Spirits and Demons Podcast

 Aliens

Yep. I said Aliens. On Christmas Day.

Picture it. A beautiful south-western England town, Warminster, early Christmas morning. On your way to church. And BAM a huge, earth shattering sound comes over you, rocking your world! 

That is what one resident of Warminster experienced in 1964, just 9 years after WWII ended. She reported it to the local newspaper, The Warminster Journal, but wouldn't give her name for fear of being mocked. Little did she know that she would start a now 57 year old phenomenon in Wiltshire county England.

Between December 25, 1964 and September 1, 1965, there was an average of one sighting per day. The excitement, sightings, and theories were all published by Arthur Shuttlewood in the Warminster Journal. 

So on December 25th, 1964, the unnamed housewife reported that she heard a crackling noise coming from Bell Hill on her way to Christmas Services. She told Shuttlewood that the noise grew louder, moved over her head, and passed over her,  growing distant. She stated it sounded like branches being pulled over gravel and then a faint hum came after. Around this same time, Postmaster Roger Rump heard an identical noise, and roughly 30-ish soldiers at Knook Camp (a few miles north of Warminster), were woken up to a sound described as a huge chimney being ripped off the roof and sent scattered around the camp. When they went to investigate, there was nothing there.

Earlier that morning, Mrs. Mildred Head stated she had been woken up around 1:45 that morning to a noise she described as twigs being dragged across the roof and then hailstones pelting the roof. She stated it was followed by a humming sound that grew louder then faded away.

The next reported incident was February in 1965, 2 months later. A Mr. David C. Holton reported that a flock of birds were killed in-flight by "sound waves" at 5 Ash Lane. Bex was unable to find how the cause of death was determined.

Then in March of the same year, Mr. and Mrs. Brown of Warminster reported that they heard an onrush of sounds that caused their roof to quiver and their pet cat to vomit and die. From what Bex was able to gather - the cat was elderly to begin with, and honestly. Cats vomit all the time. It's kinda what they're known for, ya know?

But then on March 25th 1965, Ted and Gwen Davies of Crockerton, which is about 2 miles south of Warminster, hear the flapping of birds wings, crackling noise around chimney, and then a metallic grinding sound. 

“Our rafters shook and our windows rattled like there was a gale force wind” - Mrs. Gwen Davies

 Three days later, on Match 28th, Eric Paye (Payne?) heard a whistling noise and loud buzzing that he related to a "gigantic tin can with huge nuts and bolts inside it, rattling overhead". 

Then it wasn't until June 1st when the next incident happened.

On June 1st, 1965, Mr. and Mrs. Marson heard a loud humming followed by bumping noises and promptly after the noise went away, saw a brilliant white light that lit up their rooms. Mrs. Marson reported that “it was a great bouncing and bumping noise over our heads. As though a load of stones was being ripped against the roof and the back wall of the bungalow”, while Mr. Marson stated “it seemed as if tons of coal were being emptied from sacks and sent tumbling all over the place. It all began with an electric crackling.”

And again later in June, the phenomenon took on a shape in the sky. Mrs. Patricia Phillips, her husband, her three children, and a guest at her house, all saw what she described as a cigar-shaped object with a dark circular patch at the base and a ring around the lower end. She stated she noticed it staying in the same position for over 25 minutes, slowly turning on it's axis, but remaining in place where it hovered in the sky. That same day, Mr. and Mrs. Horlock reported seeing "Twin Red-hot pokers hanging downwards, one on top of the other, with a black space in between”, while 17 people who were swimming and/or fishing in Shearwater, close to Warminster, reported something similar. This is the first and only "mass sighting" of the Warminster Thing that Bex was able to find.

The final sighting that sparked public interest was on August 29th, 1965, when Gordon Faulkner was returning a camera to his sister and noticed an object in the sky. He stated it was moving far to fast to capture a good photo of it, so he aimed the camera within it's trajectory and snapped the photo as he assumed the object entered the view finder. It is one of the few photos of the Warminster Thing, and it looks nothing like that everyone reported seeing just 2 months prior.

There are a lot of theories about what this could have been. From actual aliens (maybe?) to post WWII mass hysteria (Bex's personal favorite theory). But nothing has been proven.

Warminster is still considered the UK's UFO capital and is still visited today by alien and ufo-enthusiasts. 

 The Scariest Monsters of All

The horror began on December 24, 1992. Sixteen year old Laura Taylor, nineteen year old Marvallous Keene, and twenty year old Heather Nicole Matthews (who had only been released from prison a few months prior), called thirty four year old Joseph Wilkerson and offered him an orgy in exchange for money. 

Wilkerson invited the three over to his place. Once there, the three tied Wilkerson to the headboard with electrical cords. They proceeded to ransack the house looking for valuables. They apparently found a .32 caliber Derringer. Keene used the gun to shoot and kill Wilkerson. It was said that Taylor then shot Wilkerson in the head with a .25 caliber gun. 

Then, the trio stole the man's car and picked up Heather Matthew's seventeen year old boyfriend, DeMarcus Maurice Smith, and went out to Neal Avenue to hunt for more victims. They stalked a Salem Avenue ATM looking for their first victim, their plan being to rob the person then kill them. Apparently no one showed up to the ATM and the trio moved on.

They found Danita Gullette, an 18 year old Senior at Patterson Cooperative High School and mother of a 2 year old, talking on a payphone. Keene rolled up next to her, pointed the gun at her, and stated "Merry Christmas, bitch" and shot her five times. Her last words were "Please don't shoot me". They stole her coat, shoes, and her backpack which contained a grand total of $0.50. 

Danita Gullette

The grouped (dubbed the "Downtown Posse") attempted to kill Matthews ex-boyfriend. Jeffrey Wright was shot four times in the legs by Smith, Matthews' new boyfriend. Wright survived and escaped to a neighbor's house. 

The posse then returned to Wilkerson's residence and "partied". They ate his food, used his house, etc, as their "home base". 

Christmas day Laura Taylor called her ex-boyfriend and convinced him to to head out in his car. Richmond Maddox quickly realized Keene was tailing them and gunned it. But Taylor pulled out the Derringer they stole from their first victim, shot Maddox in the temple, and jumped out of the moving vehicle. Maddox's car crashed on Benton Ave. 

The next day, December 26th, Taylor walked into Short Stop mini-mart on W. 5th St. Sarah Abraham (38 and a mother) was working behind the counter and Taylor attempted to buy a soft drink but was "short" and a customer named Jimmy Thompson offered her a nickel for the remaining balance, telling police later that he had thought she looked "innocent" and he wanted to help. Keen and Smith then walked in and demanded all the cash in the register ($44). Keene shot Abraham in the face and head, then turned and shot another store customer, Jones Pettus, in the stomach and hand. Thompson escaped any kind of injury by feigning being shot. Abraham suffered for 5 days in the hospital before she passed away. 

By this point, the group was starting to get paranoid. They were switching out license plates to avoid getting caught and realized that two acquaintances of theirs had witnessed the shooting of Matthews' ex, Wright, and may report them to police. So the four set out, picked Wendy Cottrill and Marvin Washington (16 and 19 years old respectively), bought them beer and wine, and drove into a gravel yard on Richley Drive.

Keene

Keene and Smith marked the two out to a dirt pile and shot them execution style. 

All in all, these four monsters killed 6 people, wounded two, and traumatized countless others all for 3 days in a house that wasn't theirs, food in that fridge, a car they didn't even get to keep, $44.50, and maybe an old TV. 

The Dayton police didn't even connect the cases at first because they were so random. The first and really only clue they were able to find was the bullet casings. Then a detective noticed a stollen Dodge Shadow (belonging to a woman who had ran when the group stole her vehicle at gun point), and ran a plate check. The plates didn't come back to the Dodge, and that is when the the police closed in on the group.

According to some reports, Taylor had told Keene to shoot the arresting officer, but Keene refused. All four were taken into custody the night of December 26, 1992. The four of them were arrested without incident. 

Once behind bars, Taylor confessed to a local minister about the final two victims, whom the police still hadn't known about. 

Keene confessed to everything and was sentenced to death by lethal injection. He was the 1,000th prisoner in Ohio to be executed since 1976. His life was ended on July 21st, 2009. The other three were sentenced to life in prison. All three remain there to this day.

Matthews, Taylor, and Smith

The reason they gave for this murder spree? They wanted some "drama" and "fun" in their lives. Four people who had literally nothing else to do on Christmas murdered six people and injured two others "for the fun of it". 

That's what a true monster looks like. Fuck them. I wish them nothing but discomfort for the rest of their lives. I hope their socks are always sliding down their shoes and the seam is always right on their pinky toe in the most uncomfortable way. I hope their coffee is always the bottom of the pot and full of fine grounds and room temperature. I hope they step on legos in prison. I hope their cell mates snore so loud they can't sleep. I hope their toilet always smells like diarrhea no matter how many times it's cleaned. I hope they only ever get mushy grapes. I could go on, but Ryan is looking at me like I need therapy.

Do You Know This Woman?

December 18, 1996, in Babyland of the Pleasant Valley Memorial Park cemetery in Annandale, VA, a woman placed a plastic sheet down on the ground. She set up an 8" plastic Christmas tree and decorated it with gold ornaments and red ribbon. She finished off a bottle of brandy, perhaps with some peach or mango (or both) juice, turned on Mel Brooks and Carl Reiner's 2,000 Year Old Man comedy routine, placed a plastic bag around her head and tied it off with a brand new roll of masking tape and paid down on the plastic sheet.

She was discovered later that morning by a grounds keeper who originally thought she was sleeping, but noticing the bag, called police. They arrived 40 minutes later to a still-warm body, but the woman was unfortunately passed saving.

When they searched for any kind of identification or documents of who this woman was they found two envelopes. One was addressed to the cemetery she was found in, and one to the coroner's office. They both contained a typed note and a $50 bill. The note read:

"Deceased by own hand... Prefer no autopsy. Please order cremation with funds provided. Thank you, Jane Doe."

DNA, fingerprints, dental records, and circulation of her photo around the press produced no more information. Her items were gathered by the police and I believe she was subjected to an autopsy despite her note. The Coroner's office confirmed she had taken Valium shortly before her suicide, and had a blood-alcohol level of .14 (note: legally drunk is .08). 

To this day, 25 years later, she is still unknown. At the time of her death she was between the ages of 50 and 70 years old, was 5'0" tall, 157lb, with red-auburn hair. She had an 8" scar on her abdomen believed to be from a cesarian section and her nails had been painted red. 

She wore a teal all-weather Eddie Baur hooded jacket (size M), a navy blue Classiques Entier sweater (size XL), a red Classiques Entier sweater (size L), a red Classiques Entier sleeveless silk shirt (size petite L),navy blue Classiques Entire knit wool pants (size L), knee high stockings, white support bra, white Fruit-of-the-Loom underpants (size 6), and black loafers (size 7M). It was assumed (and still is) that they were purchased from an upscale department store such as Saks Fifth Avenue.

She also wore clip-on earrings, a gold woman's Guess watch, a 14-karat gold ring with 4 jade stones, and a metal bead chain with a medic alert: "NO CODE, DNR, No Penicillin" and bifocal glasses with translucent frames.

Within her green knapsack she had carried Jeff Foxworthy's You Might Be A Redneck cassette tape, Monty Python and the Holy Grail tape, two empty juice bottles, a brand new roll of masking tape, along with the cassette player she was listening to, the Christmas tree and ornaments, and the plastic sheet. (and this entire list of items can be found here)

Police attempted to find anything at all that would help them, but Jane Doe did not even have receipts on her person when she passed, which is usually something people forget about when they decide to end their own life. Jane Doe seemed to have thought of everything.

Police are still trying to identify her, so if you have any information at all, please contact the following agencies:

Agency Name: Northern District Medical Examiner's Office Agency Contact Person: N/A Agency Phone Number: 703-530-2600 Agency Case Number: N1996-41257

Agency Name: Fairfax County Police Department Agency Contact Person: N/A Agency Phone Number: 800-673-2777 Agency Case Number: 96353000549

Agency Name: Fairfax County Crime Solvers Agency Contact Person: N/A Agency Phone Number: 800-411-TIPS or 703-691-8888 NCIC Case Number: U989549567 NamUs Case Number: UP #6279

The Spontaneous Combustion of Matilda Rooney

staged photo of spontaneous combustion

The evening of December 24, 1885, Mr. and Mrs. Rooney of Seneca, IL, were enjoying drinks with their farm hand, John Larson, and their son, John Rooney. Around 8PM, Larson headed upstairs to the room he slept in, and their son John left for the evening. Mr. and Mrs. Rooney continued to stay up drinking, it's assumed.

In the middle of the night or early morning Larson woke up to a coughing fit, as one does, but promptly fell back asleep, thinking nothing of it.

The next morning, Dec. 25, 1885, Larson woke up to an acrid smell, "haze in the air" and soot on his pillow and bed. He went down stairs and found Mr. Rooney in the doorway of his bedroom, which led directly into the kitchen, dead. Larson then fled the house and alerted authorities (the appropriate response if you ask me). 

When police arrived on the scene, they found that Mr. Rooney had died of asphyxiation caused by smoke inhalation. they then noticed that the kitchen had a hole burned into the wood floor. It was approximately two and a half foot by three foot and the ground beneath the house could be seen.

Dr. Floyd Clendenin was called in from Michigan to investigate the case and arrived Dec 26th to finish the investigation that the local police had started. He published his findings in the Therapeutic Gazette in 1889 (you can find it here)

In the hole they found a skull, cervical vertebrae, dorsal parts of vertebrae, park of an ilium, six inches of a right femur, and two feet still in their shoes (for those who didn't have to take a million anatomy classes like Bex did in college, that was essentially a head, neck, parts of the backbone, the top of a hip bone, part of an upper thigh bone, and obviously, both feet). All in a pile of ashes. It was determines that it was Mrs. Rooney, who had, at the time, weighed roughly 160lbs. All-in-all, she was reduced to just 12lbs of ash and body parts. The vertebrae and ilium were nearly reduced to cinder and the feet and shows were charcoaled. 

Investigation of Mary Reecer - another case of spontaneous combustion

Nothing else in the kitchen or house was burned or touched. The only exception being a "dirty, greasy, sooty substance" coating the walls and furniture of the house, and a partially melted candle on the kitchen table.

It takes nearly 3,000 degreed Fahrenheit and several hours to cremate a body. Let that sink in. Three thousand degrees and at least three hours of constant heat to cremate a body in a controlled oven at the morgue/mortuary/crematorium. 

Sometime between 8PM and roughly 8AM Matilda Rooney was on fire for a minimum of 3 hours at 3,000 degrees and nothing in the house was touched except the floor where she stood/sat/lay. And John Larson slept through it all. 

The investigation quickly looked at Larson as a suspect (because duh), but he was quickly ruled out as a murderer because there was a clear outline of soot of his body and head on the bed. It was obvious he had slept through the event.

The Rooney's son was also looked at, but again, he had no motive and there was no real evidence of foul play.

Their deaths were ruled as accidents, and Mrs. Rooney's cause of death is officially "Spontaneous Human Combustion".

Now, if you're anything like Bex and Ryan, you want to know the science behind this weird-ass phenomenon.

Dr Bentley, and Irish doctor who was another victim

Well, unfortunately you're shit out of luck, because there is no science behind it.

Essentially, back in the day, they assumed that drinking too much could cause a person to spontaneously erupt into flames if they got close enough to a fire or lit match because of the level of alcohol in their bodies. Now - I'm no scientist, I'm no doctor, and I'm definitely no genius. But if there's one thing I know, it's that you definitely don't become flammable when you consume alcohol, no matter how much of it you drink. So that's ruled out.

The next thought process is the "wick effect" (affect? Bex still doesn't know the difference between those two words). What this theory states is that the clothes, skin, and fat of the body effectively act as "wax" the same way a candle works, so the flame never spreads, but the body gets hot enough to "melt" or, more accurately in terms of human bodies, smolder and turn to ash. 

Ryan and Bex have a problem with this theory because we don't know about you, but even being near a flame, be it a candle or a bon fire and anything in between, you get hot and uncomfortable pretty fucking quick and the smoke alone can burn you. Literally burn your skin. I don't think anyone would just... let themselves continue to burn and not, I dunno, freak out and run around touching things and setting a mostly wooden house on fire. Much less the other people in the house not feeling this heat. Remember - Mr. Rooney was essentially right next to his wife when he died of smoke inhalation. It was never mentioned that he had any burns on him. 

So essentially, we're left with, like, one solid conclusion. Alien lasers. It was 100% alien lasers.

Ed Gein: The Butcher of Plainfield

Edward Theodore Gein was born to parents George and Augusta Gein on Aug 27, 1906, in La Crosse WI. His father, George, was orphaned as a child (his parents and older sister left 3 year old George alone and never returned) which many have speculated caused trauma which made him turn to alcohol. George owned a business, but it was actually purchased by his wife, Augusta. 

As for Augusta, she was born and raised Lutheran and believed women were unclean and sinful. She made it known she was not a fan of sex (to say the least). She called it the "foul deed" and it's rumored she only had sex twice, once to conceive Ed's older brother Henry, and once to conceive Ed. She actually wanted a daughter because she was not a fan of men in general. 

When Ed was 7, Augusta moved the family from La Crosse WI to Plainfield WI, because she believed the "big city" would cause too much sin and temptation for her sons. 

She was extremely religious and incredibly controlling. She actually prevented her sons from making friends, especially with women. Instead of letting them socialize, she kept them ridiculously busy with chores around the farm and home. She had such extreme religious beliefs that she wouldn't even go to church in Plainfield because they did not have a Lutheran Church.

George and Augusta were both extremely emotionally and psychologically abusive to both Henry and Ed, yet somehow Ed became incredibly close to Augusta. So close, in fact, that it actually started to concern Henry. 

George died of an alcohol-induced heart attack, I believe, in 1940 and in 1942 Ed was sent for a physical exam for the draft for WWII. He was rejected, and sent back home to his mother and brother. 

In 1944, Henry passed away under extremely suspicious circumstances. According to Ed's story, they were out trying to put out a fire on the farm, became separated, and Ed went to get authorities. However - Ed was able to lead authorities directly to his brother as if he knew exactly where he was, which was rather contradictory of his story that they became "separated". Henry's body was not touched by the fire, but did have soot on him. The autopsy revealed bruising on the back of his head indicating that he was struck by a heavy object. 

Official cause of death, I believe, was "accidental", however there is plenty of speculation that Ed may have killed his brother in a rather biblical way (thing Cain and Abel - Cain killing his brother Abel for the attention of his parents/God - look it up if you don't know, it's one of the crazy bible cases that just make you go "who wrote this??"). 

That same year, Augusta had her first stroke and was bed-ridden for a time. Ed cared for her and kept the house and farm up to her standards. He was obsessed with his mother being proud of him.

Then in the winter of 1945, Ed and Augusta went to a neighbor's house to buy hay. Their neighbor, Smith, was out on the front porch when they came up to the house, and was beating a puppy to death with a stick. Smith was, at the time, living with a woman whom he was not related to nor married to, and as he was beating the puppy this woman came out of the house yelling at Smith to stop.

Now, Augusta, who was stupidly religious, was horrified and offended by seeing this woman at their neighbor's house (but apparently not by the mortifying sight of this jackass abusing a poor innocent puppy?? Augusta was a fucked up woman), and Ed maintained until his death that this incident was what caused Augusta's second and fatal stroke. 

She passed away in December of 1945.

Now remember - Augusta had completely isolated Ed from the entire world. So now that his father, brother, and now mother were all gone, Ed was alone. Completely and utterly alone. And still mentally very very much a child. So the house quickly became a disaster, and in 1950 still had no electricity or running water. He had to sell a lot of the property and worked odd jobs for people around town to support himself.

He boarded up all of his mother's rooms (her bedroom, sewing area, etc.) and literally never touched them again. Just left them exactly was they were the day she died. A lot of the town believed that the house was haunted, even, before Ed's crimes were discovered.

After his mother's death, Ed became obsessed with personal interests such as true crime magazines, Nazi war crimes, macabre, and tragedy articles in the news papers, etc. Which, on it's own, is not bad. Clearly a lot of people do the same (*coughcough* Bex and Ryan *coughcough*) but most of us them don't go on to dig up graves, murder people, and create ... weird things ... out of people. 

On December 8th, 1954, a woman by the name of Mary Hogan disappeared from the tavern that she owned. A lot of the community thought perhaps Ed had a crush on Mary, and that Mary reminded him of his mother. Her disappearance remained unsolved for 3 years, however Ed was always adamant whenever asked that Mary was "at the farm right now". 

Then on November 16th, 1957, Bernice Worden, a widow that owned the local general store, disappeared. When asked about the incident, Ed stated he went to the store for antifreeze. He then went back into the store and asked to see a gun. He then states he went into a "daze" and shot her in the head, drug her body out of the store and into the store's van, and drove her back to his home.

She was reported missing that same day by her son, and the police found a receipt for antifreeze on the counter, so they immediately suspected Ed. They went to the Gein farm and searched his property. They found not only Bernice Worden, but Mary Hogan's head as well, and several other incriminating items. 

Items found in the house included:

Human bones

Skulls made into bowls

utensils made out of bones

Furniture and Clothing made out of Human skin, including:

a wastebasket

upholstered chairs

corset

leggings

masks

belt made out of nipples

lips on shade drawstrings

gloves

Lampshade

Other human items:

Mary Hogan's face mask

Mary Hogan's skull

Bernice Worden's head

Bernice Worden's heart

Nine vulvae

Four noses

fingernails

So authorities were more likely to believe that Ed had killed a bunch of people far more than they were willing to believe that he had been a grave robber. Which I can kinda see, no one wants to think that there's someone out there stealing other people's bodies (but really? Is that a worse crime than murder? I dunno... I don't personally think so, but that's just me). 

Now - there were many missing persons and disappearances that investigators attempted to tie to Ed. These included Evelyn Hartley who disappeared on Oct. 24, 1953, Georgia Weckler (May 1, 1947), Ray Burgess and Victor Travis and their dog (Nov. 1952). None of them were able to be conclusively tied back to Ed as they don't fit his typical MO. He was far more likely to rob graves than murder random people. And the two women whom he is confirmed to have killed were very similar to his mother. 

Once police finally accepted that Ed was, indeed, robbing graves, they realized who his victims were.

Eleanor Adams, who had died Aug. 26, 1951, was dug up by Ed and her body was replaced with a crowbar (a fucking crowbar! What???). Mabel Everson (April 15, 1951), who they found parts of about 15" below the surface of her grave (clothing, bone fragments, her jaw, part of her skull, portion of her leg, her dental plates, and her wedding ring). There were 7 other victims, but the police did not continue digging up the graves due to Ed's claims of grave robbing having been substantiated. 

It's worth noting that during this time, it wasn't actually common practice to bury a body 6 feet below. They were actually buried about 2 feet below. Investigators were able to get to the coffins of the two victims they did dig up in about 2 hours, while the ground was frozen. It is well within Ed's ability to have dug these graves up during the night, especially since he would dig them up shortly after they were buried.

Once arrested, Ed was sent to a state hospital and examined to determine if he was sane enough to stand trial. The doctors at the time (1957), determined he had a full IQ of 99 (below average), and a verbal IV of 106, and performance IQ of 89. A quote from one doctor stated "...Not that of a well person but one with insufficient ego, immaturity, the conflict concerning identification, and possibly the presence of illogical thought processes". (Anyone surprised based off what we've learned so far? Not me.)

The doctors also noted that he had a feminine identification, bizarre religious beliefs (again, not shocked), sexually immature with strong feelings of guilt, and a tendency to project the blame of evil on some other person. 

"a very suggestible person who appears emotionally dull. Beneath that lies aggressiveness that may be expressed by inappropriate reactions that are followed by remorse and mild-mannered-ness. He is an immature person who withdraws and finds forming relationships with others difficult. He has a rather rigid moral concept which he excepts others to follow. He is suspicious of others and tends to project blame for his own inadequacies onto others. His fantasy life is immature in nature, possibly he pictures himself as a much more adequate and bigger man than he is. Sexually he is a conflicted individual and is functioning on an immature level. Guilt feelings are great and repression is put to use quite frequently in this area. In general, it appears that this is basically a schizophrenic personality with several neurotic manifestations. At this present time, he is confused and has difficulty in looking at this situation realistically."

He was also very eager to please the police, answering their questions the way he thought they wanted him to answer them. The police learned quickly they had to be very careful with how they worded the questions and not lead him in any way. 

He was found to not be mentally capable of standing trial, so he was sent to a state-run hospital to live out the rest of his life. Ed Gein died of natural causes on July 26, 1984, in Mendota Metal Health Institute in Madison, WI. He was buried in the Plainfield Cemetery in Plainfield, WI.

(Again, all of my info comes from JackTheRipper.Org)

Hello and welcome again!! Last week we discussed the victims of the infamous Jack the Ripper, and today we are talking about possible suspects! So buckle up, buttercup, because there's a lot. Like I said last week, this is a 130 year old unsolved murder mystery. There's plenty of suspects.

Suspect #1: Montague John Druitt.

Chief Constable Sr Melville L. MacNaghten personally believed that Mr. Druitt was Jack the Ripper. Druitt was a lawyer (specifically a barrister) and worked as an assistant schoolmaster at a South East London boarding school. Several member's of his family were doctors, but Montague John Druitt was definitely NOT a doctor. He was, however, dismissed  for unknown reasons form the boarding school in November of 1888. 

MacNaghten stated Druitt's family suspected him as the ripper, but really there's no evidence of such claims. Druitt committed suicide between November and December of 1888, and his body was found in the Thames on Dec 31, 1888. It's most likely probable that he committed suicide due to being let go from the school. 

It's worth noting that none of the other inspectors, police, or other involved in the investigation ever suspected Druitt.

Suspect #2: Michael Ostrog

Ostrog was MacNaghten's second favorite for the running of Jack the Ripper suspects. He was supposedly a Russian doctor and convict. However, he was actually just a "petty thief and con artist" (jack-the-ripper.org). He had a long criminal career but only had one known instance of violence (he pulled a gun on police at the station in 1873). 

He was looked at because he had convinced the court that he was clinically insane when he was arrested again in 1887 and sent to an insane asylum. He was released on March 10, 1888. So when police started suspecting a "lunatic with medical knowledge", Ostrog fit the bill. 

However - he was actually in France (and in prison again) during the Ripper Murders. So whatcha gonna do?

Suspect #3: Aaron Kosminski

First - I would like to say there was a 2019 DNA study done that places Aaron's DNA on the last bit of evidence that survives today - the shawl that was possibly found with Catherine Eddowes' body. But let's not forget that the shawl has no evidence of belonging to Catherine and this is over 130 year old shawl that's been passed around willy-nilly since 1888. Any and all DNA from that shawl should be looked at with a grain of salt. Catherine was supplementing her income with prostitution, ok?

Now - Why MacNaghten thought Kominski could have been the Ripper was because he was a Polish Jew who resided in Whitechapel. That's it. that's why he was suspected. Two other officers also suspected Kominski - Robert Anderson and Chief Inspector Swanson.

There's no real evidence of him being the killer.

Suspect #4: George Chapman

Chapman wasn't a suspect until he was arrested, tried, and convicted of murdering 5 women (lovers and wives) with poison in the 1903. While Chapman was definitely a murderer, his M.O. was poison, not throat slashing and disemboweling. 

Fun fact: He was born Severin Klowoski and changed his name after meeting (get this) a woman named Annie Chapman in 1893.

Suspect #5: Thomas Cutbush

Cutbush was named as Jack The Ripper in The Sun newspaper (which was far more like a tabloid than a news paper and has *no* affiliation to the current Sun Newspaper) in Feb 1894. He was not a prime suspect during 1888 as the murders were taking place and MacNaghten took offence to the idea that Cutbush was the ripper.

Cutbush was definitely mentally ill, and definitely had some anger issues, but it's not very likely in my opinion that he had much to do with the murders, especially as he seemed to be in and out of mental asylums his whole life.

Suspect #6: Dr. Francis Tumblety

First off - Look at that mustache. That is one wicked mustache, omg.

Chief Inspector John Littlechild, who was head of the metropolitan police department (specifically the Irish Branch??) was written a letter by journalist George Sims asking if a "Dr. D." was a suspect (referring to Druitt), and Littlechild said "nope. But an American Quack named Tumblety comes to mind". 

Tumblety was arrested for indecency and skipped to America where NYPD put him under surveillance only to conclude that he couldn't have done the murders. 

The case for him being Jack is that a man named Dunham claimed to have been a guest at Tumblety's house where the man proceeded to "fiercely denounce '...all women and especially fallen women'" and showed him several jars with the uteri of several women. However, Dunham was known to be a trickster. So... again, whatcha gonna do?

Suspect #7: James Maybrick

James Maybrick came to the public light more-or-less in 1992 when someone produced this "diary" of James. In it, he describes the 5 murders of the Jack the Ripper case and blames it on his wife being unfaithful (typical male). He was murdered in 1889 by said wife with arsenic. 

So initially experts thought the diary might be legit, they agreed it was of the right time period at the very least, but more forensic investigation needed to be done. However!!! The guy who produced the diary confessed he forged it, but then withdrew his confession and stated that his wife's family had had the diary in their possession since at least WWII. So...  who knows? 

Around the same time, a pocket watch with the initials of the victims and J. Maybrick "I am Jack the Ripper" engraved into it was "discovered" as well. So if he *was* the killer, he was rather proud of himself. But if he wasn't, he was either a dick wanting to take credit for horrible murders, or someone was using him as a "get rich quick" scheme.

Suspect #8: Walter Sickert

Patricia Cornwell pointed Walter Sickert as Jack in her 2002 book "Portrait of a Killer: Jack the Ripper Case Closed". She sited impotency and hatred for women as the cause, but there isn't a lot of evidence to prove either. In fact, he probably had a few kids, even.

Suspect #9: Charles Cross

Charles Cross, or as he was born, Charles Lechmere, was one of the few (or possibly only) suspect to have actually been at the scene of the crime. He was the one who discovered Mary Nichols' body.

Cross told inspectors that he left his home around 3:30AM and noticed a large bundle lying in the gateway in Buck's Row. He stated he thought it might have been a tarpaulin and useful to his job as a meat transporter, he went to inspect. When he noticed it was a body of a woman, he heard Robert Paul (last episode I accidentally stated Cross and Paul were coworkers in last week's podcast - that was incorrect, they were both carters, but worked for different companies, neither man knew each other despite going the same rout to work every morning, but we'll get to that)walking towards him so he told Paul "Yo, come look at this dead chick" (direct quote LOL jk). 

Cross told police he touched her face and reported he thought it was warm, and then her hands which he said were cold. He also stated Paul  touched her chest and reported "I think she is breathing, but very little if she is". Cross also reported that Paul suggested sitting her up, but Cross wouldn't touch her again. 

Both Paul and Cross left, telling PC Mizen about the woman, stating she was either drunk or dead, and went to work.

On the other hand, Robert Paul reported to the police that he passed Buck's row at 3:45 and saw Cross standing where Nichols was. He stated Cross came towards him, but Paul tried to keep a wide berth but Cross kept coming saying "Come look at this chick, dude!" (again, totes direct quote LOL). Paul states he felt her wrist and was sure she was dead, but couldn't see any blood due to how dark it was. He then left and told the first PC he saw that there was a dead woman in the street.

Cross is only placed at the first scene, so we can't say for sure if he was the Ripper (we can't say for sure ANYONE was the ripper, because it's been over 130 freaking years). But he is a good suspect.

The 10th and final suspect I will be talking about is, you guessed it: H.H. Holmes.

Who was actually born Herman Webster Mudgett. He was a con-artist in Chicago (and actually all over America, we'll do an episode about him), who build the infamous Murder Castle in Chicago during the World Fair of the 1890's. He came into the spotlight as a possible Jack the Ripper because his great-something-grand child thought it made sense. He went into a ton of detailed research and produced a documentary on it and everything.

The main reason is that the Ripper killings ended in November 1888, and shortly after that there is a ship log with a passenger "H. Holmes" from England to America, and Holmes' murder spree started in the end of 1888.

Personally, I don't buy this and if you listened to the podcast you know why. 

But that's it. Those are *most* of the key suspects - there are others (gods are there others. Holy hell, there's so many...), but these are the top 10, if you will.

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In our very first episode, we look at the Canonical Five victims, along with the other six women who were murdered in Whitechapel during 1888-1891.

In our second episode, we discuss our top 10 suspects and explain which one we think did it and why.

Tell us who you think Jack the Ripper was! 

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