'Jack the Ripper's Secret Confession'

[David Monaghan]

Jack the Ripper's Secret Confession - 30 points of reference

Well observed points on my thesis that matches Walter, author of My Secret Life to Jack the Ripper.

I had chosen a very specific path: to look at what the Ripper did, and cast around for those capable of doing it in 1888 who had and interest in, and access to the type of victims.

When you speak to homicide police these days it has been come to known as "victimology". In fact that is pretty much all police have got when they look at an unsolved crimes - who the victims were, and what happened to them.

My efforts have not been to look at what I think the Whitechapel killer was, but to what he did. The Type of crimes show clearly who he was - Jack the Ripper was a sexual motivated killer. Just what his sexual motive was is as dark, and as twisted as anything we could imagine.

By chance, I had extended access to analysis the writings of Walter. I became very disturbed by the extent of the match to the psyche of those very, very few men capable and motivated to commit such extreme acts.

Walter is the candidate with by the far most detail of the psycho-sexual motivation to use and abuse prostitutes in London in 1888, and the generation leading up to that year.

The million and quarter words of his autobiography are both horrible, and horribly dull, in much parts. But they are of extra-ordinary value to anyone attempting to understand the darkness behind the murder of the Ripper victims - whether or not you might agree with my conclusioins Walter is prime candidate as Whitechapel killer.

Look forward to more debate and thoughts


David Monaghan
Author
Jack the Ripper's Secret Confession
Constable/Skyhorse 2010


There

Again there is no evidence of sexual anything in the Ripper killings.

I admire your list..its a lot better than many....but its mostly built around matching Walter to what one thinks or supposes JtR to have been.

Not to what he did.

Imagining we know what JtR was like or what drove him on (if anything) and using those imaginings or preconceptions (mostly unfounded and rarely evidenced) is surely an exercise in futility?

p

[Mr. Poster]

Hi ho David

The Type of crimes show clearly who he was - Jack the Ripper was a sexual motivated killer. Just what his sexual motive was is as dark, and as twisted as anything we could imagine.

It is and always will be, without semen evidence, conjecture as to his motives.

he might hav ejust been fairly pissed off when he was accosted. Maybe sex never entered his head. Not all killers are sexually driven.

Walter is the candidate with by the far most detail of the psycho-sexual motivation to use and abuse prostitutes in London in 1888, and the generation leading up to that year.

There is no evidence at all that "Walter" wasnt just making up what he imagined to be a pervy titillatory text.

Walter is prime candidate as Whitechapel killer

Or a sad git with a febrile imagination. He wouldnt be the first chap to write over the top violent porn to sell a book or two.

In that respect he is a bit like all the authors (current company excepted) who write sexual sadist serial killing books replete with vivid descriptions of mutilation.

p

[JDombrowski89]

Hi David,

Thanks for coming along. Look forward to reading your book at some point.

Have to say I agree with a lot of what the other gents here say. Just to give my two cents worth to a few points:



Since JTR killed his victims before inflicting mutilations on them it was unlikely he was a sadist.



None of this is evidence of a serial killer. "Half murdered" is a typically vague Victorian term, was she in a critical state of health or roughed up a bit?



So wouldn't he murder young street girls? Teenagers or such like? Middle aged hardened prostitutes would be unlikely to satiate this desire.



Definetly not concrete evidence. A lot of men have weird and violent sexual fantasies, but don't go on to be serial killers. And a lot of serial killers held seemingly normal family lives, with their loved ones oblivious to their fantasies.



Medical experts of the day couldn't agree on this.



Mary Kelly was buried under the name "Marie Jeannette Kelly" not her supposed married name. We don't even know if she ever had been married or if it was just a sob story she told to Barnett.

I whole heartedly agree, Big Jon 100% and welcome to the forum, David.

Regards,
Justin

[SirRobertAnderson]

Henry Ashbee

Hi David .

I see from poking around the Net that several "authorities" believe Walter was a gent by the name of Henry Spencer Ashbee, a bibliographer and book collector.

Do you agree with this surmise ?

(Simply asking, for the obvious reason that it would logically follow that Ashbee was the Ripper.)

[Adam Went]

Hi David,

Just following on from Sir Bob's question, do you think that if Walter was Henry Spencer Ashbee, that he might not have been a bit too much of a public figure in the Victorian era, and therefore much easier to recognise if out in public? If this was the case, it would doubtlessly make it more difficult for him to commit such murders out in the open.

Personally, for reasons I've already mentioned, I don't think he was Ashee, but you're the author, so I'll await with interest.....

Cheers,
Adam.

[Mr. Poster]

Hi ho

I went to some lengths to find out who is a reputable candidate for "Walter" apart from Ashbee and located an authorative academic study on the matter postulating one "most likely" candidate who should also probably be a Ripper suspect.

This is an excellent read and fully explores the authorship MSL anf other things in a quite analytical way.

Bullough uses a landmark rape trial to elucidate information on his candidate which was mentioned in the text and which Bullough feels he has correctly identified. The candidates name turns out to be a Charles Stanley (b. 1809, d. 1897)

The article in question is:

Vern L. Bullough, Who wrote my secret life? An evaluation of possibilities and a tentative suggestion; Sexuality & Culture, Springer New York ISSN 1095-5143 (Print) 1936-4822, Issue Volume 4, Number 1 / March, 2000, DOI 10.1007/s12119-000-1011-y Pages 37-60.

And Prof. Bullough seems (actually I think he is deceased) quite reputable before anyone starts bilking.

Actually the entire article is quite interesting from an analytical perspective as the author teases out the clues.

p

[Adam Went]

Mr. Poster:

I can't judge the article because I haven't read it, but it seems to have a similar problem with it right from the start that Ashbee does as a candidate, and that is that Walter was born in or around 1820. He says that his first experience with a prostitute took place in the company of his "Cousin Fred" in around 1836, which makes sense, as it would make Walter 16 at the time.

That makes Charles Stanley too old for these dates to be correct, and Henry Spencer Ashbee, who was born in 1834, too young. It could be possible of course that one or the other of these two really was "Walter" and just listed false dates to further hide their identity, but I don't see why they would bother - nobody to this day has been able to work out his identity for certain!!

Cheers,
Adam.

[Mr. Poster]

Hi Adam

Drop me a email at larsposter@gmail.com and I will send it tonite.

p

[Mike Covell]

Welcome to the forums David, it's nice to have an author release a suspect book then face the onslaught of bloodthirsty ripperologists. I applaud your balls!

This morning I took delivery of the Constable and Robinson Ltd 2010 paperback edition.

I rarely judge a book by it's cover, apart from Andrew Cook's, but who decided a woman with her tats out, and a man in toff's costume would make a great cover? I have two children, and now have to wait until they are in bed before I peruse the book, or hide it in a copy of The Beano.

Who was responsible for the short section on Robert D'Onston Stephenson?

Who decided that Neuasthenia could be faked, despite the masses of articles to the contrary in the British Medical Journal during the period?

What evidence do you gents have to prove Stephenson was an occultist?

How could Crowley recieve ties from Stephenson after his death? Wouldn't Stephenson have to be alive to pass them on?

Other than that I am quite enjoying the book.

[David Monaghan]

Jack the Ripper's Secret Confession

Welcome to the forums, David.

So, let me get this clear: Although all but one of Jack the Ripper's victims were in their 40's, Walter must have been the man because he was a "paedophile pervert pornographer" ??

I'll just address a few of the points you listed as well.....

Point 6: Just to make it clear, none of the Ripper victims were actually raped by the killer.

Point 10: This was because the prostitute had earlier agreed to a price of 10 shillings, and then tried to milk 5 pounds out of Walter. He also called out to the police. It wasn't like he randomly decided to threaten somebody with a poker just for the sake of it....

Point 13: Only one of the murders was actually committed in Whitechapel. Two were in Spitalfields, one was in St. George's-In-The-East and one was in Aldgate.

Point 19: Mary Ann Nichols had this bonnet well before she met her killer. Before leaving her lodging house that night, she said "See what a jolly bonnet I've got now..."

Point 24: The key had been missing for some time. Unknown to everybody else, the way to get in was to simply reach through the window and release the latch from the inside.

That'll do for now.
Also, how do you explain the fact that multiple witnesses described a man aged between late 20's - mid 30's, when "Walter", by 1888, was nearing 70?

Cheers,
Adam.

Dear Adam, thanks for the welcome.

"paedophile pervert pornograper"
In the 1880s, the relationship between Walter, paedophilia, and prostitutes over 40 was multiple. In general, older women who posed as, or sometimes were, "aunts" offered girls virginities for sale in what sadly was an established market since the defloration mania took hold two generations before. The system outlined in WT Stead's "Maiden Tribute to Babylon" investigation in 1885, is described from a users point of view in Walter's My Secret Life. The memoir describes the somewhat Fred/Rose West or Brady/Hindley relationship he would cultivate with older women he had watch his sexual abuse of the youngsters. By 1888, when the Criminal Law Amendment Act raised the age of consent to 16, such as men as Walter were in jeopardy from older prostitutes blowing whistles on the trade. In the first attempts to stop child sex in Whitechapel, the Salation Army women were set up the Hanbury Street Rescue home were physically attacked. Rebecca Jarrett, an over 40s prostitute, was targetted for murder for telling of the trade. On one level the crimes were "murder as advertisement, as Stead put it. In Walter's case a warning to those who knew the virgin trade to stay silent.

Point 6 - rape by the killer
Every convicted mutilation murderer of women has been found to be a practiced rapist. Mostly recently Robert Napper, where he committed possible 70 rapes as the Plumstead Rapist, ramped up to the knife killings of Samantha and Jazmine Bissett and Rachel Nickell.
Whoever we are looking for in the Ripper crime series had a history as a rapist. As for lack of semen at the scene, that is a mystery, but only to those without understanding of the concept of "lustmord". As Krafft-Ebing described the concept two years before the Ripper murders, the murder is he sex act. That killing takes the place of the rape. It may be relevant that Walter speaks of a "letch" for hurting a women during sex as more exciting to him then the "spend".

Point 10
Random threat with a poker
You a precisely right. Walter is a man who will up a confrontation over shillings for sex into a threat of murder with a weapon. This is precisely the man who would be sought for a crime such as the Ripper's - one who could be shamed into violence by sexual encounter, one willing to turn on a prostitute with a show of force way out of proportion to the offence. I presume you are not suggesting Walter was entitld to beat and older women and a dress lodger with a steel rod over a monetary dispute? If you not not think so, you may see this is indicative of the murderous rage he was capable of during enounters with prostitutes when he felt slighted.

Point 13: Location of murders
The series was known as the "Whitechapel Murders", hence my use of the terms murder inWhitechapel. Though two were in Spitalfields, one was in St. George's-In-The-East and one was in Aldgate, a local to say, Commercial Street (such as I was for many years) would know this as one very tight localtiy.


Point 19: Mary Ann Nichols had this bonnet well before she met her killer.
Precisely. Walter used bonnet's as longer term grooming aids to win sexual favours. My suggestion is he had met Mary before. With older women, he lavished favour to sway them provide children to him for sex. He would hwoever handover handkerchiefs immediately as payment for a encounter, when hew as impoverished.

Point 24: Mary Jane Kelly's key had been missing for some time.
Walter says he knew Mary Davis (Mary Jane Kelly) for some time. He saw her nightly for several weeks, keeping her from her regulars. He used key stealing to control such situations.

Mulitple Witnesses ses Younger Man
You are indeed right it is difficult matter. But not one supporters of aged Ripper's such as Gull or Timblety would lost sleep over. Whatever the witneses who saw the supposed Riper, the police found their identification an ultimate failure, they picked up Francis Tumblety, nearing 60, as the Ripper among their suspects. My starting point is not tied to what the witnesses saw. If one suggests every witness is correct, the point about Walter is that he was a specialist in stalking prostitutes unseen to their most recent encounters with me, then striking to fulfill a fetish for "buttered buns". Secondly, Walter lurked at hidden urination points to make good on his other unsavoury pecadillo. Both would enable him to stalk, or wait unseen, for a victim to arrive after the encounter with the younger man the witnesses saw.

Really appreciate your points. Well spotted and well thought out.
best

David Monaghan
Author
Jack the Ripper's Secret Confession

[David Monaghan]

Was Ashbee Walter/Ripper?

Hi David .

I see from poking around the Net that several "authorities" believe Walter was a gent by the name of Henry Spencer Ashbee, a bibliographer and book collector.

Do you agree with this surmise ?

A good question.

Nigel Cawthorne and I looked closely at him, but have ruled Ashbee out -
although it was said by Richard Burton's biographer that Ashbee knew "the sordid purlieus of Whitechapel".

Our logic against Ashbee as Walteris this said:

Ashbee was a wealthy man whose financial situation did
not fluctuate like Walter’s. His main claim to fame was the
three-volume Bibliography of Prohibited Books published
under the pseudonym Pisanus Fraxi. Walter showed little
interest in erotica. He seems to have had difficulties procuring
relatively common books such as an illustrated copy of Fanny
Hill, even saying that he thought it was written by a woman,
although he may be being disingenuous. Ashbee was a noted
linguist. Walter was fluent in French and knew some Italian,
but was poor in German and Spanish. Both travelled widely,
but Ashbee wintered in Spain for many years, while Walter
only seems to have visited there once.

David Monaghan
Author
Jack the Ripper's Secret Confession

[Howard Brown]

Good questions Mike...thanks for asking David those very ones.

No one goes to a hospital and claims they have that complaint. Its not up to the patient to do the diagnosis of what the patient has.

[David Monaghan]

Stephenson & Jack The Ripper's Secret Confession

Welcome to the forums David, it's nice to have an author release a suspect book then face the onslaught of bloodthirsty ripperologists. I applaud your balls!

This morning I took delivery of the Constable and Robinson Ltd 2010 paperback edition.

I rarely judge a book by it's cover, apart from Andrew Cook's, but who decided a woman with her tats out, and a man in toff's costume would make a great cover? I have two children, and now have to wait until they are in bed before I peruse the book, or hide it in a copy of The Beano.
Who was responsible for the short section on Robert D'Onston Stephenson?
Who decided that Neuasthenia could be faked, despite the masses of articles to the contrary in the British Medical Journal during the period?

What evidence do you gents have to prove Stephenson was an occultist?

How could Crowley recieve ties from Stephenson after his death? Wouldn't Stephenson have to be alive to pass them on?

Other than that I am quite enjoying the book.

Hi Mike,

I am glad you are enjoying the book.

So far found the blood thirsty Ripperologists a noble bunch - at least for the most part they are giving the book a read, before coming at me with the knife!! But heck, I knew what I was getting myself in for, and I doth my caps to the researchers many of whom have ponder far longer than me.

On the saucy cover, I'll pass the buck to the publishers. Regarding Stephenson, I'll take any blame.

We'd used the term "occultist" based on te pretty detailed knowldge he showed of the subject from the "one who knows" letters to STead's Pall Mall Gazette.

Personally I find Stephenson, and who shenanigans of blame and counter blame at London Hospital one of the most fascinating of the Ripper hunt incidents.

Good point on the tie story. And anything to do with The Great Beast has be taken with a Great Grain of Salt.

David Monaghan
Author
Jack The Ripper's Secret Confession

[Howard Brown]

Regarding Stephenson, I'll take any blame
D.Monaghan

Okay....then its a round of beer for everyone on Dave...and some mustard gas for Sir Bob

[Adam Went]

Hi Dave,

Thanks very much for taking the time to respond to my points.
Unfortunately I'm not smart enough to work out how to use the quote function on here, so I'll just respond to your points in numbers as you have them above....

Just on your first point about the peadophile pervert, I do have to agree with you on this one. It did happen that older women would solicit younger women for clients. This was especially common for women who were past their days of prostituting and worked for brothel keepers doing this.
However, while it is always possible, there's nothing I'm aware of which suggests that any of JTR's victims took part in this kind of thing, and all of them were still actively soliciting for themselves in 1888, not working for the brothel keeper.

Point 6:
I don't think necessarily so much a man who had a history of rape - probably more along the lines of a man who had a history of being a womanizer, perhaps somebody who occasionally subjected his women to domestic violence as well.
Although no sexual intercourse took place with any of the victims by the killer, even if at some point he had intended for this to happen, it's unlikely that he would have had the time to do so while also committing the murder and mutilations.

Point 10:
He certainly wasn't entitled to beat anybody, but my point is that he only got violent because he knew the price that he had agreed to pay, and now these 2 women were trying to get almost ten times as much out of him!!
According to his story, he shouted out to a policeman on the beat below, but he took no notice - probably one of the many who were paid off by brothel keepers to turn a blind eye to this sort of thing.
So you can understand why he would have got a little annoyed with the situation. In any case, he never actually did swing the poker at either of the women, and left there with no harm done to anybody.

Point 13:
I agree. I was just pointing that out as a matter of interest.

Point 19:
Yes, but how could he be sure that Mary Ann would return to him? What was stopping her from keeping the bonnet and any other gifts he may have lavished upon her, and done a runner?
I'm sure you'll remember that something very similar to this happened to Walter in his first experience with a prostitute, with "Cousin Fred", when the woman took their money and left.....this was a common ploy for prostitutes in the Victorian era and they earned plenty out of it. There was nothing to stop Mary Ann doing the same.

Point 24:
Which seems odd, because Mary had been sharing her room with a fellow prostitute, which is what pushed Joe Barnett over the edge and made him leave in the first place. However, he had been back and visited her the night that she died. Clearly Walter was nowhere to be seen then.
Also, George Hutchinson knew her and saw her with the man who you would think was almost certainly her killer. It's even been suggested, probably rightly, that Kelly and Hutchinson may have been part-time lovers. In this case, you would think Hutchinson might have recognised Walter, yet despite the lavish description he gave to the police, clearly he didn't know him personally. I find it hard to believe that Mary would have been able to juggle THREE different men at the same time, as well as have friends staying over and still not alert her neighbours to anything strange....

As for the age of the killer.....these days, Gull is a serious suspect only to those who are extreme conspiracy theorists. Those who have bothered to look at him closely know that shortly before the murders he had suffered a couple of strokes which left him not able to use his body as he used to, rendering it more or less impossible for him to have been the killer in any case. As for Tumblety, interesting character though he is, recent research has also pushed him back into the field of suspects somewhat.

Only one of the major witnesses, Elizabeth Long, described a man "over 40", and she only saw him from back-on and heard him say 2 words. All of the others (PC Smith, Schwartz, Lawende, Hutchinson, just to name a few) all said he was a man between about 28-35. They could be forgiven for being 5 years out, maybe even 10, given that these sightings took place at night time and they weren't paying any special attention (other than Hutchinson), but if it was Walter, that means that several witnesses who almost certainly saw the killer are 35 years out!!! Highly unlikely. Moreover, as I've said before, the places in which the Ripper killed and the amount of time he had to do so means that he had to have been quite agile, fit, and be able to escape without attracting attention to himself. Walter, one can only assume by comparing him with your average 70 year old, especially in the LVP, would not have been able to do this.
I know I'd be asking some serious questions if I saw my grandfather out walking the streets at 2 AM.....

Cheers,
Adam.