Why were there no serial killers before Jack the Ripper?

There were. Jack the Ripper just had a perfect storm of events that made him the most visible of the hundreds of serial killers that came before him: 1. He had one of the first major metropolis as his playground. read more

Jack the Ripper just had a perfect storm of events that made him the most visible of the hundreds of serial killers that came before him: He had one of the first major metropolis as his playground. London of the late 19th Century was overcrowded and life was Hobbsean (nasty, brutish, and short). read more

Jack the Ripper was the pen name that signed off on a chilling letter alleged to be from the killer printed in London newspapers at the height of his terror. Five women — Mary Ann Nichols, Annie Chapman, Elizabeth Stride, Catherine Eddowes, and Mary Jane Kelly — are widely held to have been victims of the Ripper, although later murders were attributed to him. read more

Unseen letters from Britain's first female serial killer Mary Ann Cotton written days before she was hanged Jack the Ripper was a Victorian serial killer who butchered at least five women in a terrifying four month murderous spree in 1888 in Whitechapel in London. read more