This text is from the E-book Jack the Ripper: A Suspect Guide by Christopher J. Morley (2005). Click here to return to the table of contents. The text is unedited, and any errors or omissions rest with the author. Our thanks go out to Christopher J. Morley for his permission to publish his E-book.
Ape
This suspect is for Wolf Vanderlinden. A woman, Mrs L. Painter from Ryde, Isle of Wight, considered the Ripper was not a man, but a large ape, that had escaped from a wild beast show. She explained how this powerful and agile creature escaped at night, reclaiming a knife which it had hidden in a nearby tree, before killing it's victims silently before returning dutifully to it's cage. She opted for her ape suspect because she believed this beast was swift, cunning, silent and strong. As amusing as this story appears, it is evidently influenced by Edgar Allan Poe's, Murders In The Rue Morgue.
This text is from the E-book Jack the Ripper: A Suspect Guide by Christopher J. Morley (2005). Click here to return to the table of contents. The text is unedited, and any errors or omissions rest with the author. Our thanks go out to Christopher J. Morley for his permission to publish his E-book.
