British author Hallie Rubenhold plans to honor the victims of the notorious serial killer Jack the Ripper with a mural in London’s East End, the Guardian reports.
Rubenhold, a historian known for her 2019 book, The Five, about the women killed by the 19th-century murderer, said, “It’s going to happen, it’s just a matter of finding the right place.”
Jack the Ripper was one of England’s most feared serial killers. The unknown assailant murdered five women in London’s Whitechapel district in 1888, and his identity has been the subject of speculation ever since.
Rubenhold said she was disgusted by Jack the Ripper-themed tours in Whitechapel, which she sees as disrespectful to the victims.
“The Ripper tours, there are several a day and some are absolutely atrocious,” Rubenhold said. “They project images of mutilated women. It has become a place that tourists from all around the world come to have a Jack the Ripper experience. His name is all over Whitechapel. Shouldn’t these women also be remembered, in a vibrant, colorful way?”
Rachel Blake, a member of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, said she supported the idea of a mural.
“Yes, this is something that we would consider, as long as such a tribute had support of the families of the victims,” she said. “The council has consistently objected to the commercialization of the murder and violence against women and girls.”
On Twitter, Rubenhold reiterated the need for a mural commemorating the victims.
“I feel a mural commemorating these women's lives would be an appropriate counter balance to the constant reminder of their deaths that is found every day in Whitechapel,” she wrote. “Their faces would be a permanent presence and a permanent reminder that they were real people.”
Michael Schaub is an Austin, Texas–based journalist and regular contributor to NPR.
