Historic haunts
When night fell in Whitechapel on Friday 31 August 1888 it must have felt like any other late summer’s evening. The first delicate nip of an early autumn may have been hanging in the air. But by its end, a positive chill had descended when the body of Mary Ann Nichols was discovered in Buck’s Row. The manner of her demise was meticulous and recognisable – she was an early victim of Jack the Ripper who added, with similar precision, four more women to his tally. (There was possibly a fifth.) At least one of his victims, perhaps others, patronised the Ten Bells pub in Commercial Street immediately prior to her death. And, just maybe, Jack stalked his victims there.
Today, Whitechapel has changed beyond recognition. Yet it is hard to wander
