Spiro Dimolianis's Blog
May 15, 2012
Jack the Ripper and the Victorians
JACK THE RIPPER AND BLACK MAGIC: VICTORIAN CONSPIRACY THEORIES, SECRET SOCIETIES AND THE SUPERNATURAL MYSTIQUE OF THE WHITECHAPEL MURDERS
by
Spiro Dimolianis
With a foreword by Stewart P. Evans
Jack the Ripper; a name that still conjures up images of horror and the supernatural as the Victorians imagined it.
But how widespread and to what extent was Victorian London's view of Jack the Ripper, the occult, spiritualism and the supposed use of psychics by Scotland Yard. Many conjectures and theories have grown since the Whitechapel murders took place on these subjects but they have never been fully addressed before or considered in a Victorian context.
My new book, "Jack the Ripper and Black Magic: Victorian Conspiracy Theories, Secret Societies and the Supernatural Mystique of the Whitechapel Murders", is the first attempt to fully examine the sources and influence of these theories from a Victorian point of view.
What I found was remarkable. Not only were Victorian London's spiritualist and occult subcultures widely interested in the Jack the Ripper murders but that Scotland Yard had considered the use of psychics to catch him. With the absence of clues, numerous suggestions were also made to the police in letters, newspaper columns and obscure journals of most notably the Theosophical Society and the London Spiritualist Alliance.
Jack the Ripper, to mainstream Victorian society, was eventually seen as an invisible monster who lurked his East End haunts with stealth and cunning. A living vampire who terrorised the city with horrific acts of blood lust and the taking of organs from his poor prostitute victims.
For some, only supernatural means could locate him and solve the mystery. People like Stuart Cumberland whose celebrity status as a Victorian medium and his offers to Scotland Yard to help catch the culprit compares to the modern day efforts of Derek Acorah.
Such recorded stories have given the mystery of a Victorian serial killer a horror genre that has inspired countless books, films, games, theories and has entered mainstream school and university studies.
The extensive horror genre in particular on Jack the Ripper has its source in the documented Scotland Yard consideration of suspect Roslyn D'Onston, who was supposedly a practising black magician. Fuelled by the newspaper edited by spiritualist W.T. Stead, the Pall Mall Gazette, D'Onston's occult story influenced notable writers such as Arthur Machen and Aleister Crowley.
While the supernatural mystique of Jack the Ripper was growing in the press, populace and in novels, Scotland Yard and the Home Office were promoting quite different stories on the identity of the killer. Royal Masonic and other conspiracy theories have too been a fixture of the Whitechapel murders that have grown as a direct result of senior police ambiguity over time.
My book also considers the source and influence of these conspiracy theories and why they have emerged. The recent release of the Metropolitan Police Special Branch files on the Whitechapel murders are fully examined for the first time and in their Victorian context. What they reveal is extraordinary.
No, Jack the Ripper was not a leprechaun, but he was investigated as an Irish Fenian sympathiser. Today, this is the mother of all conspiracy theories on Jack the Ripper and may yet hold the key to solving the case. It also offers a clue as to why Scotland Yard officials gave conflicting stories in their memoirs.
As Sir Melville Macnaghten put it, in "Laying the Ghost of Jack the Ripper".
by
Spiro Dimolianis
With a foreword by Stewart P. Evans
Jack the Ripper; a name that still conjures up images of horror and the supernatural as the Victorians imagined it.
But how widespread and to what extent was Victorian London's view of Jack the Ripper, the occult, spiritualism and the supposed use of psychics by Scotland Yard. Many conjectures and theories have grown since the Whitechapel murders took place on these subjects but they have never been fully addressed before or considered in a Victorian context.
My new book, "Jack the Ripper and Black Magic: Victorian Conspiracy Theories, Secret Societies and the Supernatural Mystique of the Whitechapel Murders", is the first attempt to fully examine the sources and influence of these theories from a Victorian point of view.
What I found was remarkable. Not only were Victorian London's spiritualist and occult subcultures widely interested in the Jack the Ripper murders but that Scotland Yard had considered the use of psychics to catch him. With the absence of clues, numerous suggestions were also made to the police in letters, newspaper columns and obscure journals of most notably the Theosophical Society and the London Spiritualist Alliance.
Jack the Ripper, to mainstream Victorian society, was eventually seen as an invisible monster who lurked his East End haunts with stealth and cunning. A living vampire who terrorised the city with horrific acts of blood lust and the taking of organs from his poor prostitute victims.
For some, only supernatural means could locate him and solve the mystery. People like Stuart Cumberland whose celebrity status as a Victorian medium and his offers to Scotland Yard to help catch the culprit compares to the modern day efforts of Derek Acorah.
Such recorded stories have given the mystery of a Victorian serial killer a horror genre that has inspired countless books, films, games, theories and has entered mainstream school and university studies.
The extensive horror genre in particular on Jack the Ripper has its source in the documented Scotland Yard consideration of suspect Roslyn D'Onston, who was supposedly a practising black magician. Fuelled by the newspaper edited by spiritualist W.T. Stead, the Pall Mall Gazette, D'Onston's occult story influenced notable writers such as Arthur Machen and Aleister Crowley.
While the supernatural mystique of Jack the Ripper was growing in the press, populace and in novels, Scotland Yard and the Home Office were promoting quite different stories on the identity of the killer. Royal Masonic and other conspiracy theories have too been a fixture of the Whitechapel murders that have grown as a direct result of senior police ambiguity over time.
My book also considers the source and influence of these conspiracy theories and why they have emerged. The recent release of the Metropolitan Police Special Branch files on the Whitechapel murders are fully examined for the first time and in their Victorian context. What they reveal is extraordinary.
No, Jack the Ripper was not a leprechaun, but he was investigated as an Irish Fenian sympathiser. Today, this is the mother of all conspiracy theories on Jack the Ripper and may yet hold the key to solving the case. It also offers a clue as to why Scotland Yard officials gave conflicting stories in their memoirs.
As Sir Melville Macnaghten put it, in "Laying the Ghost of Jack the Ripper".
September 1, 2011
Jack the Ripper
The book, "Jack the Ripper and Black Magic: Victorian Conspiracy Theories, Secret Societies and the Supernatural Mystique of the Whitechapel Murders", is now released and available through your favorite book outlet...
Jack the Ripper and Black Magic: Victorian Conspiracy Theories, Secret Societies and the Supernatural Mystique of the Whitechapel Murders
Jack the Ripper and Black Magic: Victorian Conspiracy Theories, Secret Societies and the Supernatural Mystique of the Whitechapel Murders
