There is one major reason why a walking tour of Jack the Ripper’s is a better way to get the full story of the 1888 murders. Jack the Ripper was undoubtedly a pedestrian.
Despite what several films and TV shows would have us believe, mostly the productions that conclude with the conspiracy theory that the Royals, the British government or both, Jack the Ripper didn’t go round the East End of London in a carriage.
For one thing if he had of done he would have stuck out like a sore thumb in the back streets of Spitalfields and Whitechapel. A carriage clattering around the busy East End streets would most certainly have been noticed and remembered, so would have been mentioned to the police and/or at the inquests into the murders.
No, Jack the Ripper got around just as we do on our nightly tour of his London – he walked.
So, if you really want to get the full feel of what the area was like in 1888 and you want to gain an understanding of how the ripper escaped from the scenes of the crimes you have to, quite literally, follow in his footsteps. In this way you can begin to formulate an idea of the layout of the area and, in so doing, edge a little closer to forming your won theory as to which of the suspects could have been Jack the Ripper.
Coach tours just don’t give you this on the ground experience. Furthermore they can’t get into the narrow back streets and alleyways that have changed little, if at all, since the autumn of 1888 when the murders took place. Stuck on a bus you are just told that a murder took place in “one of the streets behind these buildings.”
On a walking tour you actually get to go behind those buildings and to stand on the sites where the murders occurred. It’s almost as if you’ve been taken back in time. And, with our expert guides, you’ll also be presented with the facts, the true facts, the full facts and nothing but the facts.
So when you’re planning to take a Jack the Ripper Walk, and find yourself trying to decide whether to go by coach or to go on foot, just remember Jack the Ripper himself went on foot. And if was good enough for him it’s good enough for you.