Teacher claims renowned poet was Jack the Ripper

Good Day World!

I’ve read a lot of theories on who Jack the Ripper was, but a recent theory by an Australian English teacher seems to pinpoint the most likely perpetrator.

Richard Patterson believes Jack the Ripper, who killed five London prostitutes over 10 weeks in 1888, was actually the renowned poet Francis Thompson.

HULTON ARCHIVE/GETTY IMAGES - English poet Francis Thompson (1859 - 1907) wrote "The Hound of Heaven" and other works.

According to the Mirror, Patterson read a book of Thompson's poetry in 1997 and became convinced he was the legendary killer. He's spent the years since attempting to prove his theory.

"Soon before and soon after the murders, he wrote about killing female prostitutes with knives," Patterson says. And the Daily News quotes a graphic short story by Thompson about a woman being stabbed to death.

In addition to Thompson's grisly writings, Patterson points to his experience as a surgeon and his troubled relationship with a local prostitute, the Mirror reports. Patterson says Thompson kept a dissecting knife under his coat and knew a rare surgical procedure that was used to mutilate some of the victims.

In the years since the slayings, scholars, amateur sleuths, and others have identified 100 suspects. I suppose we’ll never really know.

Make that 101 suspects.

Time for me to walk on down the road…