Profs & Pints Baltimore: An Evening with Jack the Ripper

Profs and Pints Baltimore presents: “An Evening with Jack the Ripper,” your chance to become familiar with a mysterious killer, with Luxx Mishou, Victorianist, scholar of Jack the Ripper, and former instructor at the U.S. Naval Academy and area community colleges.

[Advance tickets: $13.50 plus sales tax and processing fees. Available at https://www.ticketleap.events/tickets/profsandpints/baltimore-jack .]

In 1888 England was gripped by an “Autumn of Terror” as a wave of shocking and brutal murders took place in Whitechapel, a district in London’s East End. In crowded streets, busy neighborhoods, and lodgings with thin walls, at least five women were ferociously – yet seemingly silently – attacked, their remains left in public spaces to be found by their neighbors. Bold headlines and gruesome illustrations covered the front pages of English newspapers, some of which received “gifts” and confessional letters from a culprit who was never caught or officially named.

For decades historians and Ripperologists have tried to pinpoint who this mysterious killer could have been. Among the curious is Luxx Mishou, a Victorian era and gender studies scholar, who has spent years scouring historical accounts and nineteenth-century newspapers that traced the movements of England’s most notorious, and mysteriously elusive, serial killer.

Join Dr. Mishou at Baltimore’s historic Guilford Hall for a trip back through time to discuss the infamous Jack the Ripper case. She’ll talk about what really happened in Whitechapel and what Victorian journalists and newspapers knew, tackling the question of whether the sensational press coverage surrounding the murders helped or actually hindered the search for a perpetrator.

She’ll also discuss what the London public thought of the monster lurking in their midst and why we’re still obsessed with this whodunit over 30 years later.

Finally, we’ll tackle the biggest question of all: Who was Jack the Ripper? Dr. Mishou believes her research has left her ready to point to the killer. ( Doors: $17, or $15 with a student ID. Doors open at 5. The talk begins at 6:30.)

Image: A wanted poster published in connection with the Whitechapel murders.