Sometimes history tends to popularise the vilified characters more than the heroes and victims of a story. This is probably because the story of the antagonist is surrounded by much more drama than that of the heroes. Whether it is intentional or not, presumably the villains are not meant to be glorified but rather their stories are interesting tales in how not to live one’s life.
One such Character is Jack the Ripper. The famous serial killer claimed many victims around the Whitechapel district in London around the late 1800’s. The identity of the killer is still something that experts are not entirely sure about even to this day.
The Museum of Women’s History in Shadwell, London was supposed to have an exhibit that showcased the lives of the victims of Jack the Ripper. Instead the exhibit seemed to be more about the killer than his victims. Furthermore, the museum gift shop even had Jack the Ripper memorabilia for sale.
Mark Palmer-Edgecumbe who is the man behind the museum said in his defence, “We did plan to do a museum about social history of women but as the project developed we decided a more interesting angle was from the perspective of the victims of Jack the Ripper. It is absolutely not celebrating the crime of Jack the Ripper but looking at why and how the women got in that situation in the first place.”
Via Flickr/Berit Watkin
