Talk:Jack the Ripper

This article uses British English dialect and spelling. According to the relevant style guide, this should not be changed without broad consensus. Note: The official spelling of the formal name is correct with the -ize ending, which had been discussed in the past.

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Was the Ripper Left or Right Handed??

Thge wiki article is missing important discussion on whether the Ripper was left or right handed. This needs an expert to properly add a section on this with appropriate references. I am no expert so will not attempt it myself, but I have heard that the the angle of the knife wounds suggested a left handed person. If this is true then I want to see discussion on which suspects were left or righthanded in the article too. Also I want to see expert opinion on which Ripper letters appear to have left or righthanded script. Can some suitably knowledgeable people, who have the appropriate references, rectify these omissions in the wiki article?Bletchley (talk) 03:54, 15 June 2008 (UTC)

They are not omissions. They are subjective theory which have never had any pertinent conclusions drawn apart from individual theorists. There is much written on the subject but all of it is speculative and doesn't necessarily add anything to the article. Philip Sugden's book covers the subject well if you are interested. As for the handwriting, first you would have to prove one of the letters can actually be ascribed to the real Ripper...until then, exercise in handwriting analysis is also subjective & quite possibly futile as the majority (if not all) of the letters were hoaxes. ⋙–Berean–Hunter—► ((⊕)) 11:06, 15 June 2008 (UTC)

A question I would pose would be whether books had been devoted to this particular question, or whether it is a constant topic of discussion in JTR books. If it were, it might bear mentioning. If not, then it might be less notable, and not needing inclusion here. - Arcayne (^{cast a spell}) 03:37, 16 June 2008 (UTC)

I thought this had been dealt with previously. Some early theories were based on a sparsely supported conclusion that the Ripper was left-handed (one of the doctors testified at inquest that the killer was likely left-handed. His view was in the minority). As part of the folklore of the case it might have some interest, but absent concrete evidence one way or the other, claims of the Ripper's left-handedness are just speculation. Revmagpie (talk) 23:47, 17 June 2008 (UTC)

It should be noted that not only was it just one doctor who said Jack was probably left-handed (on the Nichols' murder, before there were many corpses to tell by), he later reversed that conclusion and said he couldn't be sure. So there's not much to it, other than the newspapers never let go of the idea. DreamGuy (talk) 23:11, 25 July 2008 (UTC)

Okay, note it as a mostly discounted (with citations to that effect) theory, so that people don't keep adding it in article space, right? - Arcayne (^{cast a spell}) 19:01, 26 July 2008 (UTC)