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The Canonical Five: Mary Jane Kelly

April 02, 2023

Mary Jane Kelly is who is known as Jack the Ripper’s 5th and final canonical five victim, however, there is much less information known about her upbringing compared to the other four women. 

It is believed by many that the information we do know about Mary Kelly is embellished, with her having fabricated details that are known about her early life. 

The man Mary Kelly had most recently been living with before her murder was named Joseph Barnett, and he later claimed Mary had told him she was born in Limerick, Ireland around 1863 and her family had moved to Wales when she was a child. 

Supposedly Mary Kelly had told an acquaintance that she had been disowned by her parents, but she was close with her sister. It was said from Joseph and Mary’s landlady that she had come from a somewhat wealthy, good family. Joseph also claimed Mary confirmed she had seven brothers and at least one sister. 

Mary’s landlord, a man named John McCarthy claimed she had received mail from Ireland, but not regularly. It was also believed that Mary was illiterate, as Joseph claimed she would ask him to read her the newspaper reports of the Jack the Ripper killings. 

Though it’s been reported Mary had blonde or red hair, she went by the nickname of “Black Mary” suggesting she actually had quite dark hair. She also had blue eyes and some claimed to have known her as “Fair Emma.” It is estimated that Mary stood at about 5′7″ tall, and some said she was quite attractive. 

On November 10, 1888, the day after her murder,

the Daily Telegraph

described Mary as “tall, slim, fair of fresh complexion, and of attractive appearance.” 

In 1879, at around the age of 16, Mary married a coal miner named Davis or Davies who ended up getting killed 2-3 years later in a mining explosion. After this, Mary lived with a cousin in Cardiff, and this is where it is believed she started being involved in sex work. 

In 1884, Mary left Cardiff and moved to London, where she worked as a domestic servant while lodging in Crispin Street, Spitalfields. In 1885, it’s believed she moved to the district of Fitzrovia. 

Mary eventually began working in a high class brothel in the West End of London, becoming one of the most popular girls. She did quite well for herself and bought expensive clothes and hired a carriage at this time. Supposedly Mary had met a client named Francis Craig who took her to France, but she returned to London two weeks later, not having liked the France life. 

It is believed that in 1885 Mary Kelly began drinking heavily. She moved around quite a bit lodging with different women and different men around this time. 

It was on April 8, 1887, that Mary Kelly met Joseph Barnett, with the pair agreeing to live with each other after only knowing one another for a day. They lived in George Street, and soon a place called Little Paternoster Row, but were evicted for not paying rent and of drunk and disorderly conduct. 

In early 1888, the two moved into 13 Miller’s Court, a single room a the back of 26 Dorset Street, Spitalfields. Mary had lost her key to the door, so she would bolt and unbolt the door from outside, putting her hand through a broken window by the door. A neighbour claimed Mary had broken the window when she was drunk, and a man’s coat often was used to act as a curtain. 

It was said by Mary’s friend Lizzie Albrook, that Mary was sick of how she was living in 1888 and wanted to go back to Ireland. Her landlord said that she was a quiet woman when she was sober but very noisy when drunk. When Mary was drunk she often could be abusive to people, and was nicknamed “Dark Mary.” 

Joseph lost his job as a fish porter in July 1888 due to committing theft, and because of this, Mary turned back to sex work. Mary would often let other sex workers sleep in their room at night when it was really cold because she did not have it in her to refuse them shelter. 

It is believed that on October 30, 1888, Joseph moved out as him and Mary got into a fight about a sex worker named Julia sharing their room with them. Between November 1 and November 8, Joseph visited Mary almost everyday, sometimes giving her money. 

The last time Joseph visited Mary was between 7-8 pm on November 8, 1888. Joseph claimed Mary was with her friend, Maria Harvey and that he did not stay long. He also apologized to Mary for not having any money to give. It is reported that both Joseph and Maria left Miller’s Court at the same time. 

Joseph went back to his lodging house and played cards, falling asleep around 12:30 am. Before Joseph left Mary that night, her friend Lizzie Albrook also visited. Lizzie claimed Mary was sober. 

In the evening, Mary reportedly had one drink in the Ten Bells public house with a woman named Elizabeth Foster. Later on, Mary was seen drinking with two other people at the Horn of Plenty pub on Dorset Street. 

A sex worker named Mary Ann Cox, who also was a resident of Miller’s Court claimed to have seen Mary going home drunk with a stout, ginger haired man, around the age of 36 at 11:45 pm. The man was wearing a black bowler felt hat, had a thick moustache, had blotches on his face and was holding a can of beer.

Mary Ann actually had spoken to Mary Kelly, they both said goodnight. Mary Kelly then entered the room with the man. Mary Ann heard her singing the song, “A Violet from Mother’s Grave.” She was still singing when Mary Ann left her place at midnight, and when she returned an hour later around 1 am. 

Elizabeth Prater lived in the room directly above Mary Kelly. She reportedly went to bed at 1:30 am, and the singing had stopped. 

A man named George Hutchinson who knew Mary, claimed he had met up with her around 2 am on November 9, 1888 on Flower and Dean Street. Mary had asked George for a loan of sixpence, though he claimed to be broke. George said Mary Kelly walked toward the direction Thrawl Street when she was approached by a man of “Jewish appearance.” 

The man was looked to be about 34-35 years old and George said he was suspicious of him because while it did seem like Mary knew him, his appearance made him look suspicious in that particular part of town. It was also said that this man made an obvious effort to disguise his looks from George, having his hat covering over his eyes as he passed. 

George provided police with a very detailed description of said man, and told them he had overheard Mary talking with the man, complaining she had lost her handkerchief, and the mysterious man gave her a red one that he had. George heard Mary say to the man, “Alright my dear, come along. You will be comfortable.” And then the two walked into 13 Miller’s Court with George following them, though George never saw either one of them again. 

A laundress named Sarah Lewis also claimed she had been walking in the area to meet up with friends around 2:30 am, when she noticed two or three people standing near the Britannia pub, among the people was a nicely dressed young man with a dark moustache and he was talking to a woman. 

Both the man and woman appeared to be drunk and there was a poorly dressed woman standing near them. Opposite from Miller’s Court, Sarah said she saw a stout looking shorter man standing at the entrance to the courtyard. Sarah also saw an obviously drunk woman with a man further up the courtyard. 

Mary Ann returned to her room around 3 am that morning and claimed she did not hear or see any light coming from Mary Kelly’s room at the time. She did think she heard someone leaving at around 5:45 am. 

Elizabeth Prater who lived in the room above Mary Kelly and Sarah Lewis who was sleeping at 2 Miller’s Court that night both reported hearing a faint cry that said “Murder!” between 3:30 and 4 am, but didn’t do anything about it because this was common to hear cries in the area. Sarah Lewis said it was only one scream so she did not think much of it. She also claimed she did not sleep that night and heard people coming and going out of the court throughout the night. 

Elizabeth Prater said she left her room at 5:30 am to walk to the pub for a drink, but saw nothing out of the ordinary. 

On the morning of November 9, 1888, Mary’s landlord sent his assistant to collect the rent. Mary herself was 6 weeks behind, owing 29 shillings. Shortly after 10:45 am, the assistant knocked on her door but got no response. He tried to then turn the handle, but the door was locked. He looked through the keyhole but did not see anyone in the room. 

Using the broken window, he peered inside the room and found Mary Kelly, completely mutilated lying on the bed. She was estimated to have died 3-9 hours before she was discovered. 

The assistant ran to tell the landlord, and then went to inform the police. The assistant immediately told the police it was the work of Jack the Ripper. A surgeon came to look at the body, and police gave orders to prevent anyone from entering or exiting the yard (I know, impressive for 1888 police work.) 

Bloodhounds were sent in, but it appeared to be impractical. It appeared that women’s clothing had been burning, and authorities believed Mary Kelly’s clothes were burnt by the murderer to provide light so they could see what they were doing. 

Joseph Barnett identified Mary Kelly’s body, he could only identify her by the ear and her eyes due to the severe mutilation. 

The mutilation done to Mary Kelly was the most extensive of all of the Whitechapel murders, with many believing it’s due to the fact that the Ripper had more time to commit this one in a private setting. 

During the autopsy it was noted that it most likely took 2 hours to perform all of the mutilations on Mary’s body, the death was further estimated to have occurred between 2 to 8 am. 

Her body was found lying naked in the bed, her head turned on the left cheek. Her legs were left wide apart, the whole surface of the abdomen and thighs were removed and her abdominal cavity was emptied (but later said there was food found in it). Her breasts were cut off, her face was hacked beyond recognition, gashes occurring in all directions. Her ears were partly removed. 

Her neck was cut through the skin and her other tissues were cut down to the vertebrae. Her air passage was cut at the lower part of the larynx. Her heart was taken. There was also blood splatters on the wall, lining up with her cut throat.

She had a superficial cut on her thumb, which some believe was caused while she tried to defend herself from her attacker. 

It was believed during the autopsy that Mary Kelly had been killed from a slash to her throat, and the mutilations were performed after she had died. It was not believed that the murderer had any medical knowledge. 

The inquest into Mary’s death began on November 12, 1888. After testimony, the jury had a short deliberation and the verdict was that Mary Kelly had been murdered by a person or persons unknown. 

Police did house to house questioning trying to get answers as to who murdered Mary Kelly. A few people claimed to have seen Mary on the morning of November 9, after she had supposedly been murdered, though police could not find anyone to corroborate those sightings, as well as the descriptions of Mary didn’t match. 

On November 10, 1888, Mary’s murder was linked to four other murders: Mary Ann Nicholas, Annie Chapman, Elizabeth Stride, and Catherine Eddowes. There was also an offender profile made, which stated the killer was an eccentric person, who was in an extreme state of satyriasis while performing the mutilations on Mary and the four previous victims. 

There were no other similar murders after Mary Kelly’s and a lot of people believe she was the final victim of Jack the Ripper. Most believe these Whitechapel murders ended due to the killer dying or going to prison. 

Over 100 years after the Whitechapel murders, two authors named Paul Harrison and Bruce Paley theorized that Joseph Barnett, Mary’s partner, had actually murdered her during a jealous rage. They took the theory farther, stating that perhaps Joseph also murdered the other 4 canonical five, trying to scare Mary from engaging in sex work. 

Others believe Joseph did kill Mary, but only Mary and had tried to make it look like a Jack the Ripper killing to avoid being captured. The fact that Mary was found lying naked on her bed, with her clothes folded on a chair leads many to believe that her killer was someone she knew or who she thought was a client. 

Some people do not believe Mary Kelly was a victim of Jack the Ripper at all. Mary was assumed to be around 25 years old, much younger than the other victims who had all been in their 40′s. Also, her mutilations were more extensive than the other four, she was killed in a private location and her murder occurred 5 weeks from the previous killings which had all occurred within a month. 

In 1939, author William Stewart theorized that Mary might have been killed by a midwife, “Jill the Ripper” in which Mary was going to have an abortion. Stewart believed perhaps the midwife had burned her own clothes, putting on Mary’s and that’s why people the next morning believed they saw Mary after she had been killed. 

Mary Kelly was buried on November 19, 1888 in St Patrick’s Roman Catholic Cemetery in Leytonstone. None of her family members could be found to attend her funeral. The inscription on her grave reads, “In loving memory of Marie Jeanette Kelly. None but the lonely hearts can know my sadness. Love lives forever.” 

Woman says she was kidnapped by gnomes and goblins for nearly a week

Speaking to a Nicaraguan TV station Canal 10, the woman, named as Jasmina, said that as a kid, she had been playing outside her family home in Monte Oscuro, west Nicaragua, when she was approached by gnomes.

Jasmina insists that they convinced her to go with them to a hillside cave where she was holed up by her captors for five days and six nights.

She said: "They appeared one day when I was playing and they took me away."

cdn.jwplayer.com

Mysterious 'evil goblins' capture woman and keep her in a cave for five days and six nights

Mysterious 'evil goblins' capture woman and keep her in a cave for five days and six nights

I know people on tumblr looove stories of underwater cave diving, but I haven't seen anyone talk about nitrogen narcosis aka "raptures of the deep"

basically when you want to get your advanced scuba certification (allowing you to go more than 60 feet deep) you have to undergo a very specific test: your instructor takes you down past the 60+ foot threshold, and she brings a little underwater white board with her.

she writes a very basic math problem on that board. 6 + 15. she shows it to you, and you have to solve it.

if you can solve it, you're good. that is the hardest part of the test.

because here's what happens: there is a subset of people, and we have no real idea why this happens only to them, who lose their minds at depth. they're not dying, they're not running out of oxygen, they just completely lose their sense of identity when deep in the sea.

a woman on a dive my instructor led once vanished during the course of the excursion. they were diving near this dropoff point, beyond which the depth exceeded 60 feet and he'd told them not to go down that way. the instructor made his way over to look for her and found a guy sitting at the edge of the dropoff (an underwater cliff situation) just staring down into the dark. the guy is okay, but he's at the threshold, spacing out, and mentally difficult to reach. they try to communicate, and finally the guy just points down into the dark, knowing he can't go down there, but he saw the woman go.

instructor is deep water certified and he goes down. he shines his light into the dark, down onto the seafloor which is at 90 feet below the surface. he sees the woman, her arms locked to her sides, moving like a fish, swimming furiously in circles in the pitch black.

she is hard to catch but he stops her and checks her remaining oxygen: she is almost out, on account of swimming a marathon for absolutely no reason. he is able to drag her back up, get her to a stable depth to decompress, and bring her to the surface safely.

when their masks are off and he finally asks her what happened, and why was she swimming like that, she says she fully, 100% believed she was a mermaid, had always been a mermaid, and something was hunting her in the dark 👍

Carl Tanzler, a radiologist residing in Key West, Florida, developed an intense infatuation with Elena Milagro Hoyos, one of his patients. Tragically, Elena succumbed to tuberculosis in 1931. Consumed by his obsession, Tanzler took extraordinary measures to preserve her memory. With the consent of Elena's parents, he commissioned a mausoleum to house her remains, convinced that it was preferable to her decomposing underground.

Night after night, Tanzler would visit Elena's tomb, unable to let go of his fixation. Eventually, his obsession took a disturbing turn when he decided to bring her body home with him. In his bed, he kept Elena's corpse, attempting to restore her decaying form by replacing her deteriorating skin with plaster. He adorned her with a new wardrobe and perfumes, meticulously maintaining the illusion of her existence.

The disturbing truth came to light in 1940 when one of Elena's sisters grew suspicious and confronted Tanzler at his residence. To her horror, she discovered Elena's decaying corpse lying in bed, dressed in an elegant gown. Tanzler's grotesque act of necrophilia had been exposed. Subsequently, he was arrested and charged with crimes such as wanton destruction of a grave and unauthorized removal of a body. However, due to the expiration of the statute of limitations on the charges, he was eventually released.

“The Hands Resist Him” - a haunted painting.

According to Stoneham this painting is of himself as a five year old boy. Those spooky hands on the door depict another world with other lives and possibilities. The glass panes represent the thin veil of separation between this world and the world of dreams. The doll is a guide who will take the boy through the veil to the other world.

In February 2000 the painting appeared for sale on eBay.com with a lengthy description detailing that the painting had been found abandoned, behind a building. The seller then went on to claim that whilst the painting was in their house, the family’s daughter started to see the boy and girl moving inside the painting, they soon took to leaving the painting, and appeared to be fighting. The owners then set up a motion detector camera, which happened to show the movement.

If the couple is to be believed, the characters in the painting became animated in the night, sometimes even left the canvas! The boy and the doll, however, didn’t disappear from the view. The painting doesn’t just affect the owners. Even those who saw the painting online reported that they started feeling sick and nauseated. Some claim that the children who saw the painting ran away screaming; while others were said to be touched by an invisible force. A person who tried to print the image had his printer malfunction.

Stoneham didn’t help the legends by adding that the gallery where the painting was originally displayed and sold at, and a Los Angeles Times critic, who reviewed the painting in an article both ended up dead within a year of the showing.

Many people report strange feelings and strange events after seeing the picture, some have reported children freaking out when seeing the painting or prints of it.

Follow @mecthology for more spooky lores and myths. DM for pic credit. https://www.instagram.com/p/CSha_bTImRg/?utm_medium=tumblr

Mysterious Death of Zigmund Adamski 

One June 6th of 1980, Zigmund left his house to do some grocery shopping. When he didn’t return for a family wedding the next day, his family started to get worried. 

His body was found five days later (June 11th) in Todmorden next to a railway line. Trevor Parker, son of the coal yard owner, made the gruesome discovery PC Alan Godfrey was sent to investigate. His body was found face down on top 12 foot high pile of anthracite. He was found without a shirt, the rest of his clothes seemed like they were put on him by someone who had very little idea of how to put them on (both his shoes and pants were put on incorrectly). Even though he had been missing for 5 days, he only had a single day of beard growth. His neck and shoulders also had burn marks on them and forensics found that some kind of strange ointment was applied to them though they could not identify it.

Dr Alan Edwards, the consulting pathologist at the Royal Halifax Infirmary, conducted the post-mortem examination in Hebden Bridge just after 9pm that day he was found. Dr Edwards’ professional judgment placed the time of death between 11am and 1pm on the day that Adamski was found, while the burns were two days old. The exact cause of death was a matter of such deliberation, that Adamski’s death took Coroner James Turnbull several months to register. It was ruled as a heart-attack.

PC Alan Godfrey didn’t believe that Zigmund died of a heart attack, he believed that Zigmund was abducted by aliens. Godfrey claimed that he himself had witnessed a UFO in Todmorden. He went to investigate what he thought was an overturned bus, but was shocked when he saw it hovering 5 feet above the ground. He claims that the next thing he remembers is being back in his patrol car driving off. He claims that he had similar burn marks and a strange green gel on his neck too. He was put under hypnosis and asked about his encounter. The 2nd picture is his sketch of the UFO and the aliens he had an encounter with. Godfrey stuck to his claims that Zigmund was abducted by aliens and dropped back after they used him for research.

Zigmund’s family believes it was a case of human abduction instead of alien abduction. They believe he was being held captive and died of a heart attack.

The Inherited Dresser

This old photo isn’t much to look at on the surface. It shows a window in a dark room, but the bright light coming from outside causes a glare that makes it difficult to see much happening outside the window. The only clear part of the photo is the man’s face in the upper left corner.

However, the woman who snapped this photo insists that she was alone in the house when she took it. To make matters even eerier, she asserts that the face in the corner strongly resembles that of her stepfather, who had died by suicide years before. She adds that the dresser where the face appears to hover used to belong to her stepfather; it was the very place where he stored the gun that ended his life.