The identity of Jack the Ripper has haunted and obsessed lay researchers and academics and for over a hundred and thirty years. This author’s theory is that Jack the Ripper included enciphered clues in many letters he sent to the police. No one knows the identity of Jack the Ripper for sure, so every theory is open to debate. The evidence presented in this book is intriguing.
Serial killers often relish the notoriety of their crimes and frequently monitor the authorities employed to catch them. There is a documented recurring phenomenon of murderers writing to police agencies and newspaper journalists, using a ‘secret code’ or even creating enciphered journals. There are many encryption methods for such ciphers. Cryptanalysis is a scientific way of deciphering such messages. In this investigation, the author is not analysing coded symbols, pictures, or numbers, but rather phrases included in the Ripper Letters comprising enciphered clues, the cipher being a simple word matrix.
The author has identified an abundance of such enciphered phrases within the letters. The quantity of these enciphered phrases makes a seemingly compelling case in support of the author’s hypothesis. The book contains a wealth of information on the murders and presents its evidence in a way that will absorb any reader interested in this criminal case.
If you like cryptography or searching for hidden messages - as I do - you can use the author’s guide to create your own experiments with word matrices and analyse some of the author’s conclusions, which broadens the pleasure of the book. I looked for 21 enciphered phrases within the matrices of 1000 common English surnames which provided interesting results. I would advise any reader to try experimenting with this author’s grids, which makes the book much more interactive and is really enjoyable.
This is a fascinating book that anyone interested in the case will enjoy, it is a large book with multiple illustrations and coloured grids beautifully laid out.
One of the most infamous forensic cryptography cases in the 20th century that has always fascinated me was the Zodiac killer. It would be wonderful to see the author do another book on another case like this.
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