Of all our London walks none is more popular than the Jack the Ripper Tour.
It being Halloween today for our haunted blog we thought we’d take a look at a ghost story that was linked to the Jack the Ripper murders.
At the time the following story was related at the inquest into the murder of Elizabeth Stride, the third victim of Jack the Ripper who was murdered in Berner Street, Commercial Road, in the early hours of 30th September 1888.
In the wake of Elizabeth Stride’s murder a lady by the name of Mary Malcolm contacted the police to say that she was convinced the murdered woman was in fact her sister Elizabeth Watts.
Having veiwed the body at the mortuary twice she identified the deceased as her sister from a black mark on her leg which, she said, was the result of an adder bite she had received when they were children.
Mrs Malcolm duly appeared at the subsequent inquest and in the course of her testimony the Cotoner asked her about a “SPECIAL PRESENTIMENT” that she had received.
In hushed tones Mary Malcolm launched into a tale of the supernatural by informing the Coroners Court how she had been lying in bed at around 1.20am on the previous Sunday when she suddenly felt a pressure on her breast and heard three distinct kisses.
This made her, she said, sense that something had happened to her sister, Elizabeth Watts.
Consequently when she heard of the murder in Berner Street she contacted the police to tell them of her fears.
On our London walks about this subject we tell how The East London Advertiser on 6th October 1888 informed its readers that the time when Mary Malcolm heard the kisses was around the time that the Berner Street victim was meeting her death.
“Since” the article continued “it is probable that her killer betrayed his victim Judas like with a kiss” this would account for the three kisses that Mrs Malcolm heard.
The pressure on her breast, it explained, was consistent with where the murder would have placed his hand to steady himself as he leant over to slit her throat.
The newspaper went on to tell its readers how there were numerous records of people contacting their loved ones telepathically at times of great stress and this is what appeared to have happened in this case.
Mrs Malcolm went on to paint her sister in a very unflateering light accusing her late sibling of,among other things,adultery, bearing an illegitimate child by a police officer and even hinted that she was a prostitute.
She stcuk to her story even though the police and the Coroner made it quite clear that they didn’t believe it and that they thought the woman wasn’t her sister.
Her story was finally disporoved when her sister actually hobbled in to court very much alive and denounced Mary Malcolm for giving her such a bad character.
What Mary Malcolm’s motive was for persisting with her elaborate yarn is difficult to ascertain but her story of the dream certainly caught the public imagination.
To hear more about this fascinating tale why not join our Jack the Ripper London walks?
Tags: Elizabeth Stride, Elizabeth Watts, Halloween, Haunted London, Jack the Ripper, London walks, Mary Malcolm
