50 free Jack the Ripper trivia questions with answers — history quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
This Jack the Ripper trivia quiz covers the unsolved Whitechapel murders of 1888 and everything that grew up around them. The easy questions are the ones any true-crime fan knows: the year, the London district, how many canonical victims there were, and where the name Jack the Ripper came from. From there it moves into the details of the case: the eleven murders in the police file, the double event of 30 September, the chalk graffito the Police Commissioner ordered scrubbed away, and the half kidney that arrived in the post. The harder end is for people who have read the books: the detectives who ran the investigation, the police surgeon whose report is the earliest offender profile, the suspects named in Macnaghten's 1894 memorandum, the journalists who probably wrote the letters, the shawl DNA study that could not be replicated, the Vigilance Committee's reward, the newspaper poll that named the Ripper the worst Briton in history, and the writer who coined the word ripperology. The questions stick to the documented record and avoid gratuitous detail. Every answer was checked against encyclopaedia entries on the murders, the suspects, the victims and the detectives before publishing, and the supporting sentence is stored with each question. If you enjoy this one, try our Victorian era, Sherlock Holmes and unsolved mysteries quizzes next.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01In which year were the Jack the Ripper murders committed?
1888
The killer was active in and around the impoverished Whitechapel district of London's East End.
Q 02In which part of London did the Ripper operate?
The East End
Whitechapel's population had swelled to around 80,000 by 1888.
Q 03Besides Jack the Ripper, what other nickname did the police files and press give the killer?
Leather Apron
A local bootmaker known by that nickname was arrested and released after his alibis checked out.
Q 04Who is widely believed to have written the letter that coined the name 'Jack the Ripper'?
Journalists seeking circulation
The letter was disseminated in the press and is generally regarded as a hoax.
Q 05How many murders did the Metropolitan Police include in the Whitechapel murders file?
Eleven
They stretched from April 1888 to February 1891, though only five are widely attributed to the Ripper.
Q 06What term is used for the group of victims widely believed to be the Ripper's work?
The canonical five
Macnaghten's 1894 memo insisted the murderer had 'five victims and five victims only'.
Q 07Who was the first of the five widely accepted victims, found in Buck's Row on 31 August?
Mary Ann Nichols
Buck's Row has since been renamed Durward Street.
Q 08Who found the body of the first accepted victim in Buck's Row?
A cart driver named Charles Cross
Her body lay in front of a gated stable entrance.
Q 09Annie Chapman was found on 8 September in the back yard of number 29 on which road?
Hanbury
A witness described a dark-haired man in a brown deerstalker asking her 'Will you?'
Q 10What did the press call the two murders committed in the early hours of 30 September?
The double event
Elizabeth Stride and Catherine Eddowes died within three-quarters of an hour of each other.
Q 11Catherine Eddowes was killed in Mitre Square, which lay in whose jurisdiction rather than the Met's?
The City of London force
Most of the City Police files on the case were destroyed in the Blitz.
Q 12Why is there doubt over whether Elizabeth Stride was a Ripper victim?
Her body bore no further mutilations
Some think the killer was interrupted in Dutfield's Yard.
Q 13A chalk message about 'the Juwes' was found above a piece of bloodied apron on which road?
Goulston
It became known as the Goulston Street graffito.
Q 21Where was the head of the CID, Robert Anderson, during the September murders?
On leave in Switzerland
His absence prompted Warren to appoint Chief Inspector Donald Swanson to coordinate the enquiry.
Q 22Whose report on the killer's character is regarded as the earliest surviving offender profile?
Thomas Bond
He thought the killer had no anatomical knowledge and was a solitary man prone to periodical mania.
Q 23How many butchers and slaughterers did Inspector Swanson report visiting?
76
The alibis of local butchers were checked and they were eliminated.
Q 14Which Police Commissioner ordered the graffito washed away before dawn?
Sir Charles Warren
He feared it might spark antisemitic riots.
Q 15Which victim was killed indoors, in her room at 13 Miller's Court, on 9 November?
Mary Jane Kelly
She is generally considered the Ripper's final victim.
Q 16Roughly how old was the Miller's Court victim when she died?
25
Her origins are obscure; she told her partner she was born in Limerick.
Q 17What evidence suggested Kelly's killer burned items in her fireplace to light the room?
Ashes and a kettle with melted solder
The fire had been hot enough for the kettle's spout to fall into the grate.
Q 18Which police official wrote in 1894 that the Ripper had 'five victims and five victims only'?
Melville Macnaghten
He did not join the police until 1889 and his memo contains factual errors about suspects.
Q 19Which detective inspector, sent from Scotland Yard, is the best-known police figure in the case?
Frederick Abberline
He was a former clockmaker from Dorset who later worked for the Pinkerton agency in Monte Carlo casinos.
Q 20Who was Abberline's own prime suspect?
George Chapman
Chapman, born Seweryn Kłosowski, was hanged in 1903 for poisoning three wives.
Q 24Which prominent person suspected the killer was a butcher or drover on the cattle boats?
Queen Victoria
The boats' movements did not match the murder dates.
Q 25What reward did the City Police Commissioner offer after the two murders of 30 September?
£500
The Whitechapel Vigilance Committee separately offered £50 of its own.
Q 26Who led the Whitechapel Vigilance Committee?
George Lusk
He received the From Hell letter and a grisly parcel.
Q 27What was preserved in the box that came with the From Hell letter?
Half a human kidney
It was kept in spirits of wine and examined by Thomas Openshaw of the London Hospital.
Q 28Which organisation received the Dear Boss letter in September 1888?
The Central News Agency
It was forwarded to Scotland Yard on 29 September.
Q 29Which postcard, postmarked 1 October 1888, referred to the two killings of 30 September?
Saucy Jacky
Its handwriting resembled the Dear Boss letter, but it was posted after the murders were public gossip.
Q 30What did the Dear Boss writer promise to do to the next victim, seemingly borne out with Eddowes?
Clip her ears off
Her ear appears to have been nicked incidentally, and no ears were ever sent to police.