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We went on a tour with Ripping Yarns about Jack the Ripper tonight. Our guide was a well-qualified, ex-army officer, who happened to be a third level free mason, a beefeater (a guard of the tower of London castle), and an important police officer. He walked us through 5 of the murders, the only murders he believes Jack the Ripper committed, and enlightened us with photocopies of the actual book from the Scotland Yard Crime Library and museum (which has extremely limited access) that reveals who Jack the Ripper really was. To our guide Steve, it is no longer a mystery, and we have to say, he convinced us!
We went by the bar where Jack the Ripper supposedly picked up all of his victims, the sites that all the victims were found, the alley where they found the bloody apron and where Jack scrawled a message pertaining to the free masons, which was erased by the chief of police (he got in BIG trouble for it), the residence of 3 of the victims, and the original petticoat lane and other famous streets. We also went by the church where the 'ladies of the night' would strut their stuff, looking to pick up a paying gentleman. Even now, the areas we walked through were not safe areas, and even though we were with as safe of a guide as one can get, he was still looking over his shoulder and avoiding alleyways.
The photo of the door knocker is an original from that period, indicating the door to a brothel. The more rings the hand has on it, the higher class the ladies are inside the brothel.
Who knew history could be so interesting?
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