When we started planning this trip, we had lots of activities to choose from for daytime activities, but other than going to the performance of The Mousetrap, we hadn't quite found anything to do in the evening besides go out to eat. Then one of our friends (same one who had mentioned The Witchery restaurant) told us of a Jack the Ripper tour they went on in London that they enjoyed, and I thought that would be a fun evening event. And it was! We walked down lots of alleys, heard gory stories of murder and evisceration, saw bits of London that we wouldn't have seen, and got our heads filled with several theories on who Jack the Ripper was.
Our tour began near the Aldgate East tube station, near the Whitechapel art gallery. I think several tours started there and our guide separated people out for various groups. We visited several of the locations where Jack the Ripper's victims were found, places they were known to frequent while they were alive, and given interesting narratives on what life in general was like for the victims and people who lived in this area during the time of the murder spree.
Near the end of the tour, the guide gave us his theory of who Jack the Ripper was, but I won't spoil it for you, although if you want a hint, watch the Johnny Depp movie From Hell. I do recommend a Jack the Ripper tour even if you aren't a true-crime fan. We got to go down lots of tiny alley ways (one that our guide said was used in one of the Harry Potter movies) and hear lots of interesting general history of the time.
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| Our tour guide |
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| and his briefcase |
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| interesting row houses |
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| the tour guide was a veritable fountain of knowledge. He even had a personal connection to the Jack the Ripper case. |
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| The Ten Bells pub |
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| I think this was the alley used in the HP movie |
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| visual aids were used in the tour--we saw pictures and illustrations pertaining to the case |
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| He was a good story teller |
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| I think this is where the last Ripper victim lived and was murdered (it has been paved over) and our tour guide gave us graphic details regarding how she was found. He might have even acted out a few of the movements of police for us. |
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| We were close to this part of London |
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