History Matters: Blood and Myth: Mythologizing Jack the Ripper

Blood and Myth: Mythologizing Jack the Ripper with Jim Hysell, Continuing Lecturer in History and Scott Aigner, Assistant Professor of Art, Pierce College, Washington.
Alan Moore, in his graphic novel From Hell had his killer state, "For better or worse, the twentieth century, I have delivered it." In August of 1888 Jack the Ripper began his killing spree, and gripped the psyche of a nation. The grip has only gotten tighter, and expanded beyond the shores of Britain in the ensuing century. Today Jack the Ripper is more an element of myth than historical figure. We have filled in the gaps left by the Whitechapel Killer, and used those gaps to personify our own fears. Jack has become a figure of film and literature, a boogeyman and devil. How did this happen? Why have we chosen this killer to be the avatar of serial murder? It has happened, it is.
This event was held on November 29, 12:30 p.m., in Hammond SULB & Westville LSF 002 (Zoom) at Purdue University Northwest