The Five Victims of Jack the Ripper

We all think we know the story of Jack the Ripper.Five women. Victorian London. A faceless killer in the dark.But what if one of the most repeated parts of that story isn’t true at all?In this episode, we look beyond the headlines and into the real lives of the five women killed in Whitechapel in 1888. Mary Ann Nichols, Annie Chapman, Elizabeth Stride, Catherine Eddowes and Mary Jane Kelly.Because they were more than victims, and far more than the labels history gave them.We explore the reality of life in Victorian London, from overcrowded lodging houses and casual wards to the stigma surrounding homelessness, addiction and poverty. We unpack how and why these women were so quickly defined as sex workers, and what the historical record actually tells us.Drawing on research from The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper by Hallie Rubenhold, this episode centres their stories, their circumstances and who they really were.Their lives, not their deaths.Sources: The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper by Hallie Rubenhold