Killer Walk – Jack The Ripper Walking Tour

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No amount of eye-rolling from the girls should stop you from going on a Jack the Ripper walk. In fact, drag them along for a wicked twist on London nightlife. If you’ve already ticked off on London’s exhaustive list of sightseeing and shopping haunts, it’s time to try one of its literal kinds.

London is teeming with legendary tales of ghosts and gore, some incidents so ancient they date back to the Roman occupation of Britannia. Still, nothing has ever gripped the fear of so many as Jack. While the Ripper may not have been the world’s first serial killer he is certainly the most well known. In fact, on the night my friend Martin and I took the walk, at least three other groups were being conducted intermittently ahead of us. Jack, it seems, is as much of a draw for visitors to the country as the Queen.

Spooky start when our tour was arranged courtesy of London Walks, one of the more established walking tour outfits in the city. Getting to the meeting point was a trial in itself, marked by unexpected delays and a train that trundled into Tower Hill station at Victorian pace, setting the right mood for the occasion?

It was already dark and freezing as we got to the entrance of the tube station. Richard Walker, our guide for the evening, was already waiting, striking a distinguished silver-haired figure as he herded us all up to a stunning view of the Tower of London bathed in an atmospheric orange glow. That was our first tour site and the tower was telling the many honours it housed, a signifier for the terror that would strike in its adjacent neighbourhood a century ago after the Tower’s last public hanging.

Strolling a little further along,you’ll realized just how close the White chapel and the East End is to the Tower. Richard then elaborated on an ancient length of wall housed right by, of all things, a hotel and it is here that the story really begins.