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OI, EVERYONE I HAVE A QUESTION!!!!!!!... Log Out | Topics | Search
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Casebook: Jack the Ripper - Message Boards » General Discussion » OI, EVERYONE I HAVE A QUESTION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! « Previous Next »

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ex PFC Wintergreen
Unregistered guest
Posted on Saturday, August 20, 2005 - 7:19 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only) Ban Poster IP (Moderator/Admin only)

I've been getting really confused with all the decapitation stuff. I've been told by some sources that there was categorically no severed heads, or attempts of severed heads in the victims of old Jacky. But I keep hearing from all sorts of other places where decapitation theories are rife. Can someone once and for all tell me the answer to this, the first person to tell me the right answer gets a fabulous prize.

Wintergreen.
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Nicholas Smith
Detective Sergeant
Username: Diddles

Post Number: 51
Registered: 6-2005
Posted on Monday, August 22, 2005 - 5:48 am:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only) Ban Poster IP (Moderator/Admin only)

G'day mate, not a problem.

There were NO decapitations with Jack nor were there any attempted decapitations (my point of view).

If anything poor old Annie came the closest with Bagster Phillips commenting in his autopsy report that 'The muscular structures appeared as though an attempt had been made to separate the bones of the neck'.

All the others had severe throat cuts which went through to the bone, but there was no attempts at decapitation.

Sincerely
Jules
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George Hutchinson
Chief Inspector
Username: Philip

Post Number: 671
Registered: 1-2005
Posted on Monday, August 22, 2005 - 11:02 am:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only) Ban Poster IP (Moderator/Admin only)

Wintergreen -

Actual decapitation stories may spring from the hateful Nazi book DER TEUFEL VON WHITECHAPEL which (almost) begins :

"The bright object was the severed head of a woman, lying on the pavement of this gloomy corner in a pool of blood".

It then goes on to say a load of Jews came out of their hovels like rats for the sensation. The illustration on the facing page is equally abhorrant, showing an appaled policeman in front of a severed head with several Jews grinning out of a nearby doorway. But then it goes on to sat the Goulston Street graffito said "Damn the anti-Semites"...

Jules is right, of course, there may have been an attempt at decapitation on AC, but none of the others.

PHILIP
Tour guides do it loudly in front of a crowd!
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Dan Norder
Chief Inspector
Username: Dannorder

Post Number: 844
Registered: 4-2004
Posted on Monday, August 22, 2005 - 1:33 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only) Ban Poster IP (Moderator/Admin only)

Hi Wintergreen,

And of course whether you believe Jack decapitated someone or not also hinges upon which victims you think he killed. If you expand out from the canonical five, the pickings are still a little thin, but there are possibilities. If he was responsible for, say, the torso murders of roughly the same time period, then he did decapitate some victims. Most sources don't include those, but some do.
Dan Norder, Editor
Ripper Notes: The International Journal for Ripper Studies
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Andrew Spallek
Chief Inspector
Username: Aspallek

Post Number: 978
Registered: 5-2003
Posted on Friday, August 26, 2005 - 1:00 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only) Ban Poster IP (Moderator/Admin only)

I think Mary Kelly was nearly decapitated, although the killer certainly would have had the time to complete the job of decapitation had that been his aim. The post-mortem says only that the fifth and sixth vertebrae were deeply notched by knife cuts, the soft tissues being severed to the bone. The crime scene photo shows Mary's head in a very distorted position, probably due to the supporting soft tissues of the neck being severed.

Andy S.
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Nicholas Smith
Detective Sergeant
Username: Diddles

Post Number: 61
Registered: 6-2005
Posted on Friday, August 26, 2005 - 1:10 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only) Ban Poster IP (Moderator/Admin only)

G'day Andy,

Yeah, but the fact is Mary wasn't decapitated and the opportunity was clearly there to do so. Jack wanted other body bits, not a head.

Jules

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