Jack the Ripper and the Zodiac Killer

The History of the Most Famous Serial Killers Who Were Never Caught

By: Charles River Editors

Narrated by: Scott Clem

When one hears the term “Victorian”, many images come to mind. For some, the term conjures up visions of lace and gloves and delicate fans. Others think of tight corsets and even tighter morals. Others, swayed perhaps by one too many British costume dramas, envision gentle elegance and long-lost beauty.

Naturally, few people think of multiple dead bodies cast about in the streets or dark bedrooms, most mutilated to a shocking degree, and yet, those tragic images played a significant role not only in late Victorian London, but ever since.

In 1888 and 1889, a killer stalked the dark backstreets of the city through the notoriously overcrowded and crime-ridden Whitechapel district, murdering young women and then cutting their bodies up like a butcher. There have been a countless number of serial killers throughout history, and certainly more prolific ones, but the timing, circumstances, and unsolved nature of the case continue to make Jack the Ripper the most famous serial killer in history.

The murders came at a time when media coverage could be both more acute and more widespread, and it allowed the public a closer look into how police agencies operated at the time, exposing both their strengths and shortcomings.

Of course, the lack of modern forensics hamstrung the investigators in the late 19th century, and while the police file for the case was extensive and active for several years, much of the evidence disappeared from the file without explanation, possibly as souvenirs. Despite the fact the police interviewed thousands and considered hundreds of suspects, they were never able to arrest anyone for the murders.

The intense media coverage also likely played a role in both the actual murderer and would-be copycats and pranksters sending hundreds of letters to police claiming to be Jack the Ripper. It’s also indisputable that the use of a precise modus operandi, the serial killer being given a nickname, and the taunting letters sent to police all influenced subsequent serial killers and the way they were covered. Whether it’s the Zodiac Killer, the Son of Sam, or the Boston Strangler, the antecedent of all 20th-century and 21st-century killers remains Jack the Ripper.

Toward the end of 1968, a new and more sinister headline began to pop up. At first, it was just in California and seemed to be simply a random crime, with a couple being murdered a few days before Christmas. It was a tragic tale, but in California, it was often dismissed as a byproduct of the youth culture of sex, drugs, and rock and roll that often led young people to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Then, some months later, another couple was shot, and this time, the man survived. The story he told was not of someone targeting either him or his friend, but of a type of madman shooting them again and again.

The idea that there was an unhinged serial killer on the loose was confirmed when he began writing letters to the police and the newspapers, not only claiming responsibility for these killings, but for others that either had been or would be committed. After he stabbed a third couple and then shot a cab driver in cold blood, he began to send more and more letters. These, like the earlier ones, were signed with a symbol understood only by the killer, a man who called himself “Zodiac”. In addition to sending cryptic letters that authorities had to decipher, the Zodiac Killer used them to both taunt people and threaten more violence, warning that a failure to publish what he would wrote would lead him to "cruise [sic] around all weekend killing lone people in the night then move on to kill again, until I end up with a dozen people over the weekend."

©2020 Charles River Editors (P)2020 Charles River Editors