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The history of London can be traced back to 2,000 years ago. During this period, London developed from a Celtic town to the capital of the United Kingdom and an important financial and cultural center in the world. The following picture is a map of London in 1300

1. Etymology

The etymology of the word London cannot be determined. Over the centuries, there have been a large number of theories about the origin of the word London. Most of them can be dismissed as linguistic or historical fantasies, and only a few are credible from an academic point of view. But none has direct evidence to prove it.

2. Roman Empire Period

Seven years after the Romans invaded Great Britain in 43 AD, Londinium was established as a civilian town. London during the Roman Empire was only a relatively small area, roughly the size of Hyde Park today. In AD 60, it was destroyed by the Iceni tribe led by Boudica as the British tribes resisted the rule of the occupying Roman Empire. However, the city recovered rapidly after about 10 years, and in the following decades, the city developed rapidly. In the 2nd century AD, Londinium reached the peak of its development, replacing Camulodunum as the capital of Roman Britain. Its population is approximately 60,000. It has a large number of important public buildings, including one of the largest temples north of the Alps, temples, baths, amphitheaters and a large castle. But from the 4th century AD, Londinium gradually declined due to political instability and economic decline.

Between about AD 190 and 225 the Romans built a wall on the shoreward side of Londinium. The city wall is about 3 kilometers long, 6 meters high and 2.5 meters thick. In 255, additional walls were built along the river, which remained in place until the 17th century and defined London's urban boundaries for the next hundred years. Six of London's seven traditional city gates were built during Roman rule: Ludgate, Newgate, Aldersgate, Cripplegate, Bishopsgate and Aldgate (the exception is Moorgate, which was built in the Middle Ages).

By the 5th century AD, the Roman Empire gradually declined. In 410 AD, Roman occupation of Britain came to an end. After this, the Roman city also declined rapidly and was almost abandoned by the end of the century.

3. Stuart Dynasty

In the 17th century, London was already the largest city in the British Empire and even Europe. The Great Fire of London in 1666 destroyed most of the buildings in London, but London immediately began a 10-year reconstruction period after the fire. During this period, construction of landmark buildings including St. Paul's Cathedral began.

4. 19th century

London experienced large-scale development during the Victorian era, including the opening of the world's first subway, the operation of buses and the operation of connecting the world. Railway lines have given London's city appearance and transportation a completely new look. The urban population of London suddenly declined in the second half of the 19th century. A large number of new buildings transformed London from a Georgian city to a Victorian city.

5. 20th Century

1900-1939

London during the Second World War

Main article: London University Bombing

Firefighters put out the flames at the explosion site. During World War II, London, like other British cities, suffered heavy damage, the largest being the Great Bombing of London launched by the Luftwaffe ( The Blitz). Before the bombing, hundreds of thousands of children and teenagers were forced to evacuate to the countryside. Civilians took refuge in underground stations from the air raids.

The most intense bombing occurred between September 7, 1940 and May 10, 1941. During this period, London suffered 71 bombings and 18,000 tons of high explosives were bombed. A photograph of St Paul's Cathedral shrouded in smoke became emblematic of the period.

As Hitler concentrated his efforts on the Eastern Front, the bombing began to taper off. At the end of the war, in 1944 and 1945, London was attacked by the V-1 and V-2 rockets newly developed by the Nazis.

London suffered severe damage and huge casualties during the bombing, especially the Port of London. By the end of the war, at least 30,000 people had been killed by bombing, more than 50,000 were seriously injured, tens of thousands of buildings were destroyed, and hundreds of thousands were left homeless.

6. The Great Fire of London

The Great Fire of London, which occurred from September 2 to 5, 1666, was the most serious disaster in the history of London, England. A fire destroyed many buildings, including St. Paul's Cathedral.

At around 1 a.m. on Sunday, September 2, 1666, a fire broke out in a bakery in Pudding Lane, London. A strong wind quickly blew the flames through several narrow streets full of wooden houses, and then into some warehouses on the north bank of the Thames. The fire spread across the city and burned for four consecutive days, including 87 churches, 44 companies and 13,000 houses. About one-sixth of the buildings in London, Europe's largest city, were burned down. Later, a monument was erected near Pudding Lane, where the fire broke out. It is 61.5 meters high, has 311 steps, and has a ball surrounded by flames at the top. It is the name of the British astronomer and architect Sir Christopher Wren. Wren), and the reconstruction work was led by Wren. 51 of the 54 churches were redesigned by him, including the famous St. Paul's Cathedral.

7. Fire and Plague

In the year before the Great Fire of London (1665), a plague epidemic broke out in Europe. More than 60,000 people died in London alone. In the three months since June 1665, London's population had dropped by one-tenth. The plague spread from London to the outside world. The British royal family fled London and temporarily stayed in Oxford. The wealthy people in the city fled with their families in a hurry. Houses with sick patients were marked with crosses in red chalk. London no longer has trouble with lawsuits because the legal profession has all moved to the countryside. At 2 o'clock in the morning on September 2, 1666, a baker in Pudding Lane, Farino, forgot to turn off the stove for baking bread, causing the fire to get out of hand. The rubbish dump at Stritchpool Market, where ordinary people live. A year ago, King Charles wrote to the Mayor of London urging him to implement strict blackouts. When the fire broke out, the Mayor of London received a notice of the fire in the early morning, but he didn't care. It was Sunday and he was in no mood to work. By the afternoon, the fire had reached the banks of the Thames and was out of control. By Wednesday, 1,300 houses had been burned down across London, 87 parish churches had been burned down, and 300 acres of land had been reduced to scorched earth. St. Paul's Cathedral was burned down, and even the ancient tombs were damaged, revealing corpses that looked like mummies.

Picture of the burning of Old St. Paul's Cathedral, painted by Thomas Wyck. In the Great Fire of London in 1673, only 8 people died in the fire. Most citizens had plenty of time to escape the disaster area. This is Fortunately of all the misfortunes, London's post roads were crowded with trolleys carrying all sorts of household goods. Moreover, the Great Fire of London completely cut off the plague problem in London since 1665. The fire burned a huge number of rats to death, and the rats in the cellars had no place to hide. The rebuilt city of London replaced the original wooden houses with stone houses, and personal hygiene was improved, so that the plague no longer broke out. The famous diary writer Samuel Pepys faithfully recorded the events of the plague and the fire in his diary: “Seeing the horrors of the plague, I felt extremely uneasy and had to chew tobacco to avoid the bacteria. "I got up from the bed, put on my pajamas, went to the window and looked, thinking that the fire was located behind Markey in the farthest place, and then went to bed and fell asleep with my head covered.

”

The urgent need to rebuild London after the Great Fire strongly boosted domestic demand. Hooke, a scientist by training, became a master architect. After the Great Fire of London, he served as a surveyor and London Municipal Inspector. In 1666 On October 1, the architect Sir Christopher Wren proposed a post-disaster restoration plan for the entire city of London. The construction of St. Paul's Cathedral began in 1675 and was not completed until 1710. It cost *** 750,000 pounds. The construction projects he participated in also included the Royal Kensington Palace, Hampton Court Palace, the Great Fire Column, the Royal Exchange, and the Greenwich Observatory. These projects made the British economy begin to grow by leaps and bounds. Defoe said, Without that fire, the economy of London and even the entire UK would not have improved so quickly.

8. Jack the Ripper ('Jack? the Ripper'). ) was a murderer who was known for his brutal murder of at least five prostitutes in the Whitechapel area of ??East London from August 7 to November 9, 1888. During the crime, the murderer sent letters to relevant authorities many times. Although he was provocative, his bold criminal methods were repeatedly exaggerated by the media, causing panic in British society at that time. To this day, he is still one of the most notorious killers in European and American culture.

Although the case has been going on for more than a hundred years, books and related research on the case have never stopped. Due to the lack of evidence, there are still different opinions on the identity of the real murderer and the real reason for the crime. However, the figure of Jack the Ripper is even more confusing. Through media, rock music, toys and other items, it continues to appear in today's popular culture

1 The crime process

The Ripper's crimes were concentrated in the East End of London. of London). It was a famous immigrant gathering place at the time. Tens of thousands of immigrants from Russia or Eastern Europe settled here. Those immigrants had meager incomes, and their settlements became a hotbed of poverty and crime, and they lived on the streets. Although Scotland Yard established a city-wide patrol network in 1829, the weak police force was still unable to maintain security in the East End where tens of thousands of prostitutes were present every night.

Whitechapel continued. Homicide

The first message "Dear? Boss" sent by the suspected murderer. On August 7, 1888, a female body was found lying in a black church in the East End. The deceased was Martha Tamblan ( Martha Tabram was stabbed thirty-nine times, nine of which passed through her throat. At 3:45 a.m. on August 31 of the same year, another woman, Mary Ann Nichols, was found dead in a village near Whitechapel. In the cargo area (Bucks Row), he was 43 years old.

Since homicides rarely occur near the church, these two cases and several previous homicides attracted the attention of the public and some media. It was even called "the Whitechapel murders" (the Whitechapel murders) and was believed to be committed by the same murderer. Such vivid descriptions caused panic among local residents, so the police deployed more plainclothes detectives to patrol the area, and local residents also organized patrol teams to maintain law and order. This gives people confidence that such cases will not be repeated.

Unexpectedly, eight days later, at 5:45 a.m. on September 8, an old coachman living at No. 29 Hanbury Street broke into his low-cost rental apartment. A female body was found in the rear fence. The deceased was 47-year-old prostitute Annie Chapman. Like the previous deceased, her throat was slit and her abdomen was disemboweled. Her intestines were thrown onto her right shoulder, and part of the uterus and abdominal flesh were cut away by the murderer. There were obvious strangulation marks on his neck. It is said that he called for help before his death, but no attention was paid to him. Since this was the first time the murderer committed a crime near a house, and the time was close to before 5 o'clock in the morning, but he did not make any noticeable noise, this case became the most famous case committed by the murderer who would later be known as the Ripper.

The second message sent by the suspected murderer: "Saucy Jack" On September 27, the Central News Agency received a letter written in red ink and stamped with fingerprints. The letter was signed "Jack the Ripper" (Jack the Ripper). In the letter, he jokingly stated that he was the murderer of the prostitutes and claimed that he would continue to kill more prostitutes before being arrested. Since this letter started with "Dear Boss", this was how the first letter sent by the murderer was called in the future.

A cartoon published by "Puck" magazine on September 29, 1888: "The Neglected Avenger" At one o'clock in the morning on September 30, a coachman discovered Elizabeth Steed (Elizabeth) near her home. ?Stride) body. Unlike the first two victims, the 44-year-old Swedish prostitute had her throat cut but was not caesareaned. Instead, she died of excessive blood loss from the left carotid artery. Due to different criminal methods, some people suspect that the murderer in this case is not directly related to the previous two murder cases of dissection.

Just when a large number of police arrived at the burial place of Elizabeth Stead, 46-year-old prostitute Catherine Eddowes was found at about 1:45 in the morning. The body was found in Miter Square. In addition to having her throat cut and her intestines thrown out to her right breast, part of her uterus and kidneys were also taken away. Since the patrolling police officer claimed that there was nothing unusual here at 1:30, it was determined that the deceased was killed between 1:30 and 1:45, and his abdomen was cut open. The murderer's neatness of execution led most people to believe that he might be a professional surgeon.

At three o'clock in the morning, a police officer searching for a suspicious suspect found a piece of blood-stained clothing near Goulston Street. It was identified as Kathleen Eddowes wearing an apron. part of. On the high wall near where the clothes fell, a line of chalk written by the suspected murderer was found: "The Jews are not a nation willing to be resented!" ("The? Juwes? are? not? The? men? That? Will? be?Blamed?for?nothing."), but another detective remembered that the content of the line was "The Juwes?are?The?men?That?Will?not? be?Blamed?for?nothing."). Later, Police Inspector General Thomas Arnold visited the scene and saw the message. He was worried that the graffiti on the wall would be seen by passers-by after dawn and would incite anti-Semitic sentiments, so he ordered it to be wiped off on the spot. .

The last victim

The next day, October 1, the Central News Agency received another postcard, the content of which was also written in red ink. In the letter, the writer calls himself "saucy Jacky" and mentions that he plans to "do two more things the next day" - generally believed to be Elizabeth Stead and Caesar in the early morning of September 30 The two murders of Lyn Eddowes. In addition, the letter writer mentioned that he planned to cut off the deceased's ears and send them to the police, which is similar to the damage to the outer ear of Kathleen Eddowes' body. Finally, the letter writer also signed "Jack the Ripper". In the future, the letter was called "Saucy Jacky", as the writer called himself.

The third message sent by the suspected murderer: "From Hell" On October 15, a message was sent to the Whitechapel Vigilance Committee (Whitechapel Vigilance Committee) formed voluntarily by residents in the Whitechapel area. The letter once again attracted everyone's attention. The letter contained half a kidney and was written in black ink. The writer claimed to be "from hell" and said the kidney had been taken from "some woman" (generally believed to be Katharine Eddowes), half of which he had fried and eaten.

Unlike the previous two letters, this letter did not have any signature. In the future, people named this letter with the beginning of "From Hell" ("From Hell"). Compared with the previous two letters, it is generally believed that this letter is most likely to be written by the murderer himself.

On November 9, a landlord on Dorset Street asked his assistant to go to Mary Jane Kelly’s room to collect six weeks’ unpaid bills. However, the 25-year-old young prostitute was found dead on the bed through the window: she was naked, with strangulation marks on her neck, her chest and abdomen were cut open, and her face, ears, nose and breasts were also cut off. It is said that she was taken by the murderer. Go to the nearby fireplace and roast it and eat it (but some people think it was cut off and taken away by the murderer). A neighbor claimed to have seen Kelly alive last night, November 8, at 8:30 pm (however, her description of Kelly’s appearance was not entirely correct). Another neighbor claimed to have heard a sound around 4 a.m. that day. A miserable female scream. But what is certain is that Kelly appeared in the bar at 10pm the night before the body was found.

After the murder of Mary Jane Kelly, Jack the Ripper seemed to disappear: similar murder methods did not appear again in London, and the media's interest in the murder gradually faded. However, the police mobilized a large number of manpower but were unable to solve the case. They were criticized by people from all walks of life in the UK, including Queen Victoria, which led to changes in the top police circles. In 1892, the police announced that they would stop investigating the Whitechapel serial murders.

2 Ripper Letters

Throughout the entire period of the Ripper crimes, the police and newspapers received thousands of letters about the case. Some of the letters were written by people who were dedicated to providing information to help catch the killer, but the vast majority were ignored as unhelpful to the case.

Perhaps the most intriguing of the hundreds of letters are those purported to have been written by the murderer. The vast majority of these letters are considered scams. Many experts have pointed out that "none" of these letters are authentic, but they may contain the murderer's original writings. After verification by modern and current authorities, there are three letters that are most eye-catching:

"Dear Boss" Letter: The date is September 25, and the postmark date is September 27. The filer was the Central News Agency and was sent to Scotland Yard on September 29. At first the letter was thought to be a hoax, but when Eddos's body was found to have a partially cut off ear, the letter was proven to be "clip?the?ladys?" ears?off") to attract people's attention. Police released the letter on October 1 in the hope that someone would recognize the handwriting, but to no avail. The name "Jack the Ripper" first appeared in this letter and gained world-wide notoriety after it was published, with most of the nonsense letters imitating the tone of the letter. After the murder spree ended, police claimed the letter was a hoax from a local journalist. ?

"Naughty Jack's Postcard": The postmark date is October 1, 1888, the recipient is Central News Agency (Central News Agency), and the handwriting inside is similar to "Dear Boss" letter". The letter mentioned that the two victims? (i.e., Steed and Eddos) would die near each other: "double? event? this? time." What is controversial is that the letter was sent before the murder was announced, and it does not appear to be written by an eccentric with knowledge of such crimes, although it was postmarked 24 hours before the murder and was postmarked 24 hours before the murder. Considerable details are known to local residents and journalists. The police department later announced that it had confirmed that the letter was written by the specific reporter who also wrote the "Dear Boss Letter." ?

"Letter from Hell": also known as the "Lusk? letter" (Lusk? letter), postmarked on October 15, George Lusk of the Whitechapel Vigilance Committee (George Lusk) Received October 16, 1888. When Lusko opened the small box that came with the letter, he found half a kidney inside, which the doctor who soon preserved it in the "Soul of Wine" (ethanol) said was a human kidney.

One of Eddowes's kidneys had been removed by the murderer, and the doctor believed that the kidney sent to Lusco "looked like the one that had been taken from Caesarine Eddowes," although his findings were highly unreliable. The letter's author claimed to have "fried and eaten" the other half of the kidney. Accounts of the kidney are mixed: some insist it belongs to Eddos, but others believe it was a "horrible prank and nothing more."

Some places list another. A letter, dated September 17, 1888, is believed to be the first message using the name Jack the Ripper. Experts believe it is a modern forgery that was only placed in police files in the 20th century, long before the Ripper committed his crimes. They sensed that the letter had neither a police stamp to verify the date of receipt nor had any early investigators checked it for potential evidence. In addition, no police files from the time mentioned the letter, and some people who read it claimed that the letter was written with a ballpoint pen, which was not discovered until more than 50 years after Jack the Ripper committed the crime.

3 Suspects

Although Jack the Ripper has attracted the attention of the world, so far, there is no clear evidence pointing out that the murderer is a few specific figures. On the contrary, as time went by and the number of researchers increased, more and more suspects were identified, and their identities spread across all walks of life in London at that time; on the contrary, it was the few suspects who were traditionally considered the most suspected, and more and more suspects were identified. After the information was released, his innocence was gradually cleared. Here, the more well-known suspects are listed.

The following are the suspects that the police believe are likely to be Jack the Ripper (but please note that there is no evidence to identify them as the real murderers):

A. Montag John. Montague John Druitt

(August 15, 1857 - December 1, 1888): After obtaining the status of a lawyer, he practiced law from 1881 to November 21, 1888 He has served as a teacher at a private school for a long time in order to fulfill his duties. In addition, he is also a famous sportsman and amateur cricketer. For unknown reasons, he was last seen at a school in Blackheath on November 19, 1888, and was declared missing two days later. His body was found floating in the Thames on December 31, 1888. Examination showed that his body had sunk to the bottom of the river for several weeks because of large rocks in his pocket. The police therefore concluded that he drowned in depression. commit suicide. Because the time of his disappearance and death was not far from the fifth murder, and the murders did not occur again after his death, many investigators at the time believed that he was the Ripper. However, research in recent years has shown that between the murder of Kelly and his death, he served as a legal representative in the court, and according to court records, there was a long argument over the seat. Some believe this refutes the idea that Doolittle suffered a mental breakdown after the Kelly case, and in Sir Melville Macnaghten's memorandum, the first document implicating Doolittle, the man The lawyer was mistaken for a doctor, which further led to detective Frederick Abberline suspecting Doolittle was involved.

B. Severin Antoniovich Klosowski: Severin Antoniovich Klosowski ?Klosowski)?

The pseudonym is George Chapman, but he has no relationship with the victim Anne Chapman. He was born in Krasowiski, Poland, but took the name Chapman when he came to England. He was living in London at the time, a violent man with perhaps some medical knowledge who was later hanged for the exact crime of poisoning three women. He was at one time Frederick Ebery's most likely suspect.

C. Aaron Kosminski

(1864 or 1865-1919): A member of the London Jewish community, he sent Entered a mental sanatorium for treatment.

He was named as a suspect in Sheriff McNaghten's memorandum on the grounds that he had a number of suspicious characteristics, such as his resemblance to "the man seen by the London patrolman" near Bishop's Square (a description found only in that document). Some researchers believe that MacNaghten really meant the London police witness Joseph Lawendale, but others have thought of another explanation: there is no authoritative information that anyone was near the square that night. ) Comments by Assistant Commissioner Robert Anderson and Detective Donald Swanson both declared that "Only those with good eyesight can see the murderer." (Although there are many theories, this may be Refers to the witness Israel Schwartz). However, they claimed that prosecution was impossible because witnesses were unwilling to give evidence against the Jews. In a marginal note to his version of the report, Swenson identified the man as Kominsky, adding that his brother's home was next to the London police station in Whitechapel, and that he was sent to a mental hospital with his hands tied behind his back, where he soon died. dead. The last two details about Kominsky are not quite correct, as he lived until 1919. Symptoms of his delirium included auditory hallucinations, a fear of being eaten by others, and a refusal to groom. In the courtyard he is described as incapable of harm, although on one occasion he waved a chair at a courtyard attendant. In recent years, most researchers have believed that he would be included in the suspect list, and that the anti-Semitism at the time of the murder had more influence than the correlation between his symptoms and the case.

D. "Dr." Francis Tumblety (circa 1833-1903): Seems to be an uneducated or A self-taught American, he traveled all over the United States and Canada pretending to be a professional doctor, and occasionally traveled to Europe to do the same thing. A self-confessed misogynist, he often associates death with his patients, although he is not sure whether this is intentional or unintentional. In 1888, Francis was in England and was arrested on November 7 on "charges of indecent and obscene conduct", apparently targeting his preference for homosexual sex. He was released on bail on November 16. While awaiting trial, he instead fled to the countryside on November 24 to prepare for France. Some people believe that he was released from prison in time to commit the Mary Jane Kelly murder (November 9) and was arrested immediately. News of his arrest led some to believe he was the Ripper due to his many notorious scams in the United States. Whether he was a killer or just a weirdo under undue suspicion remains a matter of debate. Tablett was mentioned as a suspect in a letter sent to a reporter by a London police officer many years after the murder, but no one knew that the officer was directly involved in the Ripper investigation. The suggestion that Scotland Yard sent a police officer to the United States in 1888 in an attempt to bring Tablett back in connection with the crime has remained controversial in recent research.

E. Dr. Thomas Neill Cream (Dr. Thomas Neill Cream)

(May 1850 - November 16, 1892): A doctor who secretly specializes in abortions. Born in Scotland, educated in London, opened business in Canada and later moved to Chicago, Illinois, USA. In 1881 he was found responsible for the poisonings of several of his patients, both men and women. Initially, no homicide was suspected, but Klee himself requested that the bodies be investigated, an apparent attempt to pique his interest. He was then imprisoned in the Illinois State Penitentiary at Joliet, and was released on July 31, 1891, on the grounds of good conduct. After moving to London to start a new life, he was again charged with murder, arrested, and hanged on November 16, 1892. According to some sources, his last words before his death were: "I?am?Jack..." This has been interpreted as a reference to Jack the Ripper, But it could also have been silenced by the hood. It is said that the Ripper was serving his sentence in prison when he committed the crime.

However, some writings suggest that he could bribe police officers to leave prison before being officially released, or that he could leave a double in his cell, but neither of these claims has been supported by authoritative sources.

4 Other theories about the Ripper

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and William Stewart proposed further theories that a female murderer dressed as Ripper Jack the Ripper. Supporters of the theory believe the female killer worked as a midwife, could wear bloody clothes without attracting attention and suspicion, and could gain the trust of her victims more easily than men. This theory identified a suspect who fit the description as Mary Pearcey, who murdered her lover's wife and child in October 1890. Although there is no indication that she ever worked as a midwife.

5 Media and Cultural Impact

The Ripper murders marked an important turning point in modern British life. Although it is unclear who the first serial killer was, Jack the Ripper was the first killer to create a global media frenzy of coverage of his murders. Reform of the Stamp Act in 1855 allowed cheap newspapers to have wider circulations. In the late Victorian era, the rapid growth of the newspaper industry, including newspapers as cheap as half a penny and the publication of popular magazines such as Illustrated Police News, ultimately helped the Ripper gain unprecedented popularity. . These characteristics, combined with the fact that no one was ever positively convicted, created a haunting legend that would later cast a shadow over the emergence of serial killers.

Some people believe that the killer's nickname was created by newspaper workers to create a compelling story and sell more newspapers. This approach later became a widely recognized standard. Famous examples include the Boston Strangler, Gary Ridgway, the Green River Killer, and the Hillside Strangler. ) and the Zodiac Killer (Zodiac Killer), as well as the derived British Yorkshire Ripper (Peter Sutcliffe, Yorkshire Ripper), almost a hundred years after the murder. In addition, the unknown murderer of the "Thames Nude Murders" in the 1960s was also called "Jack the Stripper" by the media.

The poor East End has long been ignored by wealthy society, but the appearance of serial murders and victims has to draw attention to their living conditions. This focus meant that social reformers of the day could finally get the wealthy classes to listen and believe that something had to be done to help the poor. In a letter to Star magazine, George Bernard Shaw sarcastically commented on the media's sudden attention:

While we Social Democrats are wasting so much time educating, agitating and organizing, certain Totally autonomous genius has taken control of these works and transformed these bourgeois media into a clumsy and incompetent communism with nothing more than murder and the disembowelment of four women.

In addition, Jack the Ripper has become a symbolic figure appearing in many novels, either as a main character or as a more peripheral character (see Jack the Ripper novels). The Ripper has also appeared in popular culture in another form.

Many music creators such as Motörhead, Macabre, Roland Kirk, Morrissey, Nick Cave and Bad Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, LL Cool J, The White Stripes, Judas Priest, Grim? Reaper), Queensramp;yuml;che, Univers?Zero, Falconer, My?Chemical?Romance, Link?Wray, The?Legendary?Pink?Dots, Iced? Earth), Bob Dylan, Benediction (band), Screaming Lord Sutch, Leslie Fish and Nationalteatern have all mentioned or quoted Jack the Ripper as song titles in their albums. Spitalfield, a pop band that made its mark in Chicago, chose this name because the band members thought it described a village where Jack the Ripper was haunted, but in fact it was not a village but an area in London's East End.

Many companies, such as McFarlane Toys, also produce Jack the Ripper action figures or toys, sometimes causing protests. Families of those killed by serial killer Robert Pinkerton are objecting to the sale of Ripper dolls at Vancouver's Viking Superstore.

In 2006, Jack the Ripper was selected into the BBC's "History" magazine and voted by its readers as the worst British person in history (BBC).