In the early hours of 31st August 1888, the body of Mary Ann Nichols was discovered in a stable entrance on Buck's Row (now Durward Street). Nichols was the first Whitechapel murder victim of the serial killer known as Jack the Ripper.
On the morning of her death she returned to the lodgings from a local Thawl Street pub called The Frying Pan some time after 12.30am. However she did not have the money (four pence) to pay for a bed for the night and Mary Nichols went out on the street saying she would soon earn enough money for the night's bed. She intended to sell her body and thought that her new bonnet would help attract a customer.
Charles Cross, a carter found Polly at around 3.40am lying in Bucks Row on her back, legs straight out and her skirts raised to her waist. Robert Pal another carter arrived shortly and unsure whether she was dead or not they decided to get back to work and inform a Policeman when they see one.
The carters did not actually raise the alarm to the murder, this fell to Constable John Neil who discovered Mary and her horrific wounds. Mary's throat had been slashed from ear to ear and cut back to the vertebrae. Her wind pipe and gullet had been severely slashed and there had also been extensive slashing and ripping of her abdomen.
There is little left of Bucks row today, on dark nights though the area seems stuck in a time-warp, over the past century there have been numerous sightings of a huddled figure lying on the ground emitting a ghostly green light. The apparition is seen on the same spot that Mary Ann Nichols body was discovered.
Now isn't that a gripping tale? Do you believe in ghosts?
Wishing all my American friends a very scary and spooky Halloween.
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