The Tragedy of the East End

The next few posts will be dedicated to the quaint, lesser known museums and attractions of the trip -- the museums that can't quite compete with the sprawling, awe-inspiring exhibitions of the British Museum or even the labyrinthian endlessness of the National Museum of Scotland (we will get to them later). What these places lacked in size and prestige, however, they made up for in charm and their own individual merits.

The first of these, the Jack the Ripper Museum, was an unexpected stop in London. It was admittedly a bit questionable at first, but it ended up being well appreciated due to its somewhat kitschy (but otherwise informative) displays. The museum was out of the way but not too hard to find, and when we walked into what appeared to be a gift shop, we were met with a very cramped and confusing mess of tourists. Luckily, the museum itself was pretty empty, and our group was able to be alone in each of the rooms. 

The Illustrated Police News, 6 October 1888.

This was preferable, because the main attractions of the site are not exactly the physical displays, but the written history that lined the walls of each room. Of course, there is not much to display in an unsolved murder case other than speculative representations of what the killer would have been like. For this reason, I was not a fan of the "Jack the Ripper's apartment" room, but more on that further down.

That is not to say that the rooms were not visually engaging -- on the contrary, many of the floors were an incredibly chilling and sobering scene to behold. The top floor was the most memorable to me, set up to resemble the average living conditions of the victims of Jack the Ripper. His victims were all impoverished, many working as prostitutes with unstable housing in London's East End. To represent this, the room was furnished sparingly, as it would have been for the women, with photos and descriptions of a few of the victims on the wall. The worst of it, in terms of the tragic ambiance of the room, was the song the museum had playing - A Violet Plucked from Mother's Grave- a chilling ballad that the youngest of the victims, Mary Kelly, was said to have been heard singing shortly before she was murdered. It is hard to forget the melody of that song and the sorrow it inspired in that room. 

The other rooms were interesting as well, set up to look like a police station, a room believed to be similar to that of Jack the Ripper, the scene of Catherine Eddowes's discovery, and a morgue. The police station room had information on the suspects in the case and an uncanny valley wax figure that freaked me out a little. It also had what they claimed to be the actual police whistle that the officer blew when he discovered Catherine Eddowes's body, which is about as close as you can get to actual artifacts from the case. The presentation of suspects was a bit overwhelming and too tedious to comb through while you were standing there, many of the suspect cards written in an illegible font for... immersion purposes? I suppose. 

Illustrated London News, 13 October 1888

The next floor, the "room of Jack the Ripper" was a bit confusing to me. I guess there was a man who claimed he lived in the former apartment of the killer and painted it, which inspired the room set up. As someone who knows very little of the case beyond what the museum was telling me, this did not make any sense at all, and I think it was a bit of a reach to portray the room as the "Jack the Ripper's room." It was furnished quite nicely, complete with medical instruments they assume he would have used on the victims as well as random blood splotches on "his desk," which just seemed a bit theatrical to me. Surely the killer would have had literally anywhere else to wipe his murder hands other than on his.... papers and stuff.... or whatever they threw on the desk. I don't know. I wasn't a fan of that room, but I am also uncomfortable with uncertainty and guesswork in general.

The room portraying the discovery of Catherine Eddowes's body was uncomfortable, of course, but less because of what was happening and more because of the wax figures, which were not any less creepy in this room. It happens to be discovered that I am a bit sensitive to not-so-human-like human figures. Anyhow, it was a tragic scene, of course, albeit a bit gratuitous. I don't know how I would feel if I were Eddowes, having a wax figure of my slain body on display for tourists to take selfies with, the details of my final moments pored over with the morbid fascination of self proclaimed "Ripperologists." But I digress....

The last room was the morgue, which held a wooden mortuary table (again with fake blood stains -- a bit unnecessary, really) and information on each of the women's causes of death. Disappointingly, the information was a bit underdeveloped, hastily summarized in small print under small post-mortem photos of the women which felt unfair to view, framed and stuck on a wall, their worst moments memorialized to be ogled by serial killer enthusiasts. The true heartbreaking realization I had throughout all of this was that these women were ultimately defined by the man who took their lives, their names only known today because they were so brutally taken from this world. What a terrible way to be remembered. 

Overall, I appreciated the focus the museum had on the women themselves and the brief, difficult lives they led, rather than just glorifying the mystery of the killer. Some of it was poorly executed, sure, but I appreciated the focus it had on the many injustices and horrible living conditions suffered by women living in London's East End. The murders of Jack the Ripper brought to light a lot of these issues, and after the killings new resources for the poor were implemented in the East End. The historical context provided by this museum completely changed the way I thought about Jack the Ripper, and it truly is a case where the plight of the victims must rise above the murderer in terms of focus and intrigue. 

I did not take any photos in this museum, as it felt weird to do so. Consequently I have nothing from this particular site to show for my visit, but hopefully I have given a satisfactory glimpse into the experience.

*Disclaimer - the formatting of this particular post is so messed up but I cannot figure out how to fix it for the life of me