Jack the Ripper and Black Magic

Foreword

by Stewart P. Evans Writing a book on the subject of Jack the Ripper and the Whitechapel murders of 1888 has been likened to entering a minefield. Any author with the temerity to embark upon this literary venture knows full well the meaning of these words. For not only is detailed research and reading on the subject required, a proper understanding of the subject matter, Victorian times, police, press, people and history is also needed. So it is with admiration that I have read this contribution to the genre by Australian author Spiro Dimolianis. Not only has he been brave enough to tackle this vexed subject; he has chosen to focus on one of the more controversial aspects of Ripperology — Jack the Ripper and black magic. He has done this with an understanding of the material that is to be applauded, and I thoroughly recommend this work to anyone with an interest in this subject. It provides a new and much needed insight on an area that attracts more than its fair share of madcap ideas and theories — and has thrown up one of the more colorful suspects for the identity of the unknown Victorian killer. Mr. Dimolianis has aptly subtitled it “Victorian Conspiracy Theories, Secret Societies and the Supernatural Mystique of the Whitechapel Murders.”

He rapidly engages us in the proper historical context of the times. As anyone with more than a passing knowledge of the subject is aware it is bedeviled with myth and misinformation. Here fictions are identified and examined and source material is considered, very relevant these days when the searching of online digital archives seems to be totally replacing good old-fashioned and time-consuming scouring of dusty records, letters and manuscripts. The importance of the cultural conditions and context with regard to interpreting the meaning of the historical data is explained. This is very important when modern concepts such as criminal profiling and studies of modern serial killers are increasingly applied to this case. This is more than a mere study of the “black magic” aspect of the case; it is a study of the concept of “conspiracy theories” used as an explanation for the motive and the murders. The author has not restricted himself to searching the Internet for information — he has realized the importance of supplementing that with the old research methods. We find out whether the idea of a “secret society” explanation is credible, and what of the secretive Special Branch of Scotland Yard and its possible involvement as evidenced in the Littlechild Letter, written to journalist, author, playwright, poet and man of letters George R. Sims in 1913, in which the colorful Irish-American suspect “Dr.” Francis Tumblety was revealed?

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