At exactly the same time as Jack the Ripper, another serial killer terrorised London. Just like Jack the Ripper, all their victims were women - their dismembered bodies left floating in the Thames. This is the dark history of the Thames Torso Murders, a case which asks questions about what crimes we choose to remember and what ones we try our hardest to forget. 0:00 - Introduction: A Forgotten Serial Killer 1:37 - The Jack the Ripper Connection 2:42 - Defining the Thames Torso Murders 3:35 - London in 1888: Grime and Respectability 4:34 - The First Discovery: Rainham, May 1888 5:38 - Anatomy of a Crime: Misogyny in Victorian London 8:16 - The River Thames as a Character and Receptacle 11:03 - Anatomical Knowledge and Investigative Challenges 12:43 - The "Found Dead" Verdict and Legal Failures 15:34 - September 1888: Overlapping with the Ripper 16:41 - The Whitehall Mystery: A Torso at Scotland Yard 17:57 - Profiling the Killer: Surgeon vs. Butcher 20:18 - Why This Case Was Downplayed by the Media 21:57 - Dehumanisation and the "Male Gaze" in Police News 26:07 - The Tragic Case of Elizabeth Jackson (1889) 28:45 - Strange Connections: Mary Shelley and Frankenstein 31:57 - Medical Misogyny and Dr Braxton Hicks 33:43 - The Pinchin Street Torso (Whitechapel, 1889) 35:14 - A Timeline of Horror: 1873 to 1902 36:02 - Final Thoughts: Giving Dignity Back to the Victims This episode was edited by Tim Arstall. Produced by Stuart Beckwith and McKenna Fernandez. Edited by Anna Brant. The senior producer was Freddy Chick. Animation by McKenna Fernandez. After Dark: Myths, Misdeeds & the Paranormal is a History Hit podcast. Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week and ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe. All music from Epidemic Sounds. #HistoryHitPodcast #AfterDark #Victorian #JackTheRipper