9. Jack the Ripper

Traditionally, Jack the Ripper is considered to have killed five women, all London prostitutes, during 1888.
 

The Ripper generally killed by strangling his victims, then laying them down and cutting the arteries in their throats; this was followed by a varied process of mutilation, during which parts of the body were removed and kept.  

During the autumn and winter of 1888/89 a number of letters circulated among the police and newspapers, all claiming to be from the Whitechapel murderer; these include the ‘From Hell' letter and one accompanied by part of a kidney.  

Ripperologists consider most, if not all, of the letters to be hoaxes. Over a century later Jack's identity has never been wholly proven, most aspects of the case are still debated and the Ripper is an infamous cultural bogeyman.