plate.

[Nemo]

Aleister Crowley constructed astrological charts for the times of the murders

If I remember correctly, he thought the dates were specifically chosen to coincide with something happening with Saturn and Mercury on the horizon

[Sam Flynn]

Aleister Crowley constructed astrological charts for the times of the murders. If I remember correctly, he thought the dates were specifically chosen to coincide with something happening with Saturn and Mercury on the horizonYou can see a few of the planets in the images I posted on the first page, although the horizon isn't visible in the Kelly screenshot. From what I can see, there's not much consistency in the disposition of any of the planets at the times of the victims' deaths.

[Nemo]

He wasn't far off Sam - though I don't consider it a solution

Kelly - Mercury on horizon 5:25 am
Eddowes - Saturn on horizon 2:10 am
Chapman - Mercury on horizon 7:20 am
Nichols - Saturn on horizon 3:45 am

Note Mercury and Saturn alternate

Times are approximate as I forgot to put the location as London instead of Shropshire but it won't be far off

[Sam Flynn]

He wasn't far off Sam - though I don't consider it a solution

Kelly - Mercury on horizon 5:25 am
Eddowes - Saturn on horizon 2:10 am
Chapman - Mercury on horizon 7:20 am
Nichols - Saturn on horizon 3:45 am

Note Mercury and Saturn alternate

Times are approximate as I forgot to put the location as London instead of Shropshire but it won't be far offIndeed, Nemo, although it appears that Crowley was way off with the times of death, it seems - either that, or he saw a much more complex relationship between the position of the planets and the times of death. If so, I can't quite imagine a serial killer saying to himself: "Right, I've got to kill somebody RIGHT NOW, because Saturn is going to be on the horizon in precisely fifty-eight minutes' time".

[Nemo]

Maybe he didn't have a watch

He may have needed to commit the murder before retiring to some location where he could "Hail" the planet as it rose above the horizon

The murder need not necessarily have been required to occur at precisely the time that the planet appeared

Complete rubbish really...

[Sam Flynn]

Complete rubbish really...
... I'd expect nothing less from Crowley :)