Connected Ghosts to Jack the Ripper

The following article was written by SRI Founder Irene Allen-Block.

Connected Ghosts to Jack the Ripper
by Irene Allen-Block:

Hanbury Street. E1.

The story of London’s famous serial killer Jack the Ripper is known to most. The brutal slaying of five women and maybe many more unknown has been over the years a topic for television and movies alike. But few maybe except for the odd enthusiast or tourist are aware of some of the ghosts that now seem to haunt the scenes of his crimes. 

The one murder that resonates with me is that of Annie Chapman. Many many years ago I had an experience in Hanbury Street where I encountered a specter of a woman dressed in Victorian garb. My story, I have reported in my book “Among the Spirits.” Annie was the second victim of the ripper and came to her end in the backyard of number 29 Hanbury Street at 6am on the 8^th of September 1888; here her brutally mutilated body was found. Today on the North side of the street stands the Truman Brewery, there was a time when strange chills would be felt in the boardroom especially around the time of the anniversary of her death. Annie’s ghost was often seen also standing near a wall that now occupies the spot where she died over a hundred years ago.     

Mitre Square. EC3.

Today the scene of the murder of Catherine Eddows in Mitre Square is nothing like it was. Surrounded on three sides by modern office blocks and a school on the forth side, Mitre Square bears no resemblance to the Victorian Square of long ago other than the cobblestones that still remain. People rush back and forth to work with hardly a thought that they could be treading on the very spot where one of the infamous murders took place.

The South West corner of the square is the position of where Catherine Eddows mutilated body was found. Catherine was the fourth victim of Jack the Ripper and was discovered at 1.45am on September 30^th 1888. It is said that on this date Catherine’s spectral figure can be glimpsed lying on the cobblestones where she met her gruesome end.

Westminster Bridge. SW1.

Westminster Bridge is one of many bridges to span the river Thames and the sight of where Jack the Ripper as legend would have it killed himself by plunging into the river itself. His madness has been doomed to repeat his decent into notoriety over and over again. December 31st the night of that famous jump if you stand on the bridge and look towards the east when Big Ben hails in the New Year as is tradition a shadowy figure is said to materialise on the parapet and leap headfirst into the depths of the waters of the river below. If you are lucky enough to witness this you have just been rewarded with a sighting of one of London’s most dark criminals.

The bridge also gives view on the occasional misty autumn morning to a phantom barge that drifts towards the bridge and passes underneath. Run to the other side of the bridge but you will never see it emerge, its disappearance remains a mystery.

Ten Bells Pub.

One of the most infamous pubs in London was linked to the legend of Jack the Ripper. Although it seems that none of the victims is known to haunt the pub maybe some lost souls are attracted by the negativity of the area.

The pub itself is situated in Commercial Street and has hardly changed. In the early hours of November 9^th 1888 Mary Kelly the last of the ripper’s victims left the pub. The next morning at Millers court in Dorset Street close by, her horrific mutilated body was found.

Over a hundred years later 1990, the pub itself gave cause for concern. The live in staff whose rooms were on the upper floors started to complain of frightening experiences they were having with the apparitional form of an old man dressed in Victorian clothes. Often they would be woken by an uneasy feeling in the dead of night and turning in bed would come face to face with his ghostly form lying beside them. As soon as they raised the alarm the phantom form would disappear. New staff that knew nothing about the ghost would soon report sightings and their description would be the same.

A new landlord made a decision to clean out the cellar. When doing this an old metal box was found hidden in a corner, opening it, the box contained the effects of a one George Roberts. Among the items was an old leather wallet that contained a press cutting that dated back to the early 1900’s. The cutting spoke of him George being murdered with an axe in a Swansea cinema. Research showed that George Roberts had been the landlord of the Ten Bells pub from the late 19^th to the early 20^th century. Had it been his ghost that the staff had been encountering?

In 2001 a tenant who lived at the pub often heard footsteps and a sinister laugh outside of his door, when looking out he would find the corridor outside empty. On occasion an invisible hand would push him in the back always when he was descending the stair case. A psychic was bought in to see if she could pick up on anything. When she reached one of the rooms upstairs she stopped dead and refused to go on. She reported that something terrible had happened in the room and was certain it was the brutal death of a baby from the 19^th century.

A researcher and expert on Jack the Ripper later visited the Ten Bells pub and on her walk round she was given access to the attic. Whilst up there she noticed material embedded in the floor behind a water tank. The researcher pulled it out and discovered it was a tied up sack, undoing it and removing its contents she found a set of moldy baby clothes. The clothes looked as if they had been slashed with a knife. The tank where the grizzly find was discovered was situated directly over the room where the psychic had picked up on the murdered child. Uncanny!  

In my day of living and working in London I have seen many strange things but the one that really stood out for me was as I mentioned earlier the ghost of Annie Chapman and the words I heard when confronted by the women I believe to be her “He throttled before he cut.”  My story of Annie and others like it can be read in my book “Among the Spirits.”