The Ripper: The Use Of Unusual Letter

In a study by Tracy Krughoff and Dr. Dirk C. Gibson published in the Journal of Visual Literacy in Autumn 2004, these letters and many other similar correspondences are viewed from an analytical perspective: comparing their “artistic elements”, “bloody items”, and “unusual lettering”. The artistic letters were letters that included drawings, “38% (of the illustrations) included content that was taunting or teasing in nature and 29% gave specific warnings,” while other purposes were only present in a small percentage of the letters. Knives and bones were common figures in these letters. In their chart depicting the reason for blood on many of the letters, Krughoff and Gibson found that blood was present 29% of the time to taunt and 40% of the time as a warning, with smaller percentages of other meanings. The use of “unusual lettering” in these letters is more simple, split into three large categories: 33% of the words containing unusual letters (either in size or …show more content…
Seven women (presumably more) were brutally mutilated on the streets of Whitechapel in 1888. They were all women of the lower class, prostitutes, and found themselves alone in the night when the Ripper chose them as his victims. Only eight months elapsed during these gruesome killings, and the case was almost forgotten by the press by the beginning of 1889. In the Whitechapel murders casebook, the last report was written on October 18, 1896 by Detective Chief Inspector Henry Moore, regarding the reception of another “Ripper” letter claiming Jack was returning. Based on his investigation of the correspondence, Moore did not believe the letter to have any connection to the previous letters or merit regarding the Ripper case. The police’s hunt for the Ripper was