Jack The Ripper Museum — Attraction in London

I felt very off in the museum. The lady at the door was lovely don’t get me wrong, but it felt very disrespectful. The “morgue” which is supposed to be a memorial for these women was something.. to not even put up a plaque or a room just full of information about these poor ladies that was savagely murdered and instead have their autopsy and dead body’s put out on display as a photo to remember them by seems so distasteful. That’s not what they just are a dead body. They was woman that had to live through the hardest conditions that’s not how they should be memorialised. I would like to see a room dedicated to celebrating their life’s with the information we know. To put these women higher up than that disgusting man that took their life’s. I also thought the Mary Jane Kelly room was not that accurate. To say these ladies would’ve had to pawn most of their items than have ornaments sitting on the fireplace. They most defiently would’ve pawned those first. Not their clothes. They would’ve pawned their items then the clothes. Also the song sung felt like it was pushing a scare factor which felt off putting. This isn’t a horror attraction it’s a museum. A museum about real murders this isn’t sweeny Todd or Jekyll and Hyde. These was real women. Please put up a real memorial and spend the time to celebrate the lives of these ladies. Taken away too soon. The recreation of jacks room also felt not so accurate. Likely he wouldn’t have had such a lavish room. Not with the stereotypical black cloak and top hat. He would’ve likely been sharing a room with many people. If he was rich maybe but still it’s not worth making a diorama of something that isn’t 100% historically accurate. The artifacts was alright I don’t see the point of putting a leaflet telling people to become ripperologists. Why are we so invested finding this man that I swear got figured out anyways instead of looking into these women’s life’s more. He doesn’t deserve that attention. They do! Tell their stories and shame Jack not glamorise him and make a memorial as a bloody morgue! Imagine if that was a memorial to a more recent murder. A room made out too look like a morgue where they would’ve been stripped and looked at in their most vulnerable moment. And have that be where a photo of that person dead or in the morgue with their name and how they died to remember them. Seems so disrespectful. That’s not...

The folks behind this museum clearly care for their source material, however I don't think enough thought went into the layout of the place. There is no clear narrative to follow for those who don't know the details of the story, names and dates are placed in a way that makes the timeline/story difficult to follow at times and a couple of the rooms are a little empty when it comes to information. A couple of the rooms during the approx 45min visit are cool, with good theming and some really nice artifacts/newspaper articles from the time which are cool to see. If visiting, make sure you read the leaflet too, as there is some information in there that isn't in the exhibition which is very strange. There is a "morgue" room where you can see the actual post mortem pictures of the victims, with a sign on the door warning us of what is to come and asking us to be respectful. This however, jars a little with the presentation of the room which is is presented like a morgue with stark white walls, small pictures spread out on the wall and a fake morgue table in the centre with a splash of blood on it. I think the museum needs to decide whether they want to pay respects to the victims, or have this slightly "horror house" prop in the centre of the room. Having the room be darker, with small faux candles lighting up the details of the murders and the victims photographs would feel more respectful and also distract from the fairly empty room (with what appears to be damp!) I think more use of the pictures the museum has of the victims when they were alive, placed each time their name is mentioned, would help place faces to the names as you make your way around and make their final fate/seeing the post mortem pics even more tragic. A clearer route through the museum (some signs/suggestion on arrival of the best route to take etc.) would also help narratively for folks to build the story in their minds. Overall, there is some passion for this subject with a couple of cool details and things to see, but the info isn't presented in an easy to follow manner, and some rooms are devoid of much information at all which makes the entry fee for this short experience feel a little much. Listen to the Jack the Ripper series by "The Last Podcast on the Left", you will...

Absolutely shocking behaviour. We were only visiting London for one day and had prioritised going on this tour. We arrived at the tube station 20 minutes before the tour time and walked round it and couldn’t find the tour guide. We tried phoning the museum 110 times all for it to go to voicemail each time. We asked a local and a police officer where the “tram” station was that was listed as the meeting point on the website. Neither knew of a tram station. We ended up missing the tour because of this and went to the museum to explain the situation where we were promised a refund that would be processed in a couple of days. After hearing nothing for a week I chased it up only to be told by a very rude woman that I wasn’t getting my refund, blaming us for not being there on time. I explained that we were there on time and that it was their fault due to us not being able to get through to them on the phone. She tried to get us to swap to another day but we live in Scotland and don’t have any plans for when we’ll next be down in London (she tried to imply I was lying about not being able to move to another day). She tried to throw the poor young man who works in the museum under the bus because apparently he wasn’t supposed to offer us a refund. Regardless, good customer service would dictate they honour the refund and she not only didn’t do this but then called us “no shows” and her attitude was just disgusting. Absolutely shocking, I’m still so angry. Don’t waste your money, there are plenty of other Jack the Ripper attractions...