The History of MysteryThe History of Mystery

As long as there has been crime, there has been mystery

.The very first mystery was published in 1841 by Edgar Allan Poe.  The title of his book was The Murders in the Rue Morgue. He inspired many others to write mysteries, including the famous Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who wrote about Sherlock Holmes.

In 1903, the first mystery movie was made based on a train robbery, called The Great Train Robbery. 

The 1920's brought books including Agatha Christie's novels and The Hardy Boys. Three years later, Nancy Drew embarked on her numerous mystery adventures .

Comic books were soon showcasing Batman and Robin.

In the 1950's, more people became exposed to mystery and detective stories when they aired as television shows.  Hitchcock, Perry Mason and Dragnet, were among the first.

The first interactive mystery series called Unsolved Mysteries, provides viewers with scenarios about true life cases.  People are encouraged to help by giving authorities any information they have about the mysteries.

The only type of book that was more popular than the mystery was romance.

Mysterious WordsMysterious Words

 alibi detective sleuth

Breakthrough purloin suspect

clue hunch red herringvictim

crime motive witness deduce

Who am I?

serial killer

killed a number of prostitutes in the East End of London

1888.

Nicknamed ‘the ripper’

The Victims:

It is unclear just how many women the Ripper killed.

The public, press, and even many junior police officers believed that the Ripper was responsible for nine slayings.

All five of these listed plus Tabram were prostitutes and were killed between early August and early November 1888. All but Tabram and Kelly were killed outdoors and there is no evidence to suggest that any of them knew each other. They varied in both age and appearance. Most were drunk or thought to be drunk at the time they were killed.

M.O.- modus operandi

The Whitechapel murderer and his victim stood facing each other. The Ripper seized the women by their throats and strangled them until they were unconscious if not dead.

Ripper then lowered his victims to the ground, their heads to his left. No bruising on the back of the heads shows that he lowered the bodies to the ground rather than throwing or letting them fall.

He cut the throats when the women were on the ground. Splatter stains show that the blood pooled beside or under the neck and head of the victim rather than the front which is where the blood would flow if they had been standing up.

In one case blood was found on the fence some 14 inches or so from the ground and opposite the neck wound and this shows that the blood spurted from the body while in the prone position on the ground. This method also prevented the killer from being unduly blood stained.

The Ripper then made his other mutilations, still from the victim's right side, or possibly while straddling over the body at or near the feet.

Usually he took a piece of the victim's viscera. The taking of a "trophy" is a common practice by modern sexual serial killers.

In the opinion of most of the surgeons who examined the bodies, most believed that the killer had to have some degree of anatomical knowledge to do what he did. In one case he removed a kidney from the front rather than from the side, and did not damage any of the surrounding organs while doing so.

Given the time circumstances of the crimes (outside, often in near total darkness, keeping one eye out for the approach of others, and under extremely tight time constraints), the Ripper almost certainly would have had some experience in using his knife.

The Whitechapel Murders and those of Jack the Ripper are not the same. Over a period of three years towards the end of the nineteenth century a number of prostitutes were murdered- the murder of prostitutes was not a unique occurrence but several of the murders drew particular attention on account of the savagery with which the victim’s bodies were mutilated. Within the Whitechapel Murders there was a group that demonstrated sufficient similarities to suggest that they were committed by the same person- ‘Jack the Ripper’.

Jack the Ripper was never apprehended nor convincingly identified.

The Ripper murders were conducted against a backdrop of appalling deprivation and unimaginable poverty among the poor of East London.

Michael Ostrog, a Russian doctor, and convict, who was held in a lunatic asylum as a homicidal maniac. Hiis whereabouts at the time of the murders could never be discovered.

A Mr. Druitt, was a doctor in a good family, who disappeared at the time of the Miller's Court murder, & whose body was found in the Thames on 31st December.

In 1992  Michael Barrett, from Liverpool, found a diary reputedly written by James Maybrick who died in 1889.  In this diary, Maybrick confessed to being Jack the Ripper.

A well known theory is that Prince Edward was the Ripper because he liked to slum it in the East End and he had the influence to cover up murders

Investigate:

Using the following website, deduce whether Mary Jane Kelly was another victim of 'Jack the Ripper'?

Refer to other websites to support your view

http://www.karyom.com/WhitechapelMJKELLY.htm

Anatomy of a MysteryAnatomy of a Mystery

Create characters with good physical descriptions for a good mental picture. The main character is the one that will determine which way the plot turns. The main character(s) should get to the bottom of the mystery. The main character may make a mistake and get tangled into the plot. Other characters such as a perpetrator, a victim, a detective, and/or an assistant are important to the success of the story.  They should be believable characters and each of their roles should be carefully planned out.

Provide a vivid description of the surroundings in your story.  Make the readers feel as if they can close their eyes and picture just where the scene is taking place.  Create interest and excitement by providing unusual settings for the events of the story. The setting should have a suspicious feel to it, like a dark character is lurking around the corner.

Begin your mystery with action and suspense. Something exciting should occur. You need to create a plot or a storyline telling what the mystery is about right away.

Every mystery has a problem to solve, like who committed a crime or where something is hidden.  The fun part is leaving clues for the reader so he or she can put the pieces of the story together like a puzzle.  You can be tricky and put "red herrings" into your plots that will put a little more mystery into your story by throwing the readers off track.  This forces them to sift through the clues and decide which ones pertain to the solution of the problem and which do not. It also makes it more interesting if more than one person is the suspect.

The solution should be believable.  In order for the story to work, all of the clues have to be included in the story.  You cannot have unknown surprises that no one would know about. 

Old Melbourne GaolOld Melbourne Gaol

Infamous criminals hanged in this institution include Francis Knorr, a notorious baby serial killer dubbed as the "baby farmer" who was executed in the 19th century and Elizabeth Scott, who was the first female criminal ever to be executed in Melbourne. With a total of more than a 130 hangings, visitors passing through its ghostly corridors can't help but feel an eerie sensation.

Mystery WritingMystery Writing

Are you inspired?

Yes- Start planning a short mystery story based on your Jack the Ripper’s everyday life and how he covered his trail

Nearly- Further investigate the setting for the Jack the Ripper murders or) http://listverse.com/bizarre/top-10-unsolved-mysteries/

http://www.revver.com/video/433773/gummi-bear-death-attack-of-the-50ft-woman/

Inspiration for mystery Writing

Images

True crime stories: according to former FBI profiler John Douglas, many serial killers are motivated by a "desire to create and sustain their own mythology." One of the most complicated cases along those lines, in which the geography of a series of murders seemed to play a part, was that of the Zodiac killer…

Quotes: "It was an urge. ... A strong urge, and the longer I let it go the stronger it got, to where I was taking risks to go out and kill people risks that normally, according to my little rules of operation, I wouldn't take because they could lead to arrest." —Edmund Kemper.

Websites; Angels of Death -- The Doctor sDr. Katherine Ramsland explores cases of doctors who kill and why they do it including a new case file on Dr. Robert Bierenbaum

Unsolved mysteries