Who was Jack the Ripper? Part One

Who was Jack the Ripper? 

Everyone seems to have their own ideas as to the identity of the London's most notorious Serial Killer, as well as thoughts on what happened to him, and where he went and what he did after the Whitechapel Murders in 1888. Here, I will go over the timeline of the confirmed Ripper murders, as well as unconfirmed, and suspects, and bring about my own conclusions, as should you. So, where do we start? Well, how about with the Canonical Five.

Although eleven women were murdered around the time of the Ripper's reign, there were five victims that stood apart from the rest. The Canonical Five, as they are known, are believed to have all been murdered by the same hand. All five victims, prostitutes of the East End, shared distinct and similar wounds, as well as postmortem organ removal and mutilations in some cases.These five victims were all killed under cover of darkness, typically in the early morning hours. All of these murders also occurred on a weekend, or within one day of.

Martha Tabram

Tuesday, August 7th, 1888, 3:30 AM; Wentworth Street: Tabram, a hawker and prostitute in the East End, was brutally murdered in the early morning hours of August 7, 1888. On the eve of her murder, Tabram was out drinking with an acquaintance (a fellow unfortunate who went by the name of ‘Pearly Poll') and two soldiers at a public house near the George Yard Buildings. Shortly before midnight on August 6th, Tabram and her friend paired off with their clients, Tabram heading through the archway into George Yard on Wentworth Street.

Tabram's body was first encountered at around 3:30 AM on August 7th by carman George Crow. He had been returning home after work, and because of the darkness in the stairwell, mistook her body as that of a drunk woman passed out on the landing.

At around 5 AM, her body was again discovered by another resident of George Yard Buildings, but by this time there was enough light in the stairway to reveal her ghastly wounds. She had been stabbed 39 times. The wounds focused on her throat, chest and lower abdomen, and appeared to have been inflicted by a small blade with the exception of one violent stab through her chest which looked to have been performed with a large dagger or bayonet.

Many feel that Tabram was the Ripper's first victim, due to the proximity of the murder in relation to the others, as well as the brutal nature of the crime. However, a number of experts also agree that another individual was responsible for Tabram's death, and not Jack the Ripper. Tabram's wound patterns were distinctly different from the Canonical Five, in that she received multiple stab wounds as opposed to being slashed, which is believed to be the modus operandi of the Ripper. If it were the Ripper, however, and this was his first killing in London, he may have a different MO than the others. A blade was still used, and this could have been him "testing the waters" so to speak.

Mary Ann "Polly" Nichols 

Friday, August 31st, 1888, 3:40 AM; Buck's Row, Whitechapel:
 A carter named Charles Cross made his way down the narrow avenue of Buck’s Row on his way to work. In the early morning darkness, Cross stopped at the sight of a large object lying in the doorway of a horse stable. He walked closer to investigate, thinking it was a tarpaulin abandoned in the street. A few feet closer, though, he realized the figure on the ground was human. As he hesitated, unsure of how to proceed, he heard another man’s approaching footsteps.

It was another carter, Robert Paul, also headed to work. Cross called the other carter over, telling him that there was a woman in the street. Together, in the dark, the two men approached the figure stretched out on the ground. She was lying prone, her skirts pulled up to her waist. Tentatively, they felt her hands and face, finding them cold. Cross thought that he sensed some movement in her chest, though, which allowed the possibility that she was alive. The men tugged her skirts down over her knees to at least cover her up, and argued whether they should prop her up in the doorway.

They were unsettled by the whole incident though, and they were both running late for work. They decided not to render further assistance on the scene, justifying their behavior by agreeing to tell the first constable they ran into on their way about what they had seen. They left the woman’s body alone on Buck’s Row, lying across the gateway. Minutes later they came across PC Mizen 55H, John Neil.

Durward Street aka Buck's Row very much as it would have looked in 1888.
The arrow shows the location where the body of Polly Nichols was discovered.

When he arrived, he shone his lantern on Polly's body which revealed her lifeless eyes staring up into the night sky. Her throat had been deeply severed in two locations - nearly decapitating her - and her lower abdomen partially ripped open by a deep, jagged wound. The killer had also made several other incisions in her abdomen with the same blade. The doctor who had arrived at the scene to examine her body had deemed her time of death to be less than 30 minutes from the time she'd been found. 

Her death came only 5 days after her 43rd birthday.

Inspector John Spratling arrived and consulted with Thain after the body had been taken away by ambulance. Thain indicated where the body had lain as one of the sons of Emma Green, a widow who owned a neighboring house, washed blood from the cobblestones. Llewellyn had noted that the blood that had spilled from the body’s throat onto the ground was about equivalent with the volume of two wine-glasses. Ambulance workers had noted that though a bit of blood had trickled from her throat onto the street, the back of her dress and her weathered brown ulster was completely soaked in congealed blood as well.

Dr. Llewellyn had gone home to bed after the body had been taken to a workhouse mortuary in Old Montague Street, but was summoned again soon afterward. While attempting to move the body from the ambulance into the morgue, Inspector John Spratling observed that unusually brutal mutilations lay beneath Nichols’ clothing. Her abdomen had been slashed, a jagged cut exposing her innards from pubis to breastbone, along with additional cuts to the abdomen. The wounds had been inflicted with violent downward stabs into the victim’s body. Llewelyn’s complete postmortem report from September 1st is lost to time, but surviving notes taken by Spratling upon an initial examination of the body summarize findings this way:

"…her throat had been cut from left to right, two distinct cuts being on left side, the windpipe, gullet and spinal cord being cut through; a bruise apparently of a thumb being on the right lower jaw, also one on left cheek; the abdomen had been cut open from centre of bottom of ribs along right side, under pelvis to left of the stomach, there the wound was jagged; the omentum, or coating of the stomach, was also cut in several places, and two small stabs on private parts; [all] apparently done with a strong bladed knife; supposed to have been done by some left handed person; death being almost instantaneous."

Speculation arose over several points including whether the killer was left-handed, and whether, perhaps, he had killed her in a separate location and then left her on Buck’s Row. This would seem to be supported by the fact that no one in the area had heard screaming, and that she was found lying on her back as if carefully placed. The blood at the scene, also, seemed to be minimal when considering the ghastly wounds to her abdomen, unless she had been killed somewhere else. That hypothesis, however, would later be dismissed. There were no trails of blood leading to the site where her body was found, and nobody had heard a carriage or other vehicle carry her to the spot. Additionally, Dr. Llewelyn confirmed that the blood from the lacerations to her abdomen had mostly congealed into the body itself.

All the wounds also showed signs of being made with the same knife, a “strong-bladed knife, moderately sharp, and used with great violence,” according to the doctor. Other facts about the possible killer were unclear, but Llewelyn speculated that he might have had some knowledge of human anatomy, due to the fact that he had attacked the vital organs and veins of the victim.

The blood spatter implied, however, that none of the lacerations were what ultimately killed the victim. If her throat were cut first, there would have been far more blood, presumably spattered against the wall of the stable or further across the cobblestones rather than pooled directly under her head. Instead, experts agree that it is very likely the woman was manually choked to death before being mutilated. The entire act would have taken place in about five minutes between 3:30 and 3:40am, and inspectors acknowledged that the approach of Charles Cross may have even interrupted and scared the killer away.

Annie Chapman

September 8th, 1888; Hanbury Street, Spitalfields; 5:30 am, 9 days after the murder of Polly: As the nearby brewery clock struck 5:30, Elizabeth Long, also known around Whitechapel as Mrs. Durrell, was walking along Hanbury Street when she passed a man and a woman standing against No. 29. The man’s back was to her so she couldn’t see his face, but he was dressed in a long black coat and was wearing, according to Long, a deerstalker hat.

As she passed, she heard the man say, “Will you?”
The woman, whom Long later identified as Annie Chapman, replied, “Yes.”

The backyard at 29 Hanbury Street
Annie Chapman's body was found next to the fence, just by the steps.

5:15 am, a young carpenter who lived at No. 27 Hanbury Street named Albert Cadosch went out into his backyard, probably to use the lavatory. He reportedly heard a woman’s voice say “No,” and a sound of something falling against the fence connecting the backyards of No. 27 and 29. Approximately twenty minutes later, her badly mutilated body was found by carter John Davis near a doorway in the back yard of 29 Hanbury Street.

Her throat had been cut in much the same manner as Mary Ann Nichols had been slashed, and her abdomen ripped entirely open. Her intestines, torn out and still attached, had been placed over her right shoulder. A later autopsy revealed that the killer had removed her uterus and parts of her vagina, leading inspectors to believe that Jack the Ripper had some sort of medical training or at least a basic (self studied) knowledge of anatomy.

The doctor was so disturbed by the damage done to Annie’s corpse that he refused to go into explicit detail about the abdominal mutilations during the inquest. His description is as follows:

"The left arm was placed across the left breast. The legs were drawn up, the feet resting on the ground, and the knees turned outwards. The face was swollen and turned on the right side. The tongue protruded between the front teeth, but not beyond the lips. The tongue was evidently much swollen. The front teeth were perfect as far as the first molar, top and bottom and very fine teeth they were. The body was terribly mutilated…the stiffness of the limbs was not marked, but was evidently commencing. He noticed that the throat was dissevered deeply; that the incision through the skin were jagged and reached right round the neck…"

29 Hanbury Street

The fact that Annie’s tongue was found protruding from her mouth implied that she, like Polly Nichols, had died from asphyxiation rather than from the damage done by the killer’s blade. The autopsy revealed indications found in the lungs and membranes of the brain of advanced disease. In fact, from the state of her lungs, investigators speculated that had she not been murdered on the 8th of September, she would soon have died of tuberculosis. In spite of the fact that she was described as “plump”, her body also showed signs of starvation. There was a little food in her stomach, but no alcohol in her system, which eliminated the possibility of her having spent time recently in a public house.

The crime scene seemed to imply that Annie did not put up much of a struggle. Even Cadoche, who presumably heard Annie and her murderer from the adjoining backyard, described a limited amount of noise coming from the yard of No. 29. It is possible, however, that in her sickly state, and so taken by surprise by the attack, and she did not have the opportunity to cry out before being stifled.

Additionally, Annie’s belongings had been scattered across the backyard of No. 29, a fact that has baffled students of the case for over a century, starting with investigators. Dr. Philips said that Annie’s belongings had been placed near her body in order, “that is to say arranged there.” These belongings included a piece of muslin, an envelope corner containing two pills, and a comb wrapped in paper. Abrasions on her fingers showed that she had been wearing three rings, apparently of brass, but those had either been pawned or taken by the murderer. She was also wearing a kerchief around her neck, which she had been wearing when she left the lodging house.

Press also claimed that two farthings were found in the yard, though this is not stated in police reports. In spite of many scholars believing the farthings to be a press fabrication, the mysterious farthings have remained the source of speculations as to the Rippers identity and possible affiliations.

The envelope with the two pills was found on the ground, and there were considerable efforts on the part of investigators to find the sender. The envelope was stamped with the seal of the Royal Sussex Regiment, and the letters “M”, “S”, and the number “2” were visible on the envelope. Police followed this potential lead to the Regiment, and came up empty-handed. Afterward, William Stevens came forward to how the envelope had been a random find inside the boarding house rather than actual correspondence.

Illustrated Police News – September 15, 1888

A few drops of blood were visible on the fence above Annie’s head, but not as much as to suggest that her throat had been cut while she was still living. Remarkably, a nearby water spigot showed no signs of having been touched by someone whose hands were covered in blood, a further sign of the Ripper’s audacity.

Also found on the scene was a leather workman’s apron, which led to the arrest of a villainous figure in Whitechapel, known as “Leather Apron”, really named John Pizer. The apron was later found to belong to a resident of No. 29, and Pizer was released after his alibis were confirmed.

Elizabeth Stride

September 30th, 1888; Berner Street, Whitechapel

Dr. Thomas Barnardo was well known in Whitechapel as a servant to the poor. With a background as a doctor, Barnardo had become a street minister and also went on to open a famous house for impoverished young boys. On September 26th, 1888, Dr. Barnardo was visiting the lodging house at 32 Flower and Dean. There was a group of women sitting in the lodging house kitchen, looking “thoroughly frightened” and talking about the Whitechapel murders.

One woman sat at the table crying. “We’re all up to no good, no one cares what becomes of us! Perhaps some of us will be killed next.”

Several days later, Barnardo identified Liz Stride’s body as one of the women who had been present in the lodging house kitchen for that foreboding conversation.

Berner Street circa 1909. This photo shows the street looking much the same as it did during the time of Stride's murder in 1888. Her body was found just inside the entrance to Dutfield's Yard, which was located just below the wagon wheel seen in this photograph.

Two distinct elements make Stride’s murder unique among the canonical five. First, there were no mutilations to her abdomen in the way that there were on the bodies of the other four victims. Second, the cause of death was not determined to be strangulation, as there were no marks of strangulation on her body.

There had been some criticism of how police had handled the Annie Chapman investigation. Men from the medical community, for example, complained that it was a failure to have just used one doctor for the autopsy without getting a second opinion. For that reason, both Dr. Phillips and Dr. Blackwell conducted Elizabeth Stride’s autopsy.

Liz was found in possession of two pocket-handkerchiefs, a thimble and a piece of wool attached to a card. A red flower was pinned to the dark jacket she wore. She was also found clutching a package of cachous, which were used to sweeten the breath. These cachous were still in the package and not scattered around, as they would have been if she had been suddenly knocked to the ground.

Dr. George Phillips and Dr. Frederick Blackwell agreed that the cause of death was blood loss from the left carotid artery due to the wound on her throat. The gash to the throat was consistent with the wounds of the other Ripper victims, including a clean, deep knife wound of about 6 inches that moved from left to right. Some have speculated that it is possible the murder could have been performed with a different knife, specifically a shoemaker’s knife, than the previous two. In fact, doctors conceded that this was a possibility; however, it is also possible the same weapon used on Nichols and Chapman was used on Long Liz.

Puzzlingly, though, Dr. Phillips and Inspector Reid mentioned in their reports that there was no sign of blood spatter that would indicate she had been killed while standing. In fact, PC Lamb indicated in his testimony that, “She looked as if she had been gently laid down.” Phillips claimed there was no trace of malt liquor, anesthetics, or narcotics in Stride’s stomach. Therefore, drugging or drunkenness cannot account for Stride having gone down without a struggle.

According to Dr. Blackwell:
There was a check silk scarf round the neck, the bow of which was turned to the left side and pulled tightly. I formed the opinion that the murderer first took hold of the silk scarf at the back of it and then pulled the deceased backwards.

An alternate theory regarding Stride’s cause of death was presented by Bill Beadle in The Journal of the Whitechapel Society as something called RCA. This stands for Reflex Cardiac Arrest and occurs when a subject dies due to a sudden pressure to major arteries on the neck. This occurs more commonly in victims who are drunk or extremely frightened. With fewer forensic resources than modern investigators, this conclusion would have been impossible to determine in 1888.

Some believe that the Ripper did not kill Elizabeth Stride at all, due to the differences between her injuries and those of the other victims. It is also possible, however, that the Ripper was merely interrupted by the arrival of Louis Diemschutz and his pony, and for this reason he was compelled to claim a second victim on the evening of the Double Event. Stride is also not considered one of the Canonical Five due to these reasons.

Catherine Eddows 

September 29th, 1888; Aldgate Street; City of London

At about 1:30 am, Joseph Lawende, a commercial traveller, Joseph Hyam Levy, a butcher, and Harry Harris, a furniture dealer were walking nearby. They were heading down 16-17 Duke Street from the Imperial Club. The three passed by a couple walking in the opposite direction. Harris did not notice them at all, and Levy took little note of them other than the fact that they were both rather shabby looking.

Lawende, however, had the best memory of the couple’s appearance of all. While he didn’t see the woman’s face, he was later able to recognize her clothing. He went on to describe the man as looking to be about 30 years old, five foot seven inches tall, with a mustache, wearing a loose-fitting salt and pepper jacket and a red handkerchief around his neck. Lawende was the last person, besides her killer, to lay eyes on Catherine Eddowes while she still lived.

At 2 AM, Dr. Frederick Gordon Brown arrived at Mitre Square to perform the on-site post mortem, later continuing the autopsy at the Golden Lane mortuary twelve hours later.

Of all the Ripper victims up until this point, Catherine Eddowes’ body had the greatest amount of damage to the entire body. Her throat was cut in the same manner, about six or seven inches from left to right, and she was disemboweled. The large vessels on the left side of the neck were severed. Her intestines were also placed over her right shoulder, and had been nicked, releasing smeared fecal matter upon the space behind her shoulder. About two feet of intestine had been detached from the body and placed between Eddowes’ body and left arm. Whereas the previous disemboweled victims (Nichols and Chapman) had fairly straight and organized cuts to their abdomens, Eddowes had been cut in a more jagged and erratic manner.

Kate was also the first to have her face mutilated by the Ripper. A triangular flap was peeled from the skin of each cheek, with tips pointing toward the eyes that some have said look like arrows. There were also cuts made to her eyelids, including one that was about an inch and a half long to the left eye.

Upon examining her internal organs, Brown found that Eddowes’ right kidney was pale, or as he described: “bloodless with slight congestion of the base of the pyramids.” This was a sign that she suffered from Bright’s disease. The left kidney had been removed, and could not be found in or around the body. The uterus had been cut horizontally and had been removed all but for a quarter of an inch-sized stump. Brown made several summarizing comments at the conclusion of his post-mortem exam. Among these, was that the murder was the work of one person, and that this person had severed Eddowes’ throat so suddenly that there was no way she could have cried out. He also stated that whoever had removed Eddowes’ kidney must have had some knowledge of where the kidney was located to be able to so quickly remove it in the dark, whether that meant he was a medical man or a slaughterhouse worker. Brown asserted that he had no idea what reason someone would have to take any of the body parts away.

At 3 am, soon after Brown came to examine Eddowes’ body, there was a piece of fabric covered with blood and fecal matter lying in a passageway near Goulston Street in Whitechapel. This fabric was found to match a part missing from Eddowes’ own apron, seeming to imply that after the murder, the Ripper had headed back into Whitechapel. Goulston Street was only about a 15-minute walk from Mitre Square. Another puzzling piece of evidence was a graffito found above the place where the soiled fabric was found. Written in chalk, it said, “The Juwes are the men that Will not be Blamed for nothing”. Not knowing whether or not this was related to the murder, and afraid that this might incite anti-Jewish rioting and violence, Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Charles Warren demanded that it be washed away before morning.

Mary Jane Kelly 

November 9, 1888; 13 Miller’s Court, Whitechapel 

As he perused his accounting books, John (aka “Jack”) McCarthy, could not overlook the fact that his tenant, Mary Jane Kelly, was six weeks behind in her rent. He had allowed the fees to accumulate, and this morning decided that it was time to see if Kelly could pay up tasking his shop assistant, Thomas Bowyer, with catching Kelly before she left her room for the day. Kelly, like many others in the city, was planning to observe the procession of Right Honorable James Whitehead as he drove to the Royal Courts of Justice in the Strand to be sworn in as mayor.

The room at #13 Miller’s Court was actually a converted bedroom from #26 Dorset Street, which opened to the street just beyond the courtyard. A passageway into Miller’s Court from Dorset Street led to Kelly’s little room, which had a door on one side and two windows around the corner from the door. Tenement apartments lined the rest of the courtyard, and nothing else stood inside but a water pump and a dustbin.

Photograph of Miller's Court No. 13 the day of the murder. Broken window panes can be seen in the window nearest the door.

Thomas Boyer discovering the body of Mary Kelly

The second thing he saw sent him running back to his employers’ office. McCarthy followed him back to Miller’s Court. He drew the curtain aside to see just what the office assistant had: a bloody corpse, mangled beyond recognition, with parts strewn all over the blood-soaked bed. McCarthy sent his assistant to find a constable, and Bowyer soon came across Inspector Walter Beck and Detective Walter Dew chatting on Commercial Street.

“Another one. Jack the Ripper. Awful. Jack McCarthy sent me.”

Bowyer could barely get the words out of his mouth. The officers followed him, observing the carnage through the broken window with queasy horror. They sent for Inspector Abberline, who was in charge of the Ripper Case. The Inspector arrived at 11:30 am and Dr. George Bagster Phillips, a police surgeon who had also responded to the murder of Annie Chapman, arrived around the same time.

Rather than immediately break the door down, however, the officer and medical investigator had been instructed to wait for the arrival of two police bloodhounds, Burgho and Barnaby. Using dogs to sniff out murderers was a new and untested technique, but the Home Office of Scotland Yard had been eager to show the public that they were taking the Whitechapel murders seriously.

The two-hour wait signaled a considerable breakdown in communication within the police force, though. A few weeks earlier, the dogs’ owner, a breeder named Edwin Brough, had reclaimed his hounds from the police when it became clear that Scotland Yard would neither be paying nor insuring him for their services. Nobody told this to Abberline, however, and in the interim two hours, he could do little more than block off Miller’s Court to pedestrians and wait. Finally, Superintendent Arnold arrived at 1:30 pm in the afternoon, ordering the door to be broken down. John McCarthy used a pickax to chop the front door down. The scene inside, which they had only glimpsed at before, would haunt them forever.

Presumably, without the presence of police walking their beats, concealed in a private room, the Ripper had the time and privacy to carry his compulsions further than he had to that point. As with previous victims, there were entrails and organs piled to the right of the body. This time, there were also other lacerations and organ displacements: Kelly’s uterus, kidneys, and one breast were placed beneath her head. Her left lung was torn and her heart was completely missing.

The Ripper had taken the flaps of skin, which he’d stripped from the thighs and abdomen, and piled them on the bedside table. Those were the lumps that Thomas Bowyer had first spotted when he peeked in through the broken window. Every feature of Kelly’s face was irregularly slashed. Her nose, ears, cheeks, and eyebrows were all partially removed and her lips were sliced multiple times. The bed was saturated in blood, and Dr. Phillips stated with confidence that the cause of death, this time, was “severance of the carotid artery” rather than asphyxiation. There were conflicts as to Kelly’s time of death between the medical contingents. The confusion was made worse by the long delay between the discovery of Kelly’s corpse and the ability for investigators to examine the body. Dr. Thomas Bond held that the murder took place at 1 or 2 am. Based on witness testimony, Metropolitan Police believed it took place around 3:30 or 4 am. Dr. Phillips, who had responded to other Ripper murder scenes, asserted that the time of death was 5 or 6 am.

One of the Canomical Five, but presumed to be the seventh victim of the Ripper by media.

Later Whitechapel Murders

Following Kelly's ghastly murder, there were four other women who were killed in the Whitechapel district during that same period, the first of which was Rose Mylett. Mylett was found strangled in Clarke's Yard on High Street on December 20, 1888. Investigators assessed that her death may have been the result of a drunken stupor, as there were no visible signs of a struggle apparent anywhere on her body or clothing. Even though the inquest deemed it to be a murder, her death in no way resembled a Ripper killing.

The body of Alice McKenzie was found on July 17, 1889, in Castle Alley, Whitechapel. She had suffered a severed carotid artery, along with multiple small cuts and bruises across her body – evident of a struggle. One of the pathologists involved in the investigation dismissed this as a possible Ripper murder, as it did not match with the findings of the three previous Ripper victims he had examined. Writers have also disputed McKenzie as being a victim of Jack the Ripper, but rather of a murderer trying to copy his modus operandi in an attempt to deflect suspicion.

The tenth Whitechapel murder victim was “The Pinchin Street Torso”. The victim was named as such because she was found headless and legless under a railway arch on Pinchin Street, Whitechapel, on September 10, 1889.

Investigators believed that the victim was murdered at a different location, and the body dismembered for disposal.

Frances Coles was murdered on February 13, 1891. She was found at Swallow Gardens – a passageway beneath a railway arch between Chamber Street and Royal Mint Street, Whitechapel – with her throat slit. Visible wounds on the back of her head suggested that Coles was likely thrown to the ground after having suffered to knife wounds across her throat. Apart from the cuts to her throat, there were no mutilations to her body.

A man named James Thomas Sadler, who authorities believed to be Jack the Ripper, was arrested and charged with her murder, but was later discharged on March 3, 1891 due to lack of evidence.

Regardless of whether or not the Ripper's bloodsport ended with Mary Jane Kelly, it's certain that it did end. I, however, do not believe these other victims to have been the Ripper's, and my opinions will become evident as our investigation continues. Many speculate that the end of the killings was due to either illness and eventual death, or perhaps insanity which led to institutionalization. Some suggest he may have fled the country and lived in self-imposed exile. One thing that is certain… along with the other killer(s) involved in the Whitechapel Murders, his true identity has never been ascertained. 

This leads me to Part Two, where we will discuss suspects on the Ripper Murders, and what could have possibly happened to Jack the Ripper after his spree in Whitechapel.

#MovieMonday Interstellar Review

Man’s ability to dream and desire to explore has long been one of our defining features and what’s helped make our species, for better or worse, the dominant one on Earth, allowing for travel far beyond what was possible only 100 years ago. However, there is an argument to be made – a valid one – that we’ve stopped looking outward to the stars and the possibility of what lies beyond, and are now entirely too focused on the pettiness of looking down. Though it hasn’t much in recent memory, science fiction can show us a better future or at least a desire to create one. Christopher Nolan addresses this, and a whole lot of other things, in his new film Interstellar, a throwback to the space exploration films of the 1960s, now using state-of-the-art special effects and IMAX camera technology.

Clearly influenced (almost ridiculously so) by Stanley Kubrick’s brilliant 2001: A Space Odyssey, Interstellar is a lofty idea for a film, focusing on mankind’s final efforts to reach a new habitable planet whilst rapid deforestation, debilitating dust storms, and a dwindling supply of food make continued life on Earth a finite prospect. It’s also the only film I can think of to focus so extensively on the Theory of Relativity as it pertains to time near black holes. It shows us a completely fictionalized account of what could happen to a person inside a black hole. The science of a lot of it toward the end doesn’t make any sense, or at least none by what we currently know about science, however, if you are willing to entertain the possibility of the beginning of this movie - an apocalyptic world where man is searching the stars for a new home - then why wouldn't you be able to entertain the ending as well? I'll get more to that later.

Without spoiling too much of the movie or the ending, the gist of it is that Cooper (Matthew McConaughey) is a NASA test pilot and brilliant engineer turned farmer - because everyone on Earth has turned farmer with the lack of food - who stumbles back into NASA and takes on a mission to leave Earth with a team, search for a habitable planet, and return for the surviving humans. The point being to leave Earth altogether because in so many years everything, no matter what, will be dead. Crops refuse to grow, water is drying up, etc. Where will they find a habitable planet close enough to transfer survivors (and not just their children's children) to knowing from basic science that we haven't really even found one in our universe yet? Well, through the black hole that popped up out of nowhere near Saturn when Earth took a turn for the worse, of course.

While the movie focuses mostly on "bending space and time," it also focuses on the human connection to one another as well. It's actually as if 2001: A Space Odyssey had a love child with Contact who had a love child with The Martian who had a love child with Gravity. Actually... that's exactly what it's like. And I even like the fact that I saw The Martian before this movie because the science of it is spot on, and I like the fact that Matt Damon makes an appearance in Interstellar as well. And the ending... Here's a spoiler alert, so if you haven't seen it, read no further.

The ending can go a million different ways depending on it's interpretation, and honestly, I think that's exactly what the film-makers intended. I'm not upset about the speculation of love being quantifiable, or that gravity can transcend time and space, or that if you get pulled into a black hole (and don't get ripped to shreds) you will age extremely slower than you normally would or, I guess, others will age faster because to you it seems like it's only been minutes and to others further away from the black hole it's been years - 7 years to every 1 hour one planet really close to the BH, 2 minutes to 50 years right smack dab in the middle of the BH. But, no, I'm not upset. Why? Because it's a movie. It's meant to entertain. Make you think. If you have no emotion coming out of it, you're not human because it really is a great father-daughter movie, and the movie itself does exactly what it's meant to do. So, if you have 2 hours and 45 minutes to spare, watch it. Just don't be mad about a movie (all movies really) meant for entertainment.

New #TeamBlue Member!

It's official! Josef House has completed his EMT-B training and has passed his National Registry! He's also become a member of the Stonewall Fire Dept, and is the only medic on the team. Also, we are waiting to hear from Mercy on his application, so hopefully good updates to come!

#MovieMonday Deadpool Review

For Ryan Reynolds, third time is the charm as he at last fulfills his superhero destiny with Deadpool, based on the anti-hero created in 1991 for Marvel Comics by Fabian Nicieza and Rob Liefeld. After an abortive first attempt at bringing some sort of version of Wade Wilson to the screen in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, followed by his stoic portrayal of Hal Jordan in 2011’s Green Lantern, Reynolds has returned to Wilson – the character he was born to play – in a movie that he has spent several years with director Tim Miller and writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick practically willing into existence.

Now here it is, in all its crude, ratty glory, and we can tell you that the movie has at least nailed both the tone of the comics and the ragged charm of the character himself. And the tone of the movie seems as if it were a Quentin Tarantino film, if that tells you anything. And also, ladies, be prepared to own this DVD, because you will definitely be pausing it, screenshotting it and putting it in the Skank Bank in order to break it out on dine-alone-Taco-Tuesdays. Ryan Reynolds... Nom Nom Nom. Am I right?

Wade Wilson (Deadpool) is quick with the quips and the meta references, he breaks the fourth wall to speak directly to the audience (as he has done so famously with the readers of his comic books) and – as we find out when he meets the woman of his dreams, Vanessa (Morena Baccarin of Firefly and, more recently, Gotham) – he’s a romantic at heart.

Reynolds gives his all in the role, and it’s clear from the start that he has immersed himself in this character and worked to create the perfect screen version of Deadpool. He’s endlessly carrying on a running conversation with himself (“Did I leave the stove on?”), reacting like a petulant child when he gets shot or stabbed, and riotously commenting on the comic book movie world around him - including several jokes at the X-Men franchise's expense, previous Ryan Reynolds movies, and even Ryan Reynolds himself.

The movie basically is a one-man show and director Miller wisely derives almost all its entertainment value from Reynolds’ detailed and truly oddball performance. With the main character’s over-the-top-and-beyond behavior and constant self-awareness dominating the proceedings, it's likely Deadpool Movies will be around for a long while.

Deadpool is fun, highly entertaining and, for fans of the comics, does exactly what it promised. Oh, and make sure you stay until the very end -- the post-credits  easter egg sequence isn't the one you might have expected, but it's the one you unknowingly want.

#MusicMonday: Should Ada Have a Music Awards Show Like the CMAs or Grammy's?

While watching the CMAs (I watch religiously every year), I got to thinking about Ada and how much, with the help of HMA, the live music scene - music and arts in general, really - has changed over the last year or so. Everything is so Austin/Nashville now, which is wonderful! But I've been thinking that now may be the time to up the ante.

As a musician, it's probably safe to say that, like me, you dream of being at one of these annual awards shows - CMAs, Grammy's, MTV Music Awards, and so on - and hearing your name being called, wondering what it feels like to be recognized for your hard work by not only fans, but mostly by your musical peers, who are in the crowd cheering you on. What would it be like to get up on that stage and be able to thank every person who has helped you in your musical endeavours, who inspired you, and what you strive to do in the future year to come. These award shows are very important in the music industry. They were created to celebrate each other, and not just your own success, which is something you can never have to little of - love, respect, and praise for your musical peers.

That being said, I motion that we start having an annual musical awards show for Ada musicians. I would love to put together a board or council, and help make this a reality. Here's how I think we should do it (All of these things would be better determined by the council once they are up and running.):

What it would consist of:

1. A Counsel and Counsel Voting - on everything - where the event will be held, who will host, who will present, who make up the award categories, and what categories there will be, as well as any other deciding factor - the council will determine it together and vote.

2. Members - A member would be recognized as someone who has - within the association year (from the day after the awards show, to the next years awards show) has performed at least 5 live shows somewhere in Ada. The shows that count would be: live music at a venue, a competition of some kind (Colgate country showdown, Ada Idol, Blake Shelton Showdown, Ada's Got Talent, etc), a music festival, whether it be Ada Fest, Happyland Music Festival, or something like the 1901 Fest to even smaller festivals held by ECU, ect), performances at the McSwain Theater, and any other live music that is accessible to the public. 

Members, along with the council, will vote on who wins what awards. The would also get to walk the red carpet (because YES there will be a red carpet and photo stop spots, just like the big awards shows. This is half the fun! So musicians could really get a chance to get all dressed up in their best formal wear!), and also get two seats in the reserved section for members. Only members can vote, and surely we can find some other awesome perks for being a member. Membership would be free.

3. A host/hostess - If you have never seen an awards show and what role the host plays - or what happens in general- check out the CMA awards on Youtube.com. Just google Country Music Association or CMA awards full show. I'm not sure if this year's is on google yet, but I know last year's is. We could even switch up the host/s every year to keep things fresh, or vote to keep the same host. There has to be someone witty enough who can bring this event to life for us! *Joey*Hint hint*

4. Presenters - They would be members, council, venue owners, or anyone associated with music, or live music in Ada. They will be the ones to talk up the nominees, and reveal the winner of the category. This would be a great way to include our wonderful venues as sort of a thank you for having us!

5. Awards/Nominees/Winners/Categories - of course they wouldn't be exactly the same as the big shows, because we aren't on the radio, and we also want to appreciate each other at this event, so I would suggest categories like - Most live performances 2015, Most collaborations, Best cover version, and such. Categories like these would hopefully light a fire and get us out and about more, and give us a little friendly competition during the year, and will also make artists that may not be on the live scene yet want to jump in head first.

We could also still have these categories - female vocalist of the year, male vocalist of the year, vocal group or duo of the year, best new artist of the year, and (the big one) Entertainer of the Year. And we can find some awesome awards somewhere to hand out and let our winners give a thank you speech!

6. Performances! - You can't have an awards show without them! And this would a wonderful way to incorporate every genre of live music we have out there. We could start with acoustic sets and end with a couple full bands, each musician/artist doing one song each. Who performs would be voted on by the council. Also, this also leads to some sweet collabs.

Places this could take place: any theater-like setting with a stage. The McSwain would be a great place to eventually have it, but we could probably get the ECU Theater. I would love to hear suggestions!

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So, I know this seems like a lot, but really, it's just one day for most everyone involved except the council. All you would have to do, really, is put on your best dress, stroll the red carpet, take lots of pictures with your musician friends, get awarded, hear awesome music, and possibly go to a sweet after party somewhere! Sounds pretty legit to me. And what would this do for us as musicians, or even for the community? I'm glad you asked.

How this would affect Ada and Adans:

1. One united front - musicians everywhere seems to always be in competition, stepping all over each other, grabbing at the venues wanting the best shows for the best pay. And don't get me wrong, as a musician, I would love to have a show every Friday and Saturday night that pays $400 a gig. However, we often forget about building each other up, instead of breaking each other down. This could be an epic opportunity to unite and show each other how much we appreciate each other's talent and music, whether we are in the same genre or not. It also shows the community that we aren't just a bunch of selfish you know whats. Because we aren't, and we shouldn't be perceived that way. I would much rather have something like this than a battle of the bands. I want us to root for each other, and be happy with each other's success. It would be a night of much needed positivity, especially in today's world.

2. If we need funds to do this, we can raise them by charging non-members at the door. Once we have what we need, we can donate the rest to charity. Everyone wins.

3. New artists/musicians who may not be on the live music scene yet will DIE to become a member so that they may be nominated as well and partake. That means they will have to push themselves to GET OUT THERE and PERFORM. And new members ultimately means new fans as well. Once again, everyone wins.

4. Hopefully this would become something that all of Ada talks about. Maybe eventually we could have a radio road crew attend, have media coverage, and maybe have the newspaper run a story like they did when Joey and I did Moore Love. If we get to name our Nominees, that just more publicity for you. We may even be able to get more venues, get better well known by name/band name around town, get more fans, and the list goes on. 

5. Once again, Venue recognition - Our venues are more important than we are, believe it or not. Without them, we would never have shows, never be seen. We should be able to publically recognize them at least once a year... don't you think? We could add a special section of the awards show to do just this, as well as recognize all the charities that our local bands have helped out by donating their time and musical talents. This get's out venues more well known, as well as they charities that desperately need more public recognition.

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There's so much we can do with this, and there's so much fun to be had. Maybe we can even get HMA to play a big part in this, since they are the ones that have really raised the bar for live music in Ada.

One thing I will say though regarding HMA:

I don't want to have this in place of or at the same time as Happyland Music Festival. I don't want to take away from what it is and what it's meant to be. This usually takes place in the summer, and is more laid back and... well, you know if you have been. :) I would like the awards show to take place around September or October, and would like it to be formal or red carpet ready. Why?

Because this dress. That's why.

We NEVER get to dress up! So, please, let me know your thoughts about this and if it's something that you, as a live performer in Ada, can get down with. Leave me some comments or feel free to email me at thetessahouse@gmail.com.

Hope to hear from you all soon!

-T

#GamingTuesday Until Dawn Review

Until Dawn is a new Playstation 4 Exclusive release of the survival horror genre where your split second decisions shape not only your story, but your characters personalities as well.  The story revolves around 8 teenagers on a mountain retreat after a hiatus from each other because of a tragedy that occurred during the same annual retreat a year previous. Of course, everything starts going downhill from the minute they arrive, and it's your job to get each of the characters through the night. Check out the game trailer below (we recommend watching in fullscreen):

What's wonderful about this game is that it plays similarly to Heavy Rain and Beyond Two Souls where you are basically in a movie, but because of your decisions, the story arc changes along the way, and you could have a totally different story during your second or third playthrough than the previous ones. There are hundreds of different story arc possibilities, and although it seems overwhelming to a new gamer, it is quite simple to play. During each cutscene, you take control of a different character and make decisions for them along the way, which could affect other characters, and their own live or die outcome. Obviously, it's your job to keep them alive.

We start off with the basic, stereotypical personalities. The jock, the mean girl, the nerd, the bookworm, and so on, but as you make decisions for the characters, you shape them and the world around them, and could possibly end up with a different personality all-together. During our second playthrough, we ended up making the bad boy a true heroic romantic, as well as turning the mean girl - easy girl into a truly complex, modest, and even sympathetic woman, when our first playthrough held true to their starting personalities. Because of this, we got brand new conversations and cutscenes, and even strengthened the bond between certain characters. And there are characters that you love to hate, who you think you might not care if they live or die, but when you are placed in their shoes, you begin rooting for them to live. This makes the game even more emotional if you end up making a decision that results in the loss of one or more of those characters. And by the way, there are no second chances. There is no respawning. You don't get a re-do unless you restart the game. So you have to try like hell to make it count.

The graphics are amazing. You really feel like you are watching a horror movie with all of the scenes seamlessly meeting gameplay to give everything a very cinematic feel. There are also two characters who have scenes during each intermission - or between each chapter. One character you play, but you are unaware who you actually are, and the other is a Doctor or Psychiatrist of some sort who observes your game play and talks to you about it during these scenes. This is where things get tailored to you, your fears, and playstyles. This is one of our favorites parts, as it plays a part in shaping the story's "scares" just for you. He asks you questions regarding your fears, and it's important that you be honest. You may hate something, and not want to see them in the game, but it will make the game all the more scary for you if you are honest instead of choosing something that may not scare you as much. Joey tailored his to spiders and zombies, where Drew choose clowns and darkness. This did significantly change some of the scenes, as Drew's game was dark and more sinister, and Joey's had more creepy crawlies and jump scares.

We also like the fact that just when you think you have the game figured out, it changes up on you. You have the obvious slasher touches, but there are supernatural parts as well, and we love when those two things are mixed.

Also, this: Start watching at 1:11 and stop right after the Don't Move feature for no spoilers.

The Don't Move feature made us almost wet ourselves. Seriously. The controller can sense your movement... in the slightest. Even breathing can make you move. And you don't want to move. Believe us. But it's a truly wonderful feature that lets us delve even deeper into the gameplay and lets us believe that we are actually in it to win it.

Also, when you pause the game, whichever character you are playing will be on the menu and in what condition they are in. If you look at your stats, it shows you how each character's relationship with the current character is, as well as how you have changed their personality during gameplay. You can tell because their starting stats are marked with a white line. Anything you change either dips below the line or goes above the line to show you how you are shaping them with your decisions. There's a glimpse of the character menu below.

Once you have finished the game, you can go back and play by chapter. Be warned, everything after the chapter you go back to will be deleted in order to re-write your story. It's not so bad if you don't like your ended and go back to the last chapter, but we weary when going back further, as you will have to play the rest all over again. This also erases the clues and such that you have found within those chapters. You can also choose how to use your controller, whether traditional, or motion. Motion makes the game a little harder as you are using full movement instead of the sticks to move like in traditional, but can be rewarding. Check out the main menu below to see more.

One last thing before you read on to our gameplay. We absolutely LOVE the theme song! Check it out below.

Playthroughs

The first playthrough was Joey and I, so we split the characters up. I took on the 4 girls, and Joey took the 4 guys. We made it a game all in itself to see who would have the most remaining characters at the end of the game. When a new scene would come up with our characters, we would pass the controller and played it as a two player game with one controller. This made things interesting, fun, and even more competitive.

You know how you can watch those slasher films and scream at the tv when people are running up the stairs instead of out of the front door? Or how angry you get when they decide to check the basement out when we all know horror movie rules, and that checking basements an attics is always a don't. You think you know what you would do, but when it comes down to actually doing it, making those split second decisions (literally, the game gives you maybe 15 seconds to decide what to do), but you just don't know until you are really in it. I thought was a Scream Queen (which I still think I'm holding my title well), but my first playthrough with Joey gave me rude awakening. Sometimes you make bad decisions because it's you, not them, and sometimes that leads to the death of your character... or all 4. Yes, I lost. Hard. I failed to keep three of my girls alive, but one of those was by choice and, well... we went out in a blaze of glory. Literally.

On the second playthrough, we had our friend Drew play with us, and split the characters as evenly as possibly, choosing them like you would choose people for your dodgeball team in gym class, round-robin style. My team consisted of Sam, Jessica, and Ashley (who I dubbed Smashly after the fist to face incident - you'll see when you play), Joey's team consisted of Josh and Matt, and Drew took on Emily, Chris, and Mike. Also, it's against the rules to kill someone else's character, so you lose points if your decisions result in the loss of someone else's character, but you can redeem yourself by being selfless and sacrificing yourself to save someone else character. Also, I would like to point out that the way Drew played some of the characters that Joey had previously was totally different, which resulted in HUGE personality changes of not only Mike (his), but Jessica (mine). We pretty much had a totally different story than the first playthrough, and because Drew was so diligent in finding all the clues to side stories, our main characters had a lot more conversation scenes that previous. Our end result was Drew winning the day  (even though he actually killed on of my characters because he didn't get to her on time to save her, but I forgave him... after about 3 hours) with all of his characters remaining alive. I came in second (tied with Joey) with one remaining character - Ashley, and Joey in with Matt being his only survivor. But, that's pretty good if you think about it. That means, in all, we only lost 3, when our previous play through left us with Mike and Emily.

Drew's first PS4 Screenshot. Just beautiful. We're so proud!

We all absolutely loved this game. We would highly recommend it, especially for story based fans, and absolutely for horror buffs. In all, we give this game a solid 9 out of 10. Make this your next purchase, for sure.

#GamingTuesday DC Universe Online Review

First off, let me say that I began playing this before finishing ESO, and was really excited about it and wanted to hop right in. All of my ESO friends were making the switch and raving about it. They kept wanting me to hop over and start playing with them, so I gave in and downloaded it. It was free to download, and free to play - somewhat. But, honestly, this game is so bad, I'm not even sure where to start.

Let's start with character creation. You get 2 starting slots for new characters. I am assuming one for Villain and one for Hero. You choose which you want to be, and then choose your mentor - Heroes get either Batman, Superman, or Wonder Woman, and Villains get either Joker, Circe, or Lex Luthor. Once chosen, the customization options are pretty good. The powers are pretty awesome as well, except you can only choose a few for free, and have to pay to use others. Once you choose your powers and customize your look and colors, you are put through a tutorial. All of this led me to believe this would be a really good game.

Once out of the tutorial, you start your quests in your given area of either Metropolis or Gotham depending on who your mentor is. From here, it goes downhill. All the quests seem to be the same. Smash the thing, pick up the thing and get it to the place, defeat so-and-so. ALL OF THEM. While it is really cool getting to work along side iconic heroes and villains, it seems like all you are really doing is grinding. And here's the worst part: You're grinding for nothing because you can only spend $2000 at a time in free play. So you can't save up that hard earned money to buy an awesome iconic armor set that costs $4000 per set piece because anything you make over $2000 going into escrow, which is their way of saying "Hey, if you just pay some money monthly and become a member, we will give you access to all your cash." So you basically have find new armor and weapons, because most things can't be traded from player to player either. I find myself spending money at every vendor on everything I can just so that I get to use my own hard earned money, whether I want the item or not, and repairing my gear every 5 seconds just so that $10 doesn't leak into escrow.

Not only that, but the menu is a nightmare. It's hard to navigate and if you push the wrong button on accident your effed. The chat menu is hard to get to and figure out how to use, and it took me - it seemed like - five years just to figure out that there are social emotes like in ESO... I still don't know how to use them. The minimap for navigation is a nightmare as well. It's off in the corner instead of a bar above your head like in ESO, so you find yourself looking at it 98% of the time just to get to where you want to go, or find who you need to talk to, instead of enjoying the beautiful open world of Metropolis and Gotham. 

You also get a lair at level 10. You can't use it, however, because you have to either be a member or pay for it separately. So, it's basically just an empty building you can go into that only you and your friends can go into, and you also get to name it... if you can figure that out. Oh, also, you have to pay for it with in game cash. Yeah, they don't just give it to you. It's at least $500. 

Playing with friends isn't fun. You can form a group like in ESO, but it there are no indicators to let you know where your members are except on the mini map. You can't travel to a member from your menu (unless I haven't figured that out either) and if they are in a building or a different city, your pretty much left wondering where they heck they are. You better hope you're in party chat.

Sharing quests is a joke. 9 times out of 10 you can't share even though there is a share option. The other 1 out of 10, your friend has already done the thing.

People steal kills... and everything else they can. There are so many NPCs that you have to kill and wade through that you find yourself getting frustrated, especially since their respawn rate is insane, and once you have finally killed the 100th guy to get to that thing you were suppose to pick up, some a-hole swoops in and steals it, leaving you to fight through 100 more to get to the next thing, only to have that stolen as well. Swooping is bad. And infuriating.

All in all, this game doesn't make you feel like a Hero at all, which is what it was intended to do. It's the same old bump and grind over and over again, even when you start with a new mentor, and it's so frustrating that when you finally log out, you'll be so mad that you can't see straight. It is free, however. So, if you feel like you need to find out for yourself, go ahead and download it. But I'm telling you dude, you're going to hate it. 

In my opinion, this game was nothing but a quick release cash grab. I wouldn't recommend it, but if you decide to give it a try, choose your hero or villain carefully, don't make any in game purchases (because you'll regret them later) and play through once. I give it a 3 out of 10, and that's only because it's free and DC.