Jack the Ripper is the most famous serial killer in history, and the name may have been written in a newsroom to sell newspapers. In 1888, a red-ink letter signed "Jack the Ripper" arrived at a London news agency, and the men who led the investigation later said they believed a journalist wrote it.

In this episode of Killer Marketing, Emily Rask follows the Whitechapel murders from the Leather Apron panic to the Dear Boss letter, then into the marketing behind them: The Star's circulation boom, the hoax letters that kept the name alive, the waxworks show and the museum that cashed in, and the DNA claims still being sold as a solved case. It also remembers the five women whose names were buried under his: Polly Nichols, Annie Chapman, Elizabeth Stride, Kate Eddowes and Mary Jane Kelly.

Behind every crime, there's a killer campaign.

Follow Killer Marketing on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/killermarketingpodcast From the creator of Lies We Bought: https://www.instagram.com/lieswebought

• Casebook: Jack the Ripper, "Dear Boss Letter": https://www.casebook.org/ripper_letters/dear_boss_letter/
• Casebook, Sir Robert Anderson, "The Lighter Side of My Official Life": https://www.casebook.org/ripper_media/rps.lighterside.10.html
• Jack the Ripper Tour, "Was It A Journalist That Created The Name Jack The Ripper?": https://www.jack-the-ripper-tour.com/generalnews/who-created-jack-the-ripper/
• Casebook, "Thomas Bulling and the Myth of the London Journalist": https://www.casebook.org/dissertations/dst-bulling2.html
• Jack the Ripper Tour, "T. P. O'Connor, Founder of The Star Newspaper": https://www.jack-the-ripper-tour.com/generalnews/t-p-oconnor-the-star/
• OUP Blog, "The journalist who created Jack the Ripper": https://blog.oup.com/2019/10/journalist-created-jack-the-ripper/
• Fox News, "Jack the Ripper letter mystery solved? Expert sheds new light on notorious case": https://www.foxnews.com/science/2018/01/30/jack-ripper-letter-mystery-solved-expert-sheds-new-light-on-notorious-case
• Literary London Society, "Review of The Five by Hallie Rubenhold": https://www.literarylondon.org/lambert-rubenholdreview/
• Eastlondonlines, "Angry crowd turn up in protest as Jack the Ripper hijacks plans for women's history museum": https://www.eastlondonlines.co.uk/2015/08/angry-crowd-turn-up-in-protest-as-jack-the-ripper-hijacks-plans-for-womens-history-museum/
• Journal of Forensic Sciences, "Expression of Concern: Forensic Investigation of a Shawl Linked to the Jack the Ripper Murders": https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1556-4029.15595