Content warning. This episode contains discussion of murder and graphic violence against women.

Jack the Ripper is one of the most notorious serial killers in history. He stalked the streets of London's impoverished Whitechapel district in 1888.

He had five canonical victims who popular culture has uniformly labeled as sex workers.

He brutally murdered these women mutilating their bodies.

He was never caught, but his heinous crimes are known the world over.

We all think we know this story so well, but there's actually much about it that we've heard

that's untrue.

To help sort out the mythologies and the misinformation, we spoke with ripperologist Jim McKenna.

Okay, so Jim is awesome. He's been researching the Ripper for years. This guy is a font of knowledge, but he's able to break down what he knows in an accessible and intriguing way.

He's also recently come out with a book, Penny Black, a collection of mysterious stories that draw on Jim's

fascination with horror. Please check it out. We're linking to it in our show notes.

Today, Jim is going to speak with us about the so-called canonical murders, as well as the broader

historical and sociological context of the killings, the identities of victims themselves,

and the misunderstandings about this infamous case.

We'll continue this conversation tomorrow

getting into Jim's own theory of the case.

My name is Anya Kane.

I'm a journalist.

And I'm Kevin Greenley. I'm an attorney.

And this is the Murder Sheet.

We're a true crime podcast focused on original reporting, interviews, and deep dives into murder cases.

We're the murder sheet.

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