If Only My Neighborhood Could Talk

This weekend, I had another interesting adventure with my friend Jess. We decided to visit the Museum in Docklands, which had a special exhibit on Jack the Ripper. Unfortunately, I have no photos of the adventure (since they would not let me take any pictures....and would you really want to see them anyways?), but I will tell you a little bit about it.

Being in London, there are always advertisements for walking tours for Jack the Ripper. You could say Londoners are a little obsessed with their history. This exhibit was rather fascinating because it told you about the neighborhood that the 11 killings occurred in. And guess what...they all occurred in my neighborhood! This was the shock of the day.

See this link (http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=2074500). It shows my flat on Old Nichol Street and the point of the second murder of Jack the Ripper. I have walked by this murder point a number of times as the area is now filled with shops and the crime location now has a brewery on it.

Knowing these horrific crimes happened in my neighborhood over 130 years ago, brought a new perspective on things. The exhibit talked about my area of town as being one of the poorest in London. 95 percent of the women living in the area used prostitution to get enough money for food and lodging. Hence, easy targets for Jack the Ripper.

What was most interesting about the exhibit was the artifacts. The exhibit walked you through each crime committed by Jack the Ripper and showed you the actually handwritten police reports. It was amazing to see the documents. It also had the first letter written to a newspaper where the person first used the name "Jack the Ripper." By reading the documents, you could see what little information the police had to go on. The exhibit also gave you a perspective on the suspects over time. One suspect was just identified in 2007! Many more will probably be identified as researchers will continue to ponder the biggest unsolved serial killer case in history.