These 19th Century Murders Terrorized London

The Ratcliffe Highway murders changed how society reacted to crime

Ryan Fan
CrimeBeat
Published in
5 min readMay 5, 2021

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Photo from G. Thomson in the London Chronicle — Public Domain

The sudden deaths of seven people created hysteria in London long before Jack the Ripper. These horrific acts were the subject of essayist Thomas De Quincey in the legendary On Murder as Considered One of the Fine Arts, the In Cold Blood of its time.

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Ryan Fan
CrimeBeat

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