We have been making little films of our guides as we believe it is important that you are able to be armed with as much information about the Jack the Ripper murders as possible before you take the tour with us.
To that end we launched our Jack the Ripper TV project in April this year and now you can learn as much as you wish to about the ripper crimes before joining us on a Jack the Ripper Tour.
In this video Jenny Philips talks about the area at the time of the murders.
Jenny answers several questions about the Jack the Ripper murders.
Was the area very overcrowded?
The area was terribly overcrowded and people lived crammed together in miserable conditions in absolutely dire poverty.
Was it a violent area?
Jenny reveals how drink was a huge problem in the area and so drunken violence was very common.
She then explains how Mrs Elizabeth Long may have seen Annie Chapman talking with her murderer shortly before her body was discovered in the backyard of 29 Hanbury Street on 8th September 1888.
Finally, she looks at who the people at the time thought Jack the Ripper might have been. There was a rumour that he may have been one the the areas slaughter men because these people wore large leather aprons which were often stained in blood. Animals were slaughtered in the early hours to be available fresh in the shops later that day, there being no refrigeration then.
As Jenny observes, a slaughter man’s bloodstained apron would be a perfect disguise for Jack the Ripper who, if he was wearing such a garment could go around the area like he was invisible.