Jack the Ripper - The German Suspect
Discussion
Has anyone else watched this? Its on Sky Anytime at the moment, taken from National Geog. channel.
I'm usually pretty interested in programmes about Jack The Ripper, and usually enjoy the stuff on nat geo... But what a pile of s
te this was.
The basic premise is that an investigator has found enough evidence to name a German man as Jack The Ripper, here is how he comes to his amazing discovery....
1) He thinks the Ripper could never be found in London, because he left London after all the murders (no explanation why). Where did he go? He decides it must have been America (no explanation why)
2) He starts looking for murders around Manhattan (because that's where all the travellers arrived apparently, and it was a great place for a criminal to hide). He finds a record (and photos) of a prostitute who was murdered at the time. She had suffered cuts to her stomach, and the photos "clearly show 2 crosses carved into the victims skin = the rippers trademark!". He then explains that 2 small crosses were carved into the cheeks of one of the Whitehall victims, and that these crosses (which he shows to camera - one is huge and covers most of her back, the other is tiny, and isn't even a cross, on her stomach) must mean the ripper was in town at that time!
3) He starts looking for similar murders at the time. He finds one where a man broke into a womans house (she wasn't a prositute) and murdered her. The son escaped, alerted the police and they caught the German man fleeing the scene (no explanation at all why this exact murder, amongst that dozens that must have taken place at the time was obviously the ripper. The man later tells his lawyer that he has a massive urge to kill women when he sees them. Clearly he also murdered the prostitute and left the "Rippers' trademark". Further digging reveals mention from the Germans brother that he used to work on merchant ships, but that he also went by many different names.
4) The investigator looks at the logs for London around the time of the murders, and finds the same ship was in London at the time of all bar one of the murders... and that another ship from the same company was in port for the other murder! Too perfect to be a coincidence.... except this company was the biggest shipping firm in Germany, and an expert tells him people came from all over Germany to work for them as literally anyone could get a job with the company.
5) The investigator looks into records for the shipping company, and finds a man with the same surname as the German worked for the company at the time of the ripper murders... BUT ALAS! The records for the ships in question around the time of the ripper murders are all missing. This means the German's lawyer knew someone would find what our detective has just made up from thin air, and clearly destroyed the records so that he couldn't be found guilty.
The man now declares he has enough evidence to name the German man as Jack The Ripper. Case closed.
However, he then goes on to plot the timeline. Day x murder # 2 is committed in Whitehall. The investigator has already told us that the ripper could never be found because he fled to America between the murders... hmmm ok. The third murder was committed 8 days later, again by the German clearly.... except a different expert tells him that it took 8 days to get from America to London by the boats they had back then, so somehow he time-travelled.
Thanks to the 4th murder, we know the Ripper had medical experience... but the investigator disagrees with this. He has read that organs were sold on the black market at the time. It stands to reason then that organs were actually removed and sold by the coroners, not the Ripper, thus his German having no medical experience doesn't matter. It also doesn't matter that the 5th victim was found at the scene dismembered, with organs removed and placed at the scene... no mention of this with regards to the German suspect.
What a load of absolute bks. He is nothing short of an imbecile, randomly plucking bits of data from the air to make up a story. The amount of experts in their field featured on the programme, who the investigator either twisted their words to make them fit his case, or who he just ignored, angered me no end.
2 questions..
1) How did this absolute ste ever get on TV?
2) How on earth did I get so worked up about it, and write such drivel above?
Mind blowing, on both points.
I'm usually pretty interested in programmes about Jack The Ripper, and usually enjoy the stuff on nat geo... But what a pile of s
te this was.The basic premise is that an investigator has found enough evidence to name a German man as Jack The Ripper, here is how he comes to his amazing discovery....
1) He thinks the Ripper could never be found in London, because he left London after all the murders (no explanation why). Where did he go? He decides it must have been America (no explanation why)
2) He starts looking for murders around Manhattan (because that's where all the travellers arrived apparently, and it was a great place for a criminal to hide). He finds a record (and photos) of a prostitute who was murdered at the time. She had suffered cuts to her stomach, and the photos "clearly show 2 crosses carved into the victims skin = the rippers trademark!". He then explains that 2 small crosses were carved into the cheeks of one of the Whitehall victims, and that these crosses (which he shows to camera - one is huge and covers most of her back, the other is tiny, and isn't even a cross, on her stomach) must mean the ripper was in town at that time!
3) He starts looking for similar murders at the time. He finds one where a man broke into a womans house (she wasn't a prositute) and murdered her. The son escaped, alerted the police and they caught the German man fleeing the scene (no explanation at all why this exact murder, amongst that dozens that must have taken place at the time was obviously the ripper. The man later tells his lawyer that he has a massive urge to kill women when he sees them. Clearly he also murdered the prostitute and left the "Rippers' trademark". Further digging reveals mention from the Germans brother that he used to work on merchant ships, but that he also went by many different names.
4) The investigator looks at the logs for London around the time of the murders, and finds the same ship was in London at the time of all bar one of the murders... and that another ship from the same company was in port for the other murder! Too perfect to be a coincidence.... except this company was the biggest shipping firm in Germany, and an expert tells him people came from all over Germany to work for them as literally anyone could get a job with the company.
5) The investigator looks into records for the shipping company, and finds a man with the same surname as the German worked for the company at the time of the ripper murders... BUT ALAS! The records for the ships in question around the time of the ripper murders are all missing. This means the German's lawyer knew someone would find what our detective has just made up from thin air, and clearly destroyed the records so that he couldn't be found guilty.
The man now declares he has enough evidence to name the German man as Jack The Ripper. Case closed.
However, he then goes on to plot the timeline. Day x murder # 2 is committed in Whitehall. The investigator has already told us that the ripper could never be found because he fled to America between the murders... hmmm ok. The third murder was committed 8 days later, again by the German clearly.... except a different expert tells him that it took 8 days to get from America to London by the boats they had back then, so somehow he time-travelled.
Thanks to the 4th murder, we know the Ripper had medical experience... but the investigator disagrees with this. He has read that organs were sold on the black market at the time. It stands to reason then that organs were actually removed and sold by the coroners, not the Ripper, thus his German having no medical experience doesn't matter. It also doesn't matter that the 5th victim was found at the scene dismembered, with organs removed and placed at the scene... no mention of this with regards to the German suspect.
What a load of absolute b
ks. He is nothing short of an imbecile, randomly plucking bits of data from the air to make up a story. The amount of experts in their field featured on the programme, who the investigator either twisted their words to make them fit his case, or who he just ignored, angered me no end.2 questions..
1) How did this absolute s
te ever get on TV?2) How on earth did I get so worked up about it, and write such drivel above?
Mind blowing, on both points.
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