Jack the Ripper by The Whitechapel Society

physically inflicted people, newspaper ads, young male adults, the military, the police, the poor, and the prominent. All we have seen is a relentless manipulator with no scruples. For whatever reasons, some found this man to have been an entertaining showman. It can’t be denied there were editors at the time, who enjoyed spoofing him in their columns (Thomas D’Arcy McGee was one, for instance). Roger Palmer explained it well when he publicly wrote, ‘The 19th century press wrote him up as a buffoon because they had no other way of processing him.’ Even today, there are people who admire Tumblety. They like reading about a man who boldly challenged authority and spoke up for himself. But, there are also those who loathe him for all the anguish he caused to others. You do not need to have a strong medical background, to figure out there was something seriously wrong about the man. To help pinpoint the disorder, we can turn to an item entitled ‘Profile of the Sociopath’. Some notes and traits have been have taken from the work and are listed here:

    Pathological Lying:
    [Sociopaths have] no problem lying coolly and easily and it is almost impossible for them to be truthful on a consistent basis. They can create, and get caught up in, a complex belief about their own powers and abilities.

    Grandiose Sense of Self

    Glibness and Superficial Charm

    Lack of Remorse, Shame or Guilt
    A deep seated rage, which is split off and repressed, is at the core. Sociopaths do not see others around them as people, but only as targets and opportunities.

    Incapacity for Love

    Manipulative and Conning:
    They never recognise the rights of others and see their self-serving behaviour as permissible. They appear to be charming yet are domineering. They may humiliate their victims.

    Need for Stimulation

    Shallow Emotions:
    When they show what seems to be warmth, joy, love and compassion it is more feigned than experienced and serves an ulterior motive. Since they are not genuine, neither are their promises.

    Promiscuous Sexual Behaviour / Infidelity

    Callousness / Lack of Empathy:
    Unable to empathise with the pain of their victims, having only contempt for others’ feelings of distress and readily taking advantage of them.

    Parasitic Lifestyle:
    They tend to move around a lot.

    Poor Behavioural Controls / Impulsive Nature

    Irresponsibility / Unreliability
    Not concerned about wrecking others’ lives and dreams. Oblivious or indifferent to the devastation they cause. They do not accept blame themselves, but blame others, even for acts they obviously committed.

    Criminal or Entrepreneurial Versatility:
    They change their image as needed to avoid prosecution. They change their life story readily.

    The notes presented here were not in any particular order, but they related well to the bullet points in the ‘Profile of the Sociopath’. More information can be found in Caroline Konrad’s study into the subject. Under the heading ‘The Malignant Personality’, she listed five features found in mentally ill people of this nature.

    1. They are habitual liars.

    2. They are egotistical to the point of narcissism. They really believe they are set apart from the rest of humanity by some special grace.

    3. They scapegoat; they are incapable of either having the insight or willingness to accept responsibility for anything they do.

    4. They are remorselessly vindictive when thwarted or exposed.

    5. Genuine religious, moral, or other values play no part in their lives. They have no empathy for others and are capable of violence. Under older psychological terminology, they fall into the category of psychopath or sociopath, but unlike the typical psychopath, their behaviour is masked by a superficial social façade.

    â€˜Profile of the Sociopath’ was influenced by the work of Professor Robert D. Hare of the University of British Columbia. Tumblety fell prey to those descriptions and can