What Did Jack The Ripper Look Like?

History is filled with monsters. People who carried out unconscionable acts of violence, abuse, and murder. Sadly, many of these monsters are never identified. While we are all aware of major serial killers who were caught and jailed, some manage to escape ever being discovered. Arguably, the best – or worst, if you will – example of this is Jack The Ripper. The Ripper, sometimes called the Whitechapel Murderer, was a monster who committed numerous acts of murder across Whitechapel in London.

The Ripper had a pretty specific MO: he would target women, mostly prostitutes, who worked in the more chaotic parts of Whitechapel. Once he would find a victim, Jack The Ripper would slice their throat and then proceed to mutilate them. Some victims, like poor Mary Jane Kelly, appeared to have organs removed and kept as a ‘trophy’ of sorts. Kelly is unique in that she died in a house, not on the street.

In British serial killer history, few are more infamous than Jack The Ripper – and none more infamous among those who were never found. Lots of speculation exists about what his motives were or even how skilled he was. The fact organs would be removed from some bodies led some to believe that he was anatomically skilled; other killers, such as Kelly, seemed to trade surgical knowledge for sheer brutality.

One thing is for certain, though: whoever Jack The Ripper was, he was one of the worst monsters ever to live in the UK. Few people have managed to meet his high bar for cruelty, sadism, and brutality. His reign of terror came around in the late 1880s, and he was never caught. This has led to various discussions over the years about who he was or even what Jack The Ripper looked like.

Of course, there is no ‘right’ answer – well over one century since he was active, Jack The Ripper is long gone. He is never to return, even in spirit, we hope. Thanks to expert testimony and some artistic license, though, some experts have come up with ideas of what Jack The Ripper looked like. With an unknown number of victims – five are believed to be his, but many more could also be – we know so little.

Here, though, are some of the breakdowns of what it is assumed that Jack The Ripper looked like.

Who Was Jack The Ripper?

At this stage in history, it is better to admit that we will never know. Far too many years have passed for Jack The Ripper to be identified now. The lack of tools at the time to properly forensically discover who he was means that any evidence is now long gone. What we are left with are suggestions, accusations, and innuendo. There is, though, no real means of finding out who Jack The Ripper truly was. 

In fact, we do not even know what would have motivated him to carry out the acts he did. Some believe that it could have been a form of sexual sadism. Others believe that a false sense of purity powered Jack The Ripper, akin to someone like the infamous ‘Bible John’ who would, in his twisted way, ‘smite the wicked’ for what he believed were acts of depravity or acts that broke religious code.

The fact that Jack The Ripper seemed to have a type – prostitutes, mainly – means that many assume he was disgusted by the profession. Others believe that he was simply an evil, angry person – someone with incredible rage and the brutality within actually to carry out that rage. The fact that prostitutes in a desolate part of London would be easy fodder made them a suitable target. 

Add in that most prostitutes would come from runaway backgrounds, and it would be rare that anyone would go looking for them. Nor would there be much interest from law enforcement – of the time, at least – to truly investigate what was going on. Social classes in London at the time were deeply divided, and it took the upswing in murders by Jack The Ripper to really force the police into any action.

Who Was Suspected To Be Jack The Ripper?

When Jack The Ripper was active, we had far fewer resources to pursue the right answer. Compared to what we can learn today from a crime scene, officers of the time were limited to deductions and the use of bloodhounds. However, there were some intriguing clues about who Jack The Ripper could be.

For one, his gruesome murders would usually take place around weekends or public holidays. This would make it apparent that Jack The Ripper was either a local or worked locally. The kills would take place when people were off work; could The Ripper have managed to do his evilest work when he was supposed to be employed?

Some even believe that Jack The Ripper might have been from a higher social class, such as someone who was a doctor or studied to be a doctor. Indeed, some theories suggest that the last sightings of women whom The Ripper killed came when a rather well-to-do-looking individual accompanied them. Could he have been someone of a higher social strata, getting his kicks this way?

We will never really know for sure, but various people at the time were suspected of potentially being Jack The Ripper. Various names have been alluded to; police interviewed some, but many were not. Famous names are always important for such topics, which is why names as varied as Lewis Carroll, the famous author, and Prince Albert Victor, the royal, were put forward as potential suspects.

Pretty much anyone who was genuinely accused of being Jack The Ripper, though, came through the use of poorly managed and circumstantial evidence. While many theories exist, it is impossible to know who he truly was. Some of the main speculation, though, exists because some people of the time gave interesting statements about what Jack The Ripper might have looked like.

What Did Jack The Ripper Look Like?

Given he was never identified, finding out what Jack The Ripper looked like in full is almost impossible. ‘Ripperologists’ – people who are passionate about the case – have looked at every granule of detail out there. Still, there is no unified or specific agreement as to who he was. 

Like many uncaught serial killers, you can find reports that Jack The Ripper was everything from a stout with ginger hair to slender and black-haired. The confusing aspect, too, is that of the various suspected of being Jack The Ripper, none looked alike – they all had very distinguished features compared to one another. As such, it would be almost impossible to say which was the correct assumption or not.

What is believed to be correct, though, is that Jack The Ripper was a male who was anything from his late 20s to his late 30s. One of the major connecting factors amid the changing testimony of his looks is the pale complexion and the dark, worn-out eyes. He is believed to have been something in the region of 5’6” to 5’9”, though this also varies. His attire, too, usually revolved around some fur-trimmed coat.

Other suggestions also include that Jack The Ripper had a moustache of some form, curling up at each end, which was also another sign of potential aristocracy to some. In most designs and artist impressions, we see a man of average height for the era and a moustache wearing a fur coat and usually a hat of some form. He is believed to have been quite sharp and crisp in the way he dressed, though.

That would have been at least some of the attraction for the poor prostitutes that he murdered. The development of AI software has meant that we now see many more e-fit style impressions than ever before. While artists have tried to piece together what was out there, a popular AI creation, shown here, shows a rather pale-looking man in his 30s with swept-back, dark hair and a curled-up moustache.

Conclusion

Will we ever know who Jack The Ripper was? At this stage, it would be impossible to really know for sure. Around 130 years have passed since he was around, and while technology and crime scene investigation have come on leaps and bounds, they are unlikely to make up the shortfall of information that we have. Given that there is no real ‘agreed’ look for Jack The Ripper, it is hard to determine what would even be correct.

We have no idea about his name and can only go on anecdotal suggestions from the time. Given the era was also one where many would be unwilling to give too much detail to the police, even to catch a killer, most information is obscure at best. This absolutely contributed to the difficulty that was faced as law enforcement tried to track down one of the most vicious serial killers to ever exist in Britain.

So, who was Jack The Ripper? Nobody knows. What did he look like? Nobody can agree. There is so much legend about the murderer that it is almost impossible to separate the fact from the fiction at this point. One thing we know for sure, though: Jack The Ripper was a monster, evil incarnate. Whatever he looked like, he was one of the worst blights to ever descend upon London. 

Are you interested in learning more about Jack The Ripper? Then take a tour. Various Jack The Ripper Tours exist which take you up-close and personal with all of the information we know about the murderer. These can be great experiences for anyone who wants to be closer to the story itself.