Was America's first serial killer really Jack the Ripper as well?

By Greg Goodsell
12/3/2012
Catholic Online (www.catholic.org)

Handwriting samples between H. H. Holmes and Ripper found to be amazingly similar

Two human monsters prowled both sides of the Atlantic in the Victorian Era. Jack the Ripper, or Springheel Jack murdered five prostitutes in foggy London town at the end of the Nineteenth century. He was never caught. At the same time, H. H. Holmes, aka Henry Mudgett turned his Chicago hotel into a massive killing machine, thought to have killed more than 200 people. An ancestor of Mudgett has now come forward to say that Mudgett and the Ripper, were indeed the same man.

Suave and debonair Herman Webster Mudgett, was a prosperous doctor in Chicago and a real lady killer -- literally. He's believed to have killed more than 200 people in his hotel slaughterhouse at the end of the 19th century.

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LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - Jeff Mudgett, the great-great-great-grandson of the Chicago killer, has submitted handwriting samples from both Holmes and Jack the Ripper for review. Handwriting experts have confirmed the likelihood they could stem from the same hand.

"Jeff had H.H. Holmes' handwriting compared to the infamous Jack the Ripper letter. One expert, recommended by the British Library, concluded both were written by the 'same hand,' while a computer program used by the Postal Service and Department of Justice stated it was a 97.95 per cent match."

Herman Webster Mudgett, was a prosperous doctor in Chicago, where he moved in 1884 from his native New Hampshire. He eventually became owner of a drugstore and opened a hotel in Englewood, a suburb of the Windy City.

Mudgett's 60-room boarding house was a human slaughterhouse. The building had been constructed to allow the proprietor easy access to his victims.

Dubbed ''the murder castle," Mudgett designed the structure with windowless rooms equipped with gas lines and body chutes. Dead or weakened guests of the hotel would be sent via chute to the basement of the hotel, where Mudgett would butcher the remains - selling the skeletons to medical schools.

Mudgett was finally caught and admitted to killing 27 people, though some suspect he was to blame for 200 deaths. He was hanged by the neck until dead in May of 1896.

Jeff Mudgett learned of his family history at the age of 40, and it "left him questioning everything he thought he knew about himself and his family. The new information forever changed him, propelling him down a new path in search of the truth," according to an interview he gave to Ancestry.com.

He began looking into the heinous crimes of his ancestor and the inquiry took a turn, when he began to notice similarities in Mudgett's modus operandi and that of Jack the Ripper.

Jack the Ripper was the title given to the unidentified killer who preyed upon the poor and immigrant communities of London in 1888, killing five prostitutes in the Whitechapel area. The Ripper was never caught, and speculation has been rife ever since to his identity. Many candidates, such as British loyalty, to a surgeon infected with syphilis have since been trotted out as possible suspects. The Ripper case inspires frisson to this very day, and many true crime buffs make Whitechapel a "must see" on their tours of Great Britain.

� 2012, Catholic Online. Distributed by NEWS CONSORTIUM

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Keywords: Henry Mudgett, Chicago, serial killers, Jack the Ripper, H. H. Holmes

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1 - 4 of 4 Comments

Mark C. Potts
5 months ago
I'm the guy that Jeff got his info from and got the handwriting match verified. Not only does he match the witness descriptions perfectly along with the handwriting, but I've also been able to match up his accomplices. Plus, incredibly I've been able to follow him across the US and England, found many more murders that should be associated with him.
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Here's a local news report of my findings: http://readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=346938
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I've also written 6 articles with the Whitechapel Society in London and was invited to post my things with the National Archives of the UK.
Here's the info concerning the handwriting: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B2XqPF-m6v3CZDE5YjVhNzItMzEzNS00Mjc4LTk4YTctY2E3NGI2Y2RjN2Iy/edit
mgm.
5 months ago
Another enterprising bold young man that found greater success in his endeavors in the new world of America then "Old Europe"
Mitchell Wachtel
5 months ago
Most likely, of course, the similarity in handwriting & modus operendi stems from similar brain abnormalities (moral or anatomic), but this fascinates. Let's see what gets dug up!

This is a wonderful article for crime buffs everywhere. Perfectly written.
Peter
5 months ago
Theories that make assumptions about Jack The Ripper need to not base evidence on comparing handwriting samples as you don't know if the person who committed the murders is the person who wrote the letters

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