From an article entitled "How Many Rumors Have You Started?" by D.A. Laird Ph.D., Director Psychological Laboratory, Colgate University
No single crime story, perhaps, has been used more by rumor makers, one way or another, than that of the infamous Jack the Ripper, who is alleged to have terrorised London in the year 1888. All sorts of fearful and bizarre angles to the story itself have developed through the years and few rumor makers who lean to things criminal have failed to tell of having known a modern Jack the Ripper. Knowing a Jack the Ripper, incidentally, will capture attention for a rumor monger almost any time.
One version of the original story has it that the Ripper was in reality a famous physician - a "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde." Still another denies this and claims that the identity of the strange killer was established and the mystery solved by a crystal gazer who led the police to his house.
Yet the truth is, as it has been well established by the German scientist, E. Engelhardt, there probably never was any Jack the Ripper and he concludes that "enough nonsense has been written about these Jack the Ripper stories to sink a dreadnought."
