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Jack The Ripper: History's Darkest Mystery | Part 1

The Rest Is History

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Was Jack the Ripper the first serial killer of all time? Who was his first victim, and why was the murder so shocking? And, what did the Ripper phenomenon reveal about the anxieties of Victorian London?

Join Tom and Dominic as they delve into the darkest days of London’s long history, as Jack the Ripper’s terrible, grisly reign of terror begins...

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Video Editor: Jack Meek
Social Producer: Harry Balden
Assistant Producer: Aaliyah Akude
Producer: Tabby Syrett
Senior Producer: Theo Young-Smith
Executive Producer: Dom Johnson

00:00 Intro – Setting up the Jack the Ripper series and focus on victims and Victorian London
00:35 Hive
02:02 “Dear Boss”
03:29 Introducing Jack the Ripper
08:48 The first “serial killer”
10:16 “Ripperology”
11:46 Using the Ripper as a window onto 1880s London culture
16:07 The East End
18:23 The victims versus the killer
22:52 London as imperial megacity and model of the future
26:51 Bloody Sunday in Trafalgar Square and the clearing of the homeless
30:08 The murder of Martha Tabram and press fascination
32:36 From Martha Tabram to a new, even more shocking murder
33:11 Aura Frames
34:34 Hotels.com
35:37 “A horrible murder in Whitechapel”
38:48 The killer’s stealth
40:02 Autopsy details and the uniquely savage nature of the wounds
42:38 Identifying the victim
53:42 Were they “prostitutes”? Victorian labels, morality and the ambiguity of sex work
57:32 Polly’s final night

20 Comments

@restishistorypod Creator 9 months ago Pinned

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@Tangleduponblue 9 months ago

Congratulations from America on being 2025s Podcast of the Year!

@Badgersj 9 months ago

These are useless as go-to-sleep videos, they are too interesting.

@familycompactthegrange7014 9 months ago (edited)

Dom does a worryingly convincing impression of Jack the Ripper.

@alf8151 9 months ago

Hearing stories like Polly's makes me glad for modern social services

@theresadoll5374 5 months ago

It freaks me out that my Grandma was born the year BEFORE this (1887). By 1900 she had left school to work in the local cotton mill. Before flight, automobiles, penicillin… I am often amazed how little people appreciate the tremendous advances we take for granted, within only one or two generations.

@CardinalBiggles01 9 months ago

So glad you guys spent so much time talking about these women and their lives and experiences. I've spent 30 years working with people that society would like to forget. It's really important these victims are remembered for the human beings they were. Not the perpetrator

@lynnedelacy2841 9 months ago

One aspect of poverty that struck me was the sleeping whilst just leaning over a rope - heart breaking

@bsastarfire250 9 months ago

My great-grandfather remembered the paperboys at the news-stands shouting '' orrible murder in Whitechapel '' , he was a Londoner Hackney area .

@jjlantry6808 9 months ago (edited)

I actually didn't want to hear about Jack the Ripper as I'm squeamish - but you gave a face and life story to Polly, and I thank you for humanizing her. It made me teary eyed thinking of her, and angry too (I couldn't help but to think about Epstein's victims... Women who are driven by unfortunate circumstances to become dehumanized and exploited, and in Polly's case, murdered, like her life and humanity didn't matter)

@GenXersJustWalkItOff 3 weeks ago

Just realized 80% of my YouTube content right now involves Dominic. It’s either The Book Club with Dominic and Tabitha or The Rest is History with Dominic and Tom H. Just about to set my timer and go to sleep listening to these two talk about a terrifying serial killer. Nice.

@alisonlilley3039 9 months ago

Identification of victims must have been a nightmare in those times. No one carries any of the clear identifiers that we do now - credit cards, drivers licence, mobile phone telling you EVERYTHING about us, fingerprints, dental records…list is ( almost) endless…

@juliederbyshire8530 10 days ago

I was at University in 1980 and the Yorkshire ripper affected female students so deeply we were terrified to go out alone. 100 years on.

@Declanjosephsongs 6 months ago

On a bad day, you guys save my life. On a good day, you make it even better.

@evakatz6351 9 months ago

My friend was in the The London Hospital, Whitechapel with meningitis and it still feels pretty Victorian in there.

@rhino5100 9 months ago

"Nothing's more gory than livin' in Victorian England" - Jack the Ripper via Epic Rap Battles (ERB)

@OttersHoldingHands 9 months ago

The book “The Five” made a huge impression on me. Honestly the first time I realized that these were real, struggling women, simply caught at a rough time in their lives.