"Jack the Ripper" is the best known pseudonym given to an unidentified
serial killer active in the largely impoverished districts in and
around the Whitechapel district of London in 1888. The name originated
in a letter by someone claiming to be the murderer that was
disseminated in the media. Attacks ascribed to the Ripper typically
involved women prostitutes from the slums whose throats were cut prior
to abdominal mutilations. Rumours that the murders were connected
intensified in September and October 1888, and extremely disturbing
letters from a writer or writers purporting to be the murderer were
received by media outlets and Scotland Yard. Mainly because of the
extraordinarily brutal character of the murders, and because of media
treatment of the events, the public came increasingly to believe in a
single serial killer, Jack the Ripper. Extensive newspaper coverage
bestowed widespread and enduring international notoriety on the Ripper.
An investigation into a series of brutal killings in Whitechapel up to
1891 was unable to connect all the killings conclusively to the murders
of 1888, but the legend of Jack the Ripper solidified. As the murders
were never solved, the legends surrounding them became a combination of
genuine historical research, folklore, and pseudohistory. The term
"ripperology" was coined to describe the study and analysis of the
Ripper cases. There are over one hundred theories about the Ripper's
identity, and the murders have inspired multiple works of fiction.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_the_Ripper>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1788:
Over 15,000 British soldiers launched an attack on Vinegar Hill, the
largest camp and headquarters of the County Wexford United Irish
rebels, marking a turning point in the Irish Rebellion.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Vinegar_Hill>
1813:
Peninsular War: The Marquess of Wellington's combined British,
Portuguese, and Spanish allied army defeated the French near Vitoria,
Spain.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Vitoria>
1826:
Greek War of Independence: A combined Egyptian and Ottoman army began
their invasion of the Mani Peninsula, but they were initially held off
by the Maniots at the fortifications of Vergas.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ottoman%E2%80%93Egyptian_Invasion_of_Mani>
1898:
In a bloodless event during the Spanish–American War, the United States
captured Guam from Spain.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capture_of_Guam>
1948:
The Manchester Small-Scale Experimental Machine , the world's first
stored-program computer, ran its first computer program.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manchester_Small-Scale_Experimental_Machine>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
flyblown (adj):
1. Contaminated with flyblows.
2. Tainted
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/flyblown>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change,
the courage to change the
things I can,
and the wisdom to know the difference.
--Reinhold Niebuhr
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Reinhold_Niebuhr>