Imagine dinner with your family, your regular family,
suddenly discovering a secret,
a secret so profound as to destroy all perspective
gained in 40 years of a "normal life,"
being told that your great-great-grandfather
was Herman Mudgett,
better known as Dr. H. H. Holmes -
a monster, a mass murderer,
the proprietor of the "Murder Castle,"
the real-life Dr. Frankenstein.
Slammed in the face by heredity, genetics, DNA,
and traits they once referred to at the turn of this century
as belonging to the one, the devil.
Serial killer, psychopath, evil genius -
the words and phrases they invented to describe my ancestor,
because the ones before his horrible acts weren't working anymore.
(Background piano music)
Having to admit the troubling idiosyncrasies
I'd spent a lifetime denying,
no longer able to talk myself out of them
with the often repeated "We all have them."
Worst of all, having to accept the reason I'm here with you all today
were the conscious decisions
of perhaps the most evil being that ever lived.
Rather than run away as so many before me had,
I decided to accept my fate,
recognizing my destiny was to tell the world the truth
about this monster and his innocent victims.
So, at the opportunity TED has given me,
and with your help,
I'd like to go a long way today
toward taking a giant step in fulfilling my destiny.
First, some background.
While researching my grandfather's secret,
I soon realized that little of the legend had been accurately recorded.
Created by one, repeated by many others,
parts of the story were now being considered as historic non-fiction.
Incorrectly so.
A different perspective was required.
We needed the complete elimination of all confirmational bias
if we were ever to have the truth.
And I'd like to prove it to you tonight
how why that Dr. H. H. Holmes,
the most prolific serial killer in history,
was also, in fact, Jack the Ripper -
the notorious 1888 London murderer
who terrorized a nation and mystified the world.
Jack the Ripper - the very words create fear, anxiety, and trepidation,
not to mention sheer horror.
Before I wrote my book "Bloodstains,"
I knew very little about Jack the Ripper
other than the idea was society's metaphor for everything we find mysterious,
unthinkable, unsolvable,
and reluctantly fascinating.
But most odd, a deep-seated negativity bordering on anger
whenever any new evidence
regarding the killer's possible identification was revealed.
We'd find ourselves senselessly arguing, "Who isn't?"
rather than logically debating, "Who may be?"
And why?
Why, because we were more interested in confirming our previous determinations
than we were in ascertaining the truth.
A different perspective was required,
along with the complete elimination of all confirmational bias,
and I'd like to prove it to you tonight.
As you can see on the screen,
my friends in Hollywood created these reenactments
first time ever released of Jack the Ripper,
with a professional actor that used the evidence that is out
to create the images you're seeing.
They did an excellent job.
Tonight, I'm going to demonstrate evidence to you
that proves H. H. Holmes was Jack the Ripper.
And the mechanism I'm going to use to do that
is I'm going to swear you in as my grand jury.
So, if you'd raise your right hand, please.
As prosecuting attorney, I will now swear you in.
Do you solemnly swear to take a new perspective,
eliminating all previous bias
regarding the specific 1888 London murders?
(music fades)
To do your duty,
you must free your mind of any articles, books, or movies,
you may have read or seen,
regarding Jack the Ripper -
anything which would interfere with the evidence I'm about to present.
When we're finished,
I'm going to ask each of you to make your own determination
whether probable cause exists that a crime or crimes was committed,
so that an indictment can issue and a suspect arrested,
assuming he was still alive.
Exhibit A, please.
The purpose for exhibit A is not to prove this is the ship
that Holmes rode over from New York to London on.
It's more to prove how easy travel was in 1888.
It was a seven-day transit, tightly maintained schedules,
on shipping companies that catered to the wealthy,
to the well-off like Dr. Holmes was.
These companies had each passenger sign a passenger list,
which are maintained today.
And when we receive our warrant,
we'll obtain copies of these passenger lists,
and within three or four days,
we'll be able to determine the exact ship he rode over on
and the exact ship he rode back on.
Exhibit B.
Exhibit B is an incredible piece of evidence.
It's a letter that Holmes wrote to his lawyer
two or three years after 1888.
It's not to prove he was in London in 1888 -
I'll do that later.
But what this shows is an intent, a knowledge, and a desire on his part
to be in London.
If you read the bottom sentence of the letter,
it mentions his favorite periodical, The New York Herald,
is difficult to be found in London.
Exhibit C.
Exhibit C is a collage of the artists' renditions
from the major periodicals during the time of the Ripper.
These were off the first front pages
of each of the major papers in London at the time.
The rendition on the left is of Holmes, done by the Chicago Tribune.
The two photos at the top are Holmes.
But I just wanted you to get a feel for the general resemblance of Holmes
and how the papers considered the Ripper to have looked.
Scotland Yard considered the Ripper to be five foot 5'7",
140-160 lbs,
25-35 years old, and a medical maniac.
At the time, H. H. Holmes was 5'7",
150 lbs, 27 years of age,
and had an MD from the University of Michigan Medical School.
Exhibit D.
Exhibit D is a summation of the autopsies done on the victims the Ripper murdered
by the certified pathologists in London.
It's a critical piece of evidence because over the last 126 years,
we've had over 100 suspects regarding who Jack the Ripper may have been.
These professional opinions by the pathologists
show that, not only must the killer have been a doctor,
but a practicing surgeon.
They discussed great anatomical knowledge
and his ability with the knife or scalpel.
Basically, in layman's terms,
these pathologists were stating this man was an expert with a knife.
He couldn't have been a Polish hairdresser,
he couldn't have been an English gardener,
he had to have been a doctor.
When you narrow the field down that far,
we're talking all of a sudden from 100 suspects to maybe 5.
With the evidence that follows, we'll nail that down to 2.
Exhibit E.
Exhibit E is an amazing piece of evidence.
In 2006, Scotland Yard and the BBC
took the 13 eyewitnesses, credible and corroborated,
to the Jack the Ripper murders.
Most people don't realize that - 13 eyewitnesses.
They ran it through their new EFIT technology:
Electronic Facial Imaging Technology.
The computer came back with this image
of what the Ripper looked like.
Notice the bridge of the nose, notice the shape of the eyes,
notice the ears, notice the cheekbones.
Keep it in mind.
This is a photo taken of H. H. Holmes by the Chicago police.
Once again, notice the bridge of the nose,
notice the shape of the eyes, the ears, the cheekbones.
I took this photo and that earlier computer summation
to a retired FBI investigator
and to an investigator from the state of Virginia,
who did this for a living.
They would compare composites with photographs to track down suspects.
Both said the comparison - we'll have it on screen in a sec -
both said the comparison was the closest they'd ever seen in their entire careers.
Just take a second to look once again at the nose -
Holmes had a broken nose -
the eyes, the ears, again the cheekbones.
I had my video expert doing more of the photo into the summation,
the computer image,
and I think you'll see it's a remarkable piece of evidence.
Exhibit F.
This is perhaps the most amazing piece of evidence of them all.
Many of you will recognize this as the "Dear Boss" letter,
the famous letter which raised the issue of Jack the Ripper the first time.
And you can see he's signed the letter "Jack the Ripper."
This letter ... one sec ...
This letter was dated September 25th, 1888.
It was postmarked and received September 27th.
It was forwarded to Scotland Yard the 29th.
It was released to the public on October 1st.
Catherine Eddowes' body, one of the five Ripper victims,
was discovered on September 30th.
Keep those dates in mind.
This letter mentions that the next victim will have her ear removed.
Catherine Eddowes' body was found with her earlobe sliced off.
While we were doing this investigation,
we quickly realized how similar the handwriting on that letter was
to the handwriting of Herman Mudgett.
We took both samples to the British Library in London,
who recommended an expert for us to consider the similarities.
The expert came back with a professional opinion
that said this is obviously the same hand.
We'll have her opinion up on the screen in a second.
But having practiced law in California,
I knew that, in 1988, the Supreme Court had ruled
that professional opinions regarding handwriting analysis
was inadmissible in capital cases.
So I tracked down what the Department of Justice was doing,
because I knew handwriting was a big part of major cases.
I found out that they had contracted a company at the University of Buffalo
that had created a computer program to compare handwriting.
When I contacted them, they were eager to take part.
So we submitted the "Dear Boss" letter and the Holmes handwriting
to the corporation at the University of Buffalo,
once I got ahead of myself a little bit.
This is the professional opinion of the British Library's expert,
and you can see on the second sentence
below Professional Opinion: "... from the same hand."
When the computer analyzed
the "Dear Boss" letter and the Holmes handwriting,
they came back with a number of 96.75% similarity,
and an opinion that Jack the Ripper
and the Mudgett classes are similar in style.
You couldn't get 96.75% right now
if you wrote two letters now, gave them to me,
and I submitted them to the computer.
This is an amazing number.
OK, I've told you what a professional opinion was
of an expert.
I've given you the numbers from a computer.
Now, I'd like you all just to put your eye,
comparing the handwriting:
the "Ys," the "Us," the "Rs."
Give me your own judgment what you think.
Is it the same or not?
As the prosecuting attorney of our grand jury,
I have a legal obligation
to give you any exonerating evidence I have found in my investigation
(Background piano music)
which would state that Holmes was not guilty of these crimes.
In over one year, I haven't found one piece.
We can ascertain that he was in Chicago in July of 1888.
We know he returned to Chicago in January of 1889.
I've asked historians all over the country
to help me find one piece of evidence
which would place Holmes in the United States
in the gap in between.
Nothing.
Alright, you've seen the evidence I have to present,
and I'm going to tell you what your vote needs.
I'm not asking you to determine that Holmes was Jack the Ripper.
I'm asking you to make your own judgment,
that probable cause has been established,
so that history can take a closer look at H. H. Holmes
as the prime suspect on the Ripper cases.
I think if you do, and I think if history does,
we're going to find the answer comes rather easily.
And if we do, I'll tell you what would happen,
assuming Holmes were still alive.
He would be arrested,
he would be extradited,
he would stand trial in London for these murders.
And if I was the prosecuting attorney,
I would create the most dramatic event in courtroom history.
I would have Holmes at dock, the judge high on the stand.
I would have my deputy bring in the best eyewitness I had of those 13.
I would make sure her eyes are focused dead forward,
not looking at Holmes.
And as she took the witness stand,
I would have the deputy turn her around
so that that was the first moment she had seen Holmes
since when she witnessed his crime.
(music ends)
I can tell you exactly what would have happened,
what would happen.
She would point at Holmes;
she would say, "That's him!
That's the one I saw slice her throat."
And there would be no more Jack the Ripper mystery.
Thank you very much.
(Applause)
(Host) So, now, Jeff, you've made the case.
You all are the jury.
stepintotilt.com is the website.
Hit that website right now.
Is H. H. Holmes Jack the Ripper?
We're going to tabulate this,
we'll try to do it real-time,
so we'll see if you're able to convince them.
Ah!
(Jeff Mudgett) You're incredible. Thank you very much!
(Applause)
I'll tell you right now.
This will make an amazing effect around the world, your vote here today.
All the Ripperologists, all the historians
will now go back and take a second look at Holmes.
And if they do, we're going to solve this mystery.
Thank you very much.
(Applause)