View source for From Hell letter

{{Short description|Letter allegedly written by Jack the Ripper}}
[[Image:FromHellLetter.jpg|thumb|A photographic copy of the now-lost "From Hell" letter, postmarked 15 October 1888]]
{{Jack the Ripper series}}
The '''"From Hell" letter''' (also known as the "'''Lusk letter'''")<ref name=Grove>{{cite news|author=Grove, Sophie |title=You Don't Know Jack: A New Museum Exhibition Opens the Case File on Jack the Ripper—and Affords a Grim Look at the London of the Time: A City Made for Murder|magazine=Newsweek|date=9 June 2008|url=http://www.newsweek.com/id/140770?GT1=43002|access-date=8 September 2015}}</ref><ref name=Maybrick/> was a letter sent with half of a preserved human [[kidney]] to [[George Lusk]], the chairman of the [[Whitechapel Vigilance Committee]], in October 1888.<ref>''Jack the Ripper: An Encyclopedia'' {{ISBN|978-1-844-54982-5}} p. 160</ref> The author of this letter claimed to be the unidentified serial killer known as [[Jack the Ripper]], who had murdered and mutilated at least four women in the [[Whitechapel]] and [[Spitalfields]] districts of [[London]] in the two months prior to Lusk receiving this letter, and whose [[vigilance committee]] Lusk led in civilian efforts to assist the police in identifying and apprehending the perpetrator.<ref name=Maybrick/>

The letter was postmarked 15 October 1888 and was received by Lusk the following day.<ref>''Science Images and Popular Images of the Sciences'' {{ISBN|978-1-134-17580-2}} p. 127</ref> An examination of the kidney revealed the individual from whom the [[Organ (anatomy)|organ]] originated had suffered from [[Bright's disease]].<ref>''Jack the Ripper: An Encyclopedia'' {{ISBN|978-1-844-54982-5}} p. 52</ref> The author of this letter claimed to have fried and [[Human cannibalism|eaten]] the other half.<ref>Evans and Rumbelow, p. 170; Fido, pp. 78–80</ref>

Police, press, and public alike received many letters claiming to be from the Whitechapel Murderer, with investigators at one stage having to deal with an estimated 1,000 letters related to the case. However, the "From Hell" letter is one of the few articles of correspondence that has received serious consideration as to actually being genuine.<ref>''Jack the Ripper: An Encyclopedia'' {{ISBN|978-1-844-54982-5}} p. 161</ref> Nonetheless, opinions remain divided with regards to the letter's authenticity.<ref name=Maybrick>{{cite book|title=The Maybrick A to Z|first=Christopher|last=Jones|pages=162–165|isbn=978-1-906-82300-9|publisher=Countyvise Ltd. Publishers|date=2008}}</ref>

The murders committed by Jack the Ripper have attracted much attention in popular culture for decades, with several factual and fictional works directly making reference to the "From Hell" letter.<ref name="Quest">{{cite episode |title=Jack the Ripper |series=[[MysteryQuest]] |network=[[History (U.S. TV channel)|History Channel]] |date=11 November 2009 |season=1 |number=8}}</ref>

==Background==
The murder of [[Mary Ann Nichols]] on 31 August 1888 resulted in increased media attention focusing on the suspect known as "the Whitechapel murderer" and, later, "Leather Apron".<ref>Evans and Rumbelow, p. 69: Marriott, p. 38</ref> The grotesque mutilation upon Nichols and later victims was generally described as involving their bodies having been "ripped up" and residents spoke of their worries of a "ripper" or "high rip" gang. The identification of the killer as Jack the Ripper occurred after 27 September, when the offices of [[Central News Agency (London)|Central News Ltd]] received the [["Dear Boss" letter]]. The author of this letter signed the letter "Yours truly, Jack the Ripper", vowing to continue "ripping [prostitutes]" until his arrest. The author of this letter also threatened to remove and post the ears of his next victim to the police.<ref name=Sugden/>

While newsmen considered this letter a mere joke, they decided after two days to notify [[Scotland Yard]] of the matter. The double murder of [[Elizabeth Stride]] and [[Catherine Eddowes]] took place the night that the police received the "Dear Boss" letter. The Central News people received a second communication known as the [["Saucy Jacky" postcard]] on 1 October 1888, the day after the double murder, and the message was duly passed over to the authorities. Copies of both messages were soon posted to the public in the hopes that the writing style would be recognised. While the police felt determined to discover the author of both messages, they found themselves overwhelmed by the media circus around the Ripper killings and soon received a large amount of material, most of it useless.<ref name=Sugden/>

==The letter==
The letter reads:<ref name="casebook.org">[http://www.casebook.org/ripper_letters/ Jack the Ripper Article on the Ripper Letters]. Casebook.org.</ref>
<!--- ATTENTION: DO NOT FIX THE SPELLING ERRORS. THIS IS A DIRECT QUOTE OF WHAT THE ACTUAL LETTER SAID.--->
{{quote|From hell<br />
Mr Lusk,<br />
Sor<br />
I send you half the Kidne I took from one women<!--- ATTENTION: DO NOT FIX THE SPELLING ERRORS. THIS IS A DIRECT QUOTE OF WHAT THE ACTUAL LETTER SAID.---> prasarved<!--- ATTENTION: DO NOT FIX THE SPELLING ERRORS. THIS IS A DIRECT QUOTE OF WHAT THE ACTUAL LETTER SAID.---> it for you {{sic|tother|hide=y|expected=the other}} piece I fried and ate it was very {{sic|nise|hide=y|expected=nice}}. I may send you the bloody knif that took it out if you only {{sic|wate|expected=wait|hide=y}} a whil longer<br />
signed<br />
Catch me when you can {{sic|Mishter Lusk|expected=Mister|hide=y}}|sign=|source=}}
<!--- ATTENTION: PLEASE DO NOT FIX THE SPELLING ERRORS. THIS IS A DIRECT QUOTE OF WHAT THE ACTUAL LETTER SAID.--->

===Analysis===
Hundreds of letters claiming to be from the killer were posted at the time of the Ripper murders, but many researchers argue that the "From Hell" letter is one of a handful of possibly authentic writings received from the murderer.<ref name=Sugden/> The author did not sign this correspondence with the "Jack the Ripper" pseudonym, distinguishing it from the earlier "Dear Boss" letter and "Saucy Jacky" postcard, as well as their many imitators. Furthermore, the handwriting in the "Dear Boss" letter and "Saucy Jacky" postcard are markedly similar, but the handwriting of the "From Hell" letter is dissimilar.<ref name=Quest/> The letter was delivered to Lusk personally without reference to the police or to the British government, which could indicate animosity towards Lusk or the local Whitechapel community of which he was a member.<ref name=Unearthing/>
[[File:John Tenniel - Punch - The Nemesis of Neglect.jpg|thumb|right|180px|An 1888 ''[[Punch (magazine)|Punch]]'' illustration depicts the murderer as a demonic spectral figure, the "Nemesis of Neglect", stalking London.]]

Opinions regarding the authenticity of the letter are divided. The possibility has been raised that all of the communications supposedly from the Whitechapel murderer are fraudulent, acts done by [[wikt:crank|cranks]] or by journalists seeking to maintain the public interest in the murders and thus increase sales of their newspapers. Scotland Yard had reason to doubt the validity of the letter, yet ultimately did not take action against suspected reporters.<ref name=Maybrick/><ref name=Sugden/> However, the many differences between the "From Hell" letter and the vast majority of the messages received have been cited by some figures analysing the case, such as a forensic handwriting expert interviewed by the [[History (U.S. TV channel)|History Channel]] and another interviewed by the [[Discovery Channel]], as evidence to view it as possibly the only authentic letter.<ref name=Quest/><ref name=Unearthing>{{cite episode|title=Jack the Ripper|series=[[List of programs broadcast by Discovery Channel|Unearthing Ancient Secrets]]|network=[[Discovery Channel]]|season=1|number=7|date=2 March 2009}}</ref>

The primary reason this letter stands out more than any other is that it was delivered with a small box containing half of what doctors later determined was a human kidney which had been preserved in [[Distilled spirit|spirits]]. One of murder victim Catherine Eddowes's kidneys had been removed by the killer. Medical opinion at the time was that the organ could have been acquired by medical students and sent with the letter as part of a hoax.<ref name=Maybrick/><ref name=Sugden/> Lusk himself believed that this was the case and did not report the letter until he was urged to do so by friends.<ref name=DouglasJ-MO-p54-55>{{cite book|author1=Douglas, John |author2=Mark Olshaker|year=2001|title=The Cases That Haunt Us|publisher=New York, New York: Simon & Schuster|pages=54–55|isbn=978-0-7432-1239-7|title-link=The Cases That Haunt Us}}</ref>

Arguments in favour of the letter's genuineness sometimes state that contemporary analysis of the kidney by Dr [[Thomas Openshaw]] of the [[London Hospital]] found that it came from a sickly [[Alcoholism|alcoholic]] woman who had died within the past three weeks, which would be consistent with Eddowes. However, these facts have been in dispute, as contemporary media reporting at the time and later recollections give contradictory information about Openshaw's opinions. Historian [[Philip Sugden (historian)|Philip Sugden]] has written that perhaps all that can be concluded, given the uncertainty, is that the kidney was human and from the left side of the body.<ref name=Maybrick/><ref name=Sugden>{{cite book|first=Philip|last=Sugden|author-link1=Philip Sugden (historian)|title=The Complete History of Jack the Ripper|publisher=[[Little Brown]]|date=March 2012|isbn=978-1-780-33709-8|chapter=Chapter 13: Letters From Hell}}</ref>

A contemporary police lead found that shopkeeper Emily Marsh had encountered a visitor at her shop, located in [[Mile End Road]], with an odd, unsettling manner in both his appearance and speech. The visitor asked Marsh for the address of Mr Lusk, which he wrote in a personal notebook, before abruptly leaving. He was described as a slim man wearing a long black overcoat at about six feet in height who spoke with a distinct [[Irish accent]], his face featuring a dark beard and moustache. While the event took place the day before Lusk received the "From Hell" message and occurred in the area in which it is considered to have been postmarked, the fact that Lusk received so many letters during this time suggests that the suspicious individual may have been another crank.<ref name=Sugden/>

==Calligraphy and linguistic analysis==
The "From Hell" letter is written with a much lower level of [[literacy]] than other letters purporting to be from the murderer, in that this letter features numerous errors in spelling and grammar. Scholars have debated whether this is a deliberate misdirection, as the author observed the [[silent letter|silent]] ''k'' in "knif[e]" and ''h'' in "whil[e]". The formatting of the letter also features a cramped writing style in which letters are pressed together haphazardly; many ink blots appear in a manner which might indicate that the writer was unfamiliar with using a pen.<ref name=Sugden/> The formatting of the message might point to it being a hoax by a well-educated individual, but some researchers have argued that it is the genuine work of a partly functional but deranged individual.<ref name=Quest/><ref name=Unearthing/><ref>''The Cases That Haunt Us'' {{ISBN|978-0-671-01830-6}} ch. 1</ref>

Forensic handwriting expert Michelle Dresbold, working for the History Channel documentary series ''[[MysteryQuest]]'', has argued that the letter is genuine, based on the peculiar characteristics of the handwriting, particularly the "invasive loop" letter "y"s. The [[Offender profiling|criminal profiling]] experts in the programme also created a profile of the killer, stating that he possessed a deranged animosity towards women and skills in using a knife. Based on linguistic clues (including the use of the particular spelling of the word "prasarved" for "preserved"), Dresbold felt that the letter showed strong evidence that the writer was either Irish or of Irish extraction, indicating a possible link between the letter and known Ripper suspect [[Francis Tumblety]]. Tumblety was an itinerant [[Irish-American]] [[Quackery|quack doctor]] who was [[mental illness|mentally ill]] and who had resided in London during the year of the murders. He had had encounters with the law and a [[misogyny|strong dislike of women]], as well as a background of collecting body parts. However, after arresting him at the time as a suspect, the police ended up releasing him on bail, having failed to find hard evidence against him. He ultimately died of a heart condition in the U.S. in 1903.<ref name=Quest/> Sugden has also written that the author may have had an Irish background, but also stated that he may have had [[Cockney]] mannerisms.<ref name=Sugden/>

The purported diary of [[James Maybrick]], another man who has been proposed as a [[Jack the Ripper suspects|Ripper suspect]], contains references to the "From Hell" letter, particularly the alleged cannibalism. However, even if the diary is assumed to be genuine, the handwriting does not match that of the letter at all.<ref name=Maybrick/> A ''[[Kirkus Reviews]]'' article has referred to the diary rumour as a "hoax" that is one of several "bizarre hypotheses" relating to the case.<ref name=Kirkus>{{cite magazine|url=http://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/philip-sugden/the-complete-history-of-jack-the-ripper/|magazine=[[Kirkus Reviews]]|title=The Complete History of Jack the Ripper|access-date=11 September 2015|date=20 May 2010}}</ref>

==In popular culture==
{{see also|Jack the Ripper in popular culture}}
The Jack the Ripper murders are regarded as the first internationally publicised set of serial killings, with the perpetrator never conclusively identified. They have attracted much attention for decades,<ref name=Quest/> with fictional works referring specifically to the Lusk letter. The graphic novel ''[[From Hell (comic)|From Hell]]'', created by [[Alan Moore]] and [[Eddie Campbell]], concerns the Ripper murders and takes its name from the letter. The work was originally published in serial form from 1989 to 1996, first collected as a single piece in 1999, and adapted into a [[From Hell (film)|2001 feature film]] starring [[Johnny Depp]], [[Ian Holm]] and [[Heather Graham]]. The series features the actual killer as a main protagonist, going into his tortured mind and warped justifications for the murders. Cultural commentators such as Professor Elizabeth Ho have highlighted the way in which the work comments "on the present's relationship to the past", with text and image placed "in critical tension".<ref name=Deadline>{{cite news|url=https://deadline.com/2014/11/from-hell-tv-show-jack-the-ripper-graphic-novel-fx-don-murphy-1201286057|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141118013326/http://deadline.com/2014/11/from-hell-tv-show-jack-the-ripper-graphic-novel-fx-don-murphy-1201286057/|url-status=dead|archive-date=November 18, 2014|first=Nellie|last=Andreeva|access-date=11 September 2015|title='From Hell' Drama Based On Jack The Ripper Graphic Novel In Works At FX|website=[[Deadline Hollywood]]|date=17 November 2014}}</ref><ref name=Empire>{{cite book|title=Neo-Victorianism and the Memory of Empire|first=Elizabeth|last=Ho|chapter=Chapter 1: Neo-Victorianism and "Ripperature" – Alan Moore's ''From Hell''|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing|date=April 2012|isbn=978-1-441-19778-8}}</ref>

== See also ==
* [[Jack the Ripper suspects]]
* [[Offender profiling]]
* [[Whitechapel Vigilance Committee]]
* [[List of incidents of cannibalism]]

== References ==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==Cited works and further reading==
*{{cite book |title= Jack the Ripper: The Facts |last= Begg |first= Paul |year= 2004 |publisher= Barnes & Noble Books |location= United States |isbn= 978-0-760-77121-1 }}
*{{cite book |title= The Complete Jack The Ripper A–Z – The Ultimate Guide to The Ripper Mystery |last= Begg |first= Paul |author2=Fido, Martin |author2-link=Martin Fido | orig-year = 2010 |year= 2015 |publisher= John Blake Publishing Ltd |location= Marylebone |isbn= 978-1-844-54797-5 }}
* {{Cite book|last1=Douglas|first1=John|authorlink=John E. Douglas|last2=Olshaker|first2=Mark|title=The Cases That Haunt Us|year=2002|publisher= Simon & Schuster|location=New York City|isbn=978-0-671-01830-6}}
*{{cite book |title= Jack the Ripper: Letters From Hell |last= Evans |first= Stewart |author2=Skinner, Keith |author2-link=Keith Skinner |year= 2001 |publisher= [[Sutton Publishing]] |location= [[Stroud, Gloucestershire]] |isbn= 978-0-7509-2549-5 }}
* {{cite book|last=Gibson|first=Dirk C. |title=Jack the Writer: A Verbal & Visual Analysis of the Ripper Correspondence|year=2013|publisher=Bentham Science Publishers|isbn=978-1-608-05751-1}}
* {{cite book|last=Jones|first=Richard |title=Jack the Ripper: The Casebook|year=2008|publisher=Andre Deutsch Publishing|isbn=978-0-233-00257-6}}
*{{cite book |title= The Complete History of Jack the Ripper |last= Sugden |first= Philip |author-link=Philip Sugden (historian) |year= 2002 |publisher= [[Carroll & Graf]] |location= New York |isbn= 978-0-7867-0932-8 }}
*{{cite book |title= Interpreting the Ripper Letters: Missed Clues and Reflections on Victorian Society |last= Trow |first= M. J. |year= 2019 |author-link= M. J. Trow|publisher= Pen & Sword Books Limited |location= Barnsley |isbn= 978-1-526-73929-2 }}
*{{cite book |title= Jack the Ripper: The Definitive Casebook |last= Whittington-Egan |first= Richard |year= 2013 |publisher= Amberley Publishing |location= Stroud |isbn= 978-1-445-61768-8}}

==External links==
{{wikisource|"From Hell" letter}}
* [https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/105727163 Contemporary news article] pertaining to the From Hell letter
* [http://www.casebook.org/about_the_casebook/cbindex.html?showindex=Whitechapel%20Vigilance%20Committee The Whitechapel Vigilance Committee] on the [[Casebook: Jack the Ripper]] website
* [http://www.walksoflondon.co.uk/28/jack-the-ripper-history-8.shtml The Whitechapel Vigilance Committee on the London Walks website] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120113071341/http://www.walksoflondon.co.uk/28/jack-the-ripper-history-8.shtml |date=2012-01-13 }}

{{Jack the Ripper}}
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[[Category:1888 documents]]
[[Category:Hoaxes in England]]
[[Category:Incidents of cannibalism]]
[[Category:Jack the Ripper]]
[[Category:Law enforcement in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Letters written in English]]
[[Category:Works published under a pseudonym]]