Crime Dark Tourism: Jack the Ripper, London, UK
For three months in 1888, five women in London’s Whitechapel district were mutilated and splayed out in a gruesome display. The story was fascinating even to people of the time. When the second victim, Annie Chapman, was discovered, people who had flats overlooking the crime scene charged spectators a penny to come see the corpse and (later) the scene. One hundred and thirty five years later, the case still fascinates people all over the world.
Theories abound about who did it. Some theories are reasonable, others outlandish. The story draws visitors to London’s Whitechapel district. Once the seedy side of London, today Whitechapel is a trendy arts and cultural center. Despite the turn-around in the neighborhood, the past haunts today’s Whitechapel. Visitors can take one of many Jack the Ripper tours, looking for shadows of the community as it was in the late 1800s.
